SPOTLIGHT

• Social affairs

  

  Shoo of S.E.S. gets suspended prison term for gambling

  Shoo, a member of once popular girl group S.E.S., received a suspended prison term Monday for habitual gambling. The Seoul Eastern District Court sentenced Yoo Soo-young, Shoo's real name, to six months in jail, suspended for two years.The court also ordered her to perform 80 hours of community service. (Yonhap)The court ruled that her acts, although they may be seen infractions by an individual, need to be held accountable given her reputation and the frequency and amount of gambling. Shoo, 37,

• Theater

  

  ‘Kill Ahn Young-ho’ raises awareness about runaway youth

  Knowing and witnessing are two different things. The former deals with thoughts, whereas the latter involves confronting reality up close. “Kill Ahn Young-ho” is a drama that forces the audience to confront the realities facing teenage runaways. By showing us this story of three marginalized young people who have run away from home and the violence and difficulties that pushed them onto the streets, the work invites the audience to empathize. Once you meet these alienated teenagers -- though the

• Social affairs

  

  Dead body found in pipeline, police suspect homicide

  The body of a 51-year-old man was found inside an oil pipeline in Incheon on Sunday. The body, identified by police to be that of a nearby resident, was discovered by a worker during a pipeline company inspection. The body was found in a long-sleeved shirt and pants.  (Yonhap)According to Incheon Seobu police, the body was not badly decomposed, but it was difficult to immediately determine the cause of death. Police are looking into the possibility of homicide considering that the dead man was n

• Music

  

  BTS attracts 380,000 spectators on Japanese leg of world tour

  BTS drew some 380,000 spectators on the Japanese leg of the world concert tour "Love Yourself," which hit four major Japanese cities, the band's management agency said Monday.BTS wrapped up the "Love Yourself ~Japan Edition~" with the final stop at Fukuoka's Yahuoku! Dome held from Feb. 16-17, according to Big Hit Entertainment. (BTS Official Twitter)It was the final stop of BTS' tour of four Japanese cities, which kicked off at Tokyo Dome on Nov. 13 for a two-day run.Following Tokyo, the septet

LATEST NEWS

• 

  Social affairs

  S. Korea’s abortion rate falls: poll

  　The number of abortions estimated to have been performed in South Korea stood at 49,764 in 2017, down from 69,909 in 2016 and 168,738 in 2010, possibly due to wider use of birth control, a report said Thursday. 　The report was based on a survey of 10,000 women aged between 15 and 44. It was the first such nationwide survey in eight years. 

• 

  Music

  After 7 years, B.A.P disbands

  K-pop boy band B.A.P has disbanded, with all six of the original bandmates leaving its agency. TS Entertainment released an official announcement Monday saying that the agency’s exclusive contracts with Himchan, Daehyun, Youngjae and Jongup have expired. (TS Entertainment)“The B.A.P members’ exclusive contracts with TS Entertainment have ended, and we came to an agreement to go separate ways,” the announcement read. The boy band debuted in 2012 with the single “Warrior.” With hit tracks “1004” a

• 

  Diplomatic Circuit

  Indian PM to visit Korea this week to enhance strategic partnership

  India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Korea from Thursday to Friday to meet with President Moon Jae-in in an effort to strengthen relations between the two countries. Modi’s state visit takes place less than a year after President Moon Jae-in held a bilateral summit with the prime minister in India in July last year. Korean first lady Kim Jung-sook had participated in the Deepotsav event in India’s city of Ayodhya in November last year.  Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaking dur

• Diplomatic Circuit

  ASEAN-Korea Center celebrates 10th anniversary

  The ASEAN-Korea Center held its annual council meeting and a reception in celebration of the 10th anniversary of its establishment Monday in Seoul, with high-ranking officials and ambassadors representing the 10 ASEAN member states and Korea in attendance. During the dinner reception, attended by some 150 distinguished guests from the diplomatic, academic and business communities, Secretary-General Lee Hyuk stressed the center’s role in enhancing the relationship between Korea and ASEAN countrie

• 

  Economy

  Seoul’s home purchase sentiment hits six-year low

  Reflecting the market response to the government’s real estate regulations, the home purchase sentiment has dwindled to the lowest level in nearly six years, data showed Monday.According to the Korea Appraisal Board, Seoul’s weekly apartment supply-demand index stood at 73.2 as of Feb. 11, the lowest since March 11, 2013, when the index hit a record-low of 71.8.The index, referring to the ratio of apartments available for transactions, is measured on a scale of zero to 200. While 100 indicates n

• 

  Columnists

  Embrace diversity or accept divorce

  Two major divorces are in the making in March. The obvious one is Brexit, which officially occurs on March 29. The other is the deadline for the US-China trade negotiations on March 1, when US tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports will increase from 10 percent to 25 percent. Even though a trade deal is likely, as both sides want to have a deal and the market is expecting one, this will come down to the wire as the gap in what can be achieved in the deal is still daunting.　Both negotia

• 

  Columnists

  What North Korea could learn from Vietnam

  Vietnam is more than a convenient neutral site for the second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, which is slated for later this month. The Southeast Asian nation is being held up as a model for what Kim’s isolated country could become if he adopts sweeping market reforms.　The choice facing Kim at the Hanoi summit is the same as it’s always been: weapons or wealth. The US has long offered North Korea a chance to develop its moribund economy in exchange

• Columnists

  China’s default wave spares the biggest fish

  Brace yourself: A growing number of hard-up Chinese borrowers are not making good on their debts. The pattern is all too familiar.　After a record year of defaults in 2018, two big issuers failed to meet their obligations in recent weeks. Coal miner Wintime Energy Co., one of China’s biggest defaulters last year, missed interest payments again this month. Beijing Orient Landscape & Environment Co., which builds water-treatment plants, was late on a 500 million yuan ($73.8 million) bond due this m

• Columnists

  Europeans grow tired of US-led alliance

  As the US-led world order continues to fall apart, second-tier powers are trying to salvage what they can. But in Germany and France, at least, voters don’t really want the US to be part of the process.　The annual Munich Security Report, which provides the starting point for discussion at the annual security forum in the German city, is often a good indication of the Western security community’s current mood. The 2019 report, titled “The Great Puzzle: Who Will Pick Up the Pieces?” is somewhat le

• Columnists

  Perils of going online in the middle of the night

  Whatever you’re doing out of a sense of desperation at 2 a.m., odds are that it’s not going to be one of your healthiest choices.　Last week, I wasn’t feeling well and couldn’t sleep. Not wanting to wake my spouse in the middle of the night (or, as my students call it, “early evening”), I tiptoed into my office, disturbing the cats who blinked, yawned and then put their paws over their eyes in what I felt were exaggerated expressions of feline sufferance.　Once at my desk, I gave into temptation.

GRAPHIC NEWS

OPINION

• Columnists

  

  Embrace diversity or accept divorce

  Two major divorces are in the making in March. The obvious one is Brexit, which officially occurs on March 29. The other is the deadline for the US-China trade negotiations on March 1, when US tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports will increase from 10 percent to 25 percent. Even though a trade deal is likely, as both sides want to have a deal and the market is expecting one, this will come down to the wire as the gap in what can be achieved in the deal is still daunting.　Both negotia

• Columnists

  

  What North Korea could learn from Vietnam

  Vietnam is more than a convenient neutral site for the second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, which is slated for later this month. The Southeast Asian nation is being held up as a model for what Kim’s isolated country could become if he adopts sweeping market reforms.　The choice facing Kim at the Hanoi summit is the same as it’s always been: weapons or wealth. The US has long offered North Korea a chance to develop its moribund economy in exchange

THE INVESTOR

• Stocks & Bonds

  

  Jewelry maker J.Estina owner family under fire for alleged insider trading

  Shareholders of South Korean jewelry maker J.Estina are under scrutiny for abusing insider information after selling off stakes just ahead of financial reports about its ballooning losses and a two-year losing streak.Financial authorities said they are closely monitoring the listed company.“(The financial watchdog) has yet to start investigating (J.Estina),” a Financial Supervisory Service official in charge of capital market surveillance told The Investor. “Once it does commence, we will look i

• Samsung

  

  Kim Jong-un unlikely to tour Samsung’s Vietnamese smartphone factory: sources

  Chances that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un would visit Samsung Electronics’ smartphone factory in Vietnam appear to be slim, according to sources close to the matter. “Not only does North Korea require permission from the South, nothing is being discussed in this regard,” said one industry watcher. A Samsung official confirmed with The Investor on Feb. 18 that the company also has not received requests from either North Korea or Vietnam. The Seoul government, however, remains mum on the issue.

• LG

  

  LG all out to regain market share with upcoming G8, V50

  For Korean electronics giant LG Electronics, shoring up its ever-shrinking presence in the global smartphone market is a higher priority than anything else in 2019, including rolling out eye-catching products like foldable and rollable devices, according to LG mobile chief Kwon Bong-suk, who heads both the mobile unit and home appliance division under the tech firm from this year.“(Like its rivals,) LG already has all the cutting-edge technologies, such as rollable, foldable and dual-screen smar

• LG

  

  LG CNS, AWS to accelerate corporate data migration to cloud

  LG CNS said on Feb. 17 it has signed an agreement with Amazon Web Services for strategic cooperation to accelerate data cloud migration by companies here.The two will collaborate in developing a program for businesses here to move their corporate data to the cloud in a “faster and easier way,” it said.In addition, LG CNS will be the first South Korean company to adopt AWS’ 50 in 50 program, under which 50 applications can be migrated to the cloud in 50 days.The program will first be applied to L

K-POP HERALD

• 

  8 cover songs BTS made their own

• 

  ‘Save Me,’ Episode 6, recap

• 

  50 facts about V of BTS

HERALD INTERVIEW

• Industry

  

  ‘4th industrial revolution’ technologies now crucial for customs clearance

• Foreign Policy

  

  Peace treaty for Korean Peninsula should be on agenda for Trump-Kim summit, peace activist says

• Television

  

  ‘I have fans in their 20s now’: ‘SKY Castle’ star Yum Jung-ah

• Food

  

  ‘Chocolate is all about love after all’

PHOTO NEWS

• Travel

  

  Walking through early 1900s at Seoul Station

  Crowds of daily commuters and tourists hopping on and off KTX bullet trains make it easy to overlook the old Seoul Station, which was restored to its former glory almost half a decade ago. The red-brick Western-style building, which opened in 1925 during the Japanese colonial rule of Korea, no longer serves as a train station. In 2012, it was revamped into Culture Station Seoul 284, an exhibition space. Its turquoise Byzantine-style central dome is a stark contrast to its modern surroundings, in

VIDEO

• Industry

  

  Netmarble eyes growing business in Thailand

• Social affairs

  

  Contract worker’s funeral held two months after death

• Television

  

  Lee Na-young, Lee Jong-suk to show romance in publishing industry in new rom-com

• Food

  

  Seoul’s sweet rendezvous with chocolate, ‘Salon du Chocolat’

FEATURES

• Social affairs

  

  Unchanged taximeters confuse drivers, passengers after implemented rate hike

  Rushing to a business meeting, Kim Ha-min, 34, took a taxi. The fare on the taximeter showed 6,100 won ($5.42), but the driver told him to pay extra money as the fare has been raised.“I don’t remember exactly, but I had to pay some extra 1,000 won,” Kim said.“I couldn’t really check the fare table hung at the front seat, as I was in a hurry, but I’m not sure the calculation was right.” A table hung behind a taxi’s front seat shows new cab fares. (Yonhap)The basic taxi fare in Seoul has increased

• Industry

  

  Hyundai reaches tentative settlement in US class-action suit over ‘exploding’ sunroofs

  Hyundai Motor on Sunday confirmed a report that it had reached a tentative settlement with plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit in the US over panoramic sunroofs that shattered suddenly, although the company said the decision did not mean its automobiles were defective.The class-action suit was filed in 2015 in the US District Court for the Central District of California.Hyundai car owners there complained that Sonata, Tucson, Santa Fe, Veloster, Elantra GT, Azera and Genesis models produced on

• Film

  

  ‘Resistance’ an uninspiring story of inspiring heroes

  It’s one thing for Jo Min-ho to direct a steaming pile of you-know-what like “A Million” and call it a “thriller.” But when you take a tale of Yu Gwan-sun -- one of the most-recognized independence fighters in Korea, yet whose story has not appeared in many films -- and butcher it like this, it is just unforgiveable.“A Resistance,” the movie about the heroic 16-year-old who died while fighting against Japan’s colonization of Korea, was one that had so much potential and one that I prayed would b

• Social affairs

  

  3 in 10 South Koreans reside in Gyeonggi, Incheon

  SEJONG -- The number of residents in Gyeonggi Province and Incheon is continuously growing amid high apartment prices in Seoul, which saw its population reduce by about 90,000 on-year -- and 440,000 over the past 10 years -- to 9.76 million as of January.According to the Ministry of Interior and Safety data, the number of Gyeonggi Province-registered residents came to 13.09 million last month, up 15.8 percent or 1.79 million in a decade from 11.30 million in January 2009. (Graphic by Heo Tae-seo