Let’s go back in time to the early 2000s and say you have $1 million to invest in either a fully developed or an emerging market. what would you choose? Many would opt for the emerging market, with the rationale being that investing in a rapidly developing market would generate quick and high returns. But betting on a fast-growing part of the world has actually led to losses for many over the p...

An increase in global trade has created a borderless world and spurred competition, calling on businesses to develop and introduce technologies for a wide range of consumers with different tastes. A new market called for companies to adopt innovative strategies that include safeguarding their inventions by filing their intellectual properties as efficiently and globally as possible amid growing ...

Eva Yoo Ri Brussaard, president of the Single SuperMom Foundation, an organization in the Netherlands which she founded to support unwed mothers and their children, finds many parallels between the Netherlands 30 years ago and Korea today when it comes to single mothers. “Being an unwed mother in the Netherlands was also seen as shameful and something to be hidden. Young girls were often sent of...

JEJUDO ISLAND ― The reemergence of the Cold-War political structure amid the East-West standoff over the Ukraine crisis could benefit North Korea as it would put the isolated state under the protective umbrella of one of the two competing blocs, said a North Korea expert. During an interview with The Korea Herald, Rudiger Frank, professor at the University of Vienna, also pointed out that “Cold ...

BUSAN ― GM will not leave South Korea, according to the carmaker’s president Sergio Rocha. “I can reassure you that GM is here to stay,” Rocha said on Thursday on the sidelines of the Busan International Motor Show, holding up his right hand as if he was making an oath, during his interview with The Korea Herald. He was addressing concerns that the recent recall orders issued on GM autos manufa...

Despite being one of the lesser-known candidates in the June 4 local elections, Cho Hi-yeon is no stranger to those familiar with Korea’s social movements. The sociology professor spent his early days fighting the iron-fisted rule of former president Park Chung-hee and has devoted much of his life to civil rights activism. The 57-year-old said he would now focus on transforming Korea into a welf...

In 2005, 40-year-old Aussie Joseph Mervyn Cross decided to consume nothing but vegetable juice for two months. At the time, he weighed almost 145 kilograms and suffered from an autoimmune disease that forced him to take the steroid prednisone for years to ease the pain. His doctors told him he would die early. But after switching to the juice diet, Cross’ weight dropped to 100 kilograms and his...

The determination in their eyes is undeniable as the six tight-knit school chums from Baekseok University in South Chungcheong Province talk about their mission to show the public that aspiring musicians don’t have to come out of one of the elite universities in Seoul to make a dent in the music scene. Classmates S.Jay, Coontza, Junohwani, Pangju, dB and JINew all met as music technology majors,...

Incumbent Seoul education superintendent Moon Yong-rin vowed to reform the the traditional emphasis on rote memorization, which stifles creative thinking, if he is reelected as the capital’s education chief in the upcoming June 4 local elections. “My dream is to educate the students in a way that encourages their dreams and talents, but one year and four months in office was too short to realize...

A growing number of countries, particularly developing countries in Asia, are seeking to learn about Korea’s forest rehabilitation and forest management know-how. Korea has worked to green up its open spaces over the past 40 years, and its successful reforestation policy has been looked on as a benchmark for countries seeking reforestation in a short period of time. “Inquires from overseas have...

Koh Seung-duk has seemingly done it all. He was the first person to pass Korea’s state exams for law, public administration and diplomacy. Having spent three decades as a lawyer, while at the same time appearing on TV as a legal expert for 20 years and spending 15 years as a financial adviser, Koh became a member of the National Assembly in 2008. But the 56-year-old is not widely seen as an edu...

This is the seventh installment in a series of interviews with chiefs of United Nations offices in Korea. ― Ed. With free trade emerging as a global norm for growth, new U.N. rules on transparency in disputes between investors and host countries will play a key role in bolstering their relations while providing greater public access to arbitration procedures, UNCITRAL’s regional chief said. Deb...

Adi Ofek, managing director of Mercedes-Benz Financial Services Korea, had no hesitations on joining the Korean team in January. Among several options given to the then-chief risk officer of Daimler in Africa and the Asia-Pacific, Korea was almost her own choice, she recalled. “It was because of the people. I felt very much at home whenever I visited Korea on business trips,” the Israeli CEO sai...

South Korea can avoid possible economic risks by seeking to gradually transform its economy through structural reforms, rather than depending solely on monetary policies, according to a senior Japanese economist. Such is the lesson that Korea can learn from Japan, despite their complicated historical ties, said Naoyuki Yoshino, professor of economics at Keio University, in a recent telephone int...

Artist Lee Wan discovered one day that the ingredients of the bread and carrot juice he had for breakfast came from more than 10 countries. The bread was made with flour from the U.S. and cooking oil from Malaysia, baked in China and sent to Korea. For him, the process was incomprehensible and even seemed inefficient. To understand the complex system behind his breakfast, he thought he had to bec...