SPOTLIGHT

• People

  

  Song-Song couple divorces without division of property: Song Hye-kyo’s agency

  Actors Song Joong-ki and Song Hye-kyo have finalized their divorce, as the court approved the divorce settlement Monday.The settlement comes one month after Song Joong-ki filed for divorce from Song Hye-kyo at the Seoul Family Court. According to Song Hye-kyo’s agency UAA, there will be no division of property or settlement money.The two tied the knot in October 2017 after meeting as the co-stars of hit TV drama series “Descendants of the Sun” in 2016.By Im Eun-byel (silverstar

• Social affairs

  

  Newly registered pet dogs up 40% in 2018

  The number of newly registered pet dogs in South Korea rose nearly 40 percent in 2018 from a year earlier, the country's animal quarantine agency said Monday.Around 147,000 new dogs were registered to the state-run Animal Protection Management System last year, compared with the newly registered 105,000 pet dogs a year earlier, according to the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency. Since 2014, all pet owners are obligated to register their dogs to the system. As of 2018, the accumulated number of

• Soccer

  

  Kane stunner earns Spurs victory over Juventus

  SINGAPORE (AFP) -- Harry Kane scored a stunning 93rd minute winner from the halfway line as Tottenham Hotspur edged Juventus 3-2 in an entertaining pre-season friendly in Singapore on Sunday.The England captain latched onto Lucas Moura's short pass and launched a first-time shot high over a scrambling substitute keeper Wojciech Szczesny as Spurs rallied past new manager Maurizio Sarri's Italian champions in front of a delighted National Stadium crowd. "It's probably one of the best goals of

• More sports

  

  Former world champion Park Tae-hwan offers encouraging words to Korean swimmers

  If any South Korean athlete knows about competing under pressure, it's Park Tae-hwan, the only swimmer from the country to have won an Olympic gold medal and a world title.With the FINA World Championships underway in Gwangju, Park, an honorary ambassador for the competition, paid a visit to this southern metropolitan city to meet with fans and support national team athletes. Park arrived to spend a few hours here after all but one South Korean swimmer were eliminated in the heats on Day 1 of th

LATEST NEWS

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  Foreign Policy

  Korean War veterans to visit S. Korea this week

  A group of international soldiers who fought in the 1950-53 Korean War under the UN flag will visit South Korea this week as part of a program to express appreciation for their service, Seoul's veterans ministry said Monday.A total of 107 war veterans and their family members from 16 countries, including the United States and Australia, are scheduled to make a six-day trip starting Tuesday, according to the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs.During the visit, they plan to tour major secur

• 

  Automode

  Renault Samsung adds KT’s voice assistant tech to new QM6

  Automaker Renault Samsung said Monday it has partnered with telecom firm KT to provide Easy Link, a “vehicle infotainment” system utilizing voice assistant technology.Easy Link is a new in-vehicle system that provides a combination of information and entertainment to car users. It will be equipped on the upgraded QM6, the company’s most popular midsized sport utility vehicle model that was unveiled in June. According to Renault Samsung, with a simple call to Giga Genie, KT&rsqu

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  Foreign Affairs

  Korean ship attacked by pirates near Singapore Strait

  A South Korean freighter was attacked by pirates near the Singapore Strait on Monday, government officials in Busan said.The pirates armed with guns and other weapons assaulted sailors of the South Korean-registered vessel, the 44,132-ton CK Bluebell, in the sea about 100 miles from the entrance of the strait at 4:25 a.m. before making off with $13,000 in cash, according to the officials at the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries. No casualties were reported from the attack, they said, no

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  People

  Court approves divorce settlement for Song couple

  A family court on Monday approved a divorce settlement for high-profile star couple Song Hye-kyo and Song Joong-ki, allowing them to get legally divorced. The Seoul Family Court held a closed-door hearing over the divorce arrangement for the couple but did not provide details.Last month, their legal representatives said the couple were taking legal steps to part ways, about two years after their marriage.The 33-year-old Song tied the knot with the 37-year-old actress in October 2017 after they a

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  Foreign Policy

  Seoul ramps up drive to win int'l support over trade dispute with Japan

  South Korea's trade ministry said Monday it will send a deputy minister to a meeting of the World Trade Organization General Council this week to tell the international community that Tokyo's export curbs against Seoul run counter to international rules and that it should retract the measures immediately.Kim Seung-ho, deputy minister for multilateral and legal affairs at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, will attend the WTO meeting on Tuesday (local time) in Geneva, Switzerland, where

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  North Korea

  NK leader takes part in nationwide local elections

  North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has cast his ballot in nationwide elections held over the weekend to choose new deputies to the country's local assemblies, Pyongyang's state media said Monday.Kim visited a polling station in South Hamgyong Province on Sunday and voted for candidates who are running for deputies in the area, according to the Korean Central News Agency. The North's local assemblies for provinces, cities and counties meet once or twice a year to decide on their budgets and other re

• 

  Industry

  Chief of Korean memory chip maker flies to Japan amid trade row

  Lee Seok-hee, the CEO of South Korean memory chip maker SK hynix Inc., flew to Japan Sunday to discuss resourcing in the wake of the Japanese government's tighter regulation on exports of critical semiconductor materials to South Korea. Early this month, Japan imposed stricter regulations on exports to South Korea of three materials -- resist, etching gas and fluorinated polyimide that are critical for the production of semiconductors and flexible displays. Tokyo is reportedly planning to expand

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  World

  Lotte Duty Free, Shilla Duty Free among global top 5 travel retailers

  　Two South Korean duty-free operators were among the world’s top five travel retailers in 2018, an industry report showed.　Lotte Duty Free maintained the second spot with 6.09 billion euros ($6.84 billion) in sales last year, due mainly to Chinese resellers who buy products in large quantities and sell them back home, according to the Moodie Davitt report. 　Shilla Duty Free, the operator of duty-free shops owned by Hotel Shilla, leaped to third place from fifth after recording 5.47 billion

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  Finance

  2019 has been good for investors so far, but can it last?

  The Korea Herald is publishing a regular contribution series written by senior investment strategists at Standard Chartered Group Wealth Management. -- Ed.Asset markets rebounded strongly in the first half of 2019, following a poor 2018. Global equities led the way, rising more than 10 percent, but bonds (particularly riskier bonds) also performed well. Oil has rallied and gold recently broke out into a six-year high. The strong first-half performance has made some investors cautious on the outl

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  Culture

  2019 IYF World Culture Camp wraps up

  The 2019 IYF World Culture Camp, the largest cultural camp for undergrads worldwide, ended its two-week run Thursday at Namdong Gymnasium in Incheon.  The camp is International Youth Fellowship’s annual event that offers a wide variety of programs, with the aim of offering education and introduction to Korean culture to students from around the world.The 22nd edition of the cultural event kicked off in Busan on July 7, with some 4,000 participants from about 60 countries. Programs for

GRAPHIC NEWS

OPINION

• Columnists

  

  South Korea foreshadows gray, slow-growth future

  In 1960, South Korea had a total fertility rate of more than six children per woman, high enough to cause a population explosion. But as the country developed, this number dropped decade by decade:A country needs a fertility rate of about 2.1 -- a little more than one child per parent -- to maintain long-term population stability. South Korea’s fertility is now about half that number. And it’s still falling. The country’s statistics office reported that in 2018, the fertility r

• Columnists

  

  What is the definition of a racist in 2019?

  It is astounding that 159 years after the end of the Civil War we are having a full-throated debate about whether the US president is a racist. Or is that surprising?Donald Trump’s tweet that four Democratic congresswomen of color should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” (Three were born in the US; another is a legal immigrant) caused the House of Representatives to pass a resolution denouncing his comments. It was, perhap

THE INVESTOR

• Blockchain

  

  [INTERVIEW] For blockchain business success, S. Korea firms need to open up themselves

  Korea’s blockchain accelerator Hashed chief Simon Kim says Trump’s comment on Bitcoin is $1 trillion worth of PR campaign

• Startups & Investors

  

  Priceza CEO hopes to change Thailand’s e-commerce landscape

  BANGKOK -- Southeast Asia has been one of the hottest destinations for venture investors and startups in recent years. Its combined population of almost 700 million offers opportunities for businesses ranging from e-commerce to mobility services. Thanawat Malabuppha, co-founder and CEO of Priceza, a shopping search engine and comparison platform in Thailand, said the e-commerce markets of Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries have huge potential due to their sheer size. But he warned that

• Bio & Medicine

  

  Stocks held by K-pop agency owners plummet

  The value of stocks owned by both former and current entertainment agency owners in South Korea dropped nearly 30 percent compared to last year, data showed on July 21, as the industry is struggling to cope with a slew of scandals as well as trade tensions between Korea and Japan, a key market.According to conglomerate research firm Chaebul.com, the combined value of stocks held by seven most stock-rich entertainment agency owners fell 28.7 percent to 512 billion won ($435.5 million) as of July

• Samsung

  

  Samsung seeks to diversify smartphone display, battery suppliers

  Samsung Electronics appears to be turning to domestic electronics parts makers, especially for its upcoming mobile devices, amid Japan’s economic reprisal, according to industry sources on July 21.  The South Korean tech giant is deemed to be the biggest victim of Japanese restrictions on exports of three key hi-tech materials -- fluorinated polyimide, photoresist and hydrogen fluoride -- which can smother the production of both semiconductors and smartphones.  For the

K-POP HERALD

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  Kang Daniel ready to step back into spotlight

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  Meet songwriting duo behind Red Velvet’s ‘Zimzalabim’

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  We hope to become a band that sings every moment’: DAY6

HERALD INTERVIEW

• Technology

  

  How Facebook addresses beautification

• Finance

  

  Mirae Asset stands tall on Wall St. amid strong rivals

• More sports

  

  Diver Woo Ha-ram eyes 1st medal after strong performance in preliminaries

• Life&Style

  

  Chef goes on shining without star

PHOTO NEWS

• Social affairs

  

  Where startup dreams come true

  With an aim to nurture startups and create an environment where startups can thrive, Seoul Metropolitan Government established Seoul Startup Hub in 2017. It’s designed as a place where investors, conglomerates, startups and consumers can interact and build networks. Seoul Startup Hub has since become a platform to help Koreans make their dreams of launching startups come true -- from planning to implementing their ideas -- as it provides professional consulting, lectures and prog

VIDEO

• Food

  

  Behind jewelry shops, pairing pork, kimchi and oysters in Jongno

• Food

  

  Tender, sweet spareribs at Seongsu-dong

• Social affairs

  

  Partisanship pauses for Lee Hee-ho’s funeral

• Industry

  

  Big buyer NHIS signals real estate market trend shift

FEATURES

• Music

  

  Offering classical music to more in Seoul

  With tickets to classical music concerts typically around 100,000 won ($85), and sometimes triple that for big-name performers, prices have been a major barrier to widening the audience for classical music.To lower that barrier, organizations hold concerts for free or at a relatively affordable price, sponsored by the government or companies. These outreach concerts often feature pieces with a wide appeal and recognition, even among people unfamiliar with classical musicConcerts move out of conc

• Industry

  

  Calm, steady approach needed to tackle Japan’s export curbs: SK chief Chey

  KCCI chief urges political unity to support Moon on trade dispute 　

• Economy

  

  ‘Sagging economy’ faces 2nd rebound in dollar, oil

  SEJONG -- Prices of the US dollar and gasoline directly affect a large proportion of South Korean businesses and households in terms of manufacturing costs and purchasing power.While monetary authorities sometimes have intervened in the foreign exchange market and hamper the cheap dollar in an attempt to promote exports, the greenback’s current strong position versus the Korean won suggests the local economy has been sagging.Simultaneously, a hike in international prices of crude oil, whic

• Economy

  

  Portion of pessimists over economy hits record: poll

  SEJONG -- A large proportion of self-employed people have closed their businesses and joined the growing number of jobless people over the past two years. Simultaneously, the state payment of unemployment benefits has climbed to an all-time high.The Moon government started providing some young jobless people with 3 million won ($2,540) for six months per individual, while the number of people who lost jobs has been drastically increasing among those in their early 50s, 40s and late 30s. The