Most Popular
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[Exclusive] Korean military set to ban iPhones over 'security' concerns
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Korean, Romanian leaders discuss defense tech, nuclear energy
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[Graphic News] 77% of young Koreans still financially dependent
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S. Korea calls on Japan to confront history amid Yasukuni Shrine visit
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Yoon’s jailed mother-in-law excluded from latest parole list
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Hybe and Min Hee-jin, CEO of Hybe sublabel Ador, lock horns
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[Pressure points] Leggings in public: Fashion statement or social faux pas?
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Yoo Jae-suk, Yoo Yeon-seok team up in 'Whenever Possible'
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Aging population to drive down Korea's housing prices from 2040: experts
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North Korea holds drills simulating nuclear counterattack against enemy
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[Herald Interview] Tera Funding sets out to hedge risks of P2P project finance
The Korea Herald is publishing a series of interviews on promising startups in the financial technology industry. This is the 11th installment. - Ed.Since last year, South Korea’s financial watchdogs warned retail investors about crowdsourcing funds for peer-to-peer project finance, saying that their repayment capabilities could only be determined on projected cash flow without collateral.The high return -- often at above 10 percent -- that the instrument promises to the lenders, triggered
MarketMarch 6, 2018
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[Herald Interview] ‘Kazakhstan seeks Korean expertise in green technologies, investments’
Kazakhstan, the world’s largest landlocked country, has primarily relied on its coal, oil and natural gas for energy, but is now moving toward renewables as global trends change. With the world shifting away from polluting energy sources to cleaner forms, Kazakhstan is keen on making the transition and eventually becoming the region’s pacesetter in the green economy, according to its top diplomat in charge of green technology investments. The blueprint for Kazakhstan’s plan to become a greener e
Diplomatic CircuitMarch 5, 2018
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[Herald Interview] How embassy staffer became face of Finland in Korea
It’s pretty unusual for a staff member of a Nordic embassy to be a household name in Korea, but Petri Kalliola, a project coordinator at the Embassy of Finland, has made his mark in an unusual way. When he is not at the office, he can often be seen on TV entertainment shows, introducing his country to Korean viewers. Kalliola says his employer, the Finnish Embassy, has been supportive of his TV activities. He thanked his colleagues for putting up with his erratic schedule, but emphasized that hi
PeopleMarch 4, 2018
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[Herald Interview] Despite urgency, quest to unearth active faults face hurdles
For centuries, Korea has been a quake-free zone, but recent events have caused that to change. Of the 10 earthquakes in South Korea that registered 5.0 or higher on the Richter scale in its four decades of state measurement, half occurred after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake off the coast of Japan.The record 9.1-magnitude undersea quake, a subsequent seismic sea wave or tsunami and aftershocks have claimed over 15,000 lives in Japan. However, it also had an impact on tectonic activities in countries
Social AffairsMarch 2, 2018
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[Herald Interview] Corda eyes private, inclusive global banking network: R3 chief engineer
Distributed ledgers like the blockchain system are increasingly setting a new standard for paperwork-free global banking in various financial areas, such as the management of a cash pool for currency exchanges or payments, as well as trade finance. Spearheading the trend to minimize and possibly eliminate the manual business process in interbank transactions is a technology called “smart contract,” through which records of direct transactions between parties can be protected on a dec
MarketFeb. 25, 2018
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[Herald Interview] ‘Sunday Paintings’ record life of artist
In this age of Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, people’s lives seem to be fully on display, feeding our exhibitionist and voyeuristic tendencies at the same time. To be seen and to see has come to define our times.Yet, viewing US-based artist Byron Kim’s “Sunday Paintings” series at the Kukje Gallery in Sojeok-dong, Seoul, is an oddly discomfiting experience. In a series of 35.5 centimeter-by-35.5 centimeter canvases, the artist depicts the sky over wherever he may be on a given Sunday and write
CultureFeb. 23, 2018
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[Herald Interview] The man behind Soohorang the white tiger
Athletes competing in the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games are presented with a stuffed tiger when they step onto the podium. This peculiar scene often leaves many viewers wondering “Who made it?” Lee Hee-gon, chief marketing officer of mass C&G, explains PyeongChang Olympic mascots Soohorang and Bandabi. Park Hyun-koo/The Korea HeraldThe name of the non-athlete star and mascot of the Olympics is “Soohorang,” a combined word of “Sooho,” which means protection in Korean and “-rang,” the middle lette
Olympic GamesFeb. 22, 2018
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[Herald Interview] GM could ditch more plants: lawmaker
GUNSAN, North Jeolla Province -- As controversy persists over the decision by General Motors to pull out of Gunsan, a lawmaker representing Gunsan said that the US carmaker could ditch more factories in Korea to press the government.“After all, the company is pressurizing the government … If the answers are not enough to satisfy them, the next step could be made,” said Rep. Kim Kwan-young of the Bareun Future Party in an interview with The Korea Herald on Wednesday, a day after he met Barry Engl
MobilityFeb. 22, 2018
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[Herald Interview] Will inter-Korean detente continue after Olympics?
The PyeongChang Winter Olympics have brought about a rare detente between the two Koreas after years of military confrontations over Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missiles programs. The two Koreas created a unified women’s ice hockey team and marched under a unified flag. North Korea even invited President Moon Jae-in for a summit in the North’s capital. Yet, with less than a week to go before the Olympics end, there are concerns the Olympic detente will dissipate with the Winter Games
North KoreaFeb. 20, 2018
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[Herald Interview] Finda envisions online financial marketplace
The Korea Herald is publishing a series of interviews on promising startups in the financial technology industry. This is the 10th installment. - Ed.Despite living in the era of information technology, financial consumers in South Korea have found it hard to gain access to trustworthy information online about financial products to compare and choose what suits the best.Lee Hye-min, co-chief executive officer of financial technology startup Finda, said financial consumers’ basic necessities
MarketFeb. 20, 2018
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[Herald Interview] Relax, AI can’t take your job ... yet: BCG senior advisor
Artificial intelligence is growing smarter by the second, and soon it will be able to outsmart us and take our jobs -- or at least many fear it will.But this sentiment is largely premature, as AI in its current state is “not the beginnings of general intelligence,” Philip Evans, a senior adviser to the Boston Consulting Group, told The Korea Herald. Philip Evans, senior advisor to the BCG (BCG)“There is a widespread perception that AI is converging on human intelligence, that there is a process
TechnologyFeb. 19, 2018
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[Herald Interview] ‘Sexual harassment is not personal, but social problem’
When Silvia, not her real name, finally mustered up the courage to report sexual harassment by her work senior to her company, she expected the problem to be resolved, even if there was some awkwardness. But after a long battle, it was she who quit at STX. As for Katharina, who was a member of a church choir, it was not “insane” to ask her choir director to stop making sexual remarks. But when she raised the issue with Myeongdong Cathedral, it was her who faced opprobrium, for making a big deal
Social AffairsFeb. 19, 2018
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[Herald Interview] ‘Industry needs to do more to fight illegal fishing, labor abuses’
Few in South Korea would imagine that the fish they bought today at a cheap price might have been illegally taken or stolen from poor communities in Africa where fish is the only source of food and income. However, there is always someone paying the real price which often involves forced labor, poverty and malnutrition, says Steve Trent, executive director and co-founder of the Environmental Justice Foundation. “Very often, such things are not really cheap. Those abused were paying the real pric
Social AffairsFeb. 18, 2018
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[Herald Interview] From Brazil to Europe, VAV hopes to expand global footprint
Having recently returned from a tour in Brazil, K-pop boy band VAV isore motivated than ever, with a goal in mind to expand its reach all around the globe. "It’s really interesting that more than half of our social media followers were from Brazil, even before we visited the country. We didn’t realize our popularity in Brazil until we got there,” said Ayno from the seven-piece group in an interview with The Korea Herald in Seoul on Tuesday. VAV, from “Very Awesome Voice,” may sound unfamiliar to
PerformanceFeb. 14, 2018
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[Herald Interview] What life is really like in Korea: YouTubers Whitney, Kyu-ho
From Korean dramas, “Gangnam Style” and BTS to the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Korea has been on the receiving end of tremendous exposure to global audiences in recent years. But there are two influencers on YouTube who want to share with foreigners what “real life” -- often less glamorous but more human -- is like in Korea. The Korea Herald sat down with Lee Kyu-ho and Whitney on Feb. 7 at Google’s Campus Seoul to discuss their content. Whitney (left) and Kyu-ho talk with The Korea Herald o
PeopleFeb. 14, 2018
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[Herald Interview] We are moving from IT era to data era: Alibaba exec
The next evolution in the way companies do business will be represented by a movement from existing IT solutions to data and cloud-based solutions, according to an Alibaba executive.“In the next 20 years, the era will be changing from IT to data technology,” said Leo Liu, general manager for Alibaba Cloud for Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Korea, in an interview with The Korea Herald. According to Liu, the competitiveness of companies in the future will depend on how companies can use new technolo
TechnologyFeb. 14, 2018
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[Herald Interview] NK defector harbors hopes of returning to North under Moon administration
A North Korean defector, who has long demanded the South Korean government allow her to return to the North, said her hopes are up that she may be able to go back under the liberal Moon Jae-in administration.Kim Ryen-hui caught the South Korean public by surprise Monday morning when ran toward a bus parked at Dorasan Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Office that was to carry a North Korean art troupe back North after two performances to mark the PyeongChang Olympics. Kim Ryen-hui (Yonhap)Wavi
North KoreaFeb. 12, 2018
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[Herald Interview] ‘Blockchain can take on shady side of entertainment industry’
At the core of the success of K-pop and Korean drama series are record labels and management agencies that allow their artists’ work to be distributed to global audiences and help them earn star status through vigorous marketing.The commanding presence of such intermediaries in creating world-famous artists here may have proved successful so far, but it has also come with adverse effects and inefficiencies, such as frequent claims of artists being exploited or excessive financial burdens of agen
TechnologyFeb. 12, 2018
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[Herald Interview] Korea’s ODA needs better coordination: OECD DAC chief
Rising from the ashes of war with the help of overseas aid and transforming itself from a recipient to a donor country in nearly half a century, South Korea presents a leading example of how development aid can help lift a country out of poverty. South Korea is on the right track toward sharing its experience as a development success, but there is still room for improvement to boost the effectiveness of its aid programs, said the chief of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
Foreign AffairsFeb. 11, 2018
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[Herald Interview] Gangwon governor defines 23rd games as ‘cease-fire Olympics’
Gangwon is the only province that lies both South and North of the Korean Peninsula. And Cheorwon and Goseong counties in the province have also been split by the two Koreas for more than six decades.In that context, Gangwon Province and its regional government officials are pinning great hopes on the 23rd Winter Olympics, which kicked off in PyeongChang in the nation’s eastern province, Friday. North Korea’s participation in the games are estimated to have doubled the excitement of many officia
Olympic GamesFeb. 9, 2018