SPOTLIGHT

• Theater

  

  Green witch works her magic in Korea

  ‘Wicked’ cast members open up about being part of the iconic musical

• Retail

  

  Hanmac: OB comes up with a fairly good rice-based lager

  Oriental Brewery unveiled its new beer “Hanmac” late last month, boasting it as “Korea’s representative lager project.” As the label suggests, the company, famous for its pale lager Cass, set the bar high for itself. ”Some lagers are more than just beers and represent their regions as they do in Germany, Belgium, and the Czech Republic. We hope that ‘Hanmac’ will captivate consumers with its refreshing flavor of Korean rice and become a true &ls

• Film

  

  Actor Han Ye-ri says ‘Minari’ did not take the easy way

  Focusing on her character’s reactions to what was going on in the story, Han says she had no difficulty playing an immigrant mother

• Food&Beverage

  

  Discovering the joy of making kimchi at home

  People around the world put their own twist on making the Korean staple for their tables

LATEST NEWS

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  Foreign affairs

  S. Korean top nuke envoy holds virtual talks on N. Korea with senior US diplomat

  South Korea's top nuclear envoy held video talks with a senior US diplomat Thursday about North Korea's denuclearization and related issues, the foreign ministry said. The talks between Noh Kyu-duk and Sung Kim, acting US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, came as the new US administration of President Joe Biden has been conducting a review of policy on North Korea. The US has stressed that the policy review will be carried out in close consultations with South Ko

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  Transport

  Hyundai wins most 2021 Top Safety Pick awards

  South Korean automaking giant Hyundai Motor Group said Thursday it has earned the most Top Safety Pick awards from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Hyundai Motor Co., Hyundai's independent brand Genesis and affiliate Kia Corp. received 12 Top Safety Pick (TSP) and five Top Safety Pick+ (TSP+) ratings from the IIHS in its latest round of crash-testing evaluations, a Hyundai spokesman said. Hyundai's Palisade SUV and Nexo hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicle, Kia's K5 sedan and

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  People

  YMCA hosts 2nd International School Ski Racing Competition

  It was a tough season for skiers this winter with many events canceled or scaled down to meet the COVID-19 safety requirements. However, Seoul YMCA managed to go ahead with its series of competitions for junior ski racers, while strictly complying with all COVID-19 regulations. The organization persevered to give youth skiers a sense of continuance after training hard all season. “Despite the hardships brought on by COVID-19, we believed it would be important to hold the competitions as

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  Defense

  Army soldier tests positive for COVID-19

  An Army soldier based in Paju, north of Seoul, has tested positive for the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Thursday. The soldier was confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 in a virus test conducted after a vacation in Seoul, according to the ministry. The latest case raised the total number of infections reported among the military population to 571. Of them, 558 have been fully cured and 13 are under treatment. Nationwide, South Korea added 396 new cases Thursday, bringing the tota

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  Social affairs

  S. Korea reports another highly pathogenic bird flu case, total now at 102

  South Korea's agricultural ministry said Thursday it has confirmed yet another case of highly pathogenic bird flu, raising the total caseload to 102. The latest confirmed case of the H5N8 strain of avian influenza came from an egg farm in Wonju, 132 kilometers east of Seoul, on the previous day, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Gyeonggi Province that surrounds Seoul accounted for 36 cases, followed by South Jeolla Province with 17. North Jeolla Province took up

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  Business

  [Graphic News] Samsung remains No. 2 chip buyer in 2020: report

  　Samsung Electronics remained the world’s second-largest chip buyer behind US tech titan Apple last year, a report showed, while manufacturers’ spending on semiconductors increased due to the pandemic-induced stay-at-home economy. 　Samsung, the world’s largest smartphone and TV maker, accounted for 8.1 percent of global semiconductor spending in 2020 after purchasing $36.4 billion worth of chips, up 20.4 percent from a year earlier, according to preliminary results from m

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  Social affairs

  New virus cases still rising 1 day before mass vaccine rollout

  South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases fell slightly below 400 on Thursday, a day ahead of the country's first rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, as sporadic cluster infections continued to pop up across the country. The country reported 396 more virus cases, including 369 local infections, raising the total caseload to 88,516, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Thursday's daily caseload marks a slight drop from 440 posted the previous day. The figures hovered a

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  Markets

  Seoul stocks open steeply higher on US Fed Chairman's soothing comments

  South Korean stocks opened steeply higher Thursday as the US Federal Reserve chairman's comments soothed inflation worries. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 47.82 points, or 1.6 percent, to 3,042.8 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks lifted largely on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's overnight reiteration that the world's largest economy still has a long way to go to recover from the pandemic's fallout. The rebound came a day after the key

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  Foreign affairs

  Vice FM calls for multilateral responses to human rights challenges posed by new technologies

  Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-moon has called for multilateral cooperation in addressing the challenges of new and emerging technologies to the efforts to protect human rights at a global forum, the foreign ministry said Thursday. Choi made the call at a virtual session of the Alliance for Multilateralism, a forum launched in 2019 to reinforce multilateralism, on Wednesday (Geneva time), as concerns rise that artificial intelligence and other digital technologies could hurt privacy and other

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  Olympic Games

  [Newsmaker] Koreas appear out of running for 2032 Olympics following IOC decision

  A potential joint bid by South Korea and North Korea to co-host the 2032 Summer Olympics has apparently collapsed before it took off in earnest, following a decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to pick an Australian city as its preferred candidate. After a meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Wednesday (local time), the IOC's Executive Board announced Brisbane will be its partner for "a targeted dialogue" on staging the 2032 Summer Olympics. The right to host the com

GRAPHIC NEWS

OPINION

• Viewpoints

  

  Pure motivation desired for academic research

  Academic freedom is universally recognized and constitutionally protected here like the precious freedom of expression and the freedom of movement. Then what about an academic paper on the World War II “comfort women” written by a Harvard University professor, who defined them as “willing prostitutes who carefully negotiated the terms of their contracts.” Whenever there arises controversy over the past and present plights of those old Korean women who were sexually abuse

• Viewpoints

  

  How to end a very long war

  On paper, the United States is committed to withdrawing its last 2,500 troops from Afghanistan less than 10 weeks from now, on May 1. That’s under a deal the Trump administration made last year with the Taliban, the Islamic guerrilla group fighting the Kabul government. But it’s far from certain that will happen. Neither the Taliban, the Afghan government nor the United States have kept all their commitments under the year-old agreement. The Taliban promised to reduce attacks on gov

THE INVESTOR

• Blockchain

  

  Bitcoin moves with extreme volatility amid warnings

  　Bitcoin prices continued to fluctuate on Feb. 24 as authorities in and out of the country expressed concerns over the digital coin’s volatility. 　After plunging 22 percent from Feb. 21’s record high of 65.84 million won ($59,294) to 50.9 million won on Feb. 23, 2021, bitcoin prices stabilized at about 57 million won in the morning on Feb. 24, Upbit data showed. 　The recent surge was driven by endorsements from Silicon Valley and Wall Street. Tesla, a US electric vehicle maker, s

• The Investor

  

  National Pension Service gains W72tr for 2020

  South Korea’s public pension fund, the National Pension Service, has logged a 9.7 percent return last year to gain 72.1 trillion won ($65 billion) in its preliminary estimate, the government said Feb. 24. Health Minister Kwon Deok-chul, who chairs NPS’ Fund Management Committee, added that the world’s third-largest pension fund was managing 833.7 trillion won worth of assets as of end-2020, in a committee meeting held in Seoul. The estimate will be finalized in June, according

• Market Now

  

  Provisioning, relief measures to support S. Korean banks’ performance: Fitch

  　US credit rating agency Fitch Ratings said on Wednesday that the near-term performance of South Korea‘s four major banks will be supported by loan-loss provisioning already made in 2020 and sustained relief measures introduced by the regulator. 　The pressure on their financial profiles, however, may persist as the ramification of last year’s pandemic-induced recession is likely to linger and affect the banks‘ asset quality and profitability, according to the company. 　&ldqu

• Market Now

  

  Once-hot P2P lending industry faces tough road ahead

  　Peer-to-peer lending platforms that were once the talk of the town are facing a myriad of challenges amid ongoing litigation and tougher regulations, highlighted by a lawsuit against Tera Funding, experts said on Feb. 23. 　Tera Funding is facing another class action from investors who are unhappy with delayed payments and loss of investments. This is the second time the company has had to deal with a lawsuit since August 2020 when a group of 500 investors took the company to the court, allegi

K-POP

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  Ateez to release Japanese album

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  BTS performs 'BE,' surprise Coldplay cover on 'MTV Unplugged'

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  BTS' 'Map of the Soul: 7' achieves record high 52nd consecutive week on Billboard 200

HERALD INTERVIEW

• Industry

  

  Software dons role of therapeutics

• Industry

  

  San Francisco recycling company aims to tackle 1/3 of Korea’s plastic waste

• Industry

  

  GenEdit to hone in on nervous system disorders in 2021 blueprint

• Social affairs

  

  ‘Foreigners in Seoul want more benefits, less discrimination’

PHOTO NEWS

• Travel

  

  Soraepogu, famous for fresh seafood, salted shrimp

  Soraepogu Fish Market located in Namdong-gu, Incheon, is a popular tourist attraction in the metropolitan area with more than 8 million visitors a year. The fish market, located about 32 kilometers from Gwanghwamun in downtown Seoul, is the nearest mudflat to the capital. At the market, large and small fishing boats can be seen bringing in freshly caught seafood from off the coast of Incheon. The place is famous for shrimp, salted fish and blue crab. A 1.56 million square-meter Sorae Ecologic

VIDEO

• Culture

  

  ‘Yut Nori’ a time-honored game for Lunar New Year’s holiday

• Food&Beverage

  

  Korean winter fruits to enjoy during frosty temperatures

• Social affairs

  

  A symbol of hope in COVID-19 era: Medical staff in suits

• Culture

  

  ‘Working from home’ to stay in 2021

FEATURES

• Industry

  

  Koo hopes to open new chapter for Korean trade body

  Top businessman marks first ‘non-bureaucrat’ chief for trade organization in 15 years

• Money

  

  Watchdog orders banks to compensate investors for damages from Lime misselling

  South Korea’s financial watchdog on Wednesday ordered two Korean commercial banks -- Woori Bank and the Industrial Bank of Korea -- to compensate end-investors for at least half of the damages they incurred in a 1.7 trillion won ($1.5 billion) misselling scandal involving now-defunct hedge fund Lime Asset Management. The authorities held the banks accountable for “poor efforts in the exercise of their duties to protect investors” when they sold nearly 300 billion won worth of

• Social affairs

  

  Politicians bicker over COVID-19 vaccines

  Politics are creeping into vaccine discussions in Korea with the country’s first jabs to be rolled out in just a few days, and scientists say they are wary of the non-experts in high offices playing politics with public health. In a Facebook statement posted Friday, Yoo Seung-min, a onetime presidential contender of a minor conservative party, suggested that President Moon Jae-in take the AstraZeneca vaccine to boost public confidence. “The dearth of data on the AstraZeneca vacc

• Industry

  

  Chey Tae-won named as incoming KCCI chief

  SK chief vows to play leading role in post-coronavirus economy