The Korean Pacific Philharmonic Orchestra is to hold a concert at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday, introducing classical music works from the 20th century. The concert, led under the baton of conductor Kang Won-ho, will present the overture from Verdi’s opera “La Forza del Destina” and Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra, Sz. 116, BB 123. Following the intermission, the orchestra will perform Reinecke’s Flute Concerto in D major, Op. 283, joined

With Korea relaxing COVID-19 restrictions in line with its “living with COVID-19” scheme, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization are to resume a discount coupon program for travel accommodations to encourage the local tourism industry hit by the virus crisis. The Culture Ministry launched the coupon program twice last year, but had to suspend it to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus infections. Before the suspension, 520,000 coupon

The US Federal Reserve’s decision to dial back its bond-purchasing program in November will have a limited impact on the Korean financial market, the Korean government said Thursday while vowing to monitor market uncertainties surrounding the inflation outlook in the US. As widely expected, the Federal Open Market Committee, the US Fed’s monetary policymaking body, announced that it would reduce its bond purchases by a total of $15 billion a month starting in November. It left it

Female nonregular workers hit all-time high in 2021

President Moon Jae-in expressed high hopes for battery partnerships with Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia at a first business forum held between South Korea and the Visegrad Group nations in Budapest on Wednesday. The forum was held on the sidelines of Moon’s state visit to Hungary and a series of summit meetings with the leaders of the four Central European nations during his stay. “The Visegrad Group has become South Korea’s largest investment destination

The head of KT Corp., a South Korean telecom giant, was indicted Thursday along with more than a dozen of company officials for allegedly making illegal political donations in the past, prosecutors said. KT CEO Ku Hyeon-mo and 13 other company executives and managers were charged with violations of political fund laws and embezzlement. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office also indicted the company. Ku and the company officials are suspected of having purchased commercial gift certific

Samsung Biologics has purchased land in Songdo, Incheon, to build a production facility for genetic medicines, the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority said Thursday. The pharmaceutical firm has signed a deal with the authority, which oversees a plan to develop a bio cluster in Songdo, to purchase 10,000 square meters of land in the city. The site was put up for sale in June. There, Samsung Biologics is expected to construct a new facility to produce materials and drug platforms for genetic

South Korea's top power plant builder Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co. said Thursday that it has built an 18-megawatt wind farm in the southern tip of the country. The six 3-megawatt wind turbines built in Jangheung, about 400 kilometers south of Seoul, could generate enough electricity to power about 12,000 four-member households per year. Doosan Heavy has 3-megawatt and 5.5-megawatt wind turbines and is developing 8-megawatt wind turbines with the aim of commercial production

Apple Korea’s general manager Brandon Yoon will resign from his position, industry sources said Thursday. According to the sources, Yoon tendered his resignation from the position at the company on Thursday. The company refrained from offering a confirmation. Yoon has led Apple Korea since 2018. Before coming to Apple Korea, Yoon worked at Samsung Electronics. He also worked for Microsoft from 2003-2015. Industry sources said Yoon’s resignation is sudden and unexpected, given t

A former world champion boxer was sentenced to six months in prison Thursday on charges of sexually harassing a woman at a Seoul restaurant earlier this year. The Seoul Central District Court handed down the sentence to the 58-year-old man, surnamed Moon, and ordered him to complete 40 hours of a sexual offender treatment program. Moon was indicted on charges of inappropriately touching a body part of a woman who was dining at a table beside his at a restaurant in southern Seoul in June. Moon

Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Cho Yong-byoung vowed to contribute to South Korea’s swift transition into a carbon neutral society with the financial giant‘s net-zero goals at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, the firm said Thursday. The chief of Korea’s second-largest banking group by total assets on late Wednesday introduced Shinhan Financial’s own plans to achieve carbon neutrality in finance dubbed the “zero carbon drive

To ease a nationwide shortage of emissions control fluid for diesel vehicles, the South Korean government is getting hold of a key ingredient needed to make it from the industrial sector, officials said Thursday. In Seoul and major cities across the country, diesel exhaust fluid, without which diesel trucks cannot run, is in short supply, triggering fears for disruptions in cargo delivery. There is due to be a sharp drop in urea imports from China, which supplies more than 60 percent of the

Netflix Vice President of Public Policy Dean Garfield, decked in a green tracksuit costume from the hit Netflix show “Squid Game,” entered the press conference room at JW Marriott Dongdaemun Square Seoul on Thursday, accompanied by the theme song from the drama series. Garfield began his speech by talking about how Netflix is willing to invest more into creating Korean content. However, when addressing the most heated issue on paying internet service providers bandwidth usage fees,

Hybe, the K-pop powerhouse behind BTS, said Thursday that it has teamed up with South Korea’s top cryptocurrency exchange operator to establish a joint venture to branch out into the nonfungible token marketplace. The music agency is poised to acquire a 2.48 percent stake in Dunamu for 500 billion won ($423.7 million), as the operator of cryptocurrency exchange Upbit plans to issue 861,004 ordinary shares for third-party rights, offering to invite Hybe as a new shareholder. Dunamu also