FUTURE OF DIGITAL CURRENCY -- Participants discuss the future of central bank digital currencies in a session at Deconomy 2018, held in Walkerhill Hotel in Seoul on Wednesday. From left are: Jeff Paik, chief executive at Finector; Clark Thompson, solution architect at Consensys; Ian Grigg, partner at Block.one; Antony Lewis, director of research, CBDC strategy at R3; and Stanley Yong, global lead for CBDC at IBM. Yonhap

Cherry blossoms are in full bloom near the Yeouido area in Seoul, as of Wednesday. The cherry blossom festival of Yeouido, a popular event in early spring, begins Saturday and runs until April 12. There is a flower-filled road located around Yunjung-ro, near the National Assembly Station on Subway Line No. 9. People usually stroll along the road prior to the festival, amid the flourishing trees. Written by Rumy Doo (doo@heraldcorp.com)  Photos by Park Hyun-koo (phko@heraldcorp.com)

GALAXY S9 IN RUSSIA -- Samsung Electronics features its latest Galaxy S9 smartphone series at the “Galaxy Studio” experience zone inside a shopping mall in Moscow, Russia, on Sunday. The space will remain open until mid-April. In addition to Russia, Samsung has opened Galaxy S9 experience zones in other cities around the world including Guangzhou, New York and London throughout this month and early May. (Yonhap)

Approaching the violin studio, visitors can smell a mix of scents lingering in the alley. Maple, spruce and the varnish applied to them that fill the air inside of the workshop spill out over into the alley through the front door. Located in central Seoul, the workshop run by master violinmaker Kim Dong-in, offers an unusual atmosphere.　Hung on the walls by the necks, the violins wait to be diagnosed by a “geigenbaumeister” -- or master violinmaker -- with notes that include the owners’ names an

(Hanwha Galleria)Hanwha Galleria officials on Tuesday paint a cherry blossom mural in Daerim-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, where Galleria Duty Free 63 is located. The company said 20 employees and six artists from Mullae Creative Village, an art village in Mullae-dong, worked together on the project. Galleria Duty Free 63 has been conducting its 63 Plan community outreach program since November 2015 to give back to the area. The 63 Plan includes projects targeting education, welfare and the envi

Spring blossoms at Sky Park in Sangnam-dong, Seoul, have fought their way out to shine in a city covered in a veil of fine dust.The extreme levels of fine dust in the country are expected to continue for the time being, according to the National Institute of Environmental Research. Ultra-fine dust bypasses the body‘s natural respiratory filter to go directly to the lungs, and can cause cancer in the long run. A safe rule to follow on smoggy days is to wear a mask for outdoor activities and wash

Lights dimmed across the city of Seoul on Saturday in celebration of Earth Hour, a one-hour event that involves switching off unnecessary electricity to conserve energy and take action against climate change.This year’s Earth Hour was at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday. From 5 p.m. on the day, people gathered at Seoul’s Cheonggye Plaza to sign a petition board set up by the Worldwide Fund for Nature in celebration of a movement to connect to the Earth. Messages crammed the board, such as “Fine dust, I wan

Yongma Land, a closed down theme park in the northern corner of Seoul, has lately seen an influx of visitors coming around to take photos with the battered vintage amusement rides in the background.The place can be eerie on first impression, with deserted rides standing still as if frozen in time. But since the park began to appear in K-pop videos and dramas, it has gained popularity even among foreign travelers. Perhaps the biggest boost the park received was through K-pop group Crayon Pop’s mu

(BGF retail)A customer picks up a box of packaged Korean pork from a vending machine at local convenience store chain CU on Thursday. In collaboration with Nonghyup and telephone company KT, CU said it has invented a “CU Internet of Things smart vending machine” which offers freshly packaged Korean beef and pork. Each box contains 300 grams of meat which is economical and convenient for single-person household, CU said.(khnews@heraldcorp.com)

The PyeongChang 2018 Winter Paralympics wrapped up Sunday, passing on the baton to Beijing, the next host city for 2022. The event in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province, set a new record for a Winter Paralympics event with the participation of a total of 567 athletes from 49 countries. In the previous Winter Paralympics held 2014 in Sochi, Russia, a total of 547 athletes from 45 countries had taken part. In addition, North Korea, Georgia and Tajikistan made their Winter Paralympic debuts this year.So

A highly anticipated vacuum TV ad featuring Korea’s women’s Olympic curling team began airing Saturday, according to LG Electronics on Sunday.The commercial uses the Winter Olympic sport as a motif to promote its Cord Zero A9, R9 and T9 vacuums. Starting with a cut of team skip Kim Eun-jung’s piercing stare, the team maneuvers LG Electronics’ vacuums to clean a house the way they maneuver brooms and stones on the ice.The Korean women’s curling team ultimately lost the gold to Sweden during the P

International visitors transformed into a palette of vibrant hues at the Holi Hai Festival of Colors, taking place on Wahyeon Beach in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, Sunday. The eighth annual festival, dubbed the “happiest event” in Korea, celebrates the coming of spring, the joy of friendship and values such as equality, while encouraging harmony between ethnicities and nationalities. The festival is held to mark the Indian end-of-winter festival of Holi, which people celebrate by spattering

Food delivery robot "Dilly" (Woowa Brothers)South Korean startup Woowa Brothers, which runs food delivery app Baedal Minjok, has developed a test prototype of an autonomous delivery robot, the company said Thursday. The robot called “Dilly” can move at a speed of 4 kph and detect obstacles with a location tracing sensor. It is being co-developed with a research team from Korea University and will be commercialized in two to three years, according to the company. (khnews@heraldcorp.com)

Models introduce Wind-Free air conditioners from Samsung Electronics at the Mostra Convegno Expocomfort 2018, a biannual trade exhibition in Italy dedicated to residential and industrial installations and air and energy solutions. Samsung Electronics will be presenting products targeting the European air conditioner market at the show, which runs from Tuesday to Friday. (Samsung Electronics)

Students from Seoul Chungmu Elementary School wrote encouraging messages to Uganda on Tuesday as part of the 10th annual fundraising event of nonprofit organization Good Neighbors.The Hope Letter Campaign began in 2009. This year’s event runs from March 2 through May 31 for students in elementary, middle and high schools nationwide. The students are invited to watch a video on a 10-year-old Ugandan boy named Simon, who works at a dust-filled quarry to make ends meet. Simon’s father, who had also