Data submitted by the Korea Customs Service for Rep. Kim Soo-heung of the Democratic Party of Korea in time for the annual financial audit showed that the amount of sales made at duty free stores in Incheon International Airport plunged nearly 90 percent in June compared to a year ago. Overall operation at international airports has been suffering due to travel restrictions worldwide amid the COVID-19 pandemic.  (khnews@heraldcorp.com)

Small wars can tell you a lot about the biggest geopolitical and military issues of the day. Consider the present conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. Most Americans have probably never heard of that disputed region in the Caucasus. But the fighting there reveals key fault lines in an increasingly disordered global environment, and it underscores crucial trends in the evolution of modern warfare. In some ways, there is nothing new about what is happening in Nagorno-Ka

Shipments of television sets worldwide broke records in the third quarter this year with the volume reaching around 62.05 million, according to market watcher TrendForce based in Taiwan. Topping the list of manufacturers were South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, with them respectively seeing 81.7 percent and 67.1 percent increases in the shipment compared to the second quarter. Three Chinese firms followed in the list. TrendForce said the rapid increase in the shipment

Latin America responded ambitiously, if not always efficiently, to the coronavirus pandemic, with many countries spreading cash, credit and tax deferrals to vulnerable companies and households. The emergency stimulus has injected bountiful resources into listing economies -- 12 percent of gross domestic product for Peru, 18 percent in Brazil, 5 percent in Argentina -- and helped those who were already struggling as well as 45 million more at risk of falling back into poverty. It has reduced job

When the coherent half of the Republican ticket participated in the vice presidential debate in the US this week, it was an opportunity for viewers to learn what the future holds. Yes, Vice President Mike Pence may be a talking-point machine, but to a debate audience that’s a more useful device than a random-lie generator. You can learn things from talking points. There’s only one problem: Republicans have no points to talk about. If elections are about the future, the GOP plans ar

According to a survey of self-employed people who went out of business this spring and participated in a state-sponsored recovery program, it took them an average of 6.4 months to go bankrupt from the initiation of their entrepreneurship. The survey by Small Enterprise and Market Service looked at 400 self-employed people whose businesses had failed between April 20 and April 29, and was released by Rep. Ku Ja-keun on Thursday. Upon bankcruptcy, these self-employed people on average had an ou

Criticism is mounting over the recent revelation of a high-ranking North Korean diplomat’s defection here by S. Korean media and lawmakers. A UN official called on both Koreas to make efforts to help the safety of the defector’s remaining family in the North, while Seoul’s unification minister directed an investigation into how such sensitive information could have been published. On Wednesday, Rep. Ha Tae-keung, a member of the National Assembly’s intelligence commit

Firefighters are at work to put out a fire at a high-rise apartment building in Ulsan on Friday after dozens of people were sent to hospitals for smoke inhalation. The blaze broke out at 11:07 p.m. Thursday at the 33-story Samhwan Art Nouveau commercial and residential building in Ulsan, and flames spread by strong winds engulfed the entire building at one point, sending hundreds of people to evacuate. At least 88 people have been sent to hospitals for inhaling smoke, and no deaths have been r

South Korea’s online shopping volume reached 14.38 trillion won ($12.4 billion) in August, the highest since records began in 2001. Mobile shopping volume was 9.32 trillion won, surpassing by far the money spent through online shopping on PCs. Online shopping also accounted for a record breaking 28.6 percent of overall retail sales, up 7.7 percent from the same time last year. While food delivery services and ready-made meals helped drive sales up as people spent more time at home foll

Unlike tens of millions of people around the world who have contracted COVID-19 because of their poverty, bad luck, vulnerability as essential workers or poor decisions by policymakers, US President Donald Trump’s infection is of his own making. Trump’s disdain for science and his brazen disregard for public-health advice led directly to his own illness; far worse, they have fueled America’s soaring COVID-19 death toll -- now at more than 214,000. Since the pandemic began, pub