Fair Trade Commission Chairperson Joh Sung-wook (center) tries out Relumino -- Samsung Electronics’ visual aid application for people with low vision -- during a visit to the gallery of C-Lab, the tech giant’s in-house incubator program, in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Monday. Joh joined Kim Ki-nam, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, and other executives during an event where Samsung announced programs to help partner firms. (khnews@heraldcorp.com)

Passengers buy tickets from automated motion-detecting ticket machines that do not require physical contact with touchscreens on the eve of the Chuseok holiday at SRT Suseo Station in Gangnam, southern Seoul, Monday. (khnews@heraldcorp.com)

Consumer sentiment in South Korea has shrunk for four months, as the government strengthened rules on social distancing amid the second wave of coronavirus infections.  According to a survey released by the Bank of Korea, the consumer sentiment index in September was 79.4, down 8.8 points from August. (khnews@heraldcorp.com)

In 2003, I was appointed by the Swedish government as Swedish member of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission, NNSC, in Panmunjom, South Korea. I served in that position for almost three years during 2004-2006. The NNSC is a body agreed upon in the armistice agreement of July 27, 1953, and my predecessors had their first meeting in Panmunjom on Aug.1, 1953. Arriving in Korea, I learned that we, the Swedes in NNSC, were not the first Swedish unit operating in Korea in connection to the Kore

In her first State of the European Union address, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen offered a wide-ranging view of the current moment. She touted Europe’s recent achievements and identified its goals for the coming years. She dedicated significant attention to the European Green Deal and the Digital Agenda, and called for the completion of the banking union and capital-market integration. In normal times, it would have been a solid, if not particularly inspiring, performan

Around the world, right-wing populists are hollowing out democracy and the rule of law. But unlike many 20th century dictators, today’s aspiring authoritarians have tried to preserve the facade of the institutions they are destroying, which creates a dilemma for opposition parties. Should they play by the rules of a game that is rigged against them, or should they start writing their own rules and risk accusations of being liberal democracy’s real gravediggers? The conventional wisd

As the COVID-19 pandemic prolongs, the number of marriages that took place during the first seven months of this year fell to 17,080, according to Statistics Korea. The number of births in July alone was the lowest on record, while the number of deaths was the highest on record. (khnews@heraldcorp.com)

Varying assessments over the years have fuelled an ongoing debate on the capabilities and strategic impact of North Korea’s cyber operations. On the one hand, sceptics argue that there are serious limitations to North Korea’s use of cyberspace for political purposes, particularly at the strategic level. According to this view, North Korea’s cyber capabilities do not provide Pyongyang with significant strategic advantages for achieving political aims, nor are they sufficient t

Herald Design Forum 2020 is to be broadcast live on the occasion of its 10th anniversary. An online forum was decided upon in consideration of participants’ health and safety amid COVID-19. However, the content of this year’s forum is more abundant than ever. Beginning with a congratulatory speech by Richard Armstrong of the Guggenheim Museum, one of the world’s most innovative art and design galleries, the forum will also feature a keynote speech by Ron Arad, one of the world

Caris Co. has won the New Excellent Technology certificate for its guardrail manufacturing technology that utilizes waste plastics. At the 2020 NET certificate award ceremony, CEO Yu Cheol received the NET certificate for the company’s five-layer ribbed structure guardrail manufacturing technology that uses a triple compression method incorporating waste plastics. NET-certified products are selected by the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards under the Ministry of Trade, Industry

After the COVID-19 outbreak, South Korea saw its number of travel businesses decline by around 1,000 compared to last year. According to data from the Korea Tourism Association, there were 21,671 travel related firms operating in the country as of June. The figure fell 612 or 2.7 percent from the end of last year. The number of Korean travel companies began rising since 2015, surpassing 20,000 in 2017. The figure hit its peak of 22,609 in September last year, the data showed. (khnews@he

Four out of 10 residents in Seoul said their mental health suffered due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a survey conducted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government showed. The survey was conducted online and analyzed by IBM‘s artificial intelligence chatbot. As for reasons behind their mental health suffering, respondents cited economic hardship, lack of leisure and outdoor activities, sparse interaction with people, inconvenience in wearing masks and not being able to meet with family and friends.