South Korea saw its exports sink 24.3 percent in April from a year earlier due to the COVID-19 pandemic and falling oil prices. The country also saw the first monthly trade deficit since 2012, data from the Trade Ministry and the Korea Customs Service showed. Exports reached $36.9 billion, compared to $48.7 billion a year ago. Imports also declined 15.9 percent on-year to $37.8 billion. Imports surpassed exports by $950 million in the month, breaking the 98 consecutive months of trade surplus.

Lenin once said, “There are decades where nothing happens and there are weeks when decades happen.” One of the unsung and first casualties of humanitarian crisis situations is the neglect of applied research: Research that can otherwise tell us what works, for whom, how much, why and under what circumstances. Indeed, a recent article in the journal Science discusses scientists who are having to abandon projects they have otherwise invested lifetimes in because of COVID. This is no

The Korea Herald is running a regular contribution series written by senior investment strategists at Standard Chartered Group Wealth Management. -- Ed. What we have experienced in the past two months is unprecedented. The COVID-19 global pandemic and the resulting physical lockdowns will deliver a massive blow to the global economy. France’s statistical office estimates the current lockdown will cost the French economy 35 percent of daily GDP as long as it continues. That means a one

The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed more than 202,000 lives and thrown the global economy into chaos.　 It’s making the world more dangerous, too.　 In the Middle East, Iranian gunboats have harassed US warships in the Persian Gulf, and Iranian-backed militias have attacked US bases in Iraq.　 In Asia, China has continued its drive to take control of the South China Sea, sinking a Vietnamese fishing boat and sending an oil survey ship into Malaysian waters.　 North Korea, which hates to be o

South Korea saw less than 10 new daily COVID-19 infections for four days straight on Saturday, taking a step closer to loosening its social-distancing guidelines. The nation's total number of cases stood at 10,780, with six new imported infections and no new local ones, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The daily figure had peaked on Feb. 29 at 909. With two more cases added, the death toll rose to 250 and the fatality rate reac

South Korea experienced one of the world’s largest initial outbreaks of COVID-19 outside China. But unlike the United States and many European countries, we have been able to contain and drastically reduce the spread of the virus, at least so far -- and without imposing a nationwide lockdown. Our response may provide insights that can help other governments and civil-society groups working to combat the pandemic. So, how did we do it? As is widely known, South Korea’s government fo

An electronic sign at Jejin Station reads, “Train to Kumgangsan.”  The station had been abandoned since 1967, but Transportation Minister Kim Hyun-mee and Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul signed a rail tie this week at a ceremony where they promised to reconnect the inter-Korean railway. (Photos: Yonhap) (khnews@heraldcorp.com)

The number of corporate employees in South Korea dropped on-year for the first time last month, according to data by the Ministry of Employment and Labor. Hit hard by the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak, local business entities with at least one employee had 18,278,000 employees as of the last working day of March. It marked a decrease by 1.2 percent from 18,503,000 recorded a year earlier. It is the first on-year drop of the figure since the ministry began collecting relevant dat

Turns out, President Donald Trump’s supporters were right when they denounced his most fervent critics’ over-the-top comparisons of him to Hitler. Maybe the more apt comparison is to longtime former Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. When I first arrived in the Soviet Union as an exchange student in 1978, I was shocked to see the long lines outside food stores and the bare shelves inside. Shocked to see how rumors of a meat delivery would send Russian women racing to the butcher, pushin

International Youth Fellowship founder and pastor Park Ock-soo (right) and Fijian Ambassador Peniana Lalabalavu sign a memorandum of understanding in Seoul on Tuesday to promote educational exchange activities for young people and to cooperate in cultural and economic areas.  IYF established a Fiji branch in January 2013 and since then it has carried out various educational activities for young people such as overseas volunteering, character education, cultural exchange and character camp

Amidst the widespread global spread of COVID-19, a videoconference between Korea and France was held on April 10 under the auspices of the Korean-French Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Introducing the current status of Korea’s response to COVID-19 and changes in the foreign direct investment environment, about 400 participants, including the French ambassador in Korea as well as French government officials, congressmen, companies and media, showed great interest in Korea’s quarant

State-run Korea Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of Korea have prepared additional 1.2 trillion won ($975 million) worth of financial aid package for Korean Air to help the struggling airline amid the COVID-19 crisis. The two banks will extend 200 billion-worth loans, purchase 700 billion won worth of securities and buy 300 billion won in perpetual bonds convertible into stocks. In return, the country’s largest airline promised to improve its financial status by selling more