Multiple indices show the grave condition faced by the South Korean auto industry due to drastic declines in exports coupled with low domestic demand.The Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association showed that in the first half of this year, a total of 1,324,710 domestic car brands were exported, the lowest in eight years. The drop was attributed to some 40 percent cut in the sales in China and GM‘s withdrawal from Europe that led to downsized exports by GM Korea.Domestic sales also dropped by 4

Korean conglomerates on Tuesday said they would become more socially responsible by seeking voluntary reform, as they prepared for their first meeting with President Moon Jae-in this summer organized by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry.The top 15 businesses here agreed to seek ways to expand fair and transparent partnerships with small and medium-sized companies in a meeting hosted by the KCCI amid growing calls for chaebol reform and fair trade.To restore their reputations, which were

An international children’s theater festival starts next week in Seoul, with a varied schedule looking to arouse curiosity and imagination in young children Among those leading the ASSITEJ Korea International Summer Festival will be performances from Mexico, this year’s featured country. Tumaka’t Danza Contemporanea will be staging two shows, “Brins” and nonverbal performance “Tubos.” Both use dance as their main form of communication.“In ‘Tubos’ we use cardboard tubes to express that the discar

On a hot June afternoon, a dozen expats met at Hannam Station Exit No. 1 and took a short walk over to Yongsan Senior Welfare Center to strike up conversations with the middle-aged men and women there. They are a diverse bunch. Some are on working holidays, drawn to Korea by a fascination with K-pop. Others are between jobs, keen to verify the depiction of the Korean War in their textbooks with the generation who experienced that period in history. Inside the teaching room, they stood in single

Lisa Crone relished being greeted by a cheery Jindo dog near her Damyang home each morning, until she suddenly stopped hearing its yelps as she approached the rice farm where it lived. The puppy that usually licked her so effusively had been struck by a car. Named Elsa, she was found barely able to move, paralyzed in her hind legs and with an arched spine. The 5-month-old’s owner had assumed she would die soon. She was a fighter though -- remaining alive but limp after a week. Crone made it her

The Seoul Shakespeare Company will hold their “Shakesperiments” workshop on July 23. Actors perform scenes or monologues of their choosing and then receive constructive feedback from other attendees following their performance.   (Seoul Shakespeare Company)Although the workshops mostly focus on Shakespeare, performers may also select excerpts from other classic or modern texts. The event is free to attend but small donations of 1,000 to 5,000 won to cover venue hire are welcome. On July 16, ther

Korea has seen foreign direct investment slump and investments by local companies abroad balloon over the past few years.According to data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Korean firms’ investments overseas amounted to $276.1 billion for a decade through 2016, nearly tripling $94.7 billion invested by foreign businesses in the nation over the same period.Last year alone, Korean companies invested $35.2 billion abroad, up 14.2 percent from the year before, strengthening effo

Airport fashion photos like these are popular entertainment news items, but a recent media report has claimed the outfit selections may not be as casual as they appear. This photo is not related to the article. (Herald DB)A steady stream of photos featuring Korean celebrities at Incheon International Airport, is featured by media. Their “off-duty” clothes, especially when going viral, often become instant hits. But according to the Munhwa Ilbo newspaper, the “airport fashion” worn by Korean star

Eric Thames has been a surprise. Slashing .248/.374/.562, and tied for fourth in the National League with 23 home runs, he is a big reason the Milwaukee Brewers enter the All-Star break in first place, having far exceeded their pre-season expectations.Brewers fans aside, perhaps the keenest observers of Thames’ unexpected success have been fans and players in the Korean Baseball Organization. Thames, who played for the KBO’s NC Dinos from 2014-2016, averaging a .349/.451/.721 line with 41 home r

Think of the North Korean problem as a set of two dangerous streams of activity, moving rapidly toward each other. One is the increasing range of the Kim Jong-un regime’s intercontinental ballistic missiles, which are now verifiably in the 3,000 to 4,000 mile range -- probably far enough to strike the continental US.The other stream consists of the North Koreans’ efforts to produce reliable nuclear weapons small enough to affix to the warheads of those ballistic missiles. Both US intelligence se

Persuading a dangerous country to abandon its ambition for nuclear weapons is akin to a two-horse race. In one lane is the adversary (say, North Korea) galloping ahead as quickly as possible toward ever greater levels of destructive capacity. In the other is the rest of the world (or whatever coalition of responsible nations can be cobbled together), using carrots and sticks to compel the adversary to slow, stop and ultimately reverse its course.The finish line (you could call it a red line) var