SPOTLIGHT

• Social affairs

  

  Sexual minorities, activists call for legalization of gay marriage

  Some 40 gay couples and rights activitists held a press conference in front of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea in Seoul on Wednesday, calling for legalization of same-sex marriage and filed a petition with more than 1,000 signatures with the human rights panelThe coalition of civic groups filing the petition shed light on intolerance toward same-sex relationships. “The basic rights to marriage and family life guaranteed by the Constitution are not protected for gay couples in

• Television

  

  YouTube spotlights Korean game content creators

  YouTube held a mentoring program that focused on the development of Korean game-related content creators this week. Creator mentoring program YouTube NextUp was held for the first time in Korea in Seoul from Monday to Wednesday, inviting 12 game content creators, who shared videos of themselves playing mobile and PC games. According to YouTube, game content creators with 1,000 to 100,000 subscribers were invited to apply for the program. More than 120 creators signed up, and YouTube employe

• Television

  

  First-generation variety show emcees reach new career heights

  Comedians Yoo Jae-suk and Kang Ho-dong were top hosts on local TV entertainment programs for more than a decade.In the 2010s, they led countless smash hit variety and reality shows including "Infinite Challenge," "Running Man," "Two Days, One Night" and "Golden Fishery" and swept year-end TV awards given to the brightest entertainers of the year.But their presence had diminished in the last few years as the media landscape expanded to cable TV channels and

• Soccer

  

  S. Korea looking to end World Cup qualifying for 2019 on winning note vs. Lebanon

  ABU DHABI -- South Korea will try to close out their World Cup qualifying campaign for 2019 with an away win against pesky opponents.Coached by Paulo Bento, South Korea will visit Lebanon in Beirut on Thursday for the teams' Group H match in the second round of the Asian qualification for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The kickoff is 3 p.m. local time, and 10 p.m. in Seoul.It will be the last Group H contest for South Korea in 2019.Their next match will be against Turkmenistan at home on March 26, 202

LATEST NEWS

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  Social affairs

  One dead, another in coma after inhaling toxic gas from waste oil tank

  One man was killed and another injured after inhaling toxic gas in an offshore waste oil tank on Wednesday, the coast guard said.The incident occurred in an oil storage structure docked near a shipbuilding yard in the southeastern port city of Busan.  Officers from the Busan Coast Guard found the chief executive of an oil waste collection company, identified by his surname, Jeong, and a worker, surnamed Lee, unconscious inside the tank.Jeong in his 30s died later in hospital and Lee, 62, is

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  Industry

  Culture minister says gaming is not disease, vows law revision in 2020

  BUSAN – Korea’s culture minister vowed to make revisions to the decade-long game industry law to help revitalize the gaming industry, Wednesday, saying that he disagrees with viewing it as a disease.“Gaming is not a disease but a leisure activity. Cultural contents not only enrich our lives but also serve as growth engines for our future.” said Culture Minister Park Yang-woo at the 2019 Korea Game Awards held in Busan.  He was referring to the World Health Organizati

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  Industry

  Lost Ark sweeps 2019 Korea Game Awards

  BUSAN -- Smilegate RPG’s Lost Ark bagged six awards at 2019 Korea Game Awards including the presidential accolade, receiving 10 million won ($8,550) in prize money. XLGames’ Moonlight Sculptor nabbed the prime minister’s accolade and a 5 million won prize. The culture minister’s accolade went to four games: Cherry Bug’s Blade and Soul Revolution, Funnypaw’s Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross, Netmarble N2’s Koongya Catch Mind and Krafton’s Mistover.Los

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  Politics

  President Moon orders full efforts to retrieve bodies from chopper crash site

  President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday ordered officials to use "all possible means" to retrieve bodies from a chopper crash site in the East Sea, his spokeswoman said, a day after rescue workers found the fourth body. Three people are unaccounted for after the rescue helicopter, carrying seven people, fell into waters near the easternmost islets of Dokdo late at night on Oct. 31, right after taking off from the islets. Moon ordered officials to "step up search works to swiftly rescue

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  Social affairs

  Prosecution requests $6,000-fine for Mongolian judge over sexual abuse charges

  The Incheon District Prosecutors’ Office said Wednesday that it asked the court withhold trial and instead fine a Mongolian judge accused of groping a Korean flight attendant roughly $6,000. Prosecutors said Mongolian judge Dorj Odbayar was summarily indicted because he admitted to most of his charges during a flight from Ulaanbaatar to Incheon on Oct. 31. He was also accused of verbally abusing a Mongolian crew member but was cleared because the crew member was reluctant to press charges.

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  K-pop

  Return of 1st-generation K-pop bands bring old fans back together

  The origin of today's globally acclaimed K-pop's allure unquestionably dates back to the late 1990s, when the music scene witnessed the birth of the first batch of K-pop stars and their enthusiastic fans. First-generation bands like H.O.T., Sechs Kies, S.E.S. or Fin.K.L who laid the foundation for today's K-pop symbols such as BTS or BLACKPINK have returned to show business to enjoy a renaissance on the back of a widespread retro trend.  To mark the 30th anniversary of its launch next year,

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  Automode

  Food, housing, clothing fall in Korean consumers’ priorities

  Shopping for basics loses ground as financial products rise in importance

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  World News

  Shenzhen, Beijing lose out to Chengdu as China’s best performing city

  　Chengdu, the capital of China’s southwestern province Sichuan, overtook technology hub Shenzhen to top the Milken Institute’s 2019 index of the nation’s best-performing cities.　This is the third time that Chengdu, best known internationally for its pandas, has been ranked first since the list began in 2015. 　The index incorporated nine indicators for the period up to 2017, including employment and wage growth, the growth in gross regional product per-capita, and foreign direct

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  Social affairs

  First hearing in ‘comfort women’ case held three years after lawsuit filed

  The first hearing in a lawsuit brought against the Japanese government by former victims of Japanese military sexual slavery was held Wednesday, nearly three years after the suit was filed. The Japanese government, which had delayed court proceedings by refusing to accept South Korean court-issued documents demanding its presence in court, was absent from the hearing at the Seoul Central District Court.  Eleven survivors and 10 bereaved family members representing six other victims fil

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  Social affairs

  1 killed, 5 injured in Daejeon lab explosion

  At least one person was killed and five others were injured in an explosion at a state-run scientific lab in Daejeon on Wednesday, local fire authorities said.The explosion occurred at 4:24 p.m. at a lab at the Agency for Defense Development in the city 160 kilometers south of Seoul, according to the officials. The injured people were sent to a nearby hospital. The one casualty was reported to be a researcher in his 40s.Around 120 fire authorities have been dispatched to the site to handle the a

GRAPHIC NEWS

OPINION

• Viewpoints

  

  Popular protests carry serious risks

  People all over the world are resorting to mass demonstrations to express grievances and press unmet demands. While, in some ways, popular protests are a triumph of democratic principles and civic activism, they also carry serious risks, including violence by and against protesters. Their pervasiveness today points to a failure of governments, democratic and authoritarian alike, to hear, let alone meet, the needs of their people.The issues at stake are wide-ranging. In Catalonia, demonstrators a

• Viewpoints

  

  University program teaches ‘rule of law’ amid Sino-US tensions

  On every visit I’ve made to China, I’ve looked at issues connected with rule of law, a concept interpreted very differently here and in the US.On this trip, I decided to check out a joint program between Temple University and the law school at Tsinghua University, one of China’s finest, a program that is celebrating its 20th anniversary.Temple’s “Rule of Law” master’s degree program, taught on the sprawling, leafy Tsinghua campus, draws Chinese professio

THE INVESTOR

• Startups & Investors

  

  Key takeaways from IFC’s ‘Connecting Korean Fintechs with Asia’

  Since its first electronic inter-bank transaction in 2001, South Korea has observed a fast-paced financial technology evolution, coupled with high mobile and internet penetration and the latest deregulation measures. A recent conference by IFC -- a sister organization of the World Bank and member of the World Bank Group -- shed light on the degree of Korea’s fintech startup evolution and its potential to make ripples in the unbanked Asian emerging markets.Titled ‘Connecting Korean Fi

• Mobile & Internet

  

  YouTube introduces 12 promising game content creators

  YouTube on Nov. 13 introduced 12 promising game content creators selected for NextUp, the video streaming giant’s initiative to nurture creators. It was the first time the company carried out the program in South Korea and also the first batch focusing on game contents in Asia Pacific. “We started NextUp in Korea with the game content creators because South Korea has a strong gaming industry with many good game publishers,” Innes Choi, who is in charge of creator ecosystem

• Startups & Investors

  

  NYC accelerator ERA invests in S. Korean esports firm

  Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator, a New York City-based accelerator, said on Nov. 13 that it has invested in South Korean esports startup Gen.G.The New York accelerator did not disclose the exact investment amount, but it came after a group of investors -- Los Angeles Clippers minority owner Dennis Wong, Hollywood actor Will Smith’s Dreamers Fund, Battery Ventures, Canaan Partners, SVB Capital and Stanford University -- invested a combined $46 million funds earlier this year, the accel

• Bio & Medicine

  

  Hugel’s operating profit reaches W18.2b in Q3

  Korean biotech firm Hugel announced Nov. 12 that its operating profit jumped 225 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier to 18.2 billion won ($15.57 million).Its sales increased by 46.4 percent to 51.1 billion won.Hugel said its overall profit improved recently due to the sales growth of its botulinum toxin Botulax and filler Dermalax. Sales of the company’s botulinum toxin increased 33.4 percent to 15.8 billion won during the third quarter this year, and its filler’s sales

K-POP HERALD

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  Return of 1st-generation K-pop bands bring old fans back together

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  Blackpink becomes 1st K-pop group to have music video with over 1b YouTube views

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  Zico returns with new reflective album ‘Thinking’

HERALD INTERVIEW

• Film

  

  Actress knocks up marionette story in directorial debut, ‘Judy and Punch’

• Arts&Design

  

  Shaping crude warmth into tableware and more

• Diplomatic Circuit

  

  Korea must develop strategy to be seen as ‘attractive’: soft power expert

• Technology

  

  Kotra aims to give Korean AI players more Silicon Valley exposure

PHOTO NEWS

• Travel

  

  Legacy of 1st Korean pilot remains in Yeouido

  In the financial and banking district of Yeouido in the center of Seoul, part of the oldest airport in the country is preserved to remind people of South Korea’s aviation history.Korea’s very first airport was constructed in 1916 on Yeouido, which was a barren sandbank in the capital city, known as Gyeongseong at the time. In the times when the idea of flying was unfamiliar to most Koreans, tens of thousands gathered in Yeouido to watch world-famous American stunt pilot Art Smit

VIDEO

• Diplomatic Circuit

  

  Mexico top diplomat in Seoul optimistic on Seoul’s Pacific Alliance associate membership prospects

• Diplomatic Circuit

  

  ASEAN delegation relishes ASEAN-Korea Train, future of ASEAN-Korea

• Food&Beverage

  

  A mix of ‘nogari’ and beer in Euljiro, Seoul

• Industry

  

  Looking beyond today’s crises and into the future

FEATURES

• Politics

  

  President’s detractors cite economy as No. 1 reason

  But Moon supporters say prosecution reform is main factor: poll

• Health

  

  Using robotics in dementia prevention, care

  An orb with a set of ears, blinky eyes and the voice and speech manners of a chatty child is making advances in dementia therapy at a hospital in Seoul. Named Bomy, the robot assists cognitive training for patients in the early stages, or at the risk of developing dementia.Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital’s Robot-assisted Cognitive Training Center opened its doors in April, and is headed by Dr. Kim Geon-ha, a neurologist who has been researching related technologies since 2009. The

• Economy

  

  Portion of optimists over economy stays at 13%: poll

  SEJONG -- A variety of polls show that the public disapproval rating for President Moon Jae-in now outstrips his approval rating.According to a survey from Gallup Korea, the portion of respondents who expressed negative opinion toward the president, exceeded the supporters for him for the sixth consecutive week since August.In the pollster’s latest survey, conducted on Oct. 1-2, 51 percent of the 1,000 citizens polled expressed disapproval of Moon’s performance, while the approval ra

• Social affairs

  

  2 in 5 South Koreans aged 50 or over

  Number of 50s-and-above up 47% in the last decade, while population growth stays at 4.3%