SPOTLIGHT

• Music

  

  BLACKPINK surpasses 20 mln YouTube subscribers

  South Korean girl group BLACKPINK has topped 20 million in the number of subscribers to its official YouTube channel, the first for a K-pop act. The group hit the milestone Thursday (US time) to become the first K-pop act to do so, US Billboard magazine said. The number was 20,307,402 as of Sunday morning."This week, YouTube announced that the girl group is the first K-pop act to hit 20 million subscribers on their official channel," the magazine reported. "The recent Billboard cover stars are j

• Television

  

  Meet mastermind behind the original ‘Masked Singer’

  Fashion designer Hwang Jae-keun talks making masks, US version, fashion advice

• World News

  

  Polls open in first Thai general election since 2014 coup

  BANGKOK, March  24, 2019 (AFP) - Polls opened Sunday for the first Thai election since a 2014 coup, with a high turnout expected among a public who received a cryptic last-minute warning from the Thai king to support "good" leaders to prevent "chaos."All television stations repeated the rare statement by King Maha Vajiralongkorn moments before polls opened across a politically turbulent country.Sunday's election pits a royalist junta and its allies against the election-winning machine of billion

• Social affairs

  

  Koreans remember prominent independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun

  　A memorial service was held Saturday to remember a prominent anti-Japanese Korean independence fighter, with North Korea‘s Catholic Church also delivering a eulogy to Ahn Jung-geun (1877-1910).　This year marks the 109th anniversary of the death of Ahn, one of Korea’s most honored independence fighters who assassinated the Korean Peninsula‘s first Japanese governor-general, Hirobumi Ito, in Harbin, China, in October 1909. Korean independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun (Yonhap)　  The assassination was

LATEST NEWS

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  Social affairs

  Police raid surgeon's office in possible probe against Samsung heiress

  The police raided a plastic surgery clinic on Saturday in a possible probe into allegations that Lee Boo-jin, a daughter of Samsung Group patriarch Lee Kun-hee, may have abused an addictive substance.Investigators from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency raided the clinic in Seoul's plush Gangnam area.The police earlier said they were simply checking facts regarding the drug abuse allegation brought up by a local news outlet.(Yonhap)Reports suggested Lee, currently the chief executive officer o

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  Baseball

  4 games sell out on S. Korean baseball's Opening Day

  　The new season in South Korean professional baseball began Saturday, with four of the five games played before sellout crowds.　The Korea Baseball Organization opened its 38th season, with all 10 clubs in action.　Changwon NC Park in Changwon, 400 kilometers southeast of Seoul, hosted its first regular season game as the brand new home for the NC Dinos. All 22,112 tickets for the tilt between the Dinos and the Samsung Lions sold out last Saturday, the league office said.(Yonhap)　The first home ru

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  North Korea

  N. Korea's top envoys to China, UN arrive in Beijing

  North Korea’s ambassadors to China and the United Nations arrived in Beijing on Saturday, five days after they returned to Pyongyang. 　North Korean Ambassador to China Ji Jae-ryong and Ambassador to the UN Kim Song were seen at Beijing Capital International Airport earlier in the day after boarding an Air Koryo flight from Pyongyang.  (Yonhap)　Their visit to Pyongyang could have been aimed at attending an annual meeting of the North‘s overseas diplomatic mission chiefs, a source said. But the No

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  Social affairs

  Ex-vice minister barred from leaving Korea amid sex crime probe

  Former Vice Justice Minister Kim Hak-ui has been barred from traveling overseas amid a fresh probe into allegations of a sex crime in 2013, officials said Saturday. 　Kim, who retired from public service in March 2013 amid allegations that he attended a sex party hosted by local contractor Yoon Jung-cheon at his villa in Wonju, 120 kilometers east of Seoul, had attempted to leave South Korea on Friday at Incheon International Airport, according to officials at the justice ministry. 　The ministry

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  Finance

  Seoul shares expected to move in tight range next week

  South Korean stocks are expected to move in a relatively tight range as investors are set to digest the U.S. Federal Reserve‘s rate decision amid ongoing trade talks between Washington and Beijing, analysts here said Saturday.　The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed at 2,186.95 points on Friday, up from 2,176.11 the previous week.　The KOSPI started on strong note on hopes for headway in trade talks between the United States and China. (Yonhap)　The bourse, however, slipped

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  World News

  Mueller submits report on bombshell Trump-Russia probe

  WASHINGTON (AFP) - Special counsel Robert Mueller on Friday submitted his long-awaited report into an explosive two-year investigation of Russian meddling in Donald Trump‘s 2016 election -- a probe the president denounces as a “witch hunt” and opponents say could fuel impeachment.　What the report says is confidential, but Attorney General Bill Barr wrote in a letter to Congress that he might be able to summarize its “principal conclusions” for Congress as early as this weekend.　The Mueller drama

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  Baseball

  Ryu Hyun-jin named Dodgers' Opening Day starter

  Los Angeles Dodgers’ South Korean left-hander Ryu Hyun-jin has been named the team‘s Opening Day starter, becoming just the second pitcher from the country to have the honor.　Manager Dave Roberts made the announcement in the Dodgers’ spring training site in Glendale, Arizona, on Friday (local time).　Injuries to Clayton Kershaw, who had opened the previous eight seasons, plus Walker Buehler and Rich Hill left Ryu as the most viable option to start the season against the Arizona Diamondbacks next

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  Social affairs

  Seoul ranks as 7th most expensive city in the world: survey

  South Korea‘s capital city, Seoul, ranks as the seventh most expensive city in the world to live in this year, a survey showed Saturday.　The Worldwide Cost of Living Survey, conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, measures the prices of more than 150 items in 133 cities across the globe, with the index for New York set as a benchmark of 100. A view of Seoul from the Lotte World Tower in Jamsil, southeastern Seoul (Yonhap News)　According to the latest WCL poll, Seoul ranked seventh, on a pa

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  North Korea

  Trump cancels new sanctions on NK

  WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump said Friday he has ordered the withdrawal of new sanctions on North Korea, possibly signaling an intention to continue denuclearization negotiations with the regime.Trump was apparently referring to sanctions the US Department of the Treasury imposed on two Chinese banks on Thursday for allegedly helping North Korea evade sanctions. US President Donald Trumps, seated with acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and National Security adviser John Bolton s

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  More sports

  S. Korean Lim Eun-soo finishes 10th at figure skating worlds

  South Korean figure skater Lim Eun-soo finished in 10th place at her first senior world championships on Friday, while competing with an injury sustained in a controversial incident involving an American rival.Lim scored 205.57 points at the International Skating Union (ISU) World Figure Skating Championships in Saitama, Japan. Lim was fifth after Wednesday's short program with a personal-best 72.91 points and also set a new personal high in the free skate with 132.66 points on Friday.It was the

GRAPHIC NEWS

OPINION

• Columnists

  

  China’s electric cars hit potholes

  For several days last week, the often distressingly poor quality of China’s electric cars was a leading topic across Chinese media. According to one survey ricocheting across the web, nearly 70 percent of respondents said they regretted buying a new-energy vehicle. Many expected the industry to be targeted in China’s wildly popular “Consumer Rights Day” gala television special, which shames corporate giants for service and quality lapses. While privacy-invading tech companies were harangued inst

• Columnists

  

  Kazakh strongman shows Putin a path for staying in power

  Nursultan Nazarbayev, the president of Kazakhstan since 1990, announced that he is stepping down at age 78. The way he is ostensibly relinquishing power could be an example for a younger counterpart and, in some ways, faithful student: President Vladimir Putin of Russia.Post-Soviet Central Asian dictators don’t resign. The first presidents of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, who, like Nazarbayev, ascended to their posts while the Soviet Union still existed, died in office, leaving behind regimes rem

THE INVESTOR

• Startups & Investors

  

  [INTERVIEW] H2O CEO woos property investors to usher in future hospitality biz

  For over a century, major hotel chains have kept growing bigger in part with their portfolio of upscale properties, rooms and amenities.Their race to become flashier and more elegant was meant to appeal to high net worth individuals -- a key source of revenue in the hotel industry. But at the same time, such labor-intensive strategies raised the upkeep costs of high-end accommodations, sparking concerns about undermining the attraction to real estate investors.The advance of technology is openin

• Deals

  

  Woori Financial to acquire two Anbang-owned AMCs

  Woori Financial Group, one of South Korea’s five financial holding companies, is poised to become the new owner of Tongyang Asset Management and ABL Asset Management, subsidiaries of two Anbang Insurance Group-owned insurance companies, industry sources said on March 22. Woori has been selected as a preferred bidder for the two asset management companies put up for sale as part of the Chinese government’s plans to divest troubled Anbang’s overseas assets. Beijing took control over Anbang in Febr

• Startups & Investors

  

  Yanolja seeks talents for global biz expansion

  Accommodation booking platform Yanolja said on March 22 that it will hire more than 400 skilled people this year, including 200 for research and development projects.The new employment plan is aimed at attracting global talents to increase its presence in the accommodation and leisure sectors. Yanolja CEO Lee Soo-jinThe Seoul-headquartered firm hired 400 new employees and executives last year, surpassing its initial target of 300 with its operations, ranging from motel booking to leisure activit

• Retail & Consumer

  

  WeMakePrice to start food delivery service

  South Korean e-commerce company WeMakePrice will start operating a food delivery platform from April, according to sources on March 22.The company aims to take around 5 percent sales as commission, which is lower than the 7 percent charged by top operator Woowa Brothers. Advertising fees will be charged separately. The e-commerce company will also allow customers to place their orders through its app and pick up their food.Currently, the leading food delivery app in Korea’s 15 trillion won marke

K-POP HERALD

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  ‘I have no regrets’: Holland on world tour, BTS’s UN speech, and coming out to family

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  YG CEO survives no-confidence vote

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  Twitter CEO: ‘Authentic’ K-pop stars more successful

HERALD INTERVIEW

• Social affairs

  

  Blaming China doesn’t help combat fine dust: GGGI director

• Finance

  

  Yulchon M&A lawyer predicts ‘new wave’ in Indonesia

• Food

  

  Chef Akira comes back to Seoul

• Industry

  

  Unity goes beyond games to cars, AI, VR

PHOTO NEWS

• Culture

  

  The history beneath our feet

  History is closer to people’s lives than in the musty pages of old books. In the ultra-modern metropolis of Seoul, there is a place where a step into the lower ground of a high-rise office building can pull one into the city’s past, dating back to the 16th century. It is Gongpyeong Historic Site Museum, a 3,817-square-meter space in the underground floor of Centropolis office building in Gongpyeong-dong, central Seoul -- the biggest historic site unearthed in Seoul to date.  (Park Hyun-koo/The K

VIDEO

• Industry

  

  Seoul Square, witness to Seoul’s economic history

• North Korea

  

  Hanoi welcomes US, N. Korean leaders

• Social affairs

  

  Violence erupts at Liberty Korea Party national convention as union stages surprise protest

• Social affairs

  

  Inside dog farm in Korea

FEATURES

• Social affairs

  

  Workers more likely to call out abuse in wake of 2016 candlelight vigils

  7 in 10 workers say they experienced workplace harassment in 2017: survey

• Industry

  

  Korea’s peeping Tom dilemma: Are censors getting too much power?

  Controversy erupts over government's method of blocking ‘illegal’ websites

• Industry

  

  Booyoung’s real estate dilemma on acquiring Samsung assets

  The Korea Herald is publishing a series of articles and videos about some of the most expensive and fascinating landmark office buildings in Seoul. -- Ed. Defining the symbolic cityscape of Seoul is Sejong Main Street, a 10-lane road that runs across the downtown area, stretching from Seoul Station to Gwanghwamun Square. Halfway along this main road, just north of Sungnyemun, the southern gate of Seoul, is the “Taepyeong-ro zone,” location of landmark buildings such as the palace Deoksugun

• Social affairs

  

  Delinquency among self-employed gets critical

  SEJONG -- A string of business closures of small enterprises -- particularly the self-employed -- has been increasingly drawing attention since last year amid the sluggish economy.Their financial difficulty, in line with the drastic hike in minimum wage and weak consumer sentiment, is also seen from the lending data of commercial banks. Aside from the first-tier financial firms, a large portion of the self-employed were found to have borrowed from second-tier lenders.According to the Bank of Kor