SPOTLIGHT

• Travel

  

  Foreigners’ tour photos eligible for W600,000 prize money

  The Korea Tourism Organization’s “46th Korea Tourism Photo Contest” will award a cash prize of 600,000 won ($560) to a winning international entrant.The contest, open to all who are interested, accepts up to five submissions per person. The submitted photos have to be in JPG format with dimension of at least 2,200 by 3,200 RGB pixels. Only the photos taken after January 2015 that have not been published or released elsewhere are eligible.Photos that feature tourists at popular attraction sites w

• Social affairs

  

  Korean Air chief's wife grilled over alleged assaults

  Police questioned the wife of the Korean Air Lines chairman Monday over multiple assault and abuse allegations.Lee Myung-hee, director of Ilwoo Foundation, appeared at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency at around 10 a.m.Wearing dark-colored attire and a blue muffler, she bowed her head and apologized."I am sorry for causing troubles. I will cooperate fully with the investigation," she said. She refused to answer any more questions from reporters. Lee Myung-hee, wife of Hanjin Group Chairman Ch

• Television

  

  Sexual harassment controversy surrounding YouTuber Yang Ye-won deepens

  Alleged studio chief brings up restored text message conversation but the validity is questioned

• Travel

  

  Traveling to Korean islands available at 50% discount rate for those 28 and under

  Koreans and foreigners aged 28 and under can travel to the nation’s islands at a discount rate starting June, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Sunday.In an effort to boost youths’ sea trips the ministry is opening up 77 ocean routes encompassing 51 relevant firms’ 121 ships for 20 percent discount rate during weekends and 50 percent discount rate during weekdays between June and September. Under this scheme, for example, the original ferry from Gangneung to Ulleungdo Island on

LATEST NEWS

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  Social affairs

  Photographer booked for dubious use of photos of female customers

  A studio photographer in his 20s was booked without detention over allegations that he sexually harassed his customers after secretly taking pictures up their skirts, police said Monday. According to Seodaemun Police Station, the 23-year-old photographer is being accused of forcibly touching body parts of 215 clients, who are all college students in the area, and secretly taking pictures up their skirts on 225 occasions between May 4 of last year and Feb. 2 at a studio in Sinchon.  (Yonhap)Polic

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  Foreign Policy

  Korea forms team to promote relations with Japan despite long-standing rows

  South Korea launched a government-civilian team Monday to promote cultural and social ties with Japan despite decades of disputes between the neighboring countries over historical issues. The move reflects Seoul's efforts to expand non-political exchanges with Tokyo separately from the diplomatic stand-offs over its wartime atrocities and territorial claims.Speaking at a related ceremony here, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha reaffirmed the government's two-track approach, saying the bilateral re

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  North Korea

  Korean PM describes Trump as 'tough dealer'

  LONDON -- South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon has called US President Donald Trump "a tough dealer" seasoned through a number of deal-making experiences, referring to a recent roller coaster of developments surrounding an upcoming summit with North Korea."President Trump has a sixth sense. He must have gone through a number of things from deal-making experiences. The closest thing to describe him would be a tough dealer," Lee said Sunday during a meeting in London with reporters traveling to

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  Social affairs

  Two baseball players undergo police questioning over sexual assault allegations

  INCHEON -- Two professional baseball players facing sexual assault allegations underwent police questioning on Monday, with one of them denying charges against him.Cho Sang-woo, a reliever for the Nexen Heroes, and Park Dong-won, a catcher for the same Korea Baseball Organization team, appeared at Incheon Namdong Police Station in Incheon, 40 kilometers west of Seoul, just before 10 a.m.The two are accused of sexually assaulting a woman at a team hotel in Incheon last Wednesday, with the Heroes

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  Finance

  Head office of Samsung Securities raided in 'fat-finger' probe

  Prosecutors raided the headquarters of Samsung Securities Co. on Monday as part of an investigation into last month's massive dividend error by an accidental stock issuance worth over 110 trillion won ($100 billion). Investigators from the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office were sent to search the premises in Seocho, southern Seoul, and four other branches to confiscate evidence, including documents and digital files, the office said. Won Seung-yeon, vice chief of the Financial Supervis

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  Industry

  Salaries rise sharply at public financial firms in 2017: data

  South Korea's state-run financial firms jacked up their annual salaries at twice the pace of other public corporations last year, data showed Monday.The average yearly income of employees at seven state-owned financial companies came to 93.09 million won ($86,749) in 2017, up 2.3 percent from the previous year, according to the data by ALIO, a state website that releases public information.Their annual salary is 38.8 percent larger than that for all 361 state-run public firms in the country, whi

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  Industry

  Korean entertainment industry expands into China

  Korean TV channels will participate in China's biggest broadcasting content fair for the first time in two years in the latest sign that China is loosening its restriction on Korean cultural products, industry sources said Monday.China banned Korean dramas, films, packaged tours and K-pop starting in 2016 in protest against the deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defense system in South Korea.According to TV industry officials, major Korean TV networks will participate in the Shanghai TV Fest

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  World News

  ‘Kim Jong-un’ seen in Singapore, sniffing durian

  Who’s that checking out the sights of Singapore ahead of the possible North Korea-US summit in June?It’s not North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, but Australian-Chinese impersonator Howard X, who was up to his old tricks Sunday as he took a stroll down Jubilee Bridge in Singapore, overlooking the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and the landmark Merlion.Howard has made other appearances at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic and Paralympic games, alongside his Donald Trump impersonator partner known as Dennis

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  Politics

  Lawmakers to review resolution on inter-Korean summit declaration

  The National Assembly is set to hold a plenary session Monday to deal with contentious issues, including a resolution on the April inter-Korean summit.The final plenary meeting of the current extraordinary session is scheduled to open at 2 p.m., which will cap the first half of the 20th National Assembly's four-year term.Rival parties are expected to clash over the proposed resolution supporting the Panmunjom Declaration adopted by President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un after

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  Golf

  Korean Kim In-kyung falls short in bid for 8th LPGA win

  South Korean Kim In-kyung has fallen short in a bid for her eighth career LPGA win.Kim finished one stroke behind the champion Minjee Lee at the LPGA Volvik Championship at Travis Pointe Country Club in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Sunday (local time). After a final round of five-under 67, Kim ended at 15-under, while Lee carded a 68 to take the title at 16-under.Kim began the day tied for second place with three other golfers at 10-under, two behind Lee. After making the turn at 11-under, Kim reeled

GRAPHIC NEWS

OPINION

• Columnists

  

  Trump should declare victory on China and retreat

  In any “trade war,” the most important thing to remember is the limit of the martial metaphor. When a foreign company sells Americans something they choose to buy, it is not an act of aggression. Trade negotiations aren’t a zero-sum game in which one country wins and the other has to lose.　 The point is being forgotten right now, and not just by protectionists. Practically everyone is saying that President Donald Trump is losing, surrendering, caving or capitulating to China. But “losing” may be

• Columnists

  

  China outspends US on defense? Here’s the math.

  When is $227 billion greater than $606 billion? When comparing Chinese defense spending to that of the US -- and if Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley is the one doing the math.　At a hearing last week, the ranking Democrat of the Senate’s defense appropriations subcommittee, Dick Durbin of Illinois, said to Milley: “You tell us that one of our biggest threats, greatest enemies, is Russia; turns out we read recently that Russia spends about $80 billion a year on its military. So let me get this stra

THE INVESTOR

• Economy

  

  ‘Koreas’ market opening must accompany protection of industrial property rights’

  ‘Without due preparatory legal measures, South Korea could miss out on the golden chance of the North Korean market access’

• Deals

  

  UK’s Hermes Investment owns W1.4tr stake in Korean firms

  UK hedge fund Hermes Investment Management has acquired about 1.4 trillion won (US$1.30 billion) stake in 17 Korean firms, including Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor, according to Korea Economic Daily on May 28. As of end-2017, Hermes reportedly owned 0.10 percent in Samsung Electronics, 0.16 percent in Hyundai Motor, 0.61 percent in KB Financial, 0.39 percent in LG Chem, 0.43 percent in Samsung SDI and 1.20 percent in Samsung Fire and Marine. Hermes Investment Chairman David

• Politics & North Korea

  

  Two Koreas’ leaders hold second summit

  South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on May 26 held a surprise meeting aimed at strengthening inter-Korean ties amid uncertainty over the future of a planned summit between the United States and North Korea.In a text message sent to reporters, presidential chief press secretary Yoon Young-chan said the leaders of the two Koreas held a two-hour meeting at Panmungak, a North Korean building inside the border village of Panmunjeom.The meeting came ab

• Politics & North Korea

  

  Moon reiterates NK leader has ‘firm will’ for denuclearization

  President Moon Jae-in on May 27 said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has “firm will” for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. He also said that he hopes to follow up the US-North Korea summit with a Seoul-Pyongyang-Washington summit to discuss declaring the end of the Korean War. The two Koreas are technically still at war, with the 1950-53 Korean War having ended in an armistice. 　“Following up from the Panmunjeom Declaration, Chairman Kim again stated his will for comp

K-POP HERALD

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  ♥BTS 1st Korean No. 1 Billboard 200 artist♥

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  IU to go on ‘You Hee-yeol’s Sketchbook’

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  YoonA, Minho in Givenchy, Paris

HERALD INTERVIEW

• Finance

  

  Crypto frenzy to give way to market sophistication

• Film

  

  ‘Cakemaker’ an indie cinema hit

• Finance

  

  Gopax seeks to win back public trust in cryptocurrency

• Diplomatic Circuit

  

  ‘Korea should commiserate with Palestinian suffering for its peace, justice’

PHOTO NEWS

• World News

  

  ‘Kim Jong-un’ seen in Singapore, sniffing durian

  Who’s that checking out the sights of Singapore ahead of the possible North Korea-US summit in June?It’s not North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, but Australian-Chinese impersonator Howard X, who was up to his old tricks Sunday as he took a stroll down Jubilee Bridge in Singapore, overlooking the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and the landmark Merlion.Howard has made other appearances at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic and Paralympic games, alongside his Donald Trump impersonator partner known as Dennis

VIDEO

• Food

  

  Spring greens bring nature to table

• North Korea

  

  S. Korean reporters in NK to cover dismantling of nuclear test site

• Culture

  

  Koreans flock to temples to celebrate Buddha’s Birthday

• Food

  

  Feeling every bit of pollack roe, altang

FEATURES

• Social affairs

  

  Seoul’s pedestrian overpass gets mixed reactions one year on

  For many cities, widening roads and building more flyovers can be a solution to traffic congestion. However, from the pedestrians’ point of view, it can lead to less walking space and missing links between buildings. When the Seoullo 7017 opened in Seoul last year, Mayor Park Won-soon’s goal was clear: making the city “more walkable” by creating bike paths, pedestrian-only roads and redesigned sidewalks to make them more pedestrian-friendly, all ways to reduce vehicle traffic. The former Seoul S

• Industry

  

  ‘Koreas’ market opening must accompany protection of industrial property rights’

  'Without due preparatory legal measures, South Korea could miss out on the golden chance of market access to NK'

• Industry

  

  Incheon Airport seeks to extend operational expertise to Eastern Europe

  Incheon International Airport Corp., the operator of South Korea’s Incheon International Airport, is looking to extend its airport operations expertise to emerging markets in Eastern Europe as it has begun efforts to score new deals to develop and operate new airports in Poland and the Czech Republic.The move comes after the Incheon Airport operator won a bid to operate Kuwait’s newly-built Terminal 4 in a deal valued at 140 billion won ($128 million) earlier this month, marking its biggest over

• Technology

  

  Samsung may seek appeal over US verdict

  South Korean tech titan Samsung Electronics on Friday vowed to consider all options over a US verdict that ordered it to pay its rival Apple additional damages for design infringement, including seeking an appeal.　A jury of the US District Court in San Jose made a decision that Samsung must pay Apple $539 million in damages for infringement of Apple’s design patents. “Today’s decision flies in the face of a unanimous Supreme Court ruling in favor of Samsung on the scope of design patent damages,