SPOTLIGHT

• Social affairs

  

  1 in 3 Koreans feel office cafeterias unsafe: survey

  About 1 out of 3 South Koreans are worried about dining in office cafeterias or restaurants, a survey showed Monday.According to the survey on perception of food safety from the Office for Government Policy Coordination, 35.3 percent of 967 respondents answered they were “worried” about eating at office cafeterias. The figure for restaurants came in at 33.9 percent.  (Yonhap)As for imported food and “adulterated food” on sale near schools, about 40 percent of respondents answered similarly said

• Film

  

  Another ‘Black Panther’ statue destroyed in Busan

  Following the vandalism of a “Black Panther” sculpture at Gwangbok-ro in March, another statue of the Black Panther superhero in Busan near Gwangalli Beach was found toppled over with its head damaged. The Walt Disney Co. had initially sent a pair of Black Panther sculptures to be displayed in Busan, one in Gwangbok-ro and one along Gwangalli Beach, to commemorate the first time for Marvel Studios to shoot at the southern coastal city of Korea. A “Black Panther” statue is seen vandalized at Gwan

• Music

  

  World-class DJs to land in Korea for Ultra Korea 2018

  The Chainsmokers, Above & Beyond, David Guetta, Axwell & Ingross and Steve Angello on preliminary lineup

• Social affairs

  

  Seoul to remove plastic umbrella sleeves from metro, state offices

  Seoul Metropolitan Government will stop providing plastic umbrella sleeves at subway stations and government offices, starting next month. Seoul said Monday that starting on May 1, plastic umbrella sleeves, which have been provided at the entrance of buildings on rainy days, will be replaced by umbrella dryers or carpets that can absorb water.Used plastic umbrella sleeves are littered on the ground near the entrance of a building. (Yonhap)This move comes as an attempt to cut down on the use of p

LATEST NEWS

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  Foreign Affairs

  Pompeo wins Senate panel approval as top US diplomat

  WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump's pick for secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, won the approval of a Senate committee Monday, paving the way for his confirmation.The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 11-9 in favor of Pompeo after partisan wrangling over whether the Central Intelligence Agency director is fit for the job.Pompeo made a secret visit to North Korea over Easter weekend to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and prepare for his potential summit with Trump in May or J

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  North Korea

  NK leader mourns Chinese tourists killed in bus accident

  North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited the Chinese Embassy in Pyongyang to express his "deep" condolences over the death of scores of Chinese tourists in a traffic accident in the North, state media said Tuesday.Kim's rare visit there came amid a thaw in the relations between the communist allies that was highlighted by his surprise trip to China last month ahead of summits with South Korea and the United States.The North's leader visited the Chinese Embassy at 6:30 a.m. on Monday, the Kore

• 

  North Korea

  N. Korea halting loudspeaker broadcasts toward S. Korea: gov't source

  North Korea's military has been switching off its loudspeaker broadcasts directed at South Korea in the border area in response to a similar decision by the South ahead of an inter-Korean summit this week, a government source said Monday."The North Korean military had about 40 loudspeakers for anti-Seoul propaganda in the vicinity of the military demarcation line (MDL), and has turned off a considerable number of them as of Monday afternoon," the source said. (Yonhap)Another source also said it

• 

  Film

  'Rampage' wins second weekend in South Korea

  The Hollywood sci-fi action flick "Rampage" ruled the South Korean box office for the second consecutive weekend, data showed Monday.Dwayne Johnson's arcade game-inspired "Rampage" sold 363,703 tickets from Friday to Sunday, bringing its domestic total to 1.26 million, according to the real-time based box office tally from the Korean Film Council.A new documentary film on a tragic 2014 ferry sinking jumped four spots to No. 2 in its second weekend, adding 108,961 to its cumulative figure of 385,

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  Politics

  Prospects of early constitutional revision dim amid partisan standoff

  The prospects of an early constitutional revision further dimmed Monday, with the National Assembly paralyzed by a standoff over an escalating opinion rigging scandal.The ruling Democratic Party had hoped to complete all procedures to pass and promulgate a revision to the national referendum act, a required step towards the constitutional change, by Monday, so as to deliver on its pledge to hold a plebiscite on the charter's amendment at the same time as the June 13 local elections.But its plan

• 

  Television

  Korean version of ‘Suits’ set to air

  Veteran Jang Dong-gun and hotshot Park Hyung-sik to show off ‘bromance’

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  Foreign Policy

  US, North Korea not on same page on denuclearization

  Since North Korea announced it was willing to negotiate over its nuclear weapons program and offered to sit down for talks with the US, there has been lingering skepticism that it is a typical ploy from the North to weaken sanctions or buy time to perfect its nuclear and missile technology. Now, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is to hold a summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Friday, as well as with US President Donald Trump by early June, with the North’s “denuclearization” expecte

• 

  North Korea

  Moon-Kim summit to start in morning, include welcoming event, dinner

  An itinerary outline for the upcoming inter-Korean summit has been unveiled, with the leaders of South and North Korea set to have dinner together over the course of the meeting, Seoul’s presidential office said Monday. The announcement came as the results of the third working-level talks held earlier in the day to lay the foundations for the inter-Korean summit scheduled later this week.  From left: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in (Yonhap)“The South and th

• 

  National

  Number of farmers continues to fall in S. Korea

  　According to the data compiled by Statistics Korea, the number of farmers also dropped 3 percent on-year to 2.42 million.　Households engaging in the farming business totaled 1.04 million last year, down 2.5 percent from a year ago, data showed.　The statistics office pointed out that it is mainly caused by the rapid aging of the population, with the younger generation moving to cities.　The average age of the head of farming families reached 67 last year, up from 66.3 in 2016.

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  Politics

  Professor accused of sexual assault sues alleged student victim for defamation

  ‘I was hospitalized in mental institution after being assaulted by the professor’: alleged victim

GRAPHIC NEWS

OPINION

• Columnists

  

  Billionaire Bezos and warehouse workers

  We have just learned that the median salary of employees at Amazon.com is $28,446, excluding its chief executive officer and founder, Jeff Bezos. That pitiful number raises an intriguing question: Is Amazon a high-paying tech company or a low-wage retailer?“Both” is the obvious answer, but to this Amazon aficionado that answer is incomplete.The pay figure, which was disclosed for the first time in Amazon’s annual proxy statement, reflects the large number of low-paid retail and warehouse employe

• Columnists

  

  Germany’s populist temptation

  Because populism is not an ideology in itself, it can easily appeal to mainstream political parties seeking to shore up flagging electoral support. There are always politicians willing to mimic populist slogans and methods to win over voters, even if doing so divides their own party. This has been proven by Republicans in the United States, Conservatives and Labourites in the United Kingdom, and Les Republicains under the new leadership of Laurent Wauquiez in France.But the most ominous manifest

THE INVESTOR

• Industrials

  

  I’m firing my kids: Korean Air’s Cho Yang-ho

  Cho Yang-ho, chairman of Hanjin Group and Korean Air, on April 22 issued a public apology on the behalf of his younger daughter Hyun-min. He also said both Hyun-min and her sister Hyun-ah would be removed from their executive posts, and that Korean Air would adopt more professional managers. For those who may not know, Hanjin is a Chaebol business that operates Korea’s largest airliner Korean Air. His elder daughter Hyun-ah made headlines globally back in 2014 for the so-called ”n

• Samsung

  

  Focus on root of all problems: Samsung’s Lee Jae-yong

  Samsung Group Vice Chairman and de facto leader Lee Jae-yong has emphasized taking a long-term approach to address a range of fundamental problems facing the conglomerate.The vice chairman, who overlooks more than 60 affiliates and subsidiaries, told top brass at a recent meeting that Samsung needs to focus on rooting out problems instead of resorting to stopgap measures, according to Korea Economic Daily on April 23. Related:'Samsung reports contain crucial national technologies'

• LG

  

  LG set to acquire automotive light maker ZKW for W1.6tr

  LG Electronics is in final talks to acquire Austrian automotive light maker ZKW Group for about 1.6 trillion won (US$1.5 billion), its largest-ever purchase, according to industry sources on April 23. The two firms have been negotiating for almost two years and are likely to sign a deal later this month.  BMW i8 hybrid uses ZKW's premium LED headlights.ZKW produces lights, electric systems and electronic modules for vehicles, including LED-based high-intensity headlights. Last yea

• Deals

  

  Mexican food chain On The Border looking for new owner

  Mexican casual restaurant chain On The Border is looking for a new owner, according to industry sources on April 23.Current operator JRW -- run by an LG Group owner family relative -- has already selected Samjong KPMG as deal manager and plans to pick the preferred bidder by the end of next month. A number of private equity firms and restaurant chain operators have reportedly shown interest in the deal.Korea-based JRW operates nine On The Border outlets, and is likely to sell them

K-POP HERALD

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  Yoona to kickoff fan tour

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  Korean ‘Suits’ set to air

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  Sunmi's scent from Paris

HERALD INTERVIEW

• Culture

  

  Artists duo fascinated by nomadism of island

• Industry

  

  Kayak targets Korea’s travel market with one-stop solution

• Music

  

  Woogie sets new trend by going off-trend

• Culture

  

  A transformation from model to shaman

PHOTO NEWS

• Culture

  

  Back to the Joseon era

  While time machines are the stuff of movies and fairy tales, it is possible to get a taste of what life was like in the Joseon era (1392-1910) at the Korean Folk Village in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, this spring.The living history museum is holding the “Welcome to Joseon” festival until June 24, under the pitch “Would you time travel to Joseon Dynasty with us?” vThe Korean Folk Village, which was once most commonly associated with school field trips, found a new lease of life in 2013 when it sta

VIDEO

• Food

  

  Future food source evokes nostalgia for old days

• Food

  

  Diversity of Korean seaweed rice roll ‘gimbap’

• Culture

  

  Barbershop offers a cultural space for gentlemen

• Fashion

  

  77 student models strut down catwalk ‘cherry blossom way’

FEATURES

• Arts&Design

  

  MMCA show asks how much we know about Asia

  ‘How Little You Know About Me’

• Economy

  

  Strengthening won cushions rate reversal with US

  Concerns over the possibility of capital outflow amid a widening gap between interest rates in Korea and the US are being eased by the strengthening of the won against the dollar.Earlier this month, the Bank of Korea held steady its key rate at 1.5 percent despite a decision by the US Federal Reserve in March to raise its policy rate by a quarter percentage point to a range of 1.5 percent to 1.75 percent.A weakening increase in consumer prices, growing household debt and worsening conditions for

• Culture

  

  Not leaving anything to chance

  Before tying the knot, check marital compatibility

• Industry

  

  Asian Forest Cooperation Organization to be launched with 14 nations

  The long-awaited Asian Forest Cooperation Organization will be officially launched on Friday as an intergovernmental regional organization with the aim of strengthening regional forest cooperation to address the impact of climate change, according to ASEAN-Korea Forest Cooperation Secretariat on Monday. The AFoCO will be established to strengthen regional forest cooperation in Asia which is vulnerable to forest degradation and climate change and to contribute to achieving the sustainable develop