Global map of COVID-19 cases

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South Korea   Cases 14,423｜Deaths 301

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  Markets

  S. Korea to add 132,000 more houses in Seoul-Gyeonggi to solve supply-demand gap

  • Seoul home prices now exceed 12 years’ average salary

• Social affairs
  

  Casualties from heavy downpour rise to 13

  Damage and casualties continued to rise Tuesay, as a heavy downpour that started over the weekend extended to a fourth day. 　 By 4 p.m. Tuesday, the torrential rains in capital Seoul and provinces Gyeonggi, North Chungcheong, South Chungcheong and Gangwon had left 14 dead, 12 missing, and seven injured, according to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters. A man who went missing in a manhole Monday was found dead Tuesday morning and another man was found dead in Gapyeong, r

• Social affairs
  

  How safe are cafes and restaurants?

  Last Monday, a work meeting was held at a cafe in Gangnam, southern Seoul. It was not until days later that the people at that meeting learned one among them had coronavirus. The meeting left at least ten infected, including the servers and other visitors. The cafe cluster rang alarm bells for many Koreans whose daily routines involve going out for coffee. The average Korean drinks 353 cups of coffee a year, according to KB Financial Group’s November 2019 report, which is 2.7 t

• Social affairs
  

  [From the Scene] High hopes in Sejong for administrative capital plan

  With real estate prices skyrocketing, residents bewildered by suddenly brightening future of their 8-year-old city

• Social affairs
  

  Nine denied entry for submitting substandard coronavirus-free certificates

  Nine people have been denied entry into South Korea after they handed in “substandard” certificates as proof of a negative COVID-19 test result, health authorities said Tuesday. Since the country tightened entry rules on arrivals from “high-risk” countries in mid-July, 22 people have arrived with a coronavirus-free certificate but were later diagnosed with COVID-19 here, it added. Between July 13 and Aug. 3, a total of 548 people arrived from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Ka

• Defense
  

  [Herald Interview] Arms procurement chief lauds ‘hidden’ defense tech champions

  Veteran state auditor becomes go-to troubleshooter for local defense firms tapping global market

• Transport
  

  Korean shipbuilders win consecutive orders despite pandemic

  Expectation grows for additional orders in H2

• Markets
  

  K bank ups ante with non-face-to-face mortgage service

  In its first step since resuming operations, internet-only lender K bank unveiled a mobile mortgage loan service on Tuesday, allowing customers to borrow money without visiting brick-and-mortar banking branches. Utilizing data scraping technology to gather customers’ credit information online, the bank can easily calculate loan limits and interest rates for customers, officials said. It has also reduced the number of documents needed when taking mortgage loans -- the bank only requires

• Markets
  

  Kakao Games pushes for September IPO

  Kakao Games, the games unit of Korea’s mobile giant Kakao, has submitted a registration statement to the Financial Services Commission, with an intention of listing on the nation’s tech-heavy Kosdaq market in September. By issuing 16 million new common shares, at a price between 20,000 won and 24,000 won ($16.70-$20.10) each, the game developer looks to raise as much as 384 billion won, Kakao Games said Monday via DART-- the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosu

NEWSMAKER

• Social affairs

  

  Civil law revision eyed to protect children from corporal punishment

  The Ministry of Justice is pushing for amendment to the Civil Law to abolish parents’ right to physically discipline their children in a bid to better protect children from abusive parents.  The plan is to delete the Article 915, which has been interpreted by some as giving legal grounds for corporal punishment. The clause itself does not say anything about the use of physical force as a means of discipline.  “Through the revision, we expect to contribute to forming an en

LATEST NEWS

• Today

  

  North Korea

  Flood alerts issued along 3 North Korean rivers: N.K. media

    North Korea issued flood alerts in areas along three western rivers Tuesday as heavy rain continued to lash many parts of the country, a North Korean media report said. The flood alerts were issued near the Taedong River, the Chongchon River and the Ryesong River for Thursday and Friday, according to the North's Korean Central Television. All the three rivers empty into the Yellow Sea, with the Taedong running through the capital city of Pyongyang. An official at North Korea's weath

• Today

  

  Industry

  Booking.com to cut thousands of workers after COVID-19 travel hit

  Booking Holdings Inc. is the latest online travel giant to eliminate thousands of jobs after the coronavirus pandemic hammered the industry. As much as 25 percent of employees at Booking.com, the company’s biggest business, will be cut, the company said in a statement Tuesday. That’s about 4,000 workers.  The reductions will be implemented globally. Chief Executive Officer Glenn Fogel discussed the move during a video call with workers, saying the past five months repre

• Today

  

  Baseball

  'Robot umpire' system makes official debut in KBO minor league game

  So-called robot umpires officially debuted in a Korea Baseball Organization minor league match Tuesday as the sports organization is preparing to use the system for the entire 2021 season. The automated ball-strike system, simply known as robot umpires, was used for the first time, in a Futures League game between the Hanwha Eagles and LG Twins at LG Champions Park in Icheon, southeast of Seoul. The debut came after the radar and camera-based ball-tracing system was installed at the baseball

• Today

  

  Social affairs

  Foreigners caught escaping from designated quarantine facilities

  Two unlawful defection attempts were reported at a government-designated coronavirus quarantine facility for foreigners in Incheon, west of Seoul, in less than 20 days, police said Tuesday, despite authorities' repeated pledges to heighten supervision of arrivals from abroad. According to police, a Vietnamese national escaped from an Incheon hotel designated by the health ministry as a temporary foreign quarantine accommodation around 4 a.m. Monday before being detained in Seoul eight hours l

• Today

  

  National

  KCDC becomes external agency responsible for infectious disease control

  The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will become an external agency with expanded powers over the country's response to infectious illnesses, officials said Tuesday. The move comes as the National Assembly passed revisions to the Government Organization Act earlier in the day, giving the KCDC independent powers over its personnel, structure and budget. It will still be under the health ministry, but it will be led by a vice minister-level official with considerable administra

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SPOTLIGHT

• Culture

  

  Treasures of Sinan shipwreck unveiled online

  An online exhibition of artifacts from the Sinan shipwreck opened Tuesday, showing the vessels and coins, among other items, that were dug up from the ocean floor during an eight-year underwater salvage operation. According to the National Research Institute of Maritime Cultural Heritage, which organized the online exhibition, the ship, which is estimated to weigh more than 200 tons, sunk while carrying priceless cargo in 1323. The ship left from the port of Ningbo in China and was headed for

• 

  Theater

  ‘We are on an almost different planet here’

  Head of international tour production ‘Phantom’ looks forward to Daegu shows

• 

  Soccer

  Every player in S. Korean football league to be tested for coronavirus

  The South Korean football league said Tuesday it will conduct a second round of coronavirus tests on all players and coaches on its 22 teams across two divisions by next week as part of precautionary measures against the virus. The Korea Professional Football League (K League) said the 12 teams in the first-division K League 1 and 10 clubs in the K League 2 will be subject to testing, following their first all-inclusive tests in April. The test results should be reported to the K League secre

• 

  K-pop

  BTS song lyrics featured on iconic billboard in downtown Seoul

  Words from the song "Run" by K-pop group BTS have been featured on an iconic signboard in downtown Seoul. The new billboard on the exterior of the Kyobo Building in the Gwanghwamun square, central Seoul, reads, "Run, run, run again. It's OK if you fall. Run, run, run again. It's OK to get hurt" -- lifted from the lead song of the 2015 BTS album "The Most Beautiful Moment in Life pt. 2." The banner, 20 meters by 8 meters in dimension, has been up on the Gwanghwamu

GRAPHIC NEWS

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EDITORIAL

• Vanishing jeonse

  Revised lease act entices landlords into shifting to monthly rent

• Unexpected rebound

  Positive data for June can barely be taken as indicator of economic recovery

VIEWPOINTS

THE INVESTOR

• Finance

  

  Kakao Games pushes for September IPO

  Kakao Games, the games unit of Korea’s mobile giant Kakao, has submitted a registration statement to the Financial Services Commission, hoping to get listed on the nation’s tech-heavy Kosdaq market in September. 　By issuing 16 million new common shares, at a price between 20,000 won and 24,000 won ($16.70-$20.10) each, the game developer looks to raise as much as 384 billion won, Kakao Games said Monday via DART-- the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosure board

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  Startups & Investors

  TechStars Korea Accelerator to kick-off first program in August

  Colorado-based global startup accelerator Techstars is launching the first accelerator program in South Korea with 10 selected startups, the company said on August 4. Techstars Korea Accelerator is scheduled to kick off a 13-week program on August 31 with 10 domestic and overseas early-stage startups selected earlier this year.  “The 2020 class will have participants not only from Korea but also from all over the world,” Lee Eun-se, managing director of Techstars Korea Acce

• 

  Finance

  K bank ups ante with online mortgage service after capital raise

  In its first step since resuming operation, internet-only lender K bank unveiled a mobile mortgage loan service on August 4, which allows customers to borrow money without visiting brick-and-mortar banking branches. 　Utilizing data scraping technology to gather customers’ credit information online, the bank can easily calculate loan limits and interest rates for customers, officials said. It has also reduced the number of documents needed when taking mortgage loans -- the bank only requi

• 

  Startups & Investors

  Viva Republica launches credit card processing subsidiary

  Viva Republica, operator of mobile fintech platform Toss, said on August 3 that it has launched a payment gateway subsidiary called Toss Payments. 　The establishment of the new subsidiary comes after the fintech company reached an agreement with mobile network giant LG Uplus in December, taking over full ownership of the latter’s payment gateway unit. A payment gateway is a service that authorizes credit card payments. 　With the new subsidiary, Viva Republica aims to take e-commerce pay

K-POP

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  BTS song lyrics featured on iconic billboard in downtown Seoul

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  K-pop act (G)I-dle sings of summer, youthfulness in new single

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  S.M. Entertainment secures W100b funding from Naver

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  BTS nominated in three categories for 2020 MTV Video Music Awards

HERALD INTERVIEW

• Theater

  

  ‘We are on an almost different planet here’

  Head of international tour production ‘Phantom’ looks forward to Daegu shows

• 

  Markets

  ‘Race for core assets overseas still competitive amid pandemic’

  Korean investors may seek pandemic discount, but widespread demand for safe haven assets makes bargains scarce, CBRE says

• 

  Defense

  Arms procurement chief lauds ‘hidden’ defense tech champions

  Veteran state auditor becomes go-to troubleshooter for local defense firms tapping global market

• 

  People

  Hotels prepare for post-coronavirus era

  Touch-free services may be the key focus for hotels in the post-coronavirus era, according to Park Hyatt Seoul General Manager Samuel Dabinett. Luxury hotel Park Hyatt Seoul shut down in March after a guest confirmed with COVID-19 visited the hotel. After a nearly two-month break, it reopened in June, changing some of its service manuals in pursuit of contactless service. During the break, the hotel developed a new QR-code for its compendium, allowing guests to access all the information reg

PHOTO NEWS

• Travel

  

  Yangyang is a summer playground

  The small county of Yangyang in Gangwon Province, a 2 1/2-hour drive from Seoul, has morphed into a bustling surf town in recent years, as the hub of Korea’s surfing culture.  Surf shops, restaurants and cafes for surfers line Yangyang’s streets. On the weekends, the beaches are packed with surfers in wetsuits looking far out into the horizon with their surf boards, waiting for the right wave.  The local surfing culture is thought to have emerged in the 1990s and today

VIDEO

• Culture

  

  Breaking the ice in the era of social distancing

  The intricate art of socializing never comes easy, depending on personalities. Introverts usually despise the awkward silence during small gatherings and the need to mingle. Extroverts find it easier to approach newcomers in unfamiliar settings. Getting to know someone new is challenging, but can’t be avoided because relationships are a crucial part of life. Every day, humans seek emotional connections on a deeper level for better well-being and happiness. A short encounter with a str

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  Arts&Design

  With court battle over, singer-artist ready for limelight

  Cho Young-nam discusses being cleared of art fraud charge, new fiction, optimism

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  Culture

  A cup of coffee brewed with inspiration

  A cafe that trains and hires baristas who have mental disabilities

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  Culture

  Newly coined online terms fun for young Koreans, puzzle for others

  As with other cultures and countries, Korea’s youth have their own vocabularies, slangs and some creative expressions reflecting a range of trends and ideas. Korean teenagers are producing a torrent of new slangs that defy easy interpretation by those in other age groups. The objects, ideas and definitions behind the newly coined words are not entirely new, but they are still a sign of the time in general and what is linguistically fashionable among the young generation. Cryptic acron

MOST POPULAR

• Heavy downpour continues; authorities on alert
• N. Korea released dam water without notifying South Korea: ministry official
• New virus cases again over 30, imported cases still on high plateau
• Damage from heavy rain continues to grow in S. Korea, leaving 13 dead, 13 missing
• How safe are cafes and restaurants?
• Death toll from heavy downpour rises to 14
• Sejong an alternative to overcrowded, overly expensive Seoul?
• Nine denied entry for submitting substandard coronavirus-free certificates
• S. Korea reports three-month low of 3 domestic infections
• Family feud simmers at Korea’s largest tiremaker

FEATURES

• Social affairs

  

  Korea gains 444 in population after losing 12,000 for 7 months

  Men’s population declines for 12th consecutive month

• 

  Markets

  Questions persist on effectiveness of ‘tenant protection’ laws

  Debates are heating up in the housing market and among political parties over the merits of the recently introduced tenant protections laws. While the ruling party saw the new rules as a vital step in stabilizing the bubble-prone market, opposition parties blamed the demanding new rules for further cutting back on the supply of housing. “The new tenant protection laws were effectuated in an unprecedented speed in order to minimize market confusion,” said Lee Hae-chan, chairman

• 

  Politics

  Sejong an alternative to overcrowded, overly expensive Seoul?

  Ruling party revives a 16-year-old capital relocation plan amid growing public outcry over Seoul home prices

• 

  Industry

  Family feud simmers at Korea’s largest tiremaker

  When the chief of Korea’s largest tiremaker sold all his stock in the company to his second son on June 30, the succession appeared to have proceeded smoothly. But it had not. The simmering family dispute has come to light because the chairman’s daughter took issue with the handover. On Thursday, Cho Hee-kyung, the eldest daughter of group Chairman Cho Yang-rai, applied to be her father’s guardian -- requesting the legal authority to care for the personal and property interes

WEEKENDER

• Social affairs

  

  COVID-19: The people who didn’t have to die

  Pandemic’s ‘collateral damage’ won’t be picked up in numbers

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  Culture

  Audiobook market expands in Korea, buoyed by COVID-19

  Users have greater choice of titles, unique content as competition for market share grows

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  Markets

  ‘Revenge shopping’ on rise as alternative to summer vacay

  Amid COVID-19 fears, luxury brands in Korea enjoy high demand from consumers looking to ‘reward’ themselves in pandemic times

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  Industry

  Is she real? Artificial humans move to the fore

  With Miquela, Imma, Sua, Vincent and now Samsung’s Neon, the CGI demographic grows