Unionized pilots at Korea‘s largest airline on Wednesday called an early end to its strike originally scheduled to last until Jan. 10. The strike began on Dec. 22.Through an official statement, the Korean Air Pilot Union said that it had reached an agreement to return to negotiations with the company on Thursday at 3 p.m, holding off the strike from midnight Thursday until Jan. 15. This would be the 10th round of wage negotiations. (Korean Air)The pilots’ union had initially demanded a wage incr

Industry Dec. 28, 2016

Shinsegae Group announced Wednesday that it has named two new chief executives to its duty-free and fashion companies, effective Jan. 1.Son Yung-sik, the Executive Vice President of Shinsegae‘s duty-free operator Shinsegae DF, was named the new CEO of the company. He will be replacing Sung Young-mok, who had been serving as CEO of both Shinsegae DF and Shinsegae Chosun Hotel.According to Shinsegae, Sung will be focusing exclusively on the company’s hotel business while Son will be in charge of t

Industry Dec. 28, 2016

Korean Air is working to contribute to the fight against climate change with its Global Planting Project in China and Mongolia.Since 2007, Korea‘s largest airline has been planting trees in the Kubuchi Desert in China. Over the past decades, employees have visited the desert every year to plant trees in the Korean Air Eco-Park. This year, 50 employees joined 70 college students to plant trees from Sept. 20 to 22.  Korean Air employees and college students at Kubuchi Desert in China pose at an an

Industry Dec. 28, 2016

Korea‘s largest air carrier vowed Tuesday to strengthen security training for its air cabin crew following strong public backlash for a seemingly weak response to an unruly passenger on Dec. 20.Korean Air President Chi Chang-hoon told reporters at a press conference at Korean Air’s Training Center in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, that the airline would be improving its training procedures for cabin crew to focus more on drills for real-life scenarios. Korean Air flight attendants practice restraining unrul

Industry Dec. 27, 2016

South Korean lawmakers on Monday questioned the friend of President Park Geun-hye, who is at the center of a scandal that led to the president's impeachment, at a detention center as she repeatedly rejected to appear at a parliamentary hearing.Members of a special parliamentary committee visited the detention center on the outskirts of Seoul and quizzed Park's confidante Choi Soon-sil. The lawmakers originally planned to air the questioning, but after hours of quarreling with the correctional of

Politics Dec. 26, 2016

TAIPEI -- Tzuyu, a Taiwanese member of the multinational K-pop girl group TWICE, and "Descendants of the Sun" have turned out to be the most popular Korean idol and TV series, respectively, in Taiwan, a local paper reported Monday.The Liberty Times released the popularity results based on the number of searches on the Internet and social media sites.In November 2015, Tzuyu put herself at the center of a diplomatic controversy when she waved the Taiwanese national flag during an online-exclusive

Performance Dec. 26, 2016

Stefan Vanovermeir returned to South Korea this June as the new general manager for Air France-KLM in Korea, Japan and New Caledonia, 10 years after working in the country as Air France Korea’s commercial director.Many things have changed over the past decade, Vanovermeir said, but one thing has stayed the same -- Korea is intensely competitive and is the perfect place to try out new strategies through customers who are vocal about what they want.“Korean consumers are responsive, more demanding,

Industry Dec. 26, 2016

An unexpected increase in national tax revenues has heightened calls for the government to implement a more aggressive fiscal policy to shore up the sluggish economy.The government collected 215.9 trillion won ($180.7 billion) in tax revenues in the first 10 months of this year, up 23.5 trillion won from a year earlier, according to data released by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance last week.Tax revenues are projected to exceed 240 trillion won by the end of the year, far above the target se

Dec. 21, 2016

Seventeen years after it opened its first store in Korea in front of Ewha Womans University, Starbucks Korea celebrated the opening of its 1,000th store last week in the upscale Cheongdam shopping district.The landmark is the result of aggressive expansion by the Korean arm of the Seattle-born coffee chain, which opened 131 new stores between 2015 and 2016. Korea is the fifth country to have 1,000 Starbucks stores after the US, Canada, China and Japan. Sales have grown in step with the number of

Industry Dec. 21, 2016

Korea’s flagship air carrier is likely to spend Christmas fending off controversy over the training of its cabin crew and labor relations, as an in-flight incident involving an international pop star took off Tuesday via social media, just ahead of a scheduled strike by its pilots.On Tuesday, singer-songwriter Richard Marx posted multiple times to his official Facebook page about a four-hour “chaotic and dangerous event” on Korean Air Flight 480’s Prestige business class, flying from Hanoi, Viet

Industry Dec. 21, 2016

(Walkerhill)Walkerhill Customer Service Business said Tuesday that it will open a capsule hotel called Darakhyu at Incheon International Airport in January. Located on the first floor of the airport, the 60-room capsule hotel will charge by the hour, with a keyless system that allows visitors to check in and out and adjust lighting and temperature from their smartphones. (Walkerhill)Darakhyu rooms will charge 8,000 to 13,000 won per hour. Reservations open Jan. 1 at www.walkerhill.com/capsulehot

Business Dec. 20, 2016

Unionized pilots at the country’s largest airline are set to begin a 10-day strike Thursday, and the Transport Ministry has opened a central control tower to prepare for anticipated flight cancellations.The strike will cancel 84 passenger flights around Christmas from Dec. 22 to 26, including 20 international flights to Japan, China and the Middle East. Most, or 97 percent, of Korean Air’s international flights will run on schedule during the strike. Flight changes from Dec. 26 to Dec. 31 have n

Business Dec. 20, 2016

(Samsung C&T)Samsung C&T‘s menswear brand JUUN.J has opened a pop-up store in Harrods Department Store in London, UK, the company said Tuesday. The store will be open for two months featuring collection items from the 2016 F/W and 2017 S/S seasons, as well as collaboration items with Japanese illustrator Hajime Sorayama. JUUN.J is currently being sold in 125 stores in 30 countries. (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)

Business Dec. 20, 2016

Saturday’s announcement of six new duty-free licenses in South Korea brought a sense of closure to heated competition, yet simultaneously amplified ongoing debates on the efficacy of the current licensing process on duty-free operations.The Korea Customs Service gave three highly-coveted duty-free licenses to conglomerates in Seoul, bringing the total number of duty free shops in the capital to 13.The golden tickets went to Shinsegae DF, Hyundai Department Store and Lotte Duty Free, after a long

Industry Dec. 19, 2016