Herald Interview In series
A series of in-depth interviews.
#Interview
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Herald Interview In series
A series of in-depth interviews.
Would you like to subscribe?
Hanwha Life looks beyond insurance for global growth
Hanwha Life Insurance is betting on the blockchain as a core pillar of its next growth phase as it seeks to evolve from a traditional insurer into a global financial group, according to its Chief Global Business Officer Kim Dong-wook. Rather than treating blockchains as a speculative technology play, the insurer sees it as financial infrastructure capable of reshaping cost structures across the industry. “Hanwha Life envisions a future of finance in which blockchain technology securely safeguard
Dec. 17, 2025 - 11:34:24
Jeon Do-yeon on tracking truth in 'The Price of Confession'
Netflix’s “The Price of Confession,” which was launched Dec. 5 as one of Netflix Korea’s year-end tentpole projects, is a propulsive thriller engineered for uninterrupted bingeing. Blending a whodunit with a touch of human drama, the series opens with a unique premise: A husband is murdered and his free-spirited art-teacher wife, Yoon-su (Jeon Do-yeon), gets locked up despite her protests of innocence. Inside prison, she encounters fellow inmate Mo Eun (Kim Go-eun) who suddenly offers a bargain:
Dec. 12, 2025 - 23:51:26
After 'Manipulated,' Ji Chang-wook ready for cross-border storytelling
For a 30-something Korean actor, few have sampled as many genres as Ji Chang-wook, whose resume spans morning daily soaps, musicals, action-crime tentpoles and even international projects, including Chinese dramas. Since making his debut in a 2008 independent film, Ji has steadily built a career defined by range. His latest project is Disney+ crime series "The Manipulated," where he stars opposite actor and K-pop idol Do Kyung-soo. The series reimagines and expands the universe of 2017 action fe
Dec. 12, 2025 - 09:16:59
Playful 'Twelfth Night' finds new style in Joseon-era rom-com
Love stories perhaps thrill us most when they survive a maze of missteps and misunderstandings. Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” is the quintessential romantic comedy, built on a playful tangle of disguise, mistaken identity and a love triangle that somehow finds its way to a perfectly happy ending. The National Theater Company of Korea’s recent adaptation relocates the play to Nongmeori, a coastal village that corresponds to today’s Sammok Ferry Terminal area in Incheon, during the Joseon era (139
Dec. 11, 2025 - 09:00:00
Foreign funds reenter Korean logistics: Cushman Korea chief
Foreign investors are rushing back into Korean logistics real estate, betting that the market has already hit bottom, according to Richard Hwang, managing director of Cushman & Wakefield Korea. Although the logistics sector faced oversupply concerns in recent years — particularly after the pandemic-driven e-commerce boom created a glut of distribution centers across the country — offshore asset managers are now investing aggressively in the properties to capitalize on the growing market. “Foreig
Dec. 10, 2025 - 15:13:07
Ha Jung-woo's risky bet on sex and broken hearts
"The People Upstairs" is the kind of movie you'll know within five minutes whether you're staying on board or jumping ship. Ha Jung-woo's fourth and latest directorial effort — a chamber piece set entirely within a single apartment over a dinner party — is an extravaganza of rapid-fire banter, sexual innuendos and escalating absurdity, even as nothing remotely explicit appears on screen across its two-hour runtime. The setup couldn't be simpler. Two married couples sit at a table: on one side, t
Dec. 6, 2025 - 16:00:00
Louvre director shines new spotlight on hanji, Korean traditional paper
Xavier Salmon, who oversees the print collection at the Louvre Museum in Paris, considers himself, in a way, an ambassador for hanji, Korean handmade mulberry paper. What fascinates him is its duality in practical use and poetic texture for creating art. During his visit to Korea last year, Salmon traveled through Seoul and major Buddhist monasteries, including Haeinsa and Bulguksa. Having selected 12 photographs, he matched them with 12 Parisian heritage sites, forming a visual dialogue — all p
Dec. 1, 2025 - 12:54:58
‘Unrivaled end-to-end solutions’: Merck aims to anchor Korea’s R&D ecosystem
Basic science is regarded as the starting point for numerous industries as it is essential not only to discovering new drugs but also to advancing cutting-edge technologies such as semiconductors and secondary batteries. With a portfolio of about 300,000 reagents and chemicals, Merck, which has been practically “everywhere,” looks to further bolster its presence in Korea. “Our biggest distinction is that we are capable of offering a broad selection of consumables ranging from chemistry to biolog
Nov. 30, 2025 - 14:22:48
From fragmented memories of shame, adoptee author weaves a home in language
We rarely remember childhood with clarity. What remains are flashes, blurred images capturing only that which faintly surfaces. The past does not unfold like a film with a neat beginning and end. That, perhaps, is the beauty of memory. The same is true for Laure Mi Hyun Croset, a writer who was born in Korea and adopted to Switzerland at 10 months old. Her early memories, too, resist coherence, surviving only as isolated images, blurred at the edges like “a scattered series of uneasy Polaroids s
Nov. 30, 2025 - 09:45:14
Kim You-jung reinvents herself in Tving’s year-end bet 'Dear X'
Kim You-jung — long celebrated as the nation’s “little sister” since her early days as a child star — steps into her darkest role yet, shedding her bright image to play a cold-blooded sociopath in one of Tving’s biggest swings for the latter half of 2025. In “Dear X,” Kim stars as Ah-jin, a top actor with a traumatic past marked by childhood abuse, who strategically cycles through lovers as stepping stones to fame. The 12-episode thriller traces her ascent as she weaponizes charm, beauty and cal
Nov. 29, 2025 - 16:00:00
Korea’s customs chief aims to lead ‘fair growth’ with AI, digital border control
South Korea’s customs chief has pledged to use artificial intelligence and digital tools to strengthen fair growth at home while deepening cooperation with developing countries, positioning the Korea Customs Service as a “border guardian” for both trade and national security. In a recent interview with The Korea Herald, the KCS head said the agency is moving beyond its traditional image as a tax collector to become a strategic actor in trade security, digitalization and global standard-setting.
Nov. 26, 2025 - 13:47:04
After 70 years in Korea, Rieckermann doubles down on high-tech growth
Hamburg-headquartered industrial solutions provider Rieckermann has been a quiet but consequential player in Korea’s industrial development for more than seven decades. Founded in 1892, the privately owned German group has grown into a global organization with over 750 employees across 26 offices in 18 countries. Its Seoul branch, established in 1953, is one of its earliest and longest-running Asian operations. “There is a long tradition of cooperation between Korea and Germany, and I believe th
Nov. 26, 2025 - 13:33:59
Shaw Prize winner Baumeister on breakthroughs that changed cell imaging
HONG KONG — Wolfgang Baumeister has spent decades trying to see what the human eye never could. This year, the German biophysicist was awarded the Shaw Prize in life science and medicine for pioneering cryo-electron tomography, a breakthrough that allows scientists to observe the molecular architecture of living cells in unprecedented detail. “It’s a wonderful recognition,” he said at an interview with The Korea Herald on the sidelines of the Hong Kong Laureate Forum 2025. “But after 30 years of
Nov. 25, 2025 - 15:05:14
'My last chance': Eric Lu on overcoming pressure to win Chopin Competition on second try decade later
American pianist Eric Lu returned to the 2025 Chopin Competition 10 years after taking fourth prize, a move that fits a familiar story in classical music: artists coming back to one of the world’s toughest stages, pushed by ambition, pressure and a highly competitive field. “I felt that while my career was going well, it was not at the level that I have the ambitions for,” the 27-year-old pianist told reporters Monday in Seoul. But when the final results came out, Lu’s story took a turn. Instead
Nov. 25, 2025 - 11:49:39
‘Korea is closing LFP gap with China’: Innometry CEO on yields, tech edge
Amid a global slowdown in electric vehicle demand, China has tightened its grip on cost-efficient lithium iron phosphate, or LFP, batteries, while Korea — long focused on premium nickel-cobalt-manganese — has only recently begun scaling up LFP output. Yet the CEO of a leading battery inspection equipment-maker says Korea is closing the gap far faster than many assume and could even gain an edge as Chinese battery exports face mounting tariff pressure. “If you look at LFP mass-production capabili
Nov. 24, 2025 - 14:45:10
