Korean Air employees hold candlelight vigil against controlling family

(Yonhap)Nearly 500 former and current employees of Korean Air Lines Co. staged a candlelight vigil on Friday to protest abusive treatment by the controlling Cho family, amid rising public outcry over an alleged assault by one of the chief's daughters. The former and current employees at the country's flagship carrier, as well as their families and acquaintances, joined the rally in central Seoul at 7:00 p.m. amid a ballooning scandal in which a former senior executive and daughter of chief Cho Y

May 4, 2018

Prosecution rejects Korean Air heiress' arrest warrant over alleged assault

Prosecutors on Friday rejected a police request for an arrest warrant for a daughter of Korean Air Lines Co.'s chairman over an alleged assault.Earlier, the Seoul Gangseo Police Station said they requested the writ against Cho Hyun-min, who was a senior executive of the company, on charges of assault and obstruction of business. In South Korea, only the prosecution can ask the court to issue a warrant.Cho Hyun-min (Yonhap)The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office denied the request, saying

May 4, 2018

Samsung Next CEO listed among 100 influential Asian-Americans

David Eun, president of Samsung Next, an innovation arm of Samsung Electronics, has been included on a list of 100 influential Asian-Americans. The list was announced Tuesday by Gold House -- a new nonprofit seeking to support Asian-Americans in business and culture -- to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first recognized usage of the term “Asian-American.” Eun was included on the list along with Jensen Huang of Taiwanese descent, co-founder and CEO of graphics processor Nvidia, and Satya Na

May 4, 2018

Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong heads to Osaka after Shenzhen trip

Samsung Electronics heir and Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong headed to Osaka, Japan on Friday after a three-day trip to Shenzhen, China, as confirmed by The Korea Herald. While some industry officials forecast that Lee would hold meetings with Japanese business partners in Osaka as apart of annual greetings, the heir is also expected to take a short respite after his business trip to China, on which he was accompanied by the top officials of Samsung’s semiconductor business to seek new growth opportu

May 4, 2018

[Health-tech Korea] Matching curiosity with purpose in DNA analysis

The Korea Herald is publishing a series of articles highlighting South Korea’s promising startups in the emerging sectors of digital health care and next-generation medical devices. This is the 18th installment. -- Ed.As genome sequencing costs have drastically dropped in the past few years, numerous startups have begun offering direct-to-consumer DNA analysis services through which individuals can learn about their genes and related health markers with a saliva sample.Finding out about one’s ge

May 3, 2018

Auction for 5G frequency spectrums set on June 15

South Korea will hold an auction for frequencies that will be used for the fifth-generation network on June 15, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced Thursday. The ministry will receive bids from mobile carriers starting Friday through June 4, and hold the auction on the decided day. Through a public hearing on prices of 5G frequencies held last month, the ministry set the opening price for the auction of high-end frequencies -- 28 blocks (280 megahertz) in the 3.5-gigahertz spectrum and 24

May 3, 2018

Stay updated on news with The Korea Herald’s social media platforms

The digital and mobile revolutions have changed how people consume news these days. Instead of getting overnight news from a printed newspaper, many people now tend to follow the real-time news on their mobile phones and PCs. To keep up with the fast-paced news cycle, The Korea Herald provides the latest news and multimedia content via social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.The Korea Herald’s Facebook page aims to inform readers about the most important news of the day

May 3, 2018

LG’s mobile head promises lower price, better quality with G7 ThinQ

LG Electronics is focusing on a low price strategy for the company’s latest flagship G7 ThinQ model, while promising better quality, according to its mobile chief at a press conference in Seoul on Thursday. “Our major focus is to provide better quality phones at lower prices,” said Hwang Jeong-hwan, vice president and head of the mobile communications business, after unveiling the G7 ThinQ. The new smartphone features artificial intelligence functions aimed at convenience, the “brightest” displa

May 3, 2018

LG Electronics unveils G7 ThinQ in New York

LG Electronics unveiled its seventh edition of G series smartphone, dubbed G7 ThinQ, to its global consumers in New York on Wednesday, highlighting on its features designed around improved user convenience. Equipped with a 6.1-inch Super Bright Display -- with a notch design in the 1,000-nit bright liquid crystal display -- the G7 ThinQ is nearly half an inch larger than its predecessor, but is small enough to be used with one hand, an element that LG has been seeking for. Among the various new

May 2, 2018

Samsung heir heads to Shenzhen for business meeting with BYD

Samsung Electronics heir apparent and Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong departed for Shenzhen on Wednesday with the presidents of the tech titan’s semiconductor division. According to the industry, the heir left for the Chinese version of Silicon Valley with the company’s chipmaking unit head Kim Ki-nam, memory business head Jin Gyo-young and system LSI business head Kang In-yup. Samsung Display CEO Lee Dong-hoon also joined the business trip.“The vice chairman and presidents are scheduled to hold meet

May 2, 2018

Korea to invest W35.7b in developing homegrown medical AI system

The South Korean government plans to invest 35.7 billion won ($33.4 million) over the next three years to build a homegrown medical artificial intelligence system that analyzes patients’ medical data to offer personalized diagnostics and treatment plans.　The Ministry of Science and ICT held a ceremony in Seoul on Monday to formally mark the beginning of efforts to develop the Korean medical AI system dubbed “Dr. Answer,” which uses medical big data to guide doctors in their diagnosis and treatme

May 1, 2018

KT to co-develop chipsets with US-based Aquantia for five-fold faster internet

South Korean mobile carrier KT said Tuesday the company will develop chipsets for faster local area network internet with global chipset maker Aquantia based in the United States.The two signed a memorandum of understanding for the development, KT said.(Yonhap)With current technologies by KT, the LAN internet’s speed reaches up to 1 Gigabits per second by using two pairs of LAN cables. Adding a new chipset to this, the maximum speed can go up to 2.5 Gbps, and even to 5 Gbps by using four pairs o

May 1, 2018

Samsung to provide cinema LED screen for movie theaters in Mexico

Cinemex officials promote the Onyx screen by Samsung Electronics at a theater in Mexico City. (Samsung Electronics)South Korean tech titan Samsung Electronics will make inroads into the cinema market in Latin America by providing its light-emitting diode screens to the region’s biggest movie theaters, according to the company Tuesday. Samsung said it had signed a contract with Cinemex, the second-largest movie theater company in Mexico, to supply Samsung’s LED screen Onyx to five Cinemex venues

May 1, 2018

WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum to leave Facebook amid privacy flap

SAN FRANCISCO -- WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum is breaking ties with his company’s parent, Facebook, amid a privacy scandal that has dogged the social network for weeks.Koum confirmed his departure from WhatsApp Monday on his Facebook page . The Washington Post reported that Koum also plans to resign from Facebook’s board of directors. Facebook wouldn’t comment on that report.Facebook has been trying to defuse questions about whether it can be trusted with the reams of personal information it collects t

May 1, 2018

AlcaCruz introduces streaming tech for optimized live VR broadcast

Silicon Valley IT startup AlcaCruz, whose CEO is Emily Ward, announced that it has officially launched SuperStream Live, a new streaming technology that enables optimized live virtual reality broadcasts. Founded in 2014, AlcaCruz is startup located in Silicon Valley. It holds several patents for cutting-edge image and video processing technologies. The new streaming technology maintains high visual quality while reducing network and server costs by 75 percent compared to conventional streaming.S

April 30, 2018

Tencent eyes investment in Bluehole, maker of hit video game ‘Battlegrounds’

China’s Tencent Holdings is considering investing in South Korean game company Bluehole, the parent firm of PUBG, which is behind the world’s current best-selling video game “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds,“ according to industry sources. It could mark Tencent’s biggest investment in a Korean game company as the Chinese firm is seen moving to expand its grip in the lucrative gaming industry.　Local news reports citing sources in the venture capital industry recently said that Tencent is planning t

April 30, 2018

Samsung SDS Q1 operating profit grows on strong cloud, smart factory business

Samsung SDS, the information technology services and logistics solutions arm of South Korea’s Samsung Group, said Monday that its first-quarter operating profit rose 24 percent on-year to 181.8 billion won ($170.4 million), on the back of a strong performance by its cloud and smart factory businesses.　Revenue during the January-March period grew 9.5 percent on-year to 2.36 trillion won while net profit jumped 45.2 percent to 131.6 billion won, the company said in its earnings guidance report. (S

April 30, 2018

Samsung, SK hynix sued by US consumers for fixing DRAM prices

The world’s two-largest memory makers based in South Korea, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, are facing a legal battle against US consumers who claim that they conspired to set high prices for widely used memory chips, according to the industry on Monday. US class-action law firm Hagens Berman said in a press release Friday that it had filed a lawsuit against the three-largest electronics chipmakers, Samsung Electronics, Micron and SK hynix, claiming that the companies illegally agreed to raise

April 30, 2018

KT launches first AI-based donation campaign for children

KT said Monday it is launching a donation campaign using its artificial intelligence platform GiGA Genie with the aim to make donating easier. It is the first case in South Korea to utilize AI for donations, according to the firm. The campaign, in coordination with ChildFund Korea, runs from Friday through May 30, giving GiGA Genie users the chance to donate for children in need using the speaker as part of efforts to celebrate Children’s Day, which falls on Saturday.  KT will launch a donation

April 30, 2018

What we know about LG’s new flagship G7 ThinQ

According to teasers by LG Electronics, its new flagship smartphone G7 ThinQ -- set to debut on Wednesday -- will feature the brightest liquid crystal display and the loudest speaker among existing smartphones, which would turn users’ attention from dual camera back to the visual and audio features. One of the most interesting features is the so-called “New Second Screen” that has had LG officially acknowledge that the seventh edition of G series phone will join Apple’s leadership in the notch d

April 29, 2018