Seoul City turns to IoT in solving urban problems

The Seoul Metropolitan Government is seeking to solve urban problems by turning to new and existing Internet of Things technologies, a Seoul city official said Wednesday. In efforts to improve the safety and quality-of-life of Seoulites, the city government has made an aggressive investment of 2.7 billion won ($2.54 million) into 12 sites across the city from its yearly budget. A carbon monoxide sensor will be attached inside all tents at the city-owned camping grounds in order to prevent fire s

April 11, 2018

LG Chem sets up joint ventures with China’s Huayou Cobalt

South Korea’s leading lithium-ion battery maker LG Chem said Wednesday it would invest a total of 239.4 billion won ($224 million) to set up joint ventures with China’s Huayou Cobalt by 2020 in order to secure a stable supply of core materials for batteries. Zhejiang province-based Huayou Cobalt is the world’s biggest cobalt producer. It produced 20,000 tons of cobalt in 2017 alone.The two will establish two joint ventures -- one for precursors and the other for cathodes. Precursors made of coba

April 11, 2018

[Newsmaker] WHO delays controversial decision on recognizing game addiction as mental disorder

The World Health Organization has delayed by one year its 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases, which had included controversial plans to list video game addiction as a mental health condition, according to industry sources Wednesday.　The WHO stipulated in its “ICD-11 Joint Linearization for Mortality and Morbidity Statistics: Project Plan 2015-2018” report, dated January this year, that it will not endorse the revised mental health disorder guidebook until May 2019.“The

April 11, 2018

Raonsecure to showcase biometric authentication solutions at RSA

Raonsecure, a South Korean mobile security solutions provider, will showcase its biometric authentication solutions and USB security dongles at the RSA Conference 2018 that kicks off Monday in San Francisco, the company said Wednesday.　The company will operate a booth inside the Korea Pavilion organized by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency. It plans to hold a product briefing session twice every day during the exhibition period. (Raonsecure)At this year’s conference, Raonsecure will be

April 11, 2018

LG's AI-powered G7 ThinQ smartphone to debut in NY next month

LG Electronics said Tuesday it will unveil the seventh edition of its flagship G series smartphone in New York on May 2. “G7 ThinQ,” the upcoming LG phone will feature enhanced artificial intelligence functions and improved connectivity with other internet of things devices, according to the company. The newest phone will be showcased at Metropolitan West in Manhattan on May 2. It will then be unveiled in Yongsan IPark Mall in Seoul the following day. ThinQ is LG’s artificial intelligence platfo

April 10, 2018

Kakao Taxi introduces paid option for faster pickup at 1,000 won

Kakao Taxi, South Korea’s most widely-used taxi hailing app, on Tuesday added a “paid option” that offers users faster pickup services. The option will cost an extra 1,000 won on top of the taxi fare, according to the company. 　The paid option, dubbed “smart call,” leverages Kakao’s artificial intelligence and big data analysis engines to direct a particular ride request to taxi drivers who are most likely to accept the call based on previous pickup history and driving patterns. The 1,000 won “s

April 10, 2018

AI experts call off boycott of KAIST over alleged development of ‘killer robots’

Artificial intelligence experts from around the world have called off their plans to boycott South Korea’s top science and technology research university KAIST over concerns that it was collaborating with a local arms maker over the development of autonomous “killer robots.”　KAIST said Monday that the group of AI researchers who had signed on to the boycott had withdrawn its plans to sever ties with the Korean university, after the institute gave clear, public assurance that AI-based weapons wou

April 9, 2018

[Health-tech Korea] Diagnosing cancer with a drop of blood

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 17th installment. - Ed.Checking for signs of cancer has long been confined to the domain of hospitals, where complex examinations are conducted. It could be an MRI, a CT scan, a lengthy blood test or a biopsy that requires harvesting a sample of tissue from the body for further examination at a lab.But wh

April 9, 2018

SK Telecom to compensate 7.3m subscribers for network problem

SK Telecom on Saturday announced a plan to compensate subscribers who experienced problems in sending messages and making voice calls Friday. About 7.3 million SKT subscribers are estimated to have experienced some amount of inconvenience for about three hours Friday afternoon due to erroneous operations of Long Term Evolution systems for voice calls and text messages. The problems first occurred at 3:17 p.m. and were solved by 5:48 p.m. According to the terms of agreement, compensation is to be

April 8, 2018

Nearly 86,000 S. Koreans affected by Facebook data leak: company

A large number of South Koreans may have been affected by the latest personal information leak affecting U.S. social media operator Facebook Inc., the company said Friday.　Facebook said 85,893 South Korean users may have been inadvertently impacted by the leak scandal. The figure is based on the “friends” of 184 users who installed the “thisisyourdigitallife” app. Facebook logo (AFP-Yonhap)　The social media operator said earlier that the personal information of a whopping 87 million users may ha

April 6, 2018

Korea's Transport Ministry takes issue with Kakao Taxi’s proposed pricing scheme

South Korea’s Transport Ministry said Friday that Kakao Taxi, the country’s most-used taxi-hailing app, must follow local regulations in introducing a new option to its service that allows customers who pay an extra fee via the app to catch taxis faster.　The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement that after a review of Kakao Taxi’s proposal to add a paid option to its service, the new function is deemed the same as existing “call taxi” services where customers pay a c

April 6, 2018

Samsung Electronics operating profit jumps 57.6%, topping market expectations

Samsung Electronics on Friday reported higher-than-projected earnings during the first quarter, with operating profit topping market expectations by around 1 trillion won on successful memory chip sales. 　Operating profit in the January-March period likely jumped 57.58 percent on-year to 15.6 trillion won ($14.6 billion), while revenue was estimated to have increased by 18.69 percent on-year to 60 trillion won, the South Korean tech giant said in an earnings guidance report. (Yonhap)Samsung did

April 6, 2018

Samsung Electronics operating profit hits record-high in Q1

Samsung Electronics Co. said Friday its first-quarter operating profit is presumed to have set another record by rising 50.55 percent from the previous year.Samsung Electronics' main office in Seoul (Yonhap)The operating profit was estimated at 15.6 trillion won ($14.6 billion) for the January-March period, compared with 9.89 trillion won posted a year earlier, the South Korean tech giant said through its earnings guidance report.Sales moved up 18.69 percent to 60 trillion won, compared with 50.

April 6, 2018

Samsung sues government over disclosure of reports on working conditions in chip fabs

Samsung Electronics has filed an administrative lawsuit against the Ministry of Employment and Labor to stop it from disclosing reports of working conditions at Samsung’s major semiconductor fabrication complexes in Giheung, Hwaseong and Pyeongtaek in Gyeonggi Province, according to the company on Thursday. The world’s largest memory chip provider said it filed the suit with Suwon District Court on Monday and claimed an administrative appeal with the Central Administrative Appeals Commission to

April 5, 2018

North Korean hacking group Reaper's attacks go beyond South Korea

For years, North Korea has launched persistent cyberattacks, largely directed at its Southern neighbor, in an aim to steal key security intelligence and generate cash for the regime. 　Though it’s difficult to map out the exact scope of the North’s hacking campaigns, cybersecurity company FireEye says it has newly identified a North Korean espionage group able to launch highly sophisticated cyberattacks, and out to target organizations in not only South Korea but also other countries.Officials of

April 5, 2018

Korea’s KAIST rebuts global boycott over alleged contribution to development of ‘killer robots’

KAIST, South Korea’s top science and technology university, on Thursday rebutted claims that it was contributing to the development of artificial intelligence-powered killer robots, which had prompted over 50 of the world’s top AI researchers to announce a boycott of KAIST.　“I am saddened to hear about the announcement on the boycott of KAIST for allegedly developing killer robots,” KAIST President Shin Sung-chul said in a public statement.　“I would like to reaffirm that KAIST does not have any

April 5, 2018

Netmarble Games invests W201.4b in K-pop agency behind BTS

South Korea’s Netmarble Games said Wednesday that it has invested 201.4 billion won ($190 million) toward acquiring a 25.71 percent stake in Big Hit Entertainment, the agency behind the globally popular K-pop group BTS.The investment makes Netmarble the second-largest shareholder of Big Hit Entertainment, according to the Korean game maker.“Big Hit Entertainment is a fast-growing company which is already cooperating with Netmarble,” said Netmarble in a statement. “We hope that this investment wi

April 4, 2018

Former Siri developer vows to create human-centered user interface for SKT‘s AI platform

Kim Yoon, head of the newly created AI Research Center at SK Telecom, vowed to develop human-centered artificial intelligence technologies and create new insights and knowledge that cannot be produced by humans at a press conference Wednesday. “A key approach to develop such human-centered AI will be creating a human-focused user interface so that people can use the AI platform intuitively with no need for additional explanations,” Kim said. Kim was a former developer of Apple’s voice assistant

April 4, 2018

Cryptojacking attacks rise amid cryptocurrency market boom: Symantec

As the cryptocurrency boom continues to sweep the world, hacking activities aimed at mining cryptocurrencies have emerged as the top internet security threat of the year, shows a new report released by global cybersecurity firm Symantec.According to Symantec’s “2018 Internet Security Threat Report” released this week, cryptojacking — the act of hacking a computer system to mine cryptocurrencies without the owner of the machine knowing — was the biggest trending attack of 2017.(123RF)Coin mining

April 4, 2018

Korean medtech startup Neofect steps into Japan’s rehab device market

Neofect, a South Korean medical technology startup specializing in smart rehabilitation solutions, is officially stepping into Japan’s rehab market in partnership with Japanese medical equipment maker Nihon Kohden, officials said Wednesday.　Under the distribution partnership signed this week, Nihon Kohden will begin selling Neofect’s Rapael smart rehabilitation devices and solutions -- designed to help stroke survivors and patients with neurological and musculoskeletal injuries regain key motor

April 4, 2018