Partnership for future

KT Chairman Hwang Chang-gyu (right) and SpaceX Chairman Elon Musk hold hands after a talk on co-launching the Mugunghwa 5A satellite later this month at the headquarters of SpaceX in Hawthorne, California on Thursday. KT announced Sunday the Korean mobile carrier and the US spacecraft builder will further cooperate on advancing autonomous driving and energy-related technologies. (KT)

Oct. 15, 2017

Google adopts Korean firm’s fingerprint recognition module for Pixel 2 smartphones: sources

Google has adopted a fingerprint recognition module exclusively developed by CrucialTec based in South Korea for its upcoming Pixel 2 smartphone series, according to sources on Sunday. “CrucialTec is preparing to supply its fingerprint solution Biometric TrackPad for Google’s Pixel 2 series,” a source told The Korea Herald. “The Korean company has been a major supplier for past Google phones from the Nexus series to the predecessor Pixel 1.”CrucialTec is a biometric solution developer that was t

Oct. 15, 2017

KAIST partners with WEF for ‘4th industrial revolution’ push

South Korea’s science and technology university KAIST has partnered with the World Economic Forum to help Korea and the global community prepare for the major changes and challenges expected to come from the “fourth industrial revolution.”KAIST and WEF signed a memorandum of understanding in Seoul on Friday, agreeing to cooperate in researching issues such as anticipated major labor market shifts as industries adopt next-generation technologies like artificial intelligence.It is the first formal

Oct. 13, 2017

Battery firms in dilemma over Apple iPhone 8’s swelling

With news on the Apple iPhone 8’s swelling battery issue spreading in recent weeks, battery makers purported to have business relations with the tech giant are facing a dilemma. (Source: reddit)Due to customary nondisclosure agreements, the battery makers have been remaining mum on news reports speculating on which manufacturer is responsible for the problem.Currently, firms from Korea, China and Japan are known to supply batteries for Apple’s iPhone 8.The US tech giant has so far declined to of

Oct. 13, 2017

Lawmakers urge ICT Ministry to fully implement blacklist system

Lawmakers urged the Ministry of Science and ICT to fully implement a blacklist system for mobile devices as a measure to further cut mobile bills during a parliamentary audit on the ministry Thursday, Ruling and opposition lawmakers discussed the reasons behind the heavy burden of mobile costs for households and called for government measures to ease the burden by expanding the blacklist system for mobile devices during the audit at Gwacheon Government Complex in Gyeonggi Province.  (Yonhap)Rep.

Oct. 12, 2017

Olympus joins global health care firms at Songdo with new medical training center

Olympus on Thursday announced the opening of a new training center in South Korea’s port city of Songdo, Incheon, joining other global health care firms that have set up new training bases in the city’s biotechnology cluster on the back of Korea’s growing medical and biotech sectors.　Olympus Korea's medical training center will help local medical professionals learn to maneuver and operate the firm’s endoscopy devices in an operation room setting, it said.　The Japanese surgical equipment company

Oct. 12, 2017

LG Electronics to release V30 in US this week

LG Electronics Inc. said Thursday it will kick off sales of the V30 smartphone in the United States this week and gradually expand the global release of the product to play a key role in revitalizing its mobile business.The South Korean tech giant said it will release the LG V30 through five major US mobile carriers Friday.LG Electronics said it also plans to release the V30 in major European countries, including Britain and Germany, in the current quarter. The smartphone will also reach Latin A

Oct. 12, 2017

Korean chipmakers reach new highs in stock value

Ahead of third-quarter earnings announcements later this month, South Korean memory chipmakers reached new highs in their stock value Wednesday on expectations of the companies’ largest profits due to the continuing memory chip boom. Samsung Electronics, the world’s biggest memory chip provider, surpassed 2.7 million won ($2,377.6) per share around noon, due to a strong buying spree by foreign investors, two days before the company was set to release preliminary earnings. It was the first time f

Oct. 11, 2017

Korea moves to ease bioethics law to boost gene therapy R&D

South Korea is pushing to ease its bioethics law to allow local scientists and academics to research and develop a wider variety of gene therapies as the country seeks to boost the fast-growing biotechnology sector. 　Local lawmakers led by Rep. Shin Yong-hyun of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea on Tuesday submitted a motion to amend Korea’s Bioethics and Safety Act to expand the permitted scope of gene therapy research to include all diseases.　Right now, the act restricts gene therapy resear

Oct. 11, 2017

Solid offloads Pantech's IoT biz

Pantech Co., formally South Korea's No. 3 smartphone maker until suspending its handset business last year, said Wednesday it decided to sell its Internet-of-Things division.The company was on the verge of facing bankruptcy before being acquired by local telecom device firm Solid Inc. Through a regulatory filing, Solid said it will sell Pantech's IoT business to Woori-Net, another South Korean telecom firm. (Yonhap)Pantech struggled to normalize its operations by releasing the IM-100 smartphone

Oct. 11, 2017

OECD advises Korea to use more advanced digital tools

South Korea needs to increase its use of more advanced digital tools to fully harness business opportunities going forward, according to a report released Wednesday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development."Korea is above the OECD average for some types of usage, such as news reading and content creation, but could improve regarding more sophisticated online activities by individuals, such as cloud computing and job searches," the OECD said in the Digital Economy Outlook 2017

Oct. 11, 2017

Kyobo hires robot to recommend books

Kyobo Book Centre will hire a humanoid robot to improve on its services for readers.The Hapjeong branch of Kyobo Book Centre will introduce the android named Pepper starting Wednesday, for users’ guide on how to navigate the bookstore and for customized book recommendations. Pepper (SoftBank Robotics Corp.)Pepper, developed by SoftBank Robotics Corp. of Japan, is able to detect emotions and give different book recommendations according to readers.After introducing Pepper at its Hapjeong branch,

Oct. 11, 2017

Samsung showcases 2 new image sensors

Samsung Electronics Co. showcased two new image sensors with reduced sizes and improved performance Wednesday to meet rising demand for bezel-less smarpthones.The South Korean tech giant said the 12-megapixel ISOCELL Fast 2L9 and the 24-megapixel ISCOCELL Slim 2X7 will provide solutions to the dilemma in which the size of image sensors must increase to apply higher resolution, while demand for simpler smartphone design restricts space. This image of Samsung Electronics Co.`s ISOCELL Fast 2L9 ima

Oct. 11, 2017

LG's OLED TV sales exceed 10,000 units in Sept. at home

LG Electronics Inc. said Wednesday its monthly sales of high-end organic light-emitting diode TVs surpassed the 10,000-unit mark on its home turf for the first time in September on the back of reasonable prices and good consumer responses.The South Korean tech giant said the figure indicates the company sold one LG OLED TV every four minutes last month.LG Electronics has been promoting OLED TVs, which boast improved resolution by having each pixel on the screen emit light. Such products are capa

Oct. 11, 2017

Chinese online games gaining success in Korea

Chinese online games are quickly infiltrating the South Korean market while South Korean games are virtually shut out of China due to diplomatic fallout, industry officials said Wednesday.The top 20 rankings in online games sales on Google Play Korea as of Tuesday showed five from China, with "Girls' Frontline" reaching No. 4. The game previously beat locally produced MMORPG games, which is a strong market for South Korea, to reach as high as No. 2.  Officials said South Korean game companies, o

Oct. 11, 2017

Samsung develops X-ray machine technology that sharply cuts radiation exposure

Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, a research body under Samsung Electronics Co., said Wednesday it has developed a new technology for X-ray machines that can cut radiation exposure by 90 percent.Researchers from Samsung and Sungkyunkwan University made the breakthrough by adopting perovskite, a chemical compound, which helps to cut production costs while also improving detectors' sensitivity. This image, representing the application of perovskite to X-ray technologies, was released by Sa

Oct. 11, 2017

Pricier smartphones in Korea are the problem: lawmaker

The average price of a smartphone sold in South Korea is higher compared to other countries resulting in Koreans suffering from high mobile costs, a lawmaker argued Tuesday, citing a Gartner survey on premium smartphones sold around the world.Rep. Byun Jae-ill of the ruling Minjoo Party of Korea said installment payments for handsets have taken up a growing portion of households’ monthly mobile costs. According to a recent survey by Gartner, the average selling price of handsets stood at $514 in

Oct. 10, 2017

[Herald Interview] P2P lending can help curb national debt with data: Lendit

The Korea Herald is publishing a series of interviews on promising startups in the fintech industry. This is the 2nd installment. -- Ed. 　To a peer-to-peer lending platform, a full-grown set of database plays a crucial role in providing individual lenders or investors higher return and lower risk, and borrowers with low interest rate loans, while at the same time, better assessing borrowers‘ debt serviceability. One of South Korea’s leading P2P lending platform operator Lendit appears to have ta

Oct. 10, 2017

LG posts 82% growth in Q3 operating profit

LG Electronics announced Tuesday it posted 82.2 percent growth in operating profit for the third quarter of this year compared to a year earlier. According to the smartphone and home appliance maker’s preliminary earnings, it recorded a 15.2 percent increase to reach 15.23 trillion won ($ 13.4 billion) in consolidated sales during the July-September period compared to the same period last year. Its operating profit climbed 82.2 percent to reach 516.1 billion won during the period.  Models introd

Oct. 10, 2017

‘Disaster broadcasts unable to reach most of Korea’s underground subways, tunnels’

Amid persistent military tension on the Korean Peninsula, a survey suggested that South Korea is ill-prepared to deliver radio broadcasts to key underground locations including subway stations and road tunnels during disasters and emergencies. A report released Tuesday by Rep. Shin Kyumg-min of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea found there was poor radio connectivity in 88 percent of South Korea’s road tunnels and subway stations. The survey was compiled by the state-run Korea Communications

Oct. 10, 2017