KT reaches out to young people with music and talk show

KT Corp., South Korea’s leading mobile carrier, will host an event for young people on Sept. 24 as part of the company’s efforts to encourage South Korea’s frustrated youth, the company said Tuesday. The KT Youth Energy UP Talk Concert, an event that features both a music concert and a talk show, is part of KT’s attempts to reach out to South Korea’s young people, who face a high unemployment rate and student loans, the company said.  The band The Solutions poses for photographs. It will appear

Aug. 30, 2016

Samsung, LG vie for biometric authentication

South Korea’s two leading information technology service providers Samsung SDS and LG CNS are vying for leadership in biometric authentication solutions. LG CNS recently said that it would apply the finger vein authentication solutions of LG Hitachi -- a joint venture between LG Group and Japan’s Hitachi -- to BNK Busan Bank’s automatic teller machines as a pilot service. 　The finger vein authentication solution, which was applied for the first time to automatic teller machines in South Korea, i

Aug. 30, 2016

Samsung SDI to build EV battery factory in Hungary

Samsung SDI, the battery-manufacturing unit of Samsung Group, will build an electric car battery factory in Hungary, securing a key base in Europe for its global expansion. The battery maker will renovate an existing plasma display panel factory it had run in Goed, 25 kilometers north of Budapest, the company said in Seoul on Tuesday. An artist’s impression of Samsung SDI’s electric vehicle battery factory in Goed, Hungary(Samsung SDI)Samsung announced the plan at the Hungarian government office

Aug. 30, 2016

Fitbit Charge 2 and Flex 2 coming to Korea

US wearable-maker Fitbit will launch its newest fitness wristband models Charge 2 and Flex 2 in Korea in September and in October, respectively, the company announced Tuesday.  Fitbit Charge 2 (Fitbit)Fitbit Charge 2 has a display screen that is four times larger than its predecessor Charge HR, which allows the wearer to see all information in one screen. Just as HR did, this Charge 2 allows non-stop monitoring of heartrate, checks the wearer’s inner oxygen level and offers recommended breathing

Aug. 30, 2016

Galaxy S7 waterproof feature saves lives

South Korea's major department stores and discount chains saw their sales rise sharply in July from a year earlier on improved consumer sentiment and an increase in holidays, government data showed Tuesday.The combined sales of three department stores -- Hyundai, Lotte and Shinsegae -- advanced 7 percent on-year last month, while those of major discount retailers -- E-Mart, Lotte Mart and Homeplus -- gained 2.1 percent during the same period last year, according to the data compiled by the Minis

Aug. 30, 2016

Chip equipment makers buoyed by prospects of Samsung investing in NAND memory

South Korean chip equipment manufacturers are likely to see their earnings rise in the second half of the year amid market speculation that Samsung Electronics Co. may plan to heavily invest in production lines for 3-D NAND flash memory chips. Samsung, the world's largest maker of memory chips, has not revealed how much it will spend on boosting the production capacity of 3-D NAND chips, which are widely used for smartphones and other smart devices. But market watchers have speculated that Samsu

Aug. 30, 2016

Korean, Indian think tanks to conduct joint research on bioresources exploration

A South Korean think tank on freshwater organisms and biodiversity conservation agreed on Tuesday with India's Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development to make preparations toward initialing joint research on the exploration and use of bioresources, the think tank said.The state-run Nakdonggang National Institute of Biological Resources and the Indian research center signed a business pact on the agreement in Imphal, a city in India's northeast province of Manipur.The IBSD, based in

Aug. 30, 2016

What to expect from Samsung, LG at IFA

South Korea’s two tech giants Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are ready to show off their latest display and imaging technologies at the annual IFA technology show in Berlin at the beginning of September. Samsung Electronics said on Monday it plans to unveil three types of curved quantum dot monitors at the event. This is the first time that Samsung has applied quantum dot technology for computer monitors since it unveiled the quantum dot super ultra-high definition television at the US c

Aug. 29, 2016

Samsung to release Galaxy Note 7 in China next month

Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea has started receiving pre-orders for its new Galaxy Note phablet from Chinese customers, company officials said Saturday.The Galaxy Note 7 is scheduled to go on sale on Sept. 1, with a price tag of 5,988 yuan, or one million won (US$897).It features 4GB of RAM and 64GB of flash memory storage, the same as those sold in other markets such as South Korea, the United States and Europe.The fresh phablet has attracted keen global attention with an iris recogniti

Aug. 27, 2016

Samsung, LG to unveil latest gadgets at trade show in Berlin

Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. will showcase their latest developments, gadgets and smart home appliances at next month's consumer electronics fair in Berlin, according to company officials on Friday. The annual IFA fair, to be held in Berlin from Sept. 2-7, will bring together about 240,000 participants from around the world. The weeklong exhibition "will offer a great platform for professionals working in the field of consumer electronics and home appliances to exchange knowle

Aug. 26, 2016

Korea, Taiwan, China expected to start mass producing super high-definition TV panels

Display panel makers in South Korea, Taiwan and China are expected to start mass production of 8K ultra high-definition TV panels in the fourth quarter of this year, but their final decisions will depend on market conditions, according to industry watchers on Friday. The 8K TVs feature four times the resolution of the 4K TVs, which are on sale by TV makers such as Samsung Electronics Co. and Japan's Sony Corp.Commercial broadcasts for 8K TVs are not available and Japan is currently doing a trial

Aug. 26, 2016

[News Analysis] Controversy looms over delayed Google map decision

The South Korean government’s delay of its final decision on Google’s request for the country’s map data has drawn public criticism that the move sidesteps national security concerns and prioritizes trade relations with the US. 　The Transport Ministry stated Wednesday that it would hold back its decision on whether to allow Google to access its Korean map data, for another 60 days. The government needs more time to review its impact on national security and the local spatial information industry

Aug. 25, 2016

Kakao launches online job search service

South Korean internet company Kakao rolled out a new job information search service Wednesday ahead of the start of major companies’ fall recruiting season.Kakao, the operator of Korea’s top mobile messenger KakaoTalk and portal website Daum, has partnered with local job information website Jobplanet to introduce a new search page that displays information on some 15,000 companies registered under Jobplanet.Screenshots of Kakao and Jobplanet’s new job information search service accessed via Kaka

Aug. 24, 2016

[INTERVIEW] Yanolja app changing thinking about motels

[THE INVESTOR] Talking about staying at a motel in Korea has historically been an uncomfortable topic -- mainly because such accommodations have typically been considered venues intended for sexual activities. But to Lee Su-jin, the chief executive of motel-booking app Yanolja -- meaning “let’s play,” in Korean -- a motel means “possibility.” Yanolja is a rising star in the Korean online-to-offline start-up scene. It is also a pioneering business that helped a boy from a broken family turn his d

Aug. 24, 2016

Samsung Display teams up with Chinese firms on curved panels

Samsung Display Co. said Wednesday that it has formed an alliance with its sister company Samsung Electronics, and Chinese TV and panel manufacturers to further cooperate on expanding the curved panel industry.The agreement was made at a forum held by Samsung Display and the Congressional-Executive Commission on China in Beijing on Tuesday, the company said.China-based TV manufacturers, including market leader Hisense Co., panel makers such as TCL Corp. and Leshi Internet Information & Technolog

Aug. 24, 2016

Samsung Pay hits 2 tln won in accumulated transactions in Korea

Samsung Electronics Co.'s mobile-payment service, Samsung Pay, has hit 2 trillion won ($1.8 billion) in accumulated transaction volume in South Korea, the company said Wednesday. The record came about one year after Samsung launched the mobile-payment service at home. Of the accumulated transaction volume, the value of fingerprint-identification mobile payments, which started this year, stood at about 500 billion won, Samsung said. Samsung is expanding the mobile-payment service globally. The co

Aug. 24, 2016

Samsung to lure Chinese chip firms

Samsung Electronics is slated to hold a foundry forum in China later this month to attract Chinese fabless firms amid its growing idle foundry lines, industry experts said on Tuesday. The world’s largest memory chip maker confirmed that it would hold the forum in Shanghai on Aug. 30 with the aim of diversifying its fabless clients that design chips and outsource the manufacturing to foundry firms.At the event, around 100 Chinese firms including HiSilicon, Spreadtrum, Datang, ZTE and Rockchip and

Aug. 23, 2016