Naver to shut down portal's trending search chart this month

South Korean search giant Naver Corp. said Thursday it will shut down its online portal's real-time search chart service this month amid a yearslong controversy over whether it could be prone to advertising or be used to rig public opinion. The portal giant, which draws 30 million users everyday, said in a blog post that it will shut down the service on Feb. 25 as user searches have become more diversified and specific. The search chart first appeared in 2005 and has served as a major part of

Feb. 4, 2021

S. Korean research team develops technology able to track down disease onset

A South Korean research team funded by Samsung Electronics has developed a system that can be used to calculate the time that has elapsed since the onset of disease. The research, titled “Recording of elapsed time and temporal information about biological events using Cas9,” has been published in Cell, an international journal publishing research papers regarding life sciences. It is the first time for research funded by Samsung Future Technology Development Project to be publish

Feb. 4, 2021

[Herald Interview] ‘Pandemic shows bridging social inequities is public health issue’

This interview is the final installment in a three-part series of conversations with former directors of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- now the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency -- as the country looks back on a year of the COVID-19 pandemic. -- Ed. The novel coronavirus crisis shows that social inequities are a public health matter, and that bridging the gaps should be among the country’s post-pandemic goals, says former director of the Korea Centers

Feb. 3, 2021

[Eye on Business] 10th anniversary of Styler: Electronic closet invented by LG creates new market

“Do you have a Styler at home?” Just like global brands such as Jeep, Post-it and Hotchkiss, the name “Styler” has blossomed into a proper noun for a clothing care system in modern society. Invented by South Korea’s LG Electronics, the LG Tromm Styler has innovated a new category in the home appliance market over the past decade and become one of the essential home appliances, along with TVs, refrigerators and washing machines. The development story of Styler

Feb. 3, 2021

S. Korea’s major mobile carriers enjoy expanding 5G business in 2020

Even as the COVID-19 pandemic crippled markets worldwide last year, South Korea’s three major mobile carriers have seen improved results from their investments in media and platform services, along with expanded 5G network businesses. According to the latest report from market research firm FnGuide, the combined revenue of South Korea’s three major mobile carriers in 2020 are expected to reach 55.7 trillion won, up 2.4 percent on-year. The combined operating profit of the three mob

Feb. 3, 2021

S. Korea to invest over W200b in VR industry this year

South Korea will invest 202.4 billion won ($181.8 million) this year in virtual reality (VR) technology and devices to support the growth of the country's digital content industry, according to the ICT ministry on Wednesday. The move comes after the government unveiled a broader interagency investment plan for the industry last year, setting aside over 400 billion won for this year, in line with its digital New Deal program, which aims to spend 58.2 trillion won in key tech industries to create

Feb. 3, 2021

Telcos likely to offer teleconferencing for free during Lunar New Year amid pandemic

South Korean mobile carriers will likely provide videoconference services for free during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, according to industry officials Wednesday, as in-person contact is limited to curb the spread of the new coronavirus. The Ministry of Science and ICT and the country's three major telecom operators -- SK Telecom Co., KT Corp. and LG Uplus Corp. -- are considering such telecommunication support measures during the holiday period, which falls on Feb. 11-13 this year, as t

Feb. 3, 2021

Cyworld to restart service

Cyworld, South Korea’s first-generation social media platform from the early 2000s, will restart its service next month, according to local industry sources on Tuesday. Cyworld has been recently acquired by a consortium of five local entertainment firms. Cyworld Z, an entity established by the five to take over Cyworld, said that the company plans to bring back the Cyworld service in March after two weeks of beta testing. It plans to introduce a mobile version of the social network dur

Feb. 2, 2021

Samsung Electronics among world's 50 most admired firms

Samsung Electronics has regained a spot on the Fortune list of the world’s 50 most admired companies, according to the survey published by the US economic magazine on Monday. The tech behemoth this year ranked 49th, becoming the only South Korean company to make the top 50 this year. Samsung Electronics this year received 7.56 points, slightly up from 7.50 a year earlier. Samsung Electronics marked top scores in five evaluation categories, including innovation, global competitiveness

Feb. 2, 2021

Seoul has fastest 5G network speeds: report

Seoul boasts the world’s fastest 5G network services, according to a broadband speed test conducted with iPhone 12 devices. According to Ookla’s speed test data published last month, Seoul ranked first with a median download speed of 472.28 megabits per second, followed by Dubai of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia capital Riyadh, Sydney and Helsinki. Seoul had the fastest upload speed, reaching 49.09 megabits per second, the data also showed. Ookla’s report noted that

Feb. 2, 2021

Naver doles out hefty bonuses to executives

Naver gave out hefty stock bonuses to its 98 executives worth a combined 3.1 billion won ($2.78 million), the company said Tuesday, after the tech giant raked in record-high profits last year. CEO Han Seong-sook received 1,000 treasury stocks of the firm, amounting to 355 million won based on Thursday’s closing price of 355,000 won apiece. Chief Operating Officer Choi In-hyuk, Chief Communications Officer Chae Sun-joo and Chief Financial Officer Park Sang-jin received 700 shares each,

Feb. 2, 2021

S. Korea to spend nearly W3tr for overhead cable maintenance

South Korea's ICT ministry said Tuesday it will invest 2.85 trillion won ($2.55 billion) until 2025 for the maintenance and replacement of aged and messy overhead electrical and telecommunications cables across the country. Over five years, the ministry plans to spend 1.4 trillion won for cable maintenance, while investing 1.45 trillion won to put them underground, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT. The move comes after the country spent 2.6 trillion won for cable maintenance in aro

Feb. 2, 2021

S. Korea to offer info on 'virus-safe' restaurants via Kakao platform

South Korea said Tuesday it has teamed up with the mobile giant Kakao Corp. to provide local consumers with information on restaurants that have strictly followed sanitary guidelines to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. The service offers locations of restaurants that have employees wear protective masks at all times and provide separate utensils for communal dishes and pots, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Kakao operates South Korea's most popular mo

Feb. 2, 2021

OTT use jumps in S. Korea amid pandemic

Over 66 percent of South Koreans used over-the-top (OTT) media, or video streaming services, last year amid the stay-at-home trend driven by the pandemic, a survey showed Tuesday. South Korea's OTT usage rate stood at 66.3 percent in 2020, compared with 52 percent the previous year, according to a survey of 6,029 people over the age of 13 by the country's media regulator, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC). YouTube was the most popular OTT service here, with its usage rate at 62.3 perce

Feb. 2, 2021

Samsung’s M&A target list draws market attention

All eyes are on what companies would be on the shopping list of Samsung Electronics, after the tech giant’s announcement last week captured the attention among industry officials and market watchers.　 Multiple chip-related companies have emerged as potential acquisition targets for the South Korean tech giant, according to market watchers. Dominant speculation suggests that Samsung is likely to be looking for a company that is related to the automotive chip business, or one that is corr

Feb. 1, 2021

[News Focus] Naver’s global ambitions taking shape

Naver is more than just a South Korean version of Google. For many Koreans, it is the go-to site for searching, news, blogging, cloud services, shopping, fintech and many other things -- including killing time with cartoons. And the behemoth isn’t stopping there. Naver is aggressively investing in global platforms that cater to the social media generation throughout the world. For now, its main focus appears to be cartoons and K-pop.    Webtoons Web-based cartoons, or web

Feb. 1, 2021

SK Telecom to sell Facebook’s VR device Oculus Quest 2 in S. Korea

SK Telecom said Monday it would begin sales of Facebook’s latest virtual reality device, the Oculus Quest 2, in South Korea, starting Tuesday. The Oculus Quest 2 will go on sale from 414,000 won ($370) at SK Telecom’s offline and online stores. The device is equipped with Qualcomm Technologies’ XR2 chipset and supports almost-4K resolution display. It also allows users to toggle between 72 hertz, 80 hertz and 90 hertz refresh rate modes. The standalone virtual reality head

Feb. 1, 2021

SK hynix completes first EUV fab for DRAM

SK hynix has completed its first fabrication line equipped with extreme ultraviolet lithography equipment for DRAM chips, the company said Monday. Named M16, the fab on its Icheon campus in Gyeonggi Province is the company’s largest. It has a building area of 57,000 square meters, equivalent to the size of eight soccer fields combined, and is 105 meters high, reaching the height of a 37-floor apartment building. SK hynix has injected 3.5 trillion won ($3.1 billion) and 3.34 million

Feb. 1, 2021

SK Telecom to launch Facebook's Oculus VR device in S. Korea

SK Telecom Co., South Korea's largest wireless carrier, said Monday it will release Facebook Inc.'s latest virtual reality (VR) device, the Oculus Quest 2, as the telecom operator seeks to expand its presence in the local VR market. The mobile carrier said it will offer the device in South Korea on Tuesday as an extension of its partnership with the US social media giant in 2019. SK Telecom sold the company's previous Oculus Go device through last year. The Oculus Quest 2, which provides aroun

Feb. 1, 2021

5G subscriptions reach 11.85m

The number of subscribers to 5G network services in South Korea as of last year reached 11.85 million, according to government data, Sunday. Mobile data traffic using 5G networks too surged, due to the increasing number of 5G users, the government also reported. According to the Ministry of Science and ICT, the number of 5G subscribers in December increased 8.4 percent from a month earlier, continuing the upward trend in the previous month. The number of 5G users has increased by more than 90

Jan. 31, 2021