Seoul confirmed its 14th and 15th Middle East respiratory syndrome cases Sunday, surpassing Qatar as the country with the fourth most MERS cases in the world. The hospital where more than 10 people are believed to have been infected by the first confirmed patient prior to his official diagnosis has been temporarily shut down. (Yonhap)Health Minister Moon Hyung-pyo offered his apology on Sunday for the government’s poor handling of the potential MERS patients, and announced that a new task force,

May 31, 2015

South Korea reported one more confirmed case of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome on Saturday, raising the total number of people infected with the disease to 13.The latest infected person is the husband of the 12th confirmed patient, according to the Health Ministry. He was in the same hospital where the country's first MERS case was reported to take care of his ill wife. The ministry explained that the new patient does not seem to have contracted the disease from his wife but from Patient N

May 30, 2015

Ten years ago, YouTube uploaded its first video about elephants at the zoo and their “really, really long trunks.”YouTube, which opened to the public soon after the cofounders’ mammalian clip, became one of the fastest-growing websites in 2006, matched by equally swift copyright threats from media companies.Later that year, YouTube created a stir for what many analysts said was an “overpriced” purchase by Google Inc.Google’s CEO at the time justified the $1.65 billion acquisition, saying, “This

May 29, 2015

Facebook remains the king of social media for now, but its reign is not eternally secure, and evidence for this can be found in one of its own affiliates: Instagram. A growing number of Facebook and other social media users are setting up accounts on Instagram to share their personal photos. Celebrity photos on Instagram ― often uploaded by the stars themselves ― are avidly consumed by both fans and the media. The number of Korean users is estimated at more than 4 million, the majority of them b

May 29, 2015

Chinese authorities on Friday confirmed that a South Korean traveler ― who was designated by authorities as a potential MERS patient ― had been infected with the virus, while two more cases were confirmed in Korea, sparking fears over the possibility of an epidemic.A 44-year-old Korean man, who arrived in China on Tuesday, has tested positive for the virus, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said. This brings the total number of MERS cases among Koreans to 10, although WHO regulations decree tha

May 29, 2015

The South Korean government plans to unveil a new five-year plan next year with aims to nurture the nascent industries for unmanned aircraft and vehicles as its next growth engines. The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning on Friday announced the plan during a meeting of related government offices and research organizations, with President Park Geun-hye in attendance. Under the plan, the government aims to create a 15 trillion won ($13.5 billion) market with 650 companies by 2025, claimi

May 29, 2015

The South Korean government said Thursday it would select a fourth telecom carrier within the year to spur competition in the saturated market that is currently dominated by three players ― SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus. The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning announced the plan as part of its reform bill on the nation’s mobile network services.In Korea, three companies have occupied the mobile network market over the past decade, with SK Telecom, the largest, taking up almost half the sh

May 28, 2015

South Korea confirmed its sixth and seventh MERS cases Thursday, surpassing Iran as the country with the fifth-highest number of MERS cases in the world. The two newly confirmed cases are in a health care worker and a patient. Both had been at the same medical facility where the first confirmed patient was being treated prior to his diagnosis from May 15 to 17. The newly diagnosed patient was not even on the authorities’ monitoring list, as the 71-year-old did not share a hospital room with the

May 28, 2015

Food poisoning refers to infective or toxic conditions due to ingestion of foods contaminated with microorganisms, chemicals and natural toxins. More specifically, it refers to the ingestion of foods contaminated with live bacteria, or their toxins, causing diarrhea, abdominal pain and acute gastro-enteric symptoms.Approximately 80 percent of food poisoning is caused by bacteria and viruses, but other reasons include natural toxins from puffer fish, poisonous mushrooms and fungi. This is caused

May 28, 2015

German pharmaceutical and chemical giant Merck on Thursday opened its OLED Application Center in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, as part of a renewed strategy to spur its display business in Korea. The company invested 7 million euros ($7.6 million) into the new building, which features clean-room facilities and other OLED-related application and analysis equipment.“This investment is based on our continued faith in Korea’s leadership of global display industry and confidence in the industry’s lo

May 28, 2015

The Bahraini government launched its online Business Licensing Integrated System (www.business.gov.bh) built by LG CNS last week, according to the Korean tech firm. LG CNS has worked with the Bahraini government on the project since 2012. BLIS is a one-stop website for obtaining commercial registrations and other business-related licenses in Bahrain. It provides documents of all the laws, conditions, procedures and regulations on business licenses.It also automatically communicates with applican

May 28, 2015

South Korea’s leading mobile carrier KT said Thursday it would work with the French Ministry of Digital Affairs to foster ICT businesses.KT chief executive Hwang Chang-gyu held a meeting with French Minister of State for Digital Affairs Axelle Lemaire on Wednesday in France to discuss future collaboration on the rising Internet of Things technology, a network of objects.Hwang and Lemaire talked especially about the Internet of Small Things, a term that depicts technology connecting things with a

May 28, 2015

Hashtags ― the symbols placed in front of keywords to facilitate social media searches ― take center stage on Pholar, a new, photo-sharing social media app launched by Korea’s largest Web portal, Naver. Getting its name from a combination of the words “photo” and “popular,” Pholar aims to connect people with similar interests through photos and hashtags. A community based on common interestsThe idea was to create an interactive online community that revolved around shared interests and hobbies,

May 27, 2015

Announcing the official release date of its mobile game “Mabinogi Duel,” South Korea’s top online game developer Nexon Korea said Wednesday it would increase its presence in the global mobile game market.“Mabinogi Duel,” a mobile trading card game, will first be made available in Korean from June 9 but will support six more languages ― English, Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, Germany and Spanish ― through updates in the latter half of the year.The game will be compatible with smartphones running

May 27, 2015

Samsung Electronics vice chairman and Samsung Group heir apparent Lee Jay-yong is expected to exert more influence throughout South Korea’s largest conglomerate following the merger between Cheil Industries and Samsung C&T.Samsung said Tuesday it will be combining the two affiliates by Sept. 1 as part of its business restructuring aimed at creating a 60 trillion won ($54 billion) global enterprise by 2020.With the merger, industry watchers said, the group’s leadership transition to a new generat

May 26, 2015