Interpark falls prey to email scam

[THE INVESTOR] The servers of leading Korean e-commerce firm Interpark were hacked, compromising its customers’ personal information including email addresses, and phone numbers, according to news reports July 26.A group of hackers, who accessed the firm’s servers with overseas IPs, stole around 10.3 million pieces of personal data in May. A notice posted on the Interpark internet homepageThe hackers reportedly sent emails with malicious codes to Interpark employees and got access to the sensiti

July 26, 2016

LINE to announce 2Q earnings on July 27

[THE INVESTOR] Naver, the parent firm of mobile messenger operator LINE, said July 27 that an investors conference for the messenger firm will be held from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on July 27 in Tokyo after the second-quarter earnings report is announced at around 3 p.m. on the same day.The InvestorThe mobile messenger company went public on July 5 in Tokyo and New York and its stock price closed up 4.18 percent at 4,110 yen (US$38.70) on July 25.(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)

July 25, 2016

Angry gamer crashes car into Nexon head office

[THE INVESTOR] A man in his 30s drove his car into the Korean head office of online game company Nexon in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, on July 24.A part of the glass wall on the first floor was smashed into pieces, but no injuries were reported. The man, whose nationality is reportedly Chinese, drove while intoxicated. He said in a police interrogation that he was infuriated at Nexon’s online games to which he was so addicted that he could not live an ordinary life.“The person who vandalized the o

July 25, 2016

Mobile carriers accused of profiteering with overpriced USIM chips

[THE INVESTOR] A consumer group claimed on July 21 that South Korea’s three largest mobile carriers --SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus -- have made excessive profits by overpricing USIM chips for smartphones.“Utilizing their monopolistic position in the mobile market, the three firms are alleged to have earned 117.3 billion won (US$103.20 million) of unjust profits over the past two years and three months,” said Green Consumer Network in Korea. The head office of SK Telecom in Seoul The figure is bas

July 22, 2016

Antitrust watchdog raids Google Korea office

[THE INVESTOR] The Fair Trade Commission, the nation’s antitrust regulator, raided Internet giant Google’s Korean head office in Gangnam on July 21 as part of its investigation into allegations that the global Internet giant twisted the arms of local smartphone-makers -- Samsung and LG -- to preinstall its apps on their handsets. Google is also accused of pressuring local mobile game developers to utilize AdMob, a game ad platform run by Google. The firm, whose Android operating system has an ov

July 22, 2016

Korea’s first virtual reality cafe to open in Gangnam

[THE INVESTOR] The first virtual reality cafe in the country will be set up in Gangnam, a posh shopping and business district in southern Seoul.Named VR Plus Show Room, the cafe will open on July 22. It will be fitted with 102 desktops, four Oculus Rifts, and four HTC Vibes.A private firm called VR Plus will run the cafe, and is expected to offer a range of virtual reality content free of charge for an unspecified period of time.“I hope the first VR cafe will become a venue where users and virtu

July 21, 2016

Korea to develop world’s first 3-D map for drones

[THE INVESTOR] The Korean government said on July 21 it will develop the world’s first 3-D map exclusively dedicated to flying drones. According to the Ministry of Land and Transportation, the programmed route will be helpful for it to control safety of drones and prevent accidents as they are expected to be widely adopted by diverse areas such as logistics, disaster relief and agriculture in the coming years. A 3-D mapping concept for dronesThe ministry said it will be coming up with a new 3-D

July 21, 2016

Telecom firms expected to post strong Q2 earnings

[THE INVESTOR] South Korea’s three largest network operators are expected to post relatively strong earnings for the April-June period thanks to their reduced marketing costs, according to market research firm FnGuide on July 21.The combined revenues of the three companies -- KT, SK Telecom and LG Uplus -- are expected to come in at 12.6 trillion won (US$11 billion) on average.The sales figure increased 2.3 percent from the same period of 2016 and 1.4 percent from the previous quarter.KT, which

July 21, 2016

[INTERVIEW] LINE eyes B2B, smart portals as post-IPO strategies

[THE INVESTOR] The much-publicized initial public offering of Line Corp. -- the world‘s seventh-most used messaging app -- has finally happened.Owned by South Korean Internet giant Naver and based in Japan, Line went public on the New York Stock Exchange and Tokyo Stock Exchange on July 14 and July 15, raising $1.3 billion in the biggest IPO of the year in the local tech sector.But the IPO marks only one of the steps Line has been taking to maximize profit and strengthen its identity as a global

July 20, 2016

SKT bets big on connected car platform

[THE INVESTOR] Following its failed attempt to take over cable firm CJ HelloVision earlier this week, network carrier SK Telecom said that it would instead put more focus on the connected car solutions business. The company made its car navigation app T-map available to all mobile subscribers of its rivals KT and LG Uplus on July 19.KT and LG Uplus subscribers can now use the app for free. T-map boasts 18 million subscribers, among which around 8 million use it on a monthly basis.“The decision t

July 19, 2016

Committee for UHD broadcasting launched in Korea

[THE INVESTOR] The Korea Communications Commission, the state media regulator, said that a preparation committee for starting ultra-high definition broadcasting in Korea was launched on July 19.The committee consists of 14 members from the government agencies, TV makers, research institutes, and academia, including the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, Samsung Electronics, and LG Electronics.Lee Ki-joo, a standing committee member of the KCC, and Second ICT Vice Minister Choi Jae-yoo

July 19, 2016