The Korea Herald

‘SK Telecom has no plan to split’

South Korea’s top mobile carrier SK Telecom said Thursday it is not considering any proposal to divide the organization into two bodies ― one for business and the other for investment.“SKT does not have any plan regarding the establishment of the investment entity, as claimed by many industry watchers,” said Jang Dong-hyun, chief executive of the mobile carrier, at a press conference in which he announced the new business strategy of the firm. Market analysts have long speculated that the nation

Technology April 23, 2015

Korean firm to export smart card platform to China

South Korea’s integrated circuit chip maker KONA I said Thursday it would participate in a project to establish smart card platforms in Sichuan Province, China. The Korean company, which produces chips and software installed on credit and public transportation cards, universal subscriber identity modules, and digital IDs, is the No.1 IC chip manufacturer in the domestic market and ranks second in the U.S. by market share. The company achieved $100 million of exports last year. “KONA I will set u

Technology April 23, 2015

Emoticons more effective than words

What do hot K-pop stars, such as TVXQ, EXO and Girl’s Day, and superheroes of the upcoming Hollywood film “Avengers: the Age of Ultron” have in common? They have all been made into mobile emoticons on South Korea’s most-used mobile messenger KakaoTalk, run by Internet giant Daum Kakao.The emoticon ― a combination of emotion and icon ― started out as creative combinations of numbers, letters and punctuation marks, but have evolved into today’s animated characters moving around a mobile chat room

Technology April 22, 2015

LG Display posts record sales in Q1

South Korea’s leading display panel maker LG Display posted an operating income of 734.9 billion won in the first quarter of 2015, a near eightfold increase from a year earlier and the highest level in three years, according to the company’s regulatory filing Wednesday.The company also said its quarterly sales hit a record high of 7.02 trillion won ($6.5 billion) thanks to robust sales of liquid crystal display panels for TVs and handsets.The company explained that the higher-than-expected earni

Technology April 22, 2015

Service-centered IoT to become mainstream: LG CNS chief

Kim Dae-hoon, chief executive of ICT solutions developer LG CNS, said the company seeks to lead in the era of Internet of Things with its service-oriented technologies.IoT is a term that describes a connected network of objects. He urged businesses to respond swiftly to the fast changing business environment in this era of connected products. LG CNS CEO Kim Dae-hoon speaks at the 15th Entrue World 2015 in Seoul on Tuesday. (LG CNS)“LG CNS has capabilities in developing IoT platforms and systems

Technology April 21, 2015

Service-centered IoT to become mainstream: LG CNS chief

Indian defense minister looks to Korea for business growth

Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar, who visited Seoul for bilateral talks with Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo, met with Indian software and electrical engineers who are working in Korea to talk about entrepreneurship and the IT of both nations.The meeting between the Indian minister and engineers was held at the request of the 35-member Korean chapter of Pan IIT Alumni Association, an alumni organization of India’s prestigious tech university, the Indian Institute of Technology. The m

Technology April 21, 2015

Indian defense minister looks to Korea for business growth

SK to merge IT, holding firms

SK C&C, an ICT solutions developer, said Monday it would merge with SK Holdings, the holding entity of SK Group, to resolve the conglomerate’s complicated organizational structure and gain momentum in the ICT sector.Market analysts reacted positively to the merger deal.“The decision for the merger came at the right time when concerns over the intricate organizational structure were rising and it will likely help to increase SK Group’s capacity for investment in new businesses,” said Choi Nam-gon

Technology April 20, 2015

LG aims to outshine rivals with ‘selfie-oriented’ G4

GWANGJU ― With the launch of LG Electronics’ new flagship smartphone G4 just around the corner on April 29, the Seoul-based tech giant is carrying out a full-fledged effort to make the handset available for global customers on time.The production facilities of LG Innotek in Gwangju, where the company manufactures camera modules for the LG handset is also in full swing to meet the deadline.LG Group’s camera module business wing hoped that the industry’s most advanced smartphone camera of the G4 w

Technology April 19, 2015

LG aims to outshine rivals with ‘selfie-oriented’ G4

KB Kookmin Card, LG Uplus take aim at Chinese fintech market

Korean mobile carrier LG Uplus said Thursday it concluded its partnership with major Korean and Chinese credit companies to foster the financial technology sector in both nations. Top executives of the Korean mobile carrier, KB Financial Group and its credit card business unit KB Kookmin Card, China UnionPay, the only Chinese bank card organization, and its affiliate UnionPay International signed a memorandum of understanding at the LG Uplus head office Thursday to collaborate and nurture mobile

Technology April 16, 2015

KB Kookmin Card, LG Uplus take aim at Chinese fintech market

[Herald Interview] Suprema eyes fingerprint market for mobile devices

Korean biometric security system developer Suprema will make a foray into the fingerprint market for mobile devices, taking on fingerprint powerhouses such as Apple-owned AuthenTec and Synaptics. Biometric technology, particularly fingerprint sensors, has come under the spotlight since California-based Apple purchased biometric sensor maker AthenTec in 2012 to implement fingerprint scanners in its iPhones. With the door wide open for the fingerprint market for phones, Lee Jae-won, chief executiv

Technology April 15, 2015

[Herald Interview] Suprema eyes fingerprint market for mobile devices

Ethiopian leader visits LG Display factory

Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome paid a visit to the manufacturing facilities of South Korea’s leading display maker LG Display in Paju City, northwest of Seoul, on Wednesday.The visit to the Paju complex took place on the request of Mulatu who is in Korea to participate in the 2015 World Water Forum, the largest international event which seeks to advance the cause of water, being held in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province. LG Display CEO Han Sang-bum (left) introduces its new display product

Technology April 15, 2015

Ethiopian leader visits LG Display factory

Samsung rolls out new drive for ultrabooks

Samsung Electronics, Korea’s electronics behemoth, said Wednesday it recently started supplying a new solid state drive featuring faster read and write performance to global manufacturers of ultrabooks ― ultra-thin and ultra-light laptops.The new SSD, named SM951-NVMe, with its thickness and weight measuring at 3.73 millimeters and 7 grams, allows laptop manufacturers to adopt a slimmer design in their products, according to Samsung.The storage product also boasts read and write speeds of 2,260

Technology April 15, 2015

Asian carriers, IT firms partner for 5G networks

Chief technology officers from leading Northeast Asian mobile carriers and network equipment manufacturers met at a KT R&D center in Seoul to discuss the standardization of next-generation networks and the development of the Internet of Things on Tuesday.Lee Jae-sub, director of ITU-T, a U.N. agency which is in charge of coordinating standardization works in the global telecom sector; Lee Dong-myeon, CTO and head of the Institute of Convergence Technology at KT; and CTOs from other wireless carr

Technology April 14, 2015

LG’s leather-clad G4 draws mixed reactions

Specifications for LG Electronics’ new flagship smartphone G4 were leaked “by accident” on Sunday via the phone’s staging site that was still under construction. The page did not look to be fully updated yet, with details listed for some key features such as camera technology and operating system being clearly incorrect. But reactions are already overflowing about its new leather-backed styling.According to the leaked images, the G series’ signature rear home buttons make a reappearance, while t

Technology April 13, 2015

LG’s leather-clad G4 draws mixed reactions

LG Uplus launches world’s first VoLTE roaming services

Korean mobile carrier LG Uplus said Sunday that it had successfully launched roaming services running on the voice-over-Long Term Evolution, or VoLTE, networks. The VoLTE roaming services will be first available for subscribers of LG Uplus and Japan’s mobile carrier KDDI, who use LG Electronics’ G Flex 2 smartphone in South Korea and Japan.“LG Uplus has once again boasted its advanced LTE technology with the VoLTE roaming services,” said an official from the mobile carrier, adding, “the firm wi

Technology April 12, 2015

Articles by Kim Young-won