Samsung Electronics Co., South Korea's No. 1 tech firm, announced Tuesday that it will pour $1.2 billion by 2020 into the Internet of Things business in the United States, as part of its global initiative to create a new IoT ecosystem, a hot issue in the ICT world.Samsung also launched an advisory group in partnership with Intel Corp. to affect U.S. policy on IoT."I am excited to show how we are moving IoT to the center of our strategy and am delighted to announce that Samsung is planning to spe

Companies June 22, 2016

South Korean authorities said Tuesday they have decided not to punish the local fishermen who sailed beyond their designated fishing area to seize two Chinese boats that were illegally catching fish near the inter-Korean border earlier this month.A group of South Korean crewmen from 19 fishing boats seized the Chinese boats just south of the Northern Limit Line and dragged the boats and crew to Yeonpyeong Island on June 5.Though the seizure of the boats occurred without incident and the Chinese

Foreign Affairs June 21, 2016

A delegation of young Chinese public officials is visiting South Korea at the invitation of the Korea Foundation to seek exchanges with South Korean municipal governments, the foundation said Tuesday.The 177-member delegation, led by Wang Yunzhe, vice chief of the China-South Korea Friendship Association, arrived the previous day on an eight-day trip that will take them to the South Korean cities of Gwangmyeong and Daejeon.The arrival of the group, comprising young public officials in Beijing an

Foreign Affairs June 21, 2016

The Samsung Group, South Korea's largest conglomerate, has gone global not only with its smartphones and other products but also with steady financial support for those in need abroad.Major beneficiaries include Korean War veterans and their offspring.Samsung has provided them with a total of around US$8.5 million in various aid programs since the early 1990s, according to group officials on Monday.The campaign is based on the belief that the sacrifice of the war veterans is the reason for the r

Companies June 20, 2016

South Korea will open an embassy in Madagascar early next month, government sources said Sunday, amid its stepped-up efforts to strengthen diplomacy with the resource-rich continent.The two countries established diplomatic ties in 1962, but Seoul has not opened any mission in Antananarivo, the capital of the southeastern African state. After a government with close ties to North Korea took power in the African state in the 1970s, the bilateral relations remained chilled for nearly two decades. P

Foreign Affairs June 19, 2016

Police requested arrest warrants for two men who locked up a runaway teenager and allegedly forced her into prostitution, Wednesday. The Gwangju Dong-bu Police said the men, aged 20 and 18, had invited a 17-year-old runaway they befriended via a chatting app to live with them, then turned violent once she moved in. The victim stayed with them for 12 days.(123RF)During the time, she claims she was coerced into more than ten counts of prostitution, whereupon the men took the money. One of the men

Social Affairs June 16, 2016

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. said Thursday it has acquired U.S. cloud service company Joyent Inc. to cope with rising demand for cloud platform services.Joyent, a San Francisco-based cloud provider, has come under Samsung's wing as of Wednesday (U.S. time), the South Korean tech firm said in a statement. Samsung's acquisition of the U.S. startup firm signals its interest in cloud computing that has become fundamental in providing users with reliable services on their mobile an

Companies June 16, 2016

South Korea will soon craft a concrete plan for the development of technology to tackle fine dust particles that have emerged as a major health threat, according to a related ministry on Thursday.The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said it will mobilize "all national R&D capability" on resolving the problem in a "fundamental and innovative" manner.In the first step, the government plans to map out a concrete action plan by September to develop technology that will curb fine dust.A d

Social Affairs June 16, 2016

Japanese chemical company Kuraray held a groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday to build a production facility for polyvinyl butyral film at a plant of its South Korean unit in the southeastern city of Ulsan.PVB is a glass interlayer used in creating safety glass in the automotive and architectural industries. The company plans to complete the construction of the PVB production facility by the end of next year with an investment of $50 million.Kuraray's expansion of the local plant is part of its e

Companies June 16, 2016

Twenty-two members of the Seoul City Council proposed Monday a bill to impose a 100,000 won ($85) fine on people who consume alcohol in Seoul’s parks and playgrounds.According to councilor Kim Gu-hyun, the regulation is anticipated to foster a responsible drinking culture that will cut down on the social and economic problems caused by excessive drinking. 　 (Yonhap)The proposed ordinance gives the Seoul mayor the right to designate parks and children’s playgrounds, among other public spaces, as

Social Affairs June 15, 2016

South Korea's jobless rate fell slightly in May on a rise in the number of employees in the health and accommodation sectors, with the unemployment rate for young people still remaining high, a government report showed Wednesday.The unemployment rate in Asia's fourth-largest economy stood at 3.7 percent last month, compared with 3.9 percent tallied in April, according to the report compiled by Statistics Korea.The seasonally adjusted jobless rate stayed at 3.7 percent in May.Job creation edged u

June 15, 2016

Cheil Worldwide Inc., the advertising unit of the Samsung Group, plans to raise its investment and hiring this year after its negotiations to sell a controlling stake to a French advertising giant fell apart, industry sources said Wednesday.The company, part of South Korea's largest family-controlled conglomerate, plans to push forward with aggressive mergers and acquisitions and set a goal to expand its sales by more than 10 percent in 2016, they said.The country's No. 1 advertising company log

Companies June 15, 2016

Major U.S. firms operating here on Tuesday joined the South Korean government's efforts to help local startups globalize.Members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea held a ceremony in Seoul to launch the "Global Leading Companies Mentoring Startups" campaign in partnership with the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning.Nineteen American companies participated in the event, including Facebook, IBM, Microsoft and Boeing.They agreed to provide 14 selected South Korean startups with

Companies June 14, 2016