On Oct. 1, South Korea will enforce a revised law governing the sales and subsidies of mobile devices such as smartphones in an effort to eradicate long-standing malpractices by telecommunications operators.Consumers will no longer be discriminated against on the basis of age, place of residence or monthly subscription plan when using their existing mobile phones, buying a new phone or switching their mobile carriers.Everyone, regardless of their class and status, will be entitled to a subsidy s

Technology Sept. 30, 2014

CrucialTec, a biometric sensor tech company, and Danal, a mobile payment solutions provider, have formed a joint venture called BioPay.CrucialTec said Tuesday that the two companies would use each other’s technological resources to provide secure financial settlement and authentication solutions and services through the venture.The two tech companies previously partnered to develop a fingerprint recognition payment solution, called BioME, Danal noted.Danal is currently seeking partnerships with

Technology Sept. 30, 2014

KT, South Korea’s largest telecom company, said Monday that it would offer high-quality, expanded services and benefits to customers next month in line with the country’s revised law governing the market distribution of devices such as smartphones.KT said that it would launch an application, called Olleh Family Box, that allows members of the same family who use KT mobile services to freely share monthly data and membership reward points. Leftover data will be rolled over to the following month.

Technology Sept. 29, 2014

LG Electronics launched Friday a promotional event for its premium Bluetooth headset, the LG Tone Plus, near Gangnam Station in southern Seoul.The electronics giant said that it had set up an experience zone in the area, enabling people, especially office workers, to try out the wearable product and its features, as well as test its sound quality during the lunch break. It offers gifts and prizes such as free coffee coupons and monthly free online music tickets to those who participate in the LG

Technology Sept. 26, 2014

SK hynix CEO Park Sung-wook (third from left) and others pose in its new memory chip plant in Chongqing, China, Friday. (SK hynix)SK hynix, the world’s second-largest memory chip maker, said Friday that it had completed the construction of a plant for flash memory chip packaging and testing in Chongqing, southwest China.The $250 million plant, which has some 1,200 workers, is capable of assembling and testing 80 million 16-gigabyte NAND flash chips for mobile devices a month, the Korean company

Technology Sept. 26, 2014

There was nothing but mud in Songdo, Incheon, some 60 kilometers south of Seoul, when South Korea ambitiously set out to reclaim the land and transform it into a free economic zone in 2003.Now with high-rise buildings, inflows of foreign capital and infrastructure linking it with major roads, ports and an international airport, the Incheon Free Economic Zone, which also includes Yeongjongdo Island and Cheongna International City, seeks to make another leap by becoming a global hub for businesses

Industry Sept. 25, 2014

Samsung Electronics said Wednesday that sales of its new hybrid device, the Galaxy Note 4, will roll out in South Korea through the country’s three mobile carriers on Friday.The premium 5.7-inch phablet with a quad HD super AMOLED display, which was introduced at the IFA trade show early this month in Berlin, will then hit shelves in China and 140 countries by the end of next month.The price of the Galaxy Note 4, which will be available in Charcoal Black, Frost White, Bronze Gold and Blossom Pin

Technology Sept. 24, 2014

With the world economy seeing a rapid increase in trade, both public and private enterprises are finding it necessary to better manage their supply chains and logistics using information technology.Samsung SDS, South Korea’s IT solutions giant, seeks not only to help them improve their logistics and inventory management systems, but also to efficiently manage risks against natural disasters and unpredictable economic downturns.The company said Tuesday that its advanced solution, called Cello, en

Technology Sept. 23, 2014

Cisco Systems Korea said Monday that it has launched new integrated servers that can perform rapidly and efficiently with Intel’s fast processing power.The product called the Unified Computing System M-Series Modular Servers, which not only optimizes users’ storage capability but also that of networking and database management, has been made to perform tasks and applications fit under cloud and virtualization computing systems.The Korean unit of the U.S. network equipment giant added that the se

Technology Sept. 22, 2014

LG Chem, South Korea’s materials and battery giant, said Sunday it had sealed a deal to supply lithium-ion batteries to Energiequelle, a Germany-based renewable energy management and services provider.LG Chem’s batteries will be used in Energiequelle’s energy storage system to distribute electricity generated by clean energy sources from wind, solar and biomass power plants in Feldheim, Brandenburg.The company said it would install its 10.8 MWh batteries by the end of the first quarter of next y

Technology Sept. 21, 2014

Incheon Asian Games Organizing Committee president Kim Young-soo said he hoped that the Games would become recognized as the most successful sporting event in South Korean history.Although there have been difficulties including budget cuts, the IAGOC has worked to make the Games different from past events and entertaining for all Asians. Aiming to raise the Asian Games to a new level, the IAGOC aspires to host a Games at which athletes can display their full potential and participants can enjoy

More Sports Sept. 19, 2014

Hyundai Motor, South Korea’s largest automaker, has won the bid for Korea Electric Power Corp.’s office property in the affluent Gangnam district of Seoul, the state-run power distributor said.KEPCO said Hyundai Motor’s consortium offered the highest bid of 10.5 trillion won ($10 billion) for its 80,000-square-meter site, beating rival bidder Samsung Electronics. The consortium consisted of Hyundai Motor’s affiliates Kia Motors and Hyundai Mobis.Hyundai Motor welcomed the announcement, saying th

Industry Sept. 18, 2014

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics said Thursday it has launched mass production of 20 nano-class mobile dynamic random access memory for the first time in the industry, six months after it successfully started manufacturing PC DRAMs of the same level.The 6-gigabit double data rate-3, or DDR3 modules based on 20-nanometer technology will allow the mobile DRAM to boast a data transmission speed of 2,133Mb per second, while significantly lowering power consumption for better efficiency, t

Technology Sept. 18, 2014