Facebook said Monday that Jung Ki-hyun, the former chief business officer of Naver-owned mobile messenger Line, has been appointed as the new chief of the US social networking giant’s operations in South Korea.　An expert businessman with over 15 years of experience in the local information and communications technology sector, Jung will assist Korean corporate clients in using the Facebook platform to grow in both Korean and overseas markets, the company said.  Facebook Korea`s new Country Manag

Technology Nov. 26, 2018

SK Biopharmaceuticals, the new drug development unit of South Korea’s telecom-to-energy conglomerate SK Group, said Monday that it had submitted a new epilepsy drug candidate to the US Food and Drug Administration seeking marketing approval.SK Biopharm said it had submitted a new drug application for Cenobamate, which is intended to treat epilepsy, a neurological disorder characterized by recurrent seizures. If approved on schedule, the drug is expected to hit the market within the first half of

Industry Nov. 26, 2018

Kakao’s smart speaker Kakao Mini can now read out loud KakaoTalk messages sent to your phone -- a feature that users have long been calling for.Kakao said Tuesday that Kakao Mini has been updated to include the new function. Users can go to the settings on the Kakao Mini configuration app to activate the feature.The new function is made available through a combination of natural language processing and voice recognition engines developed by Kakao, the company said. Messages from one-on-one chatr

Technology Nov. 20, 2018

South Korean biopharmaceutical company Celltrion said Monday that its first-ever chemical combination drug for use by patients with HIV-1 infection has been approved by the US Food and drug Administration.　Developed by Celltrion, Temixys is a tablet-type drug that targets HIV-1, short for Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1. It is a next-generation modified drug combining the properties of GSK’s Zeffix (lamivudine) and Gilead Sciences’ Viread (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate).The newly-approved ta

Industry Nov. 19, 2018

After rising to become one of the easiest and most popular payment methods among Korean users through its flagship messenger service, Kakao Pay announced Monday it is expanding its business with an easy-to-use investment facilitator platform.The mobile finance unit of South Korean mobile messaging giant Kakao announced the launch of a new service, Kakao Investment, which lets users invest in various projects through the KakaoTalk messenger without the need to install a separate app. The service

Technology Nov. 19, 2018

South Korean internet giant Naver said Friday that it would use a new “green dot” interactive search button as the core of its new design direction for its mobile site, aiming to bring smarter and more integrated web search functions to users.　“The ‘green dot’ is Naver’s new design identity and a central part of the company’s efforts to address various changes (in the internet space) that will continue to evolve in the future,” Kim Seung-eon, Naver’s Head of Design, said during a keynote speech

Technology Nov. 16, 2018

The inaugural esports competition for the globally popular survival shooting game “Fortnite Battle Royale” will take place in South Korea next month, bringing a new addition to the country’s active competitive gaming landscape. 　Epic Games, the US-based video game company behind “Fortnite,” plans to hold “Fortnite Korea Open 2018” on Dec. 15 at Korea University’s Hwajung Gymnasium. Players will compete for a 1 billion won ($885,000) donation to charity, according to the company.“The event marks

Technology Nov. 16, 2018

South Korea’s second-largest chipmaker SK hynix said Thursday that it has developed next-generation dynamic random-access memory, 16 gigabits DDR5, which offers speed and improved power efficiency to meet demand from sectors with intensive computing needs, such as big data analytics and artificial intelligence.The chipmaker plans to mass produce the new product from 2020, when demand for DDR5 RAM is expected to peak on the back of a growing number of data-intensive apps requiring faster and more

Technology Nov. 15, 2018

Samsung SDS, an information and communications technology solutions company under South Korea’s Samsung Group, on Thursday hosted an inaugural developer’s conference to share its know-how in next-generation technologies including artificial intelligence and blockchain.　In its first edition, “Techtonic 2018” brought together some 1,000 IT developers, college students and industry officials with master’s and doctorate degrees in IT development to discuss successful cases of business innovation usi

Technology Nov. 15, 2018

South Korea’s biggest video game convention kicks off in Busan on Thursday, showcasing a wide range of new PC, mobile and virtual reality games being developed by major game companies here.G-Star 2018 features nearly 3,000 booths and brings together more than 650 game companies from 30 countries. US-based Epic Games, behind the hit survival shooting game “Fortnite Battle Royale” is the event’s main sponsor this year and the first foreign game company to host the expo.Korean game developers and p

Technology Nov. 14, 2018

VMware, a US-based company that leads the world in virtualization and cloud-computing software, has partnered with South Korean telecommunications firm KT as part of efforts to address growing demand among client companies for “hybrid clouds,” or a multi-cloud environment.　VMware announced Tuesday that it plans to launch a computing solution called “VMware on KT Cloud” in Korea within this month. It will make VMware’s solutions compatible with KT’s public cloud services. The collaborative soluti

Technology Nov. 13, 2018

Uber Korea has named Brandon Son, former chief of Expedia Korea, as the new general manager of its mobility division. Son will oversee the management and diversification of the US ride-hailing giant’s mobility services in South Korea, the company said. Son’s duties as general manager formally began Monday, according to Uber Korea.“We are very happy to appoint Brandon Son as our mobility head in in Korea,” said Amit Jain, Uber’s general manager for the Asia-Pacific region, in a statement.“We expe

Technology Nov. 13, 2018

LG Chem, a chemicals and life sciences company under South Korea’s LG Group, said Monday that it will start developing new cancer immunotherapy candidates licensed in from US-based Cue Biopharma.The two companies have entered a strategic collaboration agreement to co-develop three cancer immunotherapy candidates developed by Cue Biopharma, which are currently in the pre-clinical trial stage. The collaboration provides LG Chem’s life sciences division with the rights to develop and commercialize

Industry Nov. 12, 2018

Korea Post, South Korea’s postal service operator under the Ministry of Science and ICT, said Sunday that it signed a memorandum of understanding with its counterparts in China and Japan last week, agreeing to strengthen cooperation in postal service technology innovation and adoption. Under the memorandum signed during a high-level meeting in Tokyo held from Nov. 8-9, the postal service operators of the three countries will work together to speed up delivery systems, in competition with global

Industry Nov. 11, 2018

Global information and communication technology companies such as Google, Facebook and Amazon may soon be required to pay value-added tax on a wider range of their earnings in South Korea, as lawmakers have introduced a new bill to bring changes on this end.　Led by Rep. Park Sun-sook of the minor opposition Bareunmirae Party, a group of 15 Korean lawmakers have proposed amending the Value-Added Tax Act to newly require foreign ICT firms to pay VAT on digital products such as search advertisement

Technology Nov. 11, 2018