Starbucks Korea announced Wednesday it will accept mobile payment service Kakao Pay from Thursday.  (Yonhap)In a special promotion until Feb. 7, those who spend 10,000 won ($8.90) or more via Kakao Pay at the coffee chain will be rewarded with special emojis for KakaoTalk. The promotion is available at Starbucks stores nationwide except at Incheon Airport and military garrisons of US Forces. (khnews@heraldcorp.com)

Technology Jan. 23, 2019

Samsung Display said Wednesday that it has developed the world’s first ultrahigh definition organic light-emitting diode display, as the company makes its foray into the premium laptop market.According to Samsung Display, the 15.6-inch UHD OLED panel will enter mass production next month. The new ultrahigh resolution display will be optimized for gaming, graphic design and video streaming, the company said. The news comes as the display giant is trying to expand into laptop markets after emergin

Industry Jan. 23, 2019

　Finding one’s love interest via a dating app is still largely taboo in South Korea, and faced with such cultural challenges, the world’s most popular dating app is trying a different marketing approach by highlighting its social networking role for millennials.　In a press conference held in Seoul, Tinder CEO Elie Seidman branded the company as a “social discovery app,” saying it would offer users more opportunities to expand their networks. 　Tinder has been promoting a localized campaign for Ko

Technology Jan. 22, 2019

South Korean internet giant Naver released an update to its online translation service that is capable of rendering English into honorific Korean, as foreign users have often found it difficult to replace English words with formal and polite Korean expressions.　According to Naver on Thursday, users who update the company’s automated translation app, Papago, can receive translations in honorific Korean if they turn on the “honorific button” in the input box. 　Currently, the updated service is ava

Industry Jan. 17, 2019

　　South Korea will increase the number of hydrogen-powered vehicles on the roads by 80,000 units in the next four years, the finance minister said Wednesday.　Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Economy and Finance Hong Nam-ki said at a ministerial meeting on innovation-led growth in Seoul that the new fuel-cell electric vehicle target is part of a broad strategy aimed at building an ecosystem for hydrogen industries. It would include producers of the fuel as well as technologies that store an

Economy Jan. 16, 2019

　South Korean mobile carrier SK Telecom on Tuesday unveiled a new text-message service designed to more efficiently deliver videos and pictures -- a move that industry watchers said signaled an intention to compete against the country’s top mobile messenger service, Kakao Talk. 　SK Telecom said the new system, based on technology called Rich Communication Services, allows users to send high-resolution pictures and short video clips without consuming massive data and incurring high fees. 　Accordi

Technology Jan. 15, 2019

South Korean tech giant Kakao said Tuesday it will suspend the test run of its carpooling service, following a monthslong standoff with taxi drivers who claim the business will threaten their operations.   　In a statement, Kakao said the company will no longer provide the trial carpooling service to users until it reaches a consensus with the taxi industry. The company said it would even consider scrapping the carpooling service altogether. 　“There are no conditions attached to the dialogue. … W

Technology Jan. 15, 2019

　South Korea’s biggest internet portal Naver said Tuesday that “feminist” was the most searched word in the company’s online Korean dictionary last year, reflecting heated debate over gender equality amid the #MeToo movement that had swept the country.　Citing data for the period between Jan. 1 and Dec. 27 last year, Naver said “feminist” ranked the highest in the number of queries on the website’s Korean dictionary. The word took second place in 2017. 　The second most searched word last year was

Technology Jan. 15, 2019

When South Korea secured a narrow 1-0 victory over Kyrgyzstan at the Asian Cup Games in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday, Korean soccer fans did not rely on traditional broadcasters to watch the match. 　In fact, there were no live broadcasts from the country’s three media giants -- KBS, MBC and SBS. Only JTBC, a cable network owned by a local media group, broadcast Korea’s second match at the Asian Cup.　As more viewers have begun to shift from traditional broadcasters to streaming services f

Technology Jan. 14, 2019

South Korea’s biggest mobile carrier SK Telecom has pledged to work with major K-pop agency S.M. Entertainment to use the former’s artificial intelligence technology in separating singers’ vocals from music records, the telecommunications company said Friday.According to SK Telecom, its chief technology officer Park Jin-hyo and S.M. Entertainment CEO Kim Youg-min signed a memorandum of understanding for partnership on the AI-based voice-separating technology during their meeting at the Consumer

Industry Jan. 11, 2019

　LG Electronics has reported an earnings shock for the fourth quarter, with an 80 percent on-year drop in operating profit for the quarter and a nearly 90 percent drop from the previous quarter, mainly weighed down by the tech firm’s lackluster smartphone and premium TV sales.　The disappointing fourth-quarter performance in preliminary earnings announced late Tuesday also overshadowed the company’s yearly operating profit of 2.73 trillion won ($2.43 billion), the highest in 10 years. Total reven

Industry Jan. 9, 2019

　The chief of South Korea’s leading energy firm SK Innovation Kim Jun is currently visiting the US as part of the company’s shift in focus from the traditional refinery business to the battery and material sectors, the company said Monday.　SK Innovation President and CEO Kim first landed in Georgia, where he inspected a site for a battery factory. Last year, the company announced it would be building the battery plant with some $1 billion, which will be the largest production plant solely used f

Industry Jan. 7, 2019

　With South Korea’s biggest mobile carrier pledging to integrate its streaming service with that of the country’s major broadcasters, focus is on how much the collaboration will affect the growing competition between domestic and global streaming service companies. 　On Jan. 3, SK Telecom and Korea’s three territorial broadcasters agreed to establish a new entity designed to manage their over-the-top video services. Their new OTT platform is expected to be available in the first half of this year

Industry Jan. 7, 2019

　On a chilly day in December, a group of people gathered in a grass field in downtown Seoul to practice what was one of the most sought-after pastimes in the Joseon era: archery. 　After notching their arrows, the archers stood aimed at a target about 150 meters away. Only silence dominated the freezing wind blowing through the range. 　They let out their breath as in few seconds, one arrow was fired from a seasoned archer who has been practicing for 10 years. With a buzzing sound cutting across t

Culture Jan. 3, 2019

President Moon Jae-in’s chief policy adviser held a closed-door meeting with South Korean conglomerate executives late last year, the presidential office confirmed Thursday, in what appeared to be the government’s attempt to address mounting concerns over the country’s economic outlook. According to Cheong Wa Dae, Kim Soo-hyun, presidential chief of staff for policy, met with senior officials at family-controlled conglomerates in late 2018. The meeting was reportedly held at a

Economy Jan. 3, 2019