SAMSUNG SINEAGE RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE -- Tech giant Samsung Electronics has won the AV Display Innovation of the Year award for its outdoor display, dubbed the OHD Series SMART Signage, at the Integrated Systems Europe 2016, an annual trade fair for audio and video systems held in Amsterdam last week. (Samsung Electronics)

One hundred-twenty four South Korean companies that have been producing garments, shoes and watches in North Korea’s border city have become casualties of the unfinished Cold War on the Korean Peninsula, as renewed tensions between the two sides led to a sudden shutdown of a factory complex. North Korea on Thursday said that it was freezing all South Korean assets in Gaeseong Industrial Park and that its military was taking over control of the factory complex which it has been running jointly wi

Korea’s leading mobile network operator SK Telecom said Thursday that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Swedish network equipment firm Ericsson to build infrastructure to test fifth-generation networks.Participating in the memorandum signing ceremony in Stockholm on Tuesday, Park Jin-hyo, the head of SKT’s network technology research and development center, and Per Navinger of Ericsson pledged to work together on building the infrastructure and testing core 5G network technology c

Telecommunications firm KT said Thursday that it would participate in the Mobile World Congress, the world’s largest mobile trade show to be held in Barcelona later this month, along with promising Korean start-ups.The mobile carrier said a total of seven start-ups, including smart factory solutions developer Ulalalab and digital authentication solutions firm 12CM will showcase their products and services at the mobile carrier’s booth during the trade show. KT staffers hold products developed by

Caught between decreasing earnings and challenges posed by Chinese competitors, Korea’s tech giants Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics aim to create new growth momentum with their upcoming flagship smartphones, the Galaxy S7 and G5, respectively.As announced by both firms in January, they will be unveiling their marquee handsets, on Feb. 21, a day before the beginning of the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona from Feb. 22 to 25. Shin Jong-kyun, the head of Samsung Electronics’ IT

Concerns over Kakao’s profitability are on the rise in the market as the profits of the mobile messenger operator nosedived in the October-December period last year. The company said in a regulatory filing on Friday that its net income over the three-month period plunged more than 80 percent year-on-year to 10.2 billion won ($8.5 million) while the firm’s operating income in the same period stood at 20.4 billion won, down 68.8 percent from a year earlier. The quarterly revenue came in at 241.7 b

AI CHALLENGES HUMAN GO MASTER -- Google unveiled the schedule of the Go match between its artificial intelligence program AlphaGo and Korean Go champion Lee Se-dol on Friday. Demis Hassabis, the founder of Deep Mind, developer of the AI program and a subsidiary of Google, tweeted on the same day that a total of five games will be held from March 9 to 15 in Korea. More details of the match will be revealed soon. (Kim Young-won/The Korea Herald)

Information technology solutions developer Samsung SDS has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Chuncheon City Government to build a data center in the city, some 100 kilometers east of Seoul, officials said Wednesday.The data center will focus on providing services for Samsung Group’s financial business affiliates. Construction of the facility will be completed in the second half of 2019, said Samsung SDS. Chuncheon mayor Choi Dong-yong (left) and Samsung SDS CEO Chung Yoo-sung pose at

Korean fingerprint module-maker CrucialTec said Wednesday that it will host the FIDO (Fast IDentity Online) Alliance interoperability testing events for the first time in Korea in March.The FIDO Alliance is a global consortium for bio authentication technology standards, and the events have been held every year in the U.S. to validate members’ identification technologies. CrucialTec CEO Charles Ahn poses with fingerprint modules of the firm at the MWC trade show in Barcelona in March last year.(

Korea’s third-largest home appliance maker Dongbu Daewoo Electronics has been stepping up efforts in global markets.The Korean firm held a launch event for its latest home appliances, including refrigerators and front-load washers, in Madrid, Spain last month. Spanish buyers look at Dongbu Daewoo Electronics’ refrigerator at the firm’s launch event held last month in Madrid, Spain. (Dongbu Daewoo)A fridge with a freezer on the top and a refrigeration compartment on the bottom especially attracte

LG Group chairman Koo Bon-moo has urged the chief executives of the conglomerate’s affiliates to push the envelope for change and innovation in order to overcome difficulties in the coming years.  Participating in the Global CEO Strategy Meeting, an annual meeting of the group’s chief executives, held for two days from Wednesday in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, Koo told the top management to “renovate the existing profit structures and improve the business models, reflecting the changing market tre

Years-long efforts by the Korean government to license the nation’s fourth mobile carrier went down to the drain again on Friday as the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning failed to find an eligible candidate.　“All the three bidders did not meet the criteria for the license,” said the ministry, adding that the companies overall were incapable of raising funds and presented no detailed plans to run the business. (From left) Logos of mobile carriers KT, SK Telecom, and LG Uplus. (Yonhap)　

Fake batteries are becoming a headache for Korean battery-makers Samsung SDI and LG Chem, after recent hoverboard fire and explosion cases in the U.S. reportedly involved counterfeit batteries bearing Samsung and LG logos. More than 300 counterfeit hoverboards worth around $94,000 were seized in Miami by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection last week, according to a news report by Sun-Sentinel.  A person rides a hoverboard on the street. (Yonhap)The counterfeit hoverboards, which were shipped

Tech giant LG Electronics said Friday that it topped the U.S. front-loading washing machine market for the ninth consecutive year in 2015.Citing a report compiled by market research firm Stevenson Company, the Seoul-headquartered electronics giant said it took the top spot in the U.S. market last year with its market share exceeding 25 percent for three straight years, last year at 25.1 percent.  A staffer at a Fry‘s Electronics store in Nevada explains the features of LG Electronics’ Twin Wash

BUDGET HANDSET GAINS STEAM -- Mobile carrier SK Telecom said Friday that its 5.5-inch budget smartphone Sol, which comes with a price tag of 399,300 won ($332), has attracted around 10,000 preorders for just three days since Tuesday this week. (SKT)

Semiconductor-maker SK hynix said Friday it has launched a committee to support and compensate its workers who developed life-threatening diseases, including various cancers and leukemia, while working at the firm’s chip factories.The establishment of the support and compensation group is in line with the firm’s efforts to comply with proposals made last November by an inspection committee for workplace safety and health at the chipmaker, consisting of 11 medical specialists, scholars, industry

 A sense of frustration seems to be pervading the halls of Samsung Electronics as incentives for the year 2015, dubbed the overall performance incentive, are anticipated to plunge due largely to its below-par business performance last year.The OPI reward program pays up to 50 percent of the annual salaries of workers within the range of 20 percent of the firm’s excess profits. The Samsung logo at Samsung Electronics’ head office in Seoul. (Yonhap)Samsung also runs their target achievement incent

SK Planet, owned by South Korea’s largest telecom carrier SK Telecom, said Thursday that it will sell off its 15 percent stake in Loen Entertainment, the operator of MelOn, Korea’s top music-streaming, to the new owner Kakao. The shares were valued at 368 billion won ($302 million). The SK Planet logo. (SK Planet)The company said that the decision was made during a directors’ meeting in the day as part of its business restructuring that has continued since last year to pour more resources into p

Although many people talk about big data these days only a few truly understand its potential and actively make use of the related technologies in their businesses, due largely to expensive costs to build and manage infrastructure.Businesses that have swiftly adopted the emerging technology often pose a formidable challenge to leading market players.Video-streaming platform Netflix is a great exemplar as it has successfully integrated big data systems in its streaming services to meticulously an

Renault is recalling thousands of new vehicles to make engine tweaks, the government said Tuesday, as the French carmaker grapples with emission levels found to exceed anti-pollution norms in some of its cars.France's second biggest auto manufacturer -- in which the French state owns nearly 20 percent -- has been under the spotlight since it emerged last week that anti-fraud investigators had raided several of the company's sites, sending stocks plunging.Amid fears Renault could be caught up in