President Barack Obama is welcoming his first foreign leader of the new year, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, for talks that will cover the Islamic State militant group and a 12-nation Pacific Rim trade agreement that includes their countries.  Other global, regional and bilateral issues are also on Tuesday's agenda for meetings the White House says will cover the "extraordinary breadth" of the U.S.-Australian alliance.  Turnbull is on his first visit to the U.S. since taking office

This is the first article in a series that explores the driving forces behind hallyu and the global rise of Korean pop culture. -- Ed.　　The global success of Psy’s “Gangnam Style” music video was both boon and bane to the 42-year-old singer, born Park Jae-sang. 　With the strong support of K-pop stronghold YG Entertainment, Psy was able to reach an unprecedented audience for Korean music. The video rapidly went viral, going on to reach over 2.5 billion views on YouTube. With an additional push fr

China's economic growth slowed to a six-year low in the latest quarter as trade and consumer spending weakened, deepening a downturn that has fueled anxiety abroad over its impact on an uncertain global outlook. The world's second-largest economy grew by 6.8 percent in the October-December quarter, down from the previous quarter's 6.9 percent, data showed Tuesday. That dragged full-year growth to a 25-year low of 6.9 percent.    A port in Chungqing, China. (Yonhap)Growth has fallen steadily over

Korea’s leading smartphone camera module-maker LG Innotek said Tuesday that it would focus on electronic components and materials in a bid to seek new growth engines.The company said it plans to rake in 200 billion won ($166 million) in revenue in the business in the next three years.LG Innotek CEO Park Jong-seok. (LG Innotek)Outlining its mid- and long-term plans, the company also said it would jump in the businesses for the metal power inductor, which helps prevent abrupt changes in electric c

Flexibility and mobility are core elements for businesses to counter challenges in fast-changing business environments.Cloud computing services, which enable people to work anywhere and with anyone, will play a pivotal role in beefing up those two elements and ultimately change the business landscape, according to an executive at Oracle.Steve Deheb, senior vice president at Oracle, speaks at a press meeting held during the Oracle CloudWorld, a cloud conference held in Seoul on Tuesday. (Oracle)“

SK Planet, the operator of e-commerce platform 11st, said Monday that it has joined hands with ZMI, an affiliate of Chinese budget smartphone-maker Xiaomi.Some of the Xiaomi affiliate’s flagship products, including portable smartphone batteries, LED lights and electric fans, will be distributed by the Korean partner here. The move came amid heated competition to launch Xiaomi’s products, considered affordable while having comparable specifications, in the Korean market. 　Lee Chi-hun, the head of

  KT TO BUILD SMART FARMS -- Yoon Kyung-lim(left), head of mobile carrier KT’s future convergence business office, and Katsuyuki Kitagawa, CEO of ASO Farm Land -- operator of the world’s largest agriculture-themed park in Japan -- pose at the MOU signing event to collaborate on building smart farms in Korea, deploying information technology. (KT)

A few years ago, office worker Lee Yu-na had a nightmare finding parking space when visiting Bukchon Hanok Village, one of the popular tourist destinations in northern Seoul. Despite her unsavory memory of paying fines for parking her car in a no-parking area, she had to visit the village again last month, on request by her friend from the U.S. But this time she felt more confident. A smart parking lot management solution developed by smart parking app operator ParkingCloud is installed at the J

SmartThings, a U.S. smart home start-up acquired by Samsung Electronics last August, will enter the Korean market in the first quarter of this year, company officials said Friday. The South Korean tech giant snapped up the fast-growing Internet of Things start-up in a $200 million deal under its vision to have all its appliances connected to the Web by 2020.SmartThings’ mobile app for the connected home.Samsung confirmed that it will roll out SmartThings products, including a smart hub and multi

Aiming to counter tumbling demand for chips due mainly to the saturated global smartphone and PC chip markets, SK hynix announced Thursday a plan to invest 6 trillion won ($4.95 billion) this year.The company will match last year’s investment to conduct research and development for new chip technology, acquire a competitive edge in price, and build new production lines, according to the firm. The logo of SK hynix is on a company office window. (Yonhap)Specifically, the company will speed up the

Samsung Electronics said Thursday that it has started mass production of its own flagship mobile chip Exynos 8 Octa and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820, to be fitted on premium smartphone models, including the Galaxy S7. The chips are built on a new technology, called the 14-nanometer low-power plus process, the second generation of the firm’s 14-nm FinFET process technology first adopted by the Seoul-based firm last year to build the Exynos 7 Octa, the system-on-a-chip that powers the Galaxy S6. Sams

LG RELEASES LIGHTEST 15-INCH LAPTOP -- LG Electronics rolled out the world’s lightest 15.6-inch laptop, dubbed the Gram 15, in Seoul on Thursday. The new laptop weighing in at 980 grams -- 50 percent lighter than the existing 15-inch products -- features either Intel‘s i5 or i7 processor, 8GB of RAM and 256 and 512GB storage options, with its price range from 1.55 million won ($1,280) to 2.29 million won.　(LGE)

The winds of change are blowing through Twitter as it continues its quest for more functionalities on its 10-year-old social network platform.The San Francisco-headquartered firm announced Wednesday that the autoplay function for video content of live-streaming social media network Periscope is now available on Twitter timelines. An image of a Twitter feed autoplaying a Periscope stream. (Twitter)“Both Twitter and Periscope show you what’s going on in the world, right now ― whether that’s outsid

LG Electronics announced an investment project on Wednesday to give boost to the firm’s solar energy business. The company signed a memorandum of understanding with the Gumi City government on the same day to beef up its solar panel module production lines in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province. Attendees at the Intersolar trade show held in Germany last year look at LG Electronics’ NeON2 solar panel module. (Yonhap)The tech giant will make investments worth 527 billion won ($435 million) to add six

LG Electronics sent out an invitation for the unveiling event for the firm’s next flagship smartphone model to the global media and industry officials on Wednesday.The next flagship phone will be, as widely predicted, the long-awaited G5 for which the Korean firm has recently filed a trademark application at the Korean patent office, according to an industry official.LG Electronics’ invitation for the unveiling event of the firm’s next marquee smartphone. (LGE)The save-the-date announcement indi

  COOL NEW AIR CONDITIONERS -- Cho Sung-jin (second from left), head of LG Electronics’ home appliance and air solution business unit, and Choi Sang-gyu (second from right), head of the firm’s Korea sales and marketing, pose at the unveiling event of the tech firm’s 2016 Whisen Dual Air Conditioner lineup, fitted with two cold air outlets, motion sensors and air purifying and dehumidifying functions. (LGE)

LG CHEM RUNS CHEMISTRY CAMP -- Students participate in Chemistry Camp, a corporate social responsibility program run by LG Chem, in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, Monday. Children learn about renewable energy sources and chemicals used in daily life during the three-day event. (LG Chem)

Samsung SDI showcased battery cells that enable electric cars to travel up to 600 kilometers on a full charge at the North American International Auto Show, the biggest auto show in the U.S. which kicked off in Detroit on Monday (local time).Battery technology has recently come into the limelight in the car industry as it plays a core role in electric cars which are widely considered a substitute to gas-powered counterparts.  A model poses with Samsung SDI’s battery cells to be displayed at the

The nation’s leading mobile carrier SK Telecom said Monday that it has successfully demonstrated the wired 5G network technology on the so-called core network architecture, serving as a control tower in providing services such as user authentication, voice calls, and Internet connectivity.The core network system, which controls user traffic for customers to access the Internet, has to be revamped for the commercialization of the wired 5G network services. Staffers from SK Telecom and Nokia Netwo

Advanced battery technology is prerequisite to the growth of the sector for connected things, or Internet of Things, said an executive of Samsung SDI, the battery business unit of Samsung Group, at the International CES trade show last week.Every information technology device being connected in the looming IoT era needs advanced battery technology, and global battery-makers are currently vying to develop more powerful batteries with a longer lifespan.Samsung SDI’s batteries for wearable gadgets.