The Fair Trade Commission said Monday it is looking into whether Homeplus broke the law with an allegedly misleading advertisement for discount LED monitors sold at its stores last week.Homeplus, the country’s No. 2 retail chain, was offering the LED monitors for as low as 199,000 won ($178.56) at its 122 stores nationwide. Some buyers, however, were angry to discover that the monitors were not eq

Podotree, a recently-launched local mobile application venture firm, announced Monday that it aims at 1 billion downloads and 1 trillion won in sales within the next five years.In a press conference held in downtown Seoul, it unveiled its lineup of four applications in three different genres ― story of mankind, inspiring toy and study 101.“The role of podotree is meaningful in that it is not fight

Retailer considers action against rival over using comparative advertisingTwo of Korea’s biggest supermarket chains are at loggerheads over advertisements for super-cheap chicken.Homeplus, the country’s second-biggest supermarket chain, began selling raw chicken for as low as 1,000 won ($0.89) Thursday. Securing a total of 200,000 raw chickens, its 122 branches nationwide are selling up to 250 chi

The state media regulator said Thursday that the number of smartphone owners here exceeded 10 million people earlier this week, surging more than twelvefold from 800,000 in 2009.The Korea Communications Commission said that a total of 10.02 million people used smartphones as of Wednesday, showing a sharp increase since the launch of Apple’s iPhone in Korea in November 2009.From 800,000 in December

Sky Life, a digital satellite broadcaster, announced Thursday that its subscriber figure had reached over 3 million as of Wednesday.Speaking at a press conference in downtown Seoul, its chief executive Lee Mong-ryong said the broadcaster will add 10 high-definition channels next month, offering a total of 85 HD channels ― at least twice the number of its rivals.Lee also said that it will offer pay

Apple’s iPad 2 to come to Korea next month, while Samsung, LG prepare to launch new line-upA new round of tablet PC competition is heating up as major electronics makers announced plans to release their new products on Wednesday.Samsung Electronics, the world’s No. 2 handset maker, released two different sizes of the upgraded Galaxy Tab ― 8.9 inch and 10.1 inch ― while LG Electronics presented its

SK Telecom, the country’s top mobile carrier, said Wednesday it has signed a deal for the first exports of its universal subscriber identification module, which could help businesses better manage products such as liquor and pharmaceuticals.SKT said that the company and its Chinese partner Sunnada Communication Co., a leading wireless coverage solution provider in China, agreed in Beijing to sell

But industry officials complain that multiple issues still have to be dealt withAttention is focusing on what impact the revised bill to open up the game market will have on the local gaming industry.The parliamentary legislation committee passed a revised bill on game industry promotions Wednesday, following a two-year delay.According to the revision, games that are designed to be released in an

Asiana Airlines, the country’s No. 2 air carrier, said Wednesday that it began accepting reservations for its new route Istanbul-Incheon which will operate from March 29.The carrier will offer the flight three times a week ― every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday ― to the Turkish city and each plane will be able to accommodate 299 people.The flights that will fly from Incheon every Tuesday and Satur

SK Telecom said Wednesday that about 28,000 people had signed up for its to-be-released Apple iPhone 4 in the first seven hours of registration.A total of 28,000 people made their registrations by 2 p.m. and the number was expected to increase to up to 100,000 people by the end of the day, according to company officials.The country’s leading mobile carrier also said that the first group of 10,000

Global giant Groupon joins Korea’s growing social commerce marketA major showdown is expected in Korea’s social commerce market with the introduction of global giant Groupon next week.The U.S.-based social commerce firm announced Monday that it will launch its branch here next Monday, going head-to-head with the country’s industry leaders like Ticket Monster and Coupang.Recruiting about 200-300 em

Groupon, a U.S.-based social commerce firm, announced Monday that it will launch here next Monday further fanning competition over the increasingly popular form of cyber-shopping.Ahead of its official launch, it said it would organize a pre-launching event through its website (www.groupon.kr) which offers 1,000 won of Groupon cash to its e-mail subscribers. The figure of subscribers, however, must

Cheong Wa Dae, USFK sites hit but no damage reportedWebsites of about 40 key South Korean institutions, including the presidential office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, came under cyber attack on Friday.Although there was no serious damage caused by the attack, the websites were hit bydistributed denial-of-service attacks around 10 a.m.The attacked websites included a number of gov

Competition is beefing up between two global electronics rivals Samsung Electronics and Apple Inc. after the U.S.-based firm’s chief executive Steve Jobs singled out its competitors while launching the iPad 2 on Wednesday.“Samsung put (a tablet) out last year,” said the 56-year-old CEO in his first public appearance since taking a medical leave on Jan. 17.Then quoting Lee Young-hee, Samsung’s vice

The country’s air carriers are planning to recruit the highest-ever number of new employees this year, thanks to their record-breaking earnings reached in 2010.Korean Air is expected to hire up to 2,700 new workers, including flight attendants, pilots and technicians, in 2011.The nation’s No. 1 local airline employed 2,300 new hires last year and 2,050 new employees in 2009.Asiana Airlines, the se

KT Corp. announced Wednesday that it has established a fourth generation wireless broadband (WiBro) network across the nation, enabling users to gain faster access to the Internet on their mobile devices.Pyo Hyun-myung, president of KT’s mobile business group, said the country’s top wireless Internet zone operator has set up the high speed network in 82 cities and on seven highways nationwide to k

KT Corp. offers affordable and unlimited mobile data access in AsiaKT Corp. on Tuesday launch­ed a new international roaming service that enables users to access mobile data more cheaply and conveniently in 11 Asian countries.Under the new program, customers can use unlimited 3G data roaming and 100 megabyte Wi-Fi roaming service at 10,000 won ($8.87) per day.The company has run a trial service in

LG Electronics said Monday it will hire 1,100 new employees for the first half of this year, up 83 percent from the number recruited during the same period last year.The world’s No. 3 handset maker said that 80 percent of its newly hired workforce in four different business units will be involved in research and development activities.The company will also employ more software developers so that t

SK Telecom officially announced Friday that it will provide services for Apple’s iPhone 4 as early as next month, bringing an end to its rival KT Corp.’s 15-month long exclusive deal with Apple.The country’s leading mobile carrier SKT has not provided the details on when it will release the smartphone, however, it said it predicts more people will use the popular gadget, using its network and serv

Samsung Group established its first social enterprise in downtown Seoul on Thursday.The enterprise called the “Hope Network” will hire about 70 teachers and offer education services to about 1,000 children from underprivileged families, company officials said.It will start with the children registered in 30 different study rooms in the regions of Seoul and Gyeonggi Province.The instructors, who ha