Jeju Island is the next stop where Berjaya Land Berhad hopes to implant the company’s version of the “Malaysian Dream” involving a high-end healing resort. “We’re confident that we chose the right place,” said Dato Francis Ng Sooi Lin, chief executive of Berjaya Land Berhad, in an interview with The Korea Herald.The company ― an affiliate of Malaysian conglomerate Berjaya Group ― plans to build facilities worth $2.4 billion on the Korean tropical island based on a business partnership with Jeju

LG Innotek said Friday that it has reached an agreement with LG Group and Osram, a light-manufacturing unit of Siemens AG, over a patent dispute. The three have been engaged in a legal fight. Osram accused LG and Samsung of infringing on patent rights for LED technology in June last year. LG Innotek said the company and Osram have dropped patent lawsuits in five countries including Korea, U.S., Germany, Japan and China. LG Innotek added that LG Group, LG Innotek and Osram signed a cross-license

Korea’s handset and car makers are standing out in the U.S. market, as they posted an impressive increase in sales in the third quarter despite global economic slowdown. Korean handset makers took over the majority of the U.S. market share in long term evolution smartphone sales, Strategy Analytics said Friday.Korean smartphone manufacturers ― Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and Pantech ― altogether sold about 5.7 million units out of 10.6 million LTE smartphones sold in U.S. in the third qu

It took only three months for the happy couple to walk down the aisle. Short as it was, the courting period was unforgettable for the bride and groom, both of whom are employed at SK Hynix. They declined to be identified, but at SK Hynix, they have garnered recognition as the couple who met through the company’s “happy matchmaking program.” Speaking about the series of memorable events they went through before tying the knot, the bride said that she accidentally flushed her engagement ring down

Community Chest of Korea said its club of rich donors, Honor Society, received an overseas Korean businessman as a member for the first time. The exclusive membership is given only to those who donate at least 100 million won ($92,000) to the charity organization. The nation’s largest charity organization said Honor Society enrolled 54-year-old Kim Hui-sang, the president of a local trade company in Hong Kong, as its first overseas Korean and the 162th member of the club. Community Chest of Kore

Hana Daetoo Securities announced Wednesday that it signed a memorandum of understanding with the International Vaccine Institute to support children’s healthcare in developing countries. The securities company launched a new financial service called “Hana Daetoo Donation Service” to financially aid IVI’s research and development of vaccines. According to the service plan, parts of the client’s product payment or commission fee are reserved for donation. For every 1,000 won that the client donate

As Microsoft globally launched its latest Windows 8 operating system in New York last Friday, a number of computer makers rushed to ride the wave of its publicity.Windows 8 was available nationwide on Oct. 26, the same day of its global premiere, and about 70 new PCs running on the new OS were displayed at over 3,000 online and offline stores, according to Microsoft officials. PC makers like Samsung Electronics, Lenovo, Sony and Toshiba took turns in unveiling new portable PCs featuring converti

We all share the childhood experience of dreaming about the future through drawing all sorts of imaginary things and watching science fiction movies. But when we think of it now, we are already experiencing most of these things that seemed so distant, so futuristic back then. Now we can enjoy vivid video calls through small mobile phones, and make purchases without having to carry wallets. We are now living in world of dreams, where our children can go to school and take lessons taught by robots

Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S3 defeated Apple’s iPhone 5 in “torture tests” that were posted by U.S. tech media site CNET on the video-sharing portal YouTube. CNET has performed various extraordinary experiments on the latest smartphones and tablet PCs to publicize the results online. Both the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S3 passed three experiments ― being put in a fridge for two hours, plunged into a fish tank and wrapped and roasted in an oven for an hour, according to the report. Although a temperatu

LG Electronics has unveiled the world’s largest ultra-high-definition television in the U.S., aiming to penetrate the global HD television market. The Korean electronics giant held a launching ceremony for the 84-inch ultra HD television at electronics retailer Video & Audio Center in Los Angeles on Friday. “We took into account that California is the hub of entertainment and innovation,” the company said.  LG’s new ultra HD product is equipped with a jumbo screen measuring 3.84 by 2.16 meters.

Ustream Korea Inc., a live video streaming platform operator, vowed on Thursday to play a leading role in spreading the Korean Wave, or hallyu, globally by initiating a live broadcasting service. The former Korean operation of U.S.-based Ustream Inc. has become an affiliate of the country’s mobile carrier giant KT, which holds 51 percent of its total share.“We would like to open up a new age where people who had been unable to voice their opinion can speak up, experience live streaming and share

LG CNS, a Korea-based provider of information technology services, announced Wednesday that it has become the first Korean company to build a mobile service network for the mass rapid transit system, or the MRT, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Beating 24 rival global firms to form a consortium with local firm APEX Communications in the 140 billion won ($128 million) bid, LG CNS plans to install IT-based framework consisting of wireless communication system, surveillance cameras, metro broadcasting fa

Samsung Electronics said Wednesday that it expects to beat top global makers of personal computers with its new smart PC which operates on the upcoming Windows 8, named ATIV PC. The world’s largest tech firm unveiled ATIV PC at a media event in its Seoul headquarters. The new product maximizes convertibility in design, portability in use and compatibility with smartphone apps, the company said.“The vendors of personal computers will jump into the war by the end of this year to take more market s

Many people stick to the misperception that game fiction writers are some sort of anti-social hermits who spend days and nights playing games, be it at home or in dark, sketchy PC rooms.However, the testimony of a 22-year-old Korean game fiction writer Lee Byung-ha poses powerful counterevidence to such an illusion. The young game fiction prodigy is a senior majoring international economics at the University of Heilongjiang in Harbin, China, whose mother never saw him spending hours in front of

The Motion Picture Association of America wants more collaboration with the Korean film industry, MPAA chairman Christopher Dodd said in Seoul on Wednesday.Dodd was speaking at a luncheon hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea. The former U.S. Democratic Party senator said Korea was one of the U.S.’ most significant trade partners, adding that the partnership between the two nations would only deepen in the years to come. Commenting on the success of Korean films by directors Im Kwo

General Electric Korea, the Korean unit of General Electric Co., opened a new energy technology center near Seoul on Tuesday, seeking more business partnerships with domestic firms.Built within the firm’s research and development complex, in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, the energy technology center supports sustainable growth and efficient solutions, company officials said. “The work going to be done here is the synergy between the high-end research and application-oriented work that will bring be

Electronic cigarette manufacturers were punished and forced to make changes to their misleading advertisements, the nation’s antitrust watchdog said on Monday. The Fair Trade Commission said that electronic cigarette firms have falsely advertised that replacing regular cigarettes with electric cigarettes is effective in quitting smoking. Although the health-improving effect and safety of electric cigarettes have long been disputed, the public can easily conceive the wrong impression of electroni

Korea United Pharm Inc. will export two kinds of cancer-treating medicine to Poland, becoming the first Korean firm to ship such drugs to Europe, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency said Thursday. KOTRA officials said the Korean pharmaceutical firm and Polish buyers had signed a contract to export the drugs it developed to treat lymphoma and prostate cancer. The first drug export deal will pave the way for more medical exports to the European market, the officials said.The deal involves

NHN Corp., the nation’s leading Internet portal operator, hosted its literature awards ceremony in Seoul on Thursday to foster creative talent shedding light on the genre. NHN Game Literary Award, an annual event taking place for the third time, was presented to 24 teams of awardees this year, including grand-prix winner Lee Byung-ha, whose work was chosen from a total of 1,500 long and short game scenarios. “At first we were unsure whether we could carry on, but now we see that the game literat

KT, the nation’s second-largest mobile carrier, said Monday that it would design its products with a signature style to maximize its brand power. The move comes after KT’s outer packaging for home mobile devices won the prestigious Red Dot Design Best of the Best Award 2012 in the productivity sector.The mobile carrier used the word “product identity” to explain how a product becomes a unique entity under the brand name KT. Citing Apple and different generations of iPod, KT chairman Lee Suk-chae