SUPER PREMIUM FRIDGE APPEALS TO KOREAN CONSUMERS -- Samsung Electronics’ high-end refrigerator Family Hub on Wednesday surpassed the 1,000-sales mark in just 20 days since its release in the Korean market. The 837-liter fridge sports a 21.5-inch (54.6 centimeters) display on the right door and three built-in cameras, which allow users to monitor items stored inside.　(Samsung Electronics)

LG ROBOT VACUUM CLEANER GAINS SALES TRACTION-- LG Electronics said Monday that its robot vacuum cleaner Roboking has crossed the 400,000 mark since the first model of the autonomous vacuum cleaner was released in Korea in 2003. Roboking, equipped with three cameras and 51 sensors for object detection and voice recognition, can be controlled by a smartphone. (LGE)

Samsung Pay, a mobile payment service run by tech giant Samsung Electronics, is making global inroads. The Seoul-based tech behemoth announced Tuesday that it would make its mobile payment system available in Singapore in the second quarter of this year -- the first launch in Southeast Asia -- following the launch of the mobile payment solution in the U.S., China and South Korea last year. A Galaxy S7 Edge user uses mobile payment solution Samsung Pay. (Samsung Electronics)The announcement refle

President Park Geun-hye has pledged that the Korean government would make the utmost efforts to keep the nation’s economy strong by beefing up research and development in the information and communications technology and biotechnology sectors.“The government’s creative economy based on development of science technology and ICT is the one-and-only economic growth engine as well as a stepping stone for the nation’s economy to take the next big leap forward,” President Park said in a speech at the

  LIGHT AS PAPER -- LG Electronics’ YouTube video featuring a paper replica of the firm’s laptop Gram 15, a 15.6-inch (40-centimeter) laptop weighing just 980 grams, has crossed 3.5 million views. The paper art piece is made only of paper based on the actual design of the laptop. (LGE)

LG Chem, South Korea’s leading chemical firm by sales, saw its net profit jump nearly 40 percent on-year in the first three months this year thanks to increased margins in petrochemical raw materials.The firm’s first quarter net profit stood at 338.1 billion won, up 37.3 percent from the same period last year, LG Chem said in its earnings report Thursday.  Park Jin-soo (center) and executives of LG Chem visit one of the firm’s factories in Korea. (Yonhap)Compared to the previous quarter, net pro

LG Hausys, a construction materials firm and affiliate of LG Group, said Wednesday it has completed the construction of a factory in the U.S. in Gordon County, Georgia. The factory will produce materials for car seats, door panels and dashboards, collectively often referred to as automotive skins.The opening ceremony for the factory, dubbed “Autoskin Plant,” took place in the U.S. town on Tuesday. LG Hausys president Oh Jang-soo (left) and local state representative John Meadows look at automoti

South Korea’s leading mobile game firm Netmarble Games launched “Stone Age,” a new mobile role-playing game, on Tuesday in Seoul.The newly released game features a fictitious, prehistoric world where people resist against industrial revolutions. It is based on a PC online game of the same title, released by Japanese game company Japan System Supply in 1999. Netmarable Games’ new mobile role-playing game “Stone Age.” (Netmarble)Players complete a series of quests, such as winning an one-on-one ba

Korean telecommunications companies are desperately seeking ways to overcome breakneck competition in the local mobile network sector.One such effort involves beefing up their media platform businesses, often considered as their future growth engine.On Wednesday, network operator KT joined hands with U.S. filmmaker DreamWorks Animation to provide the latter’s animation content on KT’s IPTV service olleh TV.DreamWorks has produced mega-hit animated movies such as “Shrek,” “Kung Fu Panda,” “How to

South Korea’s leading chemical company LG Chem launched a fertilizer affiliate, FarmHannong, on Tuesday after completing months-long acquisition efforts.LG Chem chief executive Park Jin-soo will take helm of FarmHannong, formerly owned by Korean conglomerate Dongbu Group, and stabilize the firm’s businesses, including fertilizers and pesticides, according to the chemical firm.  The logo of fertilizer firm FarmHannong. (LG Chem)Founded in 1953, FarmHannong is a leader in the agricultural chemical

Samsung SDI, one of South Korea’s leading battery firms, said Tuesday that it has teamed up with Korea Electric Power Corp. to tap into the global energy storage system markets.The state-run utility firm signed a memorandum of understanding with the Samsung Group affiliate to lead a consortium bidding for global energy projects. As a part of the consortium, SDI will supply its ESS technology for future energy projects.  KEPCO chief executive Cho Hwan-eik (left) poses with Samsung SDI chief execu

South Korea’s big three network operators -- SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus --on Monday completed their applications to participate in an upcoming spectrum auction, according to the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning Tuesday.A total of five blocks in the 700-megahertz, 1.8-gigahertz, 2.1GHz and 2.6GHz frequencies will be up for sale during the spectrum auction, which is expected to raise at least 2.6 trillion won ($2.3 billion) in total. Executives and officials from network operator LG

SAMSUNG-U.N. PARTNERSHIP FOR CHARITY -- Kim Jung-hwan (left), manager of Samsung Electronics’ South America headquarters, poses with Amanda Mukwashi, U.N. volunteers’ knowledge and innovation team leader, after signing an agreement to run support programs together for the underprivileged in South America.　(Samsung Electronics)

LG UPLUS SUPPORTS DISABLED -- LG Uplus, Korea’s third-largest mobile carrier, said Monday it would provide its Home Internet of Things services for free to 3,000 households with physically challenged individuals. The services allow users to monitor and control home appliances through smartphones. (LG Uplus)

SAMSUNG AD RIDES POPULARITY – Samsung Electronics said Monday that its TV ad for air conditioner Q9500, featuring former figure skating champion Kim Yu-na, has hit 10 million views online in 19 days. (Samsung Electronics)

Lezhin Entertainment said Monday that it has joined hands with a local company to create dramas based on webtoons, or online comics.The operator of webtoon platform Lezhin Comics has signed a memorandum of understanding with SBS The Story Works, a drama maker, to produce TV shows based on popular online comics series. The logos of Lezhin Comics and SBS The Story Works　(Lezhin Entertainment)SBS Story Works has rolled out some hit Korean dramas including “Divorce Lawyer Is in Love” and “Ghost.”The

LG Electronics has launched an online retail store for its smart device line Friends, opening the platform to start-ups and developers to nurture an ecosystem for connected devices. The new website, dubbed LG Friends, is an online market where consumers can buy LG’s latest smart devices, including a removable smartphone camera, a portable speaker, a rolling toy robot, and a wireless headset. Developers attend LG Electronics’ conference in San Francisco, California, last Friday. (LGE)The Friends

KOREAN TELECOM WATCHDOG BEEFS UP TIES WITH U.S. COUNTERPART -- Tom Wheeler (left), chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, and Choi Sung-joon, chairman of South Korea’s telecommunications regulator Korea Communications Commission pose at a meeting held at the FCC last week. They discussed a range of issues including mergers between telecom companies and broadcasting firms, privacy laws, net neutrality and spectrum auctions. (KCC)

SK Telecom, South Korea’s leading wireless firm, said Sunday that it has struck a deal to export its pico projector, worth 300 million yen, to Japan.The telecom firm said that it would supply its projector, UO Smart Beam Laser, to Taisei Express of Japan for one year starting from this month. Kim Sung-han(right), head of SKT’s device planning division poses with Taisei Express CEO Hwang Kyong-ho after signing a supply deal in Hong Kong on Saturday. (SKT)The two partners reached the deal at the H

Competition in the global solid-state drive market is heating up as more players are rolling out the storage system built on technology that stacks cells vertically.An SSD is lighter and more compact than a conventional hard disk drive. It also boasts shorter booting time and faster reading and writing speeds than an HDD.  Intel’s solid-state drive product (Intel)Intel recently rolled out a new SSD lineup based on 3-D NAND flash memory in Seoul, home turf of Samsung Electronics, the largest SSD