ASTANA ― Top financial officials from East Asia agreed last week to further strengthen a multilateral currency swap scheme in an effort to boost the region’s “financial safety net.”Finance ministers and central bank governors from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations as well as South Korea, Japan and China will continue to develop and expand the so-called Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization.“We reaffirm our commitment to further strengthen the CMIM as part of the regional f

Cheil Industries, Samsung’s electronics materials affiliate, said Monday it would mass-produce a key raw material for organic light-emitting diodes that it has been developing for the past two years.This marks the first time for a Korean company to develop and produce a host material for green phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes, allowing display pixels to emit green light for improved brightness and power consumption.“We have supplied the material to Samsung Display for Samsung Electro

BELEK, Turkey ― Jens Heithecker, executive director of the Internationale Funkausstellung, believes the IFA will continue to be the world’s exhibition platform for promoting consumer electronic goods rather than being distracted by other products.“The last International CES trade show was dominated by car manufacturers,” Heithecker told the press, calling it “crazy.”Four of the top 10 participants at the CES held in Las Vegas in January 2013 were automakers. Another four were software manufactur

Government offices remained closed on Friday except to conduct search operations and support the Sewol victims and their families.Private companies have also temporary held off or scaled down both internal and external events as the country mourns the latest tragedy, which has brought Korea to a standstill.As the death toll ― mostly teenagers ― from the devastating accident continues to increase, the public outcry and criticism of the government’s lack of regulatory oversight and poor crisis man

Uber Technologies, the U.S.-based Silicon Valley start-up, said it has launched its application for smart transportation solutions and services in Beijing.The Chinese capital city is the 100th city in which the company ― backed by Google Ventures and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos ― has introduced its app since it was founded in 2010.Uber’s mobile app allows passengers to connect with private drivers of sedans for hire via smartphones to pick them up and take them to their destination.“Beijing is the cap

A consortium led by Merck, a German-based chemicals giant, has developed a new printing process that enables more efficient production of organic light-emitting diodes and solar cells than conventional manufacturing techniques.Merck said that it has completed the development of the printed OLED technology process that will pave the way for the display industry to apply it and roll out “highly specialized applications” such transparent OLEDs.The project, funded by the German Federal Ministry of E

KT, Korea’s second-biggest mobile carrier, said it will introduce new marketing programs with the aim of making its various services easier and more convenient to use by consumers.This comes as the company is about to normalize its operations after a business suspension lasting more than a month due to irregularities over giving excessive telecom subsidies in a bid to attract subscribers. During this hiatus, KT saw more than 120,000 of its subscribers switching carriers, mostly to SK Telecom, Ko

The movie industry is facing an uphill battle against new emerging technology that makes home entertainment more attractive for consumers.Smart devices such as smartphones and tablet PCs, as well as smart televisions with quality sound and high resolution, offer the same kind of experience as one could get at movie theaters.Viewers use handsets to download and watch music videos and movies, and a new breed of TVs, including curved ultrahigh-definition sets that can connect with mobile handsets,

To many movie fans, “300” is a Hollywood blockbuster about an epic battle between the Spartans and the Persians.But for CJ 4DPlex, the number has a different yet significant meaning.For the CJ affiliate, 300 is the number of theaters worldwide in which it hopes to deploy its 4-D technology called 4DX that offers a new experience for moviegoers.“We are going to hit critical mass once our 4-D technology platform is adopted at more than 300 theaters globally by the end of next year,” CJ 4DPlex CEO

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel got a first-hand look at a life-size robot Tuesday that resembles Hollywood’s “Terminator,” the latest experiment by the Pentagon’s hi-tech researchers.But unlike the cinematic version, the hulking Atlas robot is designed not as a warrior but as a humanitarian machine that would rescue victims in the rubble of a natural disaster, officials said. The 187 centimeter Atlas is one of the entrants in a contest designed to produce a man-like life-saver machine, the b

Government men and women ― affectionately called G-men in the past ― had once been looked upon with respect and often portrayed in movies as heroes and protagonists who take on bad guys such as gangsters and thieves to protect and serve the public.This no longer seems to be the case, as hostility grows and spreads toward the government following the devastating ferry accident that has so far claimed more than a hundred lives, mostly high school kids.The officials, especially including those work

Behind the tragic ferry tale engulfing the country and its people in despair lies two key characters wanted as suspects for questioning over the sunken ship off the southwest coast.They are the owners of a company that owns Chonghaejin Marine Co., the owner and operator of the Sewol ferry, in which hundreds of passengers, mostly high school students, remain trapped and missing.They are brothers, surnamed Yoo, who have a combined 38.88 percent stake in I-One-I Holdings, a management consulting fi

Korea faces an unconventional threat that has long been predicted for this new era in which the enemy remains hidden and can cause social disruption like that following the devastating ferry accident off the southwest coast.This enemy has turned out to be none other than business corruption, selfishness and rivalry between government agencies ― not the strong tides, rain and poor underwater visibility that have hampered the nation’s search operations for hundreds of missing passengers.These ingr

LG Electronics, Korea’s second- largest consumer electronics company, is moving to develop mobile application processors for smart devices, raising speculation that it is aiming to start rebuilding its long-lost semiconductor business, industry sources said.An LG Electronics spokesperson confirmed that the company will be mass-producing application processors “soon,” but did not further elaborate.However, an industry source familiar with the situation noted that LG Electronics will begin mass- p

Samsung SDI, Korea’s second largest lithium-ion battery maker, said Tuesday it has developed a longer-lasting curved battery for smart watches.The company’s rechargeable battery with a capacity of 210 milliamp-hours has five times the battery life offered by existing wearable batteries.Samsung SDI’s curved battery has been embedded in Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Gear Fit smart watches, which was introduced last week with the Galaxy S5 smartphone.Samsung SDI said it was able to produce improved,

South Korea’s financial regulator will remove hurdles for initial public offerings on the country’s stock market in a bid to invigorate a sector that has been on a downward spiral, sources said Friday.The Financial Services Commission will unveil a plan next week to revive the IPO market, which is expected to include measures on enhancing the independence of KOSDAQ, South Korea’s secondary bourse, reviewing stock listing regulations and promoting venture-focused KONEX market, according to the so

Korea and Australia agreed to further bolster the economic ties between their two nations and work toward an early implementation of the free trade agreement they signed earlier this week, the Finance Ministry said Friday. In a meeting held on the sidelines of the Group of 20 meetings in Washington, Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok and Joe Hockey, treasurer of Australia, discussed such issues, stressing that the FTA would contribute significantly to the mutual development of their countries.The FTA

Hyundai Rotem, South Korea’s leading railway systems provider, said Friday it has developed a high-speed train with a top speed of 250 kilometers per hour.The company said the train uses a dispersed power pack arrangement, particularly suitable for quick acceleration and deceleration, and falls in the mid- to high-speed category among bullet trains.“The new train was developed because in South Korea, the distance between stations are not that far apart, so there is no great need for trains that

Foreign currency deposits in South Korean banks declined in March from a record high in the previous month as companies tapped the deposits to pay import bills, the central bank said Friday.Outstanding foreign currency-denominated deposits held by residents reached $51.1 billion as of end-March, down $1.58 billion from the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea.Residents include local citizens, foreigners staying here for more than six months and foreign companies. The data excludes inte

The government said Thursday that all new smartphones produced by local handset makers should adopt a “kill switch” security function to enable users to remotely shut off their devices, rendering them useless, to prevent theft. “This will help users (to safeguard their data) if (the phone is) lost or stolen,” said a government official at the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning. Samsung Electronics will feature the kill switch on its new flagship model Galaxy S5, which will hit the glob