Lenovo, the world’s largest personal computer maker, is ready to beef up its smartphone business with the aim of selling more than 100 million units globally in two years as soon as the U.S. approves its acquisition of Google’s Motorola Mobility.Its goal is to gain hard on the heels of Samsung Electronics and Apple, the world’s top smartphone makers, following its $2.9 billion acquisition, which marks the fourth-biggest by a Chinese company.This has enabled the Chinese PC maker to further boost

Time has come for Hwang Chang-gyu to prove his ability to overcome a crisis as he officially takes the helm at KT, Korea’s second largest mobile carrier, Monday.Faced with a lackluster earnings outlook and negative public image due to a corruption scandal concerning Hwang’s predecessor Lee Suk-chae, not to mention an overgrown bureaucracy, Hwang will be expected to roll up his sleeves as soon as he takes office to start fixing the mess with a solid business plan for the future.KT is currently fa

Cardoc is set to further expand this year, having secured a significant number of partners in the automotive aftermarket and a high level of customer satisfaction for its services.The Korean venture firm, which provides auto repair cost estimates through its mobile Cardoc platform, seeks to grow through ties with repair shops in untapped provincial areas, such as Jeolla and Gangwon provinces. It is also lining up potential strategic investors, including Daum Communications, Korea’s second-larges

Korea’s real estate sector has grown along with its economy. During this time, the market has also dramatically changed. The country, which used to house clusters of shacks in major cities such as Seoul and Busan in the aftermath of the Korean War, is now filled with high-rise apartments and skyscrapers.The economic development boom in the 1970s paved the way for the country to alter its real estate landscape by rapidly building standard four-bedroom apartments that could accommodate large famil

The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said Monday that the Ministry of Strategy and Finance plans to soon launch a feasibility study on the ICT agency’s plan to expand the nation’s supercomputer network infrastructure.It could take about six months for the Finance Ministry to complete the feasibility study and allow the ICT Ministry to proceed with adopting supercomputers beginning in 2016, an ICT Ministry official noted.It seeks to secure a budget of around 200 billion won ($188 mill

LG Group’s key tech subsidiaries, such as LG Electronics and LG Display, are expected to face uphill battles this year as they try to regain their former glory and narrow the gap with leaders in the television and smartphone markets.Macroeconomic uncertainties stemming from monetary cuts in the U.S. and the Japanese yen’s depreciation are further clouding LG’s prospects for this year as such factors will affect overseas sales especially in emerging markets most vulnerable to quantitative easing

The Fair Trade Commission, the nation’s regulatory authority for fair competition, said Tuesday that it would draw up measures and revise patent-related laws to protect domestic tech companies from an increasing number of abusive practices by nonpracticing entities.The country’s toughened stance follows a global move against NPEs, known as patent trolls whose only purpose is to seek profit through patent infringement lawsuits against global tech giants.NPEs, which purchase and hold as many paten

  Global 3-D printer makers are gearing up to expand in Korea this year to boost their services for manufacturing giants such as Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor and tap potential customers.3-D Systems, founded in 1986, is one of the global leading printer makers seeking growth in Asia’s fourth-largest economy, where Samsung and Hyundai Motor have been its key tech customers. “We intend to grow our base there,” Cathy Lewis, chief marketing officer of 3-D Systems, told The Korea Herald durin

Hyundai Amco and Hyundai Engineering, Hyundai Motor Group’s two construction arms, are expected to merge as soon as the National Tax Service completes its regular audit of Amco in March or April, multiple industry sources said Tuesday.Due diligence for the merger has already been completed, a source noted.This is part of the Korean auto giant’s succession plan for its chairman Chung Mong-koo’s son Eui-sun, the group’s vice chairman.The merger is also part of its step to refine the group’s cross-

Korean companies have been increasing their spending on entertainment and meals for their clients since 2009 despite an economic slowdown triggered by the global financial crisis, according to data by Chaebul.com, an online corporate information provider.Manufacturers and non-manufacturers’ entertainment spending reached a total of 6.6 trillion won ($6.24 billion) in 2012, according to the website’s data compiled from the Bank of Korea, Small and Medium Business Administration and Statistics Kor

Kim Dae-hoon, CEO of LG CNS, a Korean IT services provider, urged his executives and employees to zero in on expanding overseas by aggressively bidding for and securing projects this year.Some 600 executives, team managers and employees from headquarters and overseas offices of Korea’s biggest system integrator gathered in Seoul last Friday with CEO Kim, who asked them to accelerate their global efforts and achieve success.“Let us make new history this year,” Kim told his employees.He added that

The Korean government has designated the Japanese yen’s depreciation as one of the biggest threats to the country’s recovery efforts.In a monthly report, or the “Green Book,” released by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance on Thursday, it said that signs “strongly” showed that Asia’s fourth largest economy is recovering.However, the rapid depreciation of the yen poses a risk to the Korean economy, along with monetary stimulus cuts in the U.S.“Even though Korea is showing stronger signs of an ec

Kim Yoon-jeong makes her son study with his teacher who visits her home from a language institution for one-on-one tutoring once a week, and allocates an hour every other day of the week to studying the language online.This is “the least” she says she can do for her son, when compared with other fourth-graders whose parents commonly send them to institutions or have them study at home with a tutor every day.Anything more than once-a-week home tutoring would cost extra and would be further burden

International schools have long been favored by the nation’s affluent students as an alternative to studying overseas and as a means to enter top U.S. colleges.International schools in Korea were originally set up to educate the children of foreign employees or Korean students who had studied overseas due to their parents’ jobs. Thus, the applicants must have foreign nationality or have lived overseas for at least three years. Annual tuition fees are generally more than 20 million won ($19,000)

The success of Kakao Talk, the most used mobile instant messaging service in Korea, has brought forth fast imitators as well as new players offering their own set of features for tech-savvy consumers.As Kakao Talk and Internet giant Naver’s Line grabbed a large share of the mass market, there has been no room for others to squeeze in and steal their thunder. A number of followers including Joyn, created by the country’s three telecom operators, have quickly lost their potential.Madsmart’s Tic To

LAS VEGAS ― Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, the world’s top two TV makers, heralded the dawn of a truly flexible TV era as they unveiled the world’s first bendable television displays at the 2014 International CES in Las Vegas on Monday.Samsung’s bendable TV, featuring an 85-inch display that can curve simply with the use of a remote control, took the center stage of its press conference held at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, a venue for the CES. The company expects the bendable TV

Samsung Electronics continued to take a beating Thursday following broader equity market losses as the tech giant’s weaker-than-expected earnings in the fourth quarter and the rapid pace of the won’s appreciation has affected investor confidence, analysts said.Samsung Electronics has slid since Dec. 24 as foreign and institutional investors turned pessimistic toward Korea’s biggest blue chip stock on expectations that the company would post disappointing earnings in the fourth quarter of 2013.Th

The Korean stock market closed bearish on the first trading day of the year, with major blue chips performing poorly as investors shifted to net-selling mode due to a bleak earnings outlook for Korean exporters, analysts said.The won-dollar exchange also fell below the 1,050 won threshold in Thursday trading to 1,048.3 won, the lowest since Aug. 2, 2011. The KOSPI also slid below the 1,970 mark during intraday trading.The benchmark KOSPI closed at 1,967.19, down 2.2 percent, while the won-dollar

The Korean stock market is expected to see the so-called “January effect” as the benchmark equity index has historically performed strongest in the first month of the year, analysts said.The rally would be mostly driven by festive holidays not only in Korea but also China and the U.S., which would lead to increased retail sales and, thus, to increased domestic consumption.These factors have had positive effects on the stock market by boosting both consumer and investor sentiment.The benchmark KO

Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has tentatively approved self-corrective measures drawn up by the country’s two largest Internet portal operators, according to the antitrust agency Wednesday. Naver and Daum, which had been accused of abusing their power and hindering fair market competition, will commit about 104 billion won ($98 million) to supporting small businesses and promoting consumer protection.Naver proposed that it would spend and invest 100 billion won, while Daum planned to spend 4 bil