South Korea’s trade commission said Friday that it has decided to impose antidumping duties on Chinese plate glass for another three years to help protect local manufacturers from price-cutting practices.The Korea Trade Commission said it will keep anti-dumping duties of 15.22-36.01 percent on the Chinese products over the next three years.“The decision will help local plate glass makers suffering from low-priced imports improve their competitiveness and production,” the commission said.The loca

A number of young entrepreneurs in their 30s and 40s in South Korea’s mobile gaming industry are getting richer after hitting the jackpot with hit games.James Song, the founder and CEO of Gamevil, which is known for its game “Air Penguin,” saw his share value increase the most among mobile game developers, rising almost 200 percent to 234 billion won ($230 million) as of last week.Song, 38, has a 26.41 percent stake in Gamevil, which hit 136,000 won per share last Friday from about 45,000 won in

Studio Mir, a South Korean animation studio, has signed a deal with DreamWorks Animation to produce up to four TV cartoon series over the next four years.The Korean studio, known for the 2-D martial arts fantasy TV animation “The Legend of Korra,” said Thursday that it would work together with the Hollywood animation behemoth in planning and producing the series, each with 78 episodes. The corporate logo of Studio Mir“The contract with DreamWorks is meaningful since we will be working as partner

LG Innotek said Thursday that it had developed an electric motor for automotive dual-clutch transmission systems that does not need rare earth minerals.This was part of LG’s efforts to reduce its reliance on rare earths from China such as neodymium and dysprosium, magnetic elements used in DCT motors, to reduce the impact from the large fluctuations in their prices.A number of auto parts makers have been seeking to develop rare earth-free motors as China controls over 90 percent of the world’s r

Kwon Joon-mo, founder and chairman of 4:33, a Korean mobile game developer, presents himself as a man of mystery.He does not know exactly which direction he will take his venture or what specific games he will introduce next.Like going through a maze of uncharted territory in games he loves to play three hours a day, he likes to use his creative ingenuity to keep guessing what path he will take.Kwon said all he knows is that 4:33’s games will stay true to being “socially interactive and entertai

LG CNS, a South Korean system integrator, said Wednesday that it has developed a mobile payment system that enables users to easily settle their bills without downloading complex software and going through an identification certification process.The company’s “MPay,” which will be integrated with Korea’s most-used mobile messenger Kakao Talk, allows users to just type in their passwords for financial transactions of over 300,000 won ($295).  An LG CNS employee introduces the MPay mobile payment

Tong Yang Life Insurance said Tuesday that it had launched a new insurance product with low monthly premiums, simplified policies and expanded coverage for children.It said the life insurance would not only have inexpensive fees ranging from 30,000 won to 50,000 won ($30 to $49) to cover basic services such as medical treatment and hospitalization, but would also provide consumers with additional coverage options such as outpatient or emergency treatment. A model holds up a sign promoting a spec

KT, South Korea’s second-largest mobile carrier, said Tuesday that it will launch an ultrahigh-definition Internet Protocol TV service next month, enabling consumers to enjoy not only sharper-quality media content but faster broadcasting connectivity.The service, called Olleh GiGA UHD TV, will come with a set-top box that can connect to any kind of TV, including ones with cathode-ray tubes, and allows consumers to watch UHD content with resolution four times higher than high definition and 24 ti

Ever wondered how properties are divided and borders are set?Ever asked who those people are standing in the middle of the road with a tripod looking as though they are taking a picture?Land surveys, measurements and management have been led by Korea Cadastral Survey Corp. in South Korea for over 100 years.With some 4,000 experts in geospatial science and technology, the quasi-government entity known as LX, which stands for Land Expert, aims to make a second leap into the Information Age.“We wil

The Korea Communications Commission on Thursday imposed fines of some 58 billion won ($57 million) against the country’s three mobile carriers for offering illegal subsidies to smartphone buyers.South Korea’s telecommunication regulator held an internal meeting presided over by KCC chairman Choi Sung-joon, and decided to slap SK Telecom with 37.1 billion in penalties, KT with 10.8 billion won and LG Uplus with 10.6 billion won.The three telecoms were fined for misconduct in giving away subsidies

LG Chem said Wednesday that it had clinched a deal to supply lithium-ion batteries to Germany-based premium automaker Audi for its next-generation electric automobiles.The materials and battery giant said the deal could pave the way for the company to supply its batteries to other auto units of Volkswagen Group as some share automobile platforms to manufacture cars.Its batteries, for instance, could be used in the Audi A3 E-Tron and Volkswagen e-Golf as they share the same platform for the hatch

In the blockbuster sleeper hit “Edge of Tomorrow,” soldiers wear full-body robotic armor to defend their world against alien invaders.They may look ineffective in those heavy-metal suits, but the wearables boost their mobility and maneuverability to rapidly combat the creatures.The wearable technology portrayed in the sci-fi war movie will soon become real and make its way into every part of daily life, said a robotics professor who developed South Korea’s first exoskeleton.The U.S., for instanc

LG CNS said Tuesday it would develop a system enabling automatic mail and package sorting and processing at a logistics center in Malaysia.The company won a $6.3 million bid over European companies to build its system ― VivaSorter ― which will run the cross-belt sorters at PosLaju, a courier service unit of postal company Pos Malaysia.This marks the first time for a South Korean company to develop an indigenous logistics system and help fully automate Malaysia’s courier processing, which was pre

Debate over whether a lower interest rate will help or winder for the economy is heating up, following the Bank of Korea’s first rate cut in 15 months last week. The Financial Supervisory Service, South Korea's financial regulator, said Monday that a lower base rate would reduce the burden on households and corporations trying to pay back their bank loans, contrary to growing market concerns that it could further worsen their finances.The FSS data showed that the central bank’s benchmark rate cu

LG Innotek said Thursday that it has launched a system to evaluate whether its suppliers are using minerals from international conflict zones in their materials and parts manufacturing.This is part of efforts to boost risk management following increased regulations against LG Innotek’s customers listed on the U.S. stock market, in which the Securities and Exchange Commission requires them to disclose whether they have used conflict minerals in their products.The SEC imposes a penalty, including

The future has always been uncertain. And with the rapid advancements in technology, it is even harder to predict. This is why Lee Kwang-hyung, head of KAIST’s Graduate School of Future Strategy, called for the development of new scientific and technological skills to enable the next generation to think creatively by converging their knowledge in various fields.Through such “convergent thinking,” people and businesses can better picture the future as it becomes more complex and sophisticated, he

James Dator is dubbed as one of the inventors of futures studies, but what he has tried to do for the past 40 years is to persuade people that the future cannot be predicted.Instead he found that all images of the future can be clustered into four categories, which he calls continued growth, collapse, disciplined society, and transformation.In an interview with The Korea Herald, the futurologist warned against the dangers of sticking to the dominant image of continued growth, a view based on the

LG Chem said Tuesday it would expand its existing materials business and seek to develop a new business in desalination to overcome a slowdown facing the petrochemical industry due to a shale gas production boom.LG Group’s flagship will boost its production capacity of engineering plastics, superabsorbent polymers and synthetic rubbers as part of efforts to more than double the sales of those materials to 4.5 trillion won ($4.4 billion) by 2018.It seeks to become one of the world’s top three pro

The Korea Communications Commission warned Tuesday against malicious messages or spam being added on Google Calendar, the search engine’s schedule management service.The Internet regulator urged users to reset their functions for the Calendar to block further attempts by hackers or marketers from sending unsolicited messages.“Since the calendar service, by default, automatically accepts any invitations even by anonymous senders to share schedules, malicious files and links can be automatically l

More than seven out of 10 European companies are taking advantage of the free trade deal between South Korea and the European Union to promote their business opportunities, a poll showed Sunday.According to the survey on 360 major companies in 18 EU member countries, 73.7 percent of the respondents said they are aware the free trade agreement went into effect in July 2011, and are taking advantage of it in their business.In particular, 28.1 percent said they are directly utilizing the deal in th