KPIC chief says mid-level manufacturing should be automatic, clean and easyAbout 25,000 parts are needed to make a single automobile. And almost 90 percent of those parts are developed by small and medium-size enterprises through the delicate craftsmanship, manufacturing process and techniques of molding, casting, plastic working, welding, and heat and surface treatments.The situation is pretty much the same for making mobile handsets and ships in which Korea maintains global competitiveness.The

Clear guidelines needed before Kakao’s service launch, say carriersTension between Korea’s leading mobile carriers and Kakao Talk, a mobile messenger tech firm, is growing as the latter will introduce a mobile telephone service in the second half of this year.Kakao Talk has begun offering a test version of its mobile Voice over Internet Protocol, named Voice Talk, to over 4 million worldwide users wishing to try its new service either on their iPhones or Android-based smartphones. Voice Talk wil

Experts call for clear guidelines before Kakao launches serviceTension between Korea’s leading mobile carriers and Kakao, a mobile messenger tech firm, is growing as the latter will introduce a mobile telephone service in the latter half of this year.Kakao Talk has begun offering a test version of its mobile Voice over Internet Protocol, named Voice Talk, to over 4 million worldwide users wishing to try its new service either on their iPhones or Android-based smartphones. Voice Talk will be free

Samsung Electronics, Korea’s biggest tech manufacturing firm, has released its all-new laptop computer line with high-performance multimedia applications, targeting young consumers.The laptop, named “Series 5 Boost,” in 15-inch and 17-inch display models, is embedded with the latest audio and video software and hardware, the company said on Sunday in a press release.It has audio speaker systems provided by the U.S.-based JBL, with subwoofers that can process low-pitched audio frequencies into hi

LG Display will exhibit its technology prowess in OLED and mobile panels at the Society for Information Display conference, held at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center from June 3-8 in the U.S. state of Massachusetts.The Korean display manufacturing giant said that it plans to showcase its 55-inch OLED panel, developed for the first time in the world, which it had originally considered too difficult to construct for large televisions.Using oxide-thin film transistor and four-color pixel

Two sides are unlikely to settle dispute in court, officials sayKorea’s Ministry of National Defense and Microsoft are expected to engage in talks over the price of software licensing provided by the global software developer following heightening tension between the two sides on the matter.An official with the ministry said that it is currently reviewing an official document sent by MS on May 29, and will seek to negotiate with MS to fine-tune their differences over the price, without giving a

 Top business-to-business software firm eyes expansion in handling large data setsWhen people generally think of open-source platforms in Korea, Google’s Android immediately comes to mind due to the wide use of smartphones and tablet PCs in the business-to-consumer space.But in the business-to-business world, U.S.-headquartered Red Hat provides the world’s leading open-source operating systems for enterprises’ data-processing servers.Working “behind the scenes,” it’s unknown to the general publi

Gangnam in southern Seoul is one of the busiest districts in the city, and that means slower traffic ― including on mobile phones. Given the Korean trait of always being in a hurry and wanting information quickly, this can be a source of frustration.SK Telecom, the country’s largest telecommunications company, is offering a test-version of multicarrier network services in the district to relieve this problem, which is expected to increase as 4G long term evolution grows.Backed by SK Telecom’s tw

Consumers will soon be able to enjoy watching high-resolution content on their mobile devices LG Display, the world’s second-largest display maker, has developed a new five-inch display panel for smartphones.The display giant said Monday that it has for the first time in the world developed the small-sized, full high-definition LCD panel using advanced high performance in-plane switching technology.Measuring the new panel’s density at 440 pixels per inch, the company said the image quality shown

LG-Hitachi Water Solutions plans to develop a facility in Yeosu where it can reuse the city’s sewage water as a clean source for the city’s industrial complex.The company said Friday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Yeosu government to invest in the infrastructure, which will be able to treat and recycle 35,000 tons of sewage and cost 45 billion won ($40 million). It did not give any development timeline for the project. However, the reusable water will be supplied to Ye

Hyundai Engineering & Construction, Korea’s biggest construction company, is looking to achieve $10 billion in orders globally this year.As the builder secured a line of projects overseas, its orders, including for a Qatari highway construction and Saudi Arabian alumina refinery, are expected to amount to already half of its target by the end of next month, analysts said.Potential projects such as Venezuelan refinery and Indonesian geothermal power plant are also in the pipeline, which would fur

NCL Environ is looking to expand overseas with its newly developed product “NCL 77.”The Korean industrial cleaning solution firm is a subsidiary of the U.S.-based National Chemical Laboratories.It said that the Korean company had received interest from countries such as China, Japan and Australia for product dealership and cleaning services. NCL Environ plans not only to provide its cleaning product and services but also NCL’s chemical products to its overseas potential clients through franchise

Working restrictions on holidays picked as most concerning factor among HR executivesThe most concerning factor among human resource executives in Korea is pending labor laws restricting employers to make their employees work on holidays.In a survey of some 300 executives at Korean companies by The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, over 53 percent voiced such concern over the issue which is expected to be discussed at the National Assembly next month.The law may also include making compani

TOKYO (AFP) ― Japan logged a bigger-than-expected trade deficit of 520.3 billion yen ($6.5 billion) in April as higher energy costs pushed up imports, the finance ministry said Wednesday.The deficit was larger than a shortfall of 477.7 billion yen registered in April 2011, a month after Japan was hit by a huge earthquake and tsunami which battered the world’s third-largest economy.It was also bigger than the 470 billion yen deficit expected by economists.Exports in April rose 7.9 percent from a

Visitors experience KT’s ‘Olleh’ anytime, anywhere in YeosuKT is pulling out all the stops to make sure visitors to the Yeosu Expo have access to high-speed Internet anywhere they go during the three-month event.The Korean mobile carrier, chosen as the international event’s main telecommunications service provider, has implemented the “3W plus LTE” strategy for the Expo. This refers to providing the fastest-ever wireless services in 3G WCDMA, Wibro and WiFi as “3W,” as well as long-term evolutio

LG Display has joined a project to build a joint venture panel plant for emerging Chinese LCD television makers in Guangzhou in southern China.Committing to its MOU signed in 2009 with Guangzhou officials, the Korean display panel manufacturing giant said Tuesday that the plant, to be equipped with eighth-generation lines, will be in full production in the second half of 2014. In 2009, LG Display signed a non-binding agreement to build such a plant in Guangzhou’s economic zone, which offers tax

Global display market shrinks in first quarterSamsung Electronics has become the biggest seller of mobile phones, smartphones and LTE phones in the world, according to reports.In the global smartphone market, Samsung continued to show its prowess, edging out Nokia for the first time in the first quarter of this year, Strategy Analytics, a market research firm said.Samsung sold a total of 92.5 million mobile phones, accounting for 25 percent globally, surpassing the 22.4 market share of Nokia, wh

YEOSU ― Entering Yeosu Expo from the bullet train station mainly built for this gala, visitors will face a cluster of spotless and architecturally unique corporate pavilions.One exhibition center, situated at the end of the Northeast edge overlooking the sea, stands out: a three-story pavilion covered with what looks like a giant fishing net, colored in white and shaped like a cloud.This belongs to SK Telecom, Korea’s biggest mobile carrier and the only telecom company to exhibit here.The net sy

Apple’s reported placing of large orders for Elpida Memory’s mobile DRAM chips will not affect Samsung Electronics shares or its global supply chain in the long-run, analysts said Thursday.The effects of the unconfirmed news are likely to be short-lived and limited to boosting the fundamentals of Korean semiconductor players, including SK Hynix, whose production capacity still outweighs that of the Japan-based chip maker.“Elpida’s production capacity lags behind that of Samsung and Hynix, still

SK Telecom, Korea’s largest mobile carrier, has successfully raised funds in the Swiss bond market, despite Europe’s economic woes.The company said that it issued Swiss franc-denominated bonds worth CHF 300 million ($318 million), with an annual interest rate of 1.75 percent at a maturity of 5 years.The fund-raising was part of plans to seek low-cost capital sources and repay its debt, it said. The company’s outstanding debt stood at 11.6 trillion won at the end of 2011, according to financial s