The ICT Ministry of South Korea on Wednesday announced that the government and the nation’s major telecommunications firms would invest around 25 trillion won ($22 billion) by 2020 to expand the nation’s 5G infrastructure. The agreement came after the meeting between ICT Minister and the leaders of the nation’s three major telecommunications firms, SK Telecom CEO Park Jung-ho, KT CEO Koo Hyun-mo and LG U+ Vice Chairman Ha Hyun-hwoi. During the meeting, ICT Minister Choi stre

The average number of days South Korean workrs will spend their summer vacation is slightly up from last year to reach 3.8 days, according to a survey of the Korea Enterprises Federation. According to its survey of 793 local firms with five or more employees, 58 percent of companies with 300 or more employees said they would allow employees to take five days or more for their summer vacations. Around 51.3 percent of companies with less than 300 workers said they plan to have workers to take a

The operator of South Korea’s top mobile messenger KakaoTalk is testing a new solution specifying intra-office communication, according to sources Monday. Kakao has been developing the platform since May and it is likely to be launched in September. The company’s artificial intelligence subsidiary Kakao Enterprise is currently testing the messenger service, and will be distributed to affiliates to carry out additional pilot tests. Kakao co-CEO Yeo Min-soo first hinted at the lau

ICT Minister Choi Ki-young will meet with the leaders of the nation‘s three major telecommunications firms to discuss details of the current administration‘s New Deal programs and increase cooperation, according to industry sources on Friday. The minister will hold a closed meeting with SK Telecom CEO Park Jung-ho, KT CEO Koo Hyun-mo and LG Uplus Vice Chairman Ha Hyun-hwoi on Wednesday next week, the sources said. ICT Minister Choi is expected to share details of the government&

Korean tech titan Samsung Electronics has been named Asia’s most popular brand for the ninth consecutive year, according to an international market report Friday. Samsung Electronics was listed top among 1,000 brands, according to the latest report by Campaign Asia-Pacific and Nielsen, which surveyed around 8,400 customers in 14 nations in Asia. Samsung Electronics was followed by Apple, Panasonic, LG Electronics and Nestle, the report said. Japanese tech firm Sony came in sixth place,

South Korea will inject over 5 trillion won ($4.1 billion) in the materials, parts and equipment industries to ensure stable supplies for the nation’s key exports, officials said Thursday. Industry Minister Sung Yun-mo held a briefing at SK hynix’s headquarters in Icheon, in the presence of President Moon Jae-in. He introduced details of the government’s midterm plans designed to foster local manufacturers and researchers in the industries -- which depend highly on imports.

Han Sung Motor, an official local dealer of Mercedes-Benz in Korea, said Wednesday it has delivered specially decorated vehicles to Gen.G Esports, one of the world’s leading esports organizations. The gifted cars will be used as official vehicles for the esports organization’s League of Legends team, according to Han Sung Motor. “The company conveys the best regards and wishes to Gen.G Esports’ League of Legends team,” said Han Sung Motor CEO Ulf Ausprung. Graff

The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, a state-funded research body under the ICT Ministry, announced Tuesday that it has rolled out an educational program designed to nurture experts in artificial intelligence. The new educational program has been launched jointly by AWS and Nvidia’s regional offices, which provided assistance to develop the curriculum, according to ETRI. ETRI’s new curriculum includes platforms that allow students to get hands-on training i

Han Sung Motor, an official dealer of Mercedes-Benz in Korea, said Tuesday it has extended its promotion offering customers free and unlimited service for changing engine oil and oil filter by a month. Customers who purchase a new car from Han Sung Motor in July are still eligible for the free service. The promotion was initially held for the month of June, but will now be available at its 20 service centers across the country, even after the end of three-year guarantee period, the company sa

The leaders of South Korea’s leading IT firms have called on lawmakers to change regulations for fair competition with foreign tech companies at the National Assembly on Monday. Kakao CEO Yeo Min-so, Naver CEO Han Seong-sook, Woowa Brothers CEO Kim Beom-joon and other tech leaders joined the forum held by lawmakers. “Local and foreign companies are offering their services here, but the regulations and penalties that bind them are seemingly different,” Kakao CEO Yeo said. W

South Korea and Uzbekistan held ministerial talks in Seoul on Monday, where they agreed to accelerate discussions on business projects and push forward a bilateral free trade agreement. Korea’s Industry Minister Sung Yun-mo and Uzbekistan’s Deputy Prime Minister for Investments and Foreign Economic Affairs Sardor Umurzakov attended the meeting. It was the first ministerial meeting held face-to-face since the viral outbreak, according to officials explained. On the occasion, a fron

A professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology is currently being investigated by the prosecution for allegedly handing over technology related to autonomous driving to China for financial gain, according to news reports and the ICT Ministry on Monday. The Daejeon Prosecutors‘ Office is currently investingating the professor, who reportedly received around 300 million won from a China-based college where he was dispatched for academic programs. The prosecutors ar

Samsung Electronics may face tougher competition in the global 5G smartphone market starting in the second half this year when Apple launches its new smartphone that supports the fifth generation network, latest report showed Sunday. According to Strategy Analytics’ report, the total 5G smartphone sales this year is expected to reach 234 million devices, accounting around 15 percent of all smartphone sales. The number of 5G-compatible phones sold last year was 18.6 million, it added.

SK Telecom has launched an application that provides recommendations for restaurants by using big data analysis, the company said Sunday. The newly launched app uses big data compiled by the telecommunications firm’s mobile navigation service Tmap. According to the company, the number of users of the navigation services has reached 18 million, and it has some 1.8 billion points of data indicating restaurant visits over the past five years. SK Telecom noted that the new application util

A South Korean research team has discovered a way to ramp up the storage capacity of memory chips by 1,000 times, while raising the possibility of utilizing 0.5 nanometer process technology, the Ministry of Science on ICT announced Thursday. Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology’s Energy and Chemical Engineering professor Lee Jun-hee and his team have published a report on the discovery to international academic journal Science, winning attention from peers and the semicond

KT CEO Koo Hyun-mo stressed that the fifth-generation network would allow telecommunication firms to create new business opportunities across various industries, the company said Thursday. “If the telecommunications firms used to center on business-to-consumer services in the past, the industry will be involved more in the business-to-business sector in the future,” KT CEO Koo Hyun-mo said in a keynote speech during the Global TD-LTE Initiative’s online summit on Wednesday.

South Korea’s exports in June decreased by 10.9 percent at $39.2 billion, as against $44 billion in the same month last year, latest data released Wednesday showed. According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, exports have been on a downward trend for four consecutive months, struggling amid the global economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. The average daily exports decreased by 18.5 percent on-year -- the figure was minus 18.3 percent in May. However, the pace of

KT announced Tuesday that it has introduced automated robotic solutions at a local auto parts manufacturer’s factory. The South Korean telecom firm’s smart factory robot Cobot has been installed at a facility of Parkwon -- a manufacturer of steel balls for steering and power transmission systems -- in Jecheon, North Chungcheong Province. The system can help in handling loading, packaging and other repetitive work procedures that are physically taxing, often causing injuries, acc

South Korea‘s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Monday launched an innovation center aimed to support local fabless companies and system semiconductor developers. The newly opened semiconductor center, located in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, will function as a base that nurtures capabilities of chip design companies, known as fabless, the ministry said. It was a follow-up measure of the government-led plan to foster the logic chip industry where Korean chipmakers have not bee