K-Safety Expo 2020 opens this fall and will focus on local businesses’ efforts to prevent COVID-19, often dubbed K-quarantine. The three-day exhibition, which runs Sept. 23-25 at the Korea International Exhibition Center in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, is co-organized by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Gyeonggi provincial government. This year’s expo will feature a wide range of programs and exhibitions emphasizing the late

Hyundai Motor Group is set to start constructing its 105-story Global Business Center in Seoul’s Gangnam-gu later this month -- six years after it purchased the site for a new headquarters. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government and Hyundai Motor Group, the South Korean automotive group recently handed in documents asking permission to break ground. The government is expected to grant permission as early as Thursday. The construction project was expected since the group bought t

South Korean telecom firms have expanded their ICT-based senior care services recently, against the backdrop of increasing demand from an aging population. The services mainly use artificial intelligence-powered speakers, as well as the new 5G network and virtual reality programs. As of end-2018, there were 7.6 million people aged 65 years and over in Korea, according to the National Health Insurance Service in 2019. “There is an increasing number of seniors who need home care services

South Korea’s SK Telecom and Germany’s Deutsche Telekom agreed to launch a joint venture later this year to develop non face-to-face platform technologies, for which the demand has been soaring amid the COVID-19 pandemic. SKT said Sunday that the two firms have agreed to expand their cooperation on 5G technology and know-how in adapting to changes brought by the new coronavirus. Around 20 executive members of the two companies gathered for a video conference on Wednesday and discu

Samsung Electronics has stayed on top in the global smartphone industry during the first quarter this year, according to a recent report. According to the latest report from Strategy Analytics, Samsung Electronics‘ market share during the first three months reached 21 percent, with shipments of 58.3 million smartphone units. The South Korean company’s shipments in the first quarter fell 19 percent on-year when compared with 71.8 million units in the first quarter of 2019. That wa

LG Electronics said Wednesday it has filed a lawsuit against Turkish home appliance maker Beko over allegedly infringing on an LG Electronics patent related to its laundry machine. The complaints were filed Monday with the Mannheim District Court in Germany, claiming that the subsidiary of Turkey’s largest consumer electronics company Arcelik has infringed on the patent related to its TrueSteam technology. According to LG Electronics, the Turkish home appliance firm has made unauthoriz

Korean internet network operator SK Broadband has been continuing support for online classes upon sudden demand during the novel coronavirus pandemic, the firm said Tuesday. SK Broadband is currently the content delivery network provider for Educational Broadcasting System, a public broadcasting organization that provides online classes. SK Broadband previously increased the network capacity for EBS from 300 megabits per second to 1 terabit per second. Recently, the company added 2 Tbps to th

Korean telecom firms are expected to see decreases in their operating profits in the first quarter this year, according to a market report on Tuesday. The report by FnGuide said that the operating profits of the three major telecom companies are likely to decline due to the sluggish economy amid the COVID-19 outbreak, though they avoided major damage from it. Their sales, however, are expected to increase, backed by a sales increase in media units, as well as revenues from 5G network subscribe

South Korea’s Science Ministry on Monday said that it will inject 211 billion won ($170 million) into space research to help the nation’s space industry produce key parts of launch vehicles and satellites. The Ministry of Science and ICT’s “Space Pioneer” research project passed a feasibility study Monday, which approved the investment of 211 billion won from 2021 to 2030. The ministry will provide 58 billion won in the launch vehicle area and 137 billion won i

The South Korean government on Sunday said it plans to hand in the nation‘s test-and-quarantine scheme to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety will together compile detailed measures used in the nation’s drive-thru and walk-thru testing facilities, as well as those related to public medical facilities built to counter the recent viral outbreak

Hyundai Mobis said Sunday the company is focusing on enhancing the reliability of its roof airbag to take the lead in the global market. The South Korean company’s roof airbag was first developed in 2017, designed to protect passengers from being ejected from sunroofs in rollover accidents. The airbag can deploy and cover the whole roof in 0.08 seconds. Hyundai Mobis’ roof airbag has recently received interest from the global car markets as a safety measure to reduce the number of

LG CNS announced Thursday that the company has introduced a facial recognition payment system using cloud server and blockchain technology. The Korean company’s new payment system uses a kiosk equipped with artificial intelligence specialized in recognizing facial biometrics to identify customers. The payment system then proceeds with payments by accessing customers’ account data encrypted in the cloud server. The company said the AI-based payment system is much more convenient th

The Ministry of Science and ICT on Thursday held an online conference to match local information and communication technology startups with investors. The event, titled “Untact IR” in reference to the trend for non-face-to-face contact, is a weekly online conference that has been hosted by the ministry since April 9 and is designed to increase exchanges between investors and companies amid the viral outbreak. During the three-hour online conference, local firms promoted their busi

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced Monday that it has approved Hyundai Motor’s export of hydrogen fuel cell technologies. The top automaker in South Korea will export its hydrogen fuel cell solution to two companies based in the United States and the Europe. It hopes to be the first Korean firm to export hydrogen fuel cell technologies abroad. The Trade Ministry said that the decision has been made to support the Korean automaker to increase its foothold in the global

Korea’s major telecom firms are gearing up to commercialize an ultrafast millimeter-wave 5G network this year, starting with the business-to-business sector, according to industry sources Monday. The next-generation 5G network uses mmWave technology to transmit large data packets at faster speeds. In theory, on the 28-gigahertz band the network speed could reach 20 gigabits per second. Samsung Electronics announced that it has tested a high-frequency 5G network station, confirming that

Apple will reopen its Seoul store on Saturday, the company said Thursday. The branch, located in Garosugil in Gangnam-gu, will be the first store outside of China to reopen. Apple previously closed all stores outside of China amid the viral COVID-19 pandemic, and hundreds of Apple Stores around the globe remain closed. “South Korea has shown great progress during the spread of COVID-19 and we’re excited to announce the re-opening of Apple Garosugil. We look forward to seeing our

NCSoft has submitted a letter of intent to purchase a 800 billion-won property in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, sources said Friday. A consortium led by the online games giant was the sole bidder for the property, which is a public parking lot. Kakao, a South Korean internet giant based in Pangyo, was known to have shown interest in the purchase. But the company made no action by the Thursday deadline. The city government is expected to choose NCSoft as its preferred bidder by June 5 and fin

South Korean discount chain Homeplus said Wednesday that the number of customers joining its membership programs has surpassed 300,000. The number of members reached 301,225 as of April 14, up 153 percent on-year from 119,127. Since 2018, Homeplus has been operating seven membership programs based on product categories such as wine and kids’ products. Each membership program regularly offers special discounts with events on a monthly basis. The jump in membership has led to an increa

Video streaming giant Netflix has sued local internet network operator SK Broadband, according to industry sources Tuesday. The Korean unit of the US-based firm has reportedly filed a civil suit at the Seoul Central District Court arguing that it is not liable to pay for using SK Broadband’s internet network or other maintenance or upgrade costs. The two companies have been clashing over the issue since last year, as the Korean provider asked the traffic-heavy streaming service to shar

KT on Wednesday said that it is still considering options to acquire local cable TV operator D’Live. According to a regulatory filing Wednesday, it is still discussing options of acquiring the cable TV operator, but no details have been confirmed yet. The company added it is current exploring various choices to strengthen its pay TV business. The latest official comment on the acquisition of D’Live came in six months since it showed its intention to purchase the local cable TV op