Samsung Electronics sets up a Galaxy S8 sculpture, which is seven meters high and three meters wide, in St Ives, the UK, as part of its marketing activities to promote the new flagship smartphone. (Samsung Electronics)

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he promised a better trade deal to China if it helped solve the North Korea problem and made clear that the US would act alone if China remains uncooperative. "I explained to the President of China that a trade deal with the US will be far better for them if they solve the North Korean problem!" he wrote on Twitter, referring to his first summit talks last week with Chinese President Xi Jinping."North Korea is looking for trouble. If Chin

South Korea's financial aid to developing countries showed a slight increase in 2016 from the previous year, the government said Tuesday citing an international report.The Prime Minister's Secretariat said a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development showed South Korea's official development assistance reached $1.96 billion in 2016, up 2.6 percent from $1.91 billion in 2015.South Korea ranked 16th among 29 OECD members in ODA, down two spots from 2015.The report also sho

North Korea claimed on Tuesday that South Korea has become "a primary target of strike" by neighboring countries with its decision to deploy a U.S. missile defense system.In a commentary, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said South Korea will only turn itself into a victim as it presses ahead with the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD.China has balked at the deployment, fearing that the system's powerful radar could hurt its strategic security interes

Google has reportedly proposed to LG Display an investment of at least 1 trillion won ($876 million) in the production of flexible OLED panels, according to news reports Monday. The US internet firm’s proposal is interpreted as an attempt to adopt flexible organic light-emitting diode panels in its next-generation smartphone Pixel. With the investment of 1 trillion won, LG Display could produce flexible OLED panels for around 3 million smartphones monthly. If the deal is confirmed, Google, which

The number of preorders for Samsung Electronics’ flagship smartphone Galaxy S8 has hit 550,000 units for the first two days since it began in Korea, leading analysts to anticipate the turnaround of its key parts suppliers, Samsung Electro-mechanics and Samsung SDI. The number of preorders for the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus on Friday and Saturday was much higher than its predecessor Galaxy S7, which sold 100,000 units, and Galaxy Note 7, which sold 200,000 units, during the same period last yea

Samsung Electronics forecast it posted 9.9 trillion won ($8.7 billion) in operating income in the first quarter, recording a nearly 50 percent on-year jump. Beating market expectations, the Korean tech giant estimated Friday it posted 50 trillion won in sales and 9.9 trillion won in operating income, 0.44 percent and 48.2 percent rises on-year. The operating profit is the second-highest profit total since the company recorded 10 trillion won in the third quarter of 2013.The earnings surprise was

Samsung Electronics’ three subsidiaries in China were ordered by the regional court to pay $11.6 million to Huawei over patent cases, according to news reports Thursday. The regional court in Quanzhou reportedly ordered Samsung Electronics’ subsidiaries, including Samsung China Investment and two units of Samsung Electronics in Huizhou and Tianjin, to pay 80 million yuan ($11.6 million) for infringing on patents of Huawei Device, the handset unit of Huawei.Samsung’s spokesperson said it will tak

LG Electronics’ new flagship smartphone G6 is set to venture into the global market, starting with North America on Friday. The global launch of the G6 comes around a month after hitting the Korean market on March 10.“The G6 is to go on sale in North America on Friday via 11 mobile carriers including Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile and US Cellular. The phone is also available in Canada on the same day,” LG said Thursday.  (Yonhap)Verizon set the price of the G6 at $672, $120 cheaper than the 899

현대자동차가 터지지 않는 전기차용 전지를 독자 개발하고 있다.  도요타를 필두로 자동차회사들이 자체적으로 전지를 개발하는 것은 점점 더 전장화 되어가는 자동차 산업의 주도권을 IT기업에게 빼앗기지 않기 위한 움직임으로 보여진다. 5일 업계 관계자는 현대차가 남양연구소 배터리선행개발팀을 중심으로 리튬이온 전지를 대체할 전고체 전지를 개발하고 있다고 말했다. 또한, 파일럿 수준의 생산시설도 갖추고 있는 것으로 알려졌다. 현대차에 정통한 한 관계자는 “현대차는 도요타를 벤치마킹하려고 전고체 전지의 개발을 시작했으며, 현재 일부 기술을 확보했다”고 말했다. 현대는 삼성SDI와 LG화학과 협업하지 않고 독자적으로 기술을 개발하고 있다.  　 현재 남양연구소 배터리선행개발팀에서는 30여 명의 엔지니어가 근무 중이며, 이중 일부가 타부서와 협업하며 전고체 전지를 연구 중 인 것으로 알려졌다. 전고체 전지는 현재 대부분의 스마트폰과 전기자

Hyundai Motor is developing solid-state batteries that are safe from explosions for its electric vehicles, and reportedly owns pilot-scale battery production facilities, sources close to the matter said, comparing the move to a similar approach taken by the automaker’s Japanese rival Toyota.　“Hyundai is developing solid-state batteries through its Namyang R&D Center’s battery precedence development team and it has secured a certain level of technology,” the source told The Korea Herald.Hyundai M

(Samsung Electronics)Samsung, the dominant player of flexible OLED, is expected to add new facilities in Tangjeong this year. “Samsung Display is expected to add new facilities at the end of this year to meet the growing demand. The official announcement is predicted to be made after the presidential election in May,” Chung Won-seok, an analyst at HI Investment and Securities said at Display TechSalon held in Seoul.  “(To meet the demand) Samsung Display needs to either shift its current LCD ass

Samsung Display’s principal engineer said Tuesday foldable phones may not be commercialized until 2019 as bezel-free display currently sells well and the foldable display still has technical challenges to be addressed.There have been wide speculations in the market that Samsung may unveil its foldable phones that can both work as smartphones and tablets sometime this year or next year.“Because the bezel-free display currently sells well, we still have enough time to develop foldable display. The

LG Electronics hired more than 3,000 workers for its vehicle component division last year, demonstrating its strong willingness to strengthen its automobile business amid slowing smartphone sales. According to LG’s business report released last week, the number of its vehicle component workers increased 90 percent to 4,607 as of the end of last year from 1,232 in 2015. The change is in contrast with its mobile communications unit, which saw its number of employees drop by 9 percent during the sa

With Apple and Google joining the bidding war for Toshiba’s chip unit, the race has become more competitive, lowering the chances of SK hynix winning the bid, analysts said on Sunday. According to a Japanese newspaper on Saturday, US tech firms Apple, Google and Amazon threw their hats into the Toshiba bid. Currently, there are 10 bidders including the world’s third largest NAND flash maker Western Digital, Korean chipmaker SK hynix, Taiwanese tech firm Hon Hai and US chipmaker Broadcom. Toshiba

LS Cable & System said Thursday it will buy a power plant located in North Carolina from LS Corporation's subsidiary Superior Essex with an investment of $24.6 million.“As Superior Essex has less experience in power cable business, it would be more efficient for LS Cable & System to acquire and operate the unit,” said Myung Roe-Hyun, chief of LS Cable & System in the company’s statement.(Yonhap)“By securing the business base in the US, LS Cable & System is also expected to prepare for the US pro

Samsung Electronics has finally unveiled its flagship Galaxy S8 smartphone, the tech giant’s first premium phone since the embarrassing recall of its fire-prone Note 7 last year. The new features of the much-awaited smartphone -- artificial intelligence assistant Bixby, a bigger display and facial recognition -- did nothing to dispel the notion that the tech giant excels on hardware but is relatively weaker with software compared to its Western counterparts.Smart voice assistant Bixby, which had

Today, everything seems to be smart. We see a flood of new smart home devices coming out from global and small tech players. Software giants Google and Amazon are competitively unveiling advanced voice-activated speakers while hardware behemoths Samsung, LG, GE and Philips are churning out the newest smart appliances and electronics. Small tech players are also showing off various smart gadgets such as bulbs, cameras, locks and lighting. Despite the companies’ efforts to push out a plethora of s

Samsung SDI is expected to make a turnaround this year due to the increased battery supply for Samsung’s flagship smartphone Galaxy S8 alongside revenue generated from the polarizing film business, analysts said Wednesday. Last year, Samsung SDI posted an operating loss of 926 billion won ($831 million), mainly because of its money-losing battery business that accounts for 65 percent of total sales. The battery unit posted an operating loss of 451 billion won due to slowing market demand, the No

Analysts have mixed views about Samsung Electronics’ ambitious artificial intelligence assistant Bixby, ahead of the company’s flagship smartphone Galaxy S8 debut this week. Bixby is Samsung’s new Al assistant following its acquisition of the US tech startup Viv Labs. Samsung plans to integrate Bixby with its home appliances and it also plans to open the platform to third-party developers in the future to allow them to easily make their applications and services Bixby-enabled.The hardware giant