South Korean health authorities said Sunday it confirmed another case of the Zika virus found in a woman who traveled to Thailand. It has raised the official number of infected patients in South Korea to 21. A 31-year-old, whose name was withheld, tested positive for the mosquito-borne virus by a local health agency in South Jeolla Province on Thursday, after she had a fever and other symptoms, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The virus, first discovered in Afric

South Korean budget carriers are strengthening international routes to Southeast Asia and Japan in a bid to absorb growing low-cost air travel demand and recoup losses stemming from the drop in Chinese passengers amid a diplomatic row over a missile defense system, industry sources said Saturday.Eastar Jet began services on the Incheon-Da Nang route early this week with a plan to start the Incheon-Sapporo route from July 1. (Yonhap)Jeju Air, another local low-cost carrier, earlier announced a pl

South Korea will soon begin the mass-production of its new mid-range hit-to-kill missile interceptor, code-named M-SAM, as it has passed an operational capability test, a defense official said Saturday.The M-SAM surface-to-air missile will serve as a core element of the country's Korea Air and Missile Defense System, currently in the making, against North Korea's threats. A file photo of a test of the Cheongung anti-aircraft missile in 2015. (Yonhap)"The prototype of the M-SAM (missile) to inter

Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon held talks on Thursday with Jin Liqun, president of a Chinese-led regional lender, during which the two sides agreed to step up cooperation, officials said. The talks between Kim and Jin were held a day before the annual meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in South Korea's southern island of Jeju.  During the meeting, Kim told Jin that South Korea wants to develop "strategic cooperation" with the AIIB, Kim's ministry said in a

Do Jong-hwan (Yonhap)A National Assembly committee on Thursday approved President Moon Jae-in's nomination of Do Jong-hwan as culture minister, paving the way for him to become the sixth Cabinet member of the new administration. The adoption of a report on the outcome of a confirmation hearing for Culture Minister-nominee Do is a crucial procedure before President Moon Jae-in officially appoints him.Do, a poet-turned-politician, has voiced hopes for resuming inter-Korean exchanges among cultural

South Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan returned home from Sydney on Thursday after wrapping up his pre-world championships training camp.The former Olympic freestyle champion will only spend three days at home before heading out to set up a new camp in Rome on Sunday. He'll train for about a month there before moving to Budapest for the FINA World Aquatics Championships starting on July 23.It will be Park's first world championships appearance since2011 in Shanghai, where he won his second 400m free

A Korean web hosting firm’s recent decision to pay a huge ransom to a group of cybercriminals sets a bad precedent, possibly opening the door for more criminals to target Korea for easy money, security experts said. On Wednesday, local web hosting firm Nayana said it had decided to pay money to a hacker group that has paralyzed its 150 servers -- which also affected its 3,400 client websites -- since Saturday. (Yonhap)“We completed the negotiations with the hacker and we are now preparing the mo

Samsung Electronics’ new flagship smartphones, Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus, took the top spots in smartphone ratings by the US consumer magazine. Consumer Reports said on Wednesday the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus ranked first and second with 82 points each in its latest smartphone ratings.Galaxy S8’s predecessor Galaxy S7 Edge placed third with 77 points followed by LG Electronics’ premium smartphone G6 and Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus, also with 77 points each.  Galaxy S8 (Yonhap)Jerry Beilinson, a

LG Display’s small-sized organic light-emitting diode panels have the potential to become an alternative to the products of Samsung Display currently dominating the market, according to local analysts here.“It is inevitable for Apple and Google to view LG Display as an alternative because Samsung’s dominance in the flexible OLED market can be a threat to the firms struggling to secure the panels,” said Lee Min-hee, an analyst at Heungkuk Securities, in its latest report, which also revised up th

Samsung and LG’s home appliances and devices may become compatible with one another as early as this year, according to sources Tuesday. The two Korean tech giants are currently each developing products certified by the Open Connectivity Foundation, an industry group developing specification standards to connect devices made by different brands. The OCF, which was set up in February last year, currently has around 300 member firms including Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Intel, Microsoft,

The Korean mobile payment market, currently dominated by Samsung Pay, is predicted to heat up as more rivals are considering joining the race. Samsung Electronics’ payment service Samsung Pay, which was launched in August 2015, has now garnered more than 1 million subscribers here. The tech giant is expanding the application to its smartwatch Gear S3 and low-budget smartphones, the Galaxy A and J series. Samsung Pay’s smaller local rival LG Electronics launched a similar service, LG

The state-run Korea Internet & Security Agency is developing bio authentication for mobile banking to commercialize it by late 2018, KISA’s chief researcher said. “We are developing an algorithm for authenticating mobile banking with a combination of a fingerprint, heart rate and (an) electrocardiogram. The technology is expected to be much safer than existing biometrics including iris sensors, fingerprint scanners and facial recognition,” Jason Kim, chief of KISA’s security technology dissemina

Blockchain technology will be used in shipping logistics for the first time in Korea. Samsung SDS said Wednesday it had launched a blockchain consortium for shipping logistics in partnership with local logistics companies, the government and state-run research centers. The consortium’s members include the Korea Customs Service, Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Hyundai Merchant Marine, IBM Korea and Ktnet.  Participants of a blockchain consortium for shipping logistics pose for photographs at th

Korean mobile carrier KT and Yonsei University will work together on connected car technologies, the telecom operator said Wednesday. The two signed an agreement to cooperate on self-driving technologies and launched a research and development forum for sharing connected car technologies. KT and Yonsei University officials attend a ceremony to launch a research and development forum for sharing connected car technologies Wednesday. (KT)Under the deal, the two organizations will share technologie

Riding the wave of artificial intelligence in the ever-connected world, SK Telecom is expanding its AI ecosystem into diverse areas, including AI speakers, medical care, banking, automobiles and smart home services. At the center of the leading telecom carrier’s AI lies the Nugu platform, which was unveiled in September through its voice-enabled speaker of the same name.  A Spanish model poses with SK Telecom’s artificial intelligence robot Albert at the Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona,

The global automotive chip market is predicted to grow 22 percent this year due to the rising price and demand, according to the US semiconductor research firm. Samsung Electronics, which is the world’s largest memory chip maker but has low presence in the automotive chip market, is also tapping deeper into the lucrative industry in response to the growing demand. YonhapIC Insights said in the latest report that the automotive integrated circuit market -- microcontrollers, analog integrated circ

Samsung Electronics said Thursday that it is not easy to fool the Galaxy S8’s iris recognition, hitting back at a claim by a group of German hackers who said they had cracked the phone’s iris scanner.“Although the one-minute video (that shows the sensor being fooled with a dummy eye) appears simple, it is hard to see that happening in real life,” a Samsung spokesperson told The Korea Herald. “You need a camera that can capture infrared light (used in the video), which is no longer available in t

삼성 디스플레이와 현대 자동차가 고급 세단인 제네시스에 OLED 패널을 탑재하는 것을 논의 중이다. 　계약이 성사된다면, 이는 현대차 자동차에 들어가는 첫 번째 OLED 패널이 될 전망이다. 　익명의 관계자는 “삼성과 현대차가 OLED 패널을 제네시스의 계기판과 CID(중앙정보디스플레이)에 공급하는 것을 논의하고 있는 중”이라고 코리아헤럴드에 전했다.  　작년부터 시작된 이 논의가 아직도 진행 중인 이유는 현대차가 아직 검증되지 않은 차량용 OLED 기술에 대해서 확신이 없기 때문이다.  　OLED 패널은 기존 차량에 들어가는 LCD보다 내구성이 낮고 직사광선이 비출 때 가독성이 떨어진다고 알려졌으며, 현재까지 자동차에 사용된 적이 없다. 　업계 관계자는 “현대차가 계약하기 전 샘플을 먼저 받아보고 싶어하지만, 삼성은 기술유출 등의 이유로 샘플을 먼저 공급하는 것을 꺼리고 있다”고 말했다. 　 　하지만, 업계

Samsung Display may supply its organic light-emitting diode panels for Hyundai Motor’s luxury sedan Genesis, according to sources Tuesday. If the deal is confirmed, it will be Hyundai’s first adoption of OLED panels for its automobiles. “Samsung is in talks with Hyundai to supply its OLED display for Genesis’ instrument cluster and center information display,” a source familiar with the matter told The Korea Herald.The discussion, which began last year, is still ongoing, as Hyundai is unsure of

Samsung Display will unveil its stretchable display for the first time at the US display conference, the company said on Monday. The Korean display maker said it is showcasing 9.1-inch stretchable organic light-emitting diode panel at the Society for Information Display 2017, which kicks off on Tuesday at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Stretchable display is the most advanced flexible display -- among bendable, foldable and rollable -- which can be stretched to be used for various high techn