SK hynix has joined the final bidding for Japanese tech giant Toshiba’s memory unit, it said Friday, to acquire part of a stake in the unit instead of a complete acquisition, reportedly in partnership with US buyout company Bain Capital. “Regarding the acquisition of management stake of Toshiba’s memory unit, we decided to join the final bid in partnership with a consortium,” the Korean chipmaker said in its regulatory filing Friday afternoon. SK hynix reportedly joined the consortium led by Bai

Samsung Electronics is aiming to rebound in China with the rollout of its new flagship smartphone Galaxy S8 after losing its market share to local handset makers in recent years. The Korean tech giant unveiled the Galaxy S8 series in China on Thursday with a release date planned for May 25. “China has been an important market for Samsung Electronics for 25 years since we entered the market in 1992. Samsung will provide the best mobile experience for Chinese consumers through Galaxy S8 series,” s

Samsung Electronics unveiled Tuesday its upgraded Tizen operating system, in a move that shows the company’s ambition to take the lead in operating systems for home appliances in the Internet of Things era. “We will expand the Tizen ecosystem into all of Samsung’s home appliances including (the) smart TV, refrigerator, washing machine, air purifier and lighting in the IoT era,” said Samsung’s Vice President Lee Hyo-gun while launching the Tizen 4.0 platform at its annual Tizen Developer Conferen

The radar of an advanced US missile defense system in South Korea detected the launch of a North Korean ballistic missile two days ago, South Korea's defense minister told lawmakers on Tuesday. The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, which became operational earlier this month in South Korea, aims to destroy short- and medium-range ballistic missiles amid growing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea. North Korea test-launched what appears to be a long-range ballistic missile on S

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has named a special envoy to deliver his personal greetings to Pope Francis, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Tuesday.Archbishop Hyginus Kim Hee-joong will soon head to the Vatican to deliver the new South Korean president's message to the head of the Roman Catholic church, Cheong Wa Dae said in a press release. President Moon Jae-in(left) met with Archbishop Hyginus Kim Hee-joong in March. (Yonhap)"President Moon Jae-in plans to send a special envoy

Hyundai Motor, South Korea's biggest carmaker by sales, said Tuesday it will unveil a new bus fully powered by electricity this month with the aim of getting it on the streets in 2018.As the government plans to sharply increase the number of charging stations across the country in the coming years, Hyundai will field the emission-free bus in the domestic market, the caremaker said in a statement. "Previously, we launched two versions of the 'zero-emission' electric bus but it was not successful

Global smartphone makers’ jump on the dual-camera trend has led Korean parts companies, Samsung Electro-Mechanics and LG Innotek, to ride the wave of growing demand. Dual-camera phones refer to smartphones that have two cameras on the rear, capturing more information and making both the subject and background clearer compared to a single-camera phone.  (Yonhap)Apple led the dual-camera trend by adopting it for its flagship smartphone iPhone 7 last year. The US tech giant is expected to upgrade t

Korea remains on alert for the ransomware attack called WannaCry that has hit more than 230,000 computers in 150 countries since Friday. As of Monday evening, a total of eight companies, including Korea’s top theater chain, and thousands of Internet Protocol addresses were reported to have been infected. No government organizations were found to have been hit by the attack yet.“The figure (for the infections) is expected to rise as the week begins. We need thorough measures to prevent further da

The Korea Herald is publishing a series of articles delving into the economic policies and tasks expected of the new Moon Jae-in administration. This is the fourth installment -- Ed.President Moon Jae-in is expected to encourage mergers and acquisitions, deregulate Internet of Things-related laws and abolish joint surety to boost startups.There has been consensus among experts here that more decent jobs should be created from startups and small and medium-sized businesses to reduce excessive dep

The refurbished Galaxy Note 7 is expected to go on sale as early as June in Korea, according to local news reports. Refurbished phones are products resold at a cheaper price after defects have been repaired.  (Samsung)Since the explosion of the Note 7 was apparently caused by battery defects, the phones are expected to reduce the battery capacity from the current 3500 milliamp hours to 3200 milliamp hours, industry watchers said. The price of the refurbished Note 7, which will be set in discussi

Samsung Electronics said Thursday it has carried out a reshuffle of its executives in its smartphones and home appliances units, the first high-level moves made since it has been embroiled in a corruption scandal. “The company has decided to carry out the reshuffle as further delaying it, after failing to do so last year, would lower the metabolism of the organization,” a Samsung Electronics spokesperson said, meaning the continued tenure of the retirees-to-be has created congestion for personne

South Korea’s new President Moon Jae-in is expected to keep intact the current Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, a unit symbolic of ousted President Park Geun-hye’s administration. In 2013, the ICT Ministry was set up with much fanfare by Park, emphasizing the creative economy, although the drive was criticized as lacking progress.  A tech seminar is held by ICT Minister Choi Yang-hee at the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning in January.(Ministry of Science, ICT and Future

Online searches related to Korea’s presidential election topped two search engines here Tuesday, when the country’s citizens went to the polls. The top seven most popular keywords in Korean on Google Trends -- which tracks the popularity of search terms -- were all related to the election, except for one search term: “A Silent Voice,” a Japanese movie released Tuesday. (Google)The most popular was “presidential election,” which saw at least 200,000 searches on the day. It was followed by “electi

Samsung Display’s plant on fireA fire broke out at Samsung Display’s plant located in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, on Tuesday morning but there were no casualties, according to local news reports. At around 9:20 a.m., a fire broke out at a cooling tower, which is located at the top of the three-story building providing power and chemicals to assembly lines. The fire authority in Chungcheong Province said the fire was extinguished around 10:15 a.m. and there are no casualties reported so

Samsung Electronics’ smartphone sales dropped by more than half in China in the first quarter of this year, according to a Hong Kong-based research firm. The Korean tech giant is losing its market share to Chinese brands, including Huawei, Oppo and Vivo, in the world’s largest smartphone market.  Samsung Galaxy S8 (right) and Galaxy S8 Plus (Yonhap)According to the latest report published by Counterpoint Technology Market Research, shipments of Samsung Electronics smartphones fell around 60 perc

Some Facebook users in Korea were unable to access their social media accounts Tuesday morning, the day of the country’s presidential election.At around 10 a.m., users said they tried to log into their Facebook accounts, but were not able to gain access for around 50 minutes. The site only said, “Sorry, something went wrong. We’re working on it and we’ll get it fixed as soon as we can.”The Korean arm of the social media giant issued a statement around 11:30 a.m., saying, “Some users had difficul

Samsung Group is expected to carry out a reshuffle of its executives as early as this month, company sources said Monday. Korea’s largest conglomerate usually carries out reshuffles and appointments of its executives, as well as CEOs, in December. However, Samsung delayed last year’s appointments after the company was embroiled in a corruption scandal which led to the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye and the arrest of Lee Jae-yong, the company’s de facto leader.“It is true there is

Korea launched its fourth broadcasting and communications satellite, Korea Sat-7, Friday, according to Korean satellite operator KT SAT. KT SAT, owned by Korea Telecom, said it launched its new satellite Korea Sat-7, also called Mugunghwa-7, at 7:27 a.m. at the Guiana Space Center at Kourou in French Guiana. The company now operates four satellites, including the Korea Sat-5, Korea Sat-6 and Chollian. “The ICT Ministry has already completed the registration with the International Telecommunicati

When flowers are in full bloom, trees are green and spring is in the air, children show us happiness comes from little things. On one sunny day of early May that is the beginning of spring, family theme park Seoul Children’s Grand Park, located in the Gwangjin district of eastern Seoul, was full of children having fun with their parents. Many of them looked happy and laughed out loud, simply running on the grass or smelling the scents of flowers. Some screamed out of excitement on a ride rotatin

The price gap between Apple and Samsung Electronics’ smartphones has widened to over $400 for the first time, according to a US research firm. The latest report released by Strategy Analytics showed Friday the gap of the average selling price between the two tech giants’ long-term evolution phones widened to a record-breaking $465 in the fourth quarter of last year. Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S8, which was launched in the second quarter this year, was not included in the research. In the Octobe