South Koreans spent a new record high amount of money abroad last year on increased outbound travel despite an economic slump and sagging domestic consumption, data showed Saturday.Expenditures on ordinary foreign trips, excluding stays for study, jumped 7.4 percent on-year to US$23.1 billion in the year, according to the Bank of Korea and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.South Korea's gross domestic product is projected to have expanded 2.7 percent in 2016 from a year earlier, with d

South Korea confirmed Saturday the outbreak of bird flu in Seoul, the first time in two years for the pandemic to spread to the capital.The dead body of a Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus) water bird was found at a Han River jetty in Seongdong Ward, central Seoul, on Monday, and it was sent to the National Institute of Environmental Research for study. The state-run institute concluded that the bird was infected with the avian influenza A (H5N6) virus.(Yonhap)According to the government m

South Korean slugger Park Byung-ho has been designated for assignment by the Minnesota Twins, facing a likely demotion to the minors.The Twins made the move Friday (local time) to make room for reliever Matt Belisle on their 40-man roster.Park, who made his major league debut last season as the Twins' designated hitter, must wait and see if any other team claims him off waivers over the next seven days. If he clears waivers -- meaning, if no club picks him up -- Park then may be sent outright to

American snowboarder Chloe Kim will visit South Korea next week as a sports envoy for the State Department in a show of U.S. support for the ally's preparations to host the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games, the U.S. Embassy said Saturday.Kim is scheduled to arrive in Seoul on Wednesday and meet with local university students to "talk about the challenges of being a top-tier athlete competing on the world stage," the embassy in the capital said in a press release.Kim, a 16-year-old high scho

Samsung Electronics’ plan to launch Samsung Pay Mini in Korea is expected to intensify online payment competition with local internet and mobile giants Naver and Kakao. Samsung said Thursday it would “launch Samsung Pay Mini in March to enable Android users to pay online with the app.”It allows users to conveniently pay online with their credit card information saved via a smartphone running on Android 5.0 Lollipop and with a high definition display. Since the app does not support magnetic secur

Samsung Electronics sent out press invitations Wednesday to showcase its new tablet Galaxy Tab S3 at the upcoming Mobile World Congress. According to the invitation, Samsung said it would unveil its new product at the Samsung Press Conference to take place in Barcelona on Feb. 26, a day before the MWC’s opening ceremony. Although Samsung did not elaborate on details of its new product, the photo attached showed the bezel in the bottom of the tablet and the contour of the home button, indicating

Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics lost the top spot to Apple in smartphone sales in the fourth quarter on 2016 for the first time in five years, according to US research firm Strategy Analytics. SA’s latest report showed that Samsung grabbed a 17.7 percent market share in the global smartphone market in the fourth quarter. It sold 77.5 million smartphones, a 5 percent drop on-year and its lowest quarterly sales figure in six years. Samsung’s archrival Apple captured 17.8 percent market share

LG Chem aims to become the world’s fourth largest producer of carbon nanotube in 2018 with the production capacity of 400 tons, the company said on Tuesday. The Korean battery firm said it has invested 25 billion won ($21 million) in its carbon nanotube plant located in Yeosu city to initially produce around 100 tons this year and then 400 tons every year from 2018. Carbon nanotube, a tube-shaped material made of carbon, is used for secondary batteries, airplane bodies, car parts and semiconduct

Samsung Electronics, whose traditional cash cow used to come from smartphones, said it would focus on its components businesses -- chip and display, projecting slow smartphone sales this year in a regulatory filing Tuesday.The world’s largest memory chip and smartphone maker said it posted 53.3 trillion won ($45.7 billion) in sales and 9.2 trillion won in operating profit in the fourth quarter, a 50 percent jump year-on-year.“The fourth quarter earnings were driven by the components businesses -

Samsung Electronics has blamed battery malfunctions for the Galaxy Note 7 catching fire, ending widespread speculations that the explosions were caused by the device’s hardware or software.Since sales of the fire-prone Note 7 were discontinued in October, there have been several media reports attributing the device’s hardware design to the explosions -- alongside battery faults -- as Samsung excessively squeezed too many parts, such as a bigger battery, waterproof and dustproof features and iris

Hungarian engineers, who came to Korea in November for job training with Samsung SDI, pose outside the company’s plant in Ulsan. (Samsung SDI)At Samsung SDI’s plant in Ulsan, a group of Hungarian engineers have been hitting the books since November. The 81 engineers are here to learn about electric vehicle batteries in preparation for the opening of the firm’s Hungarian plant, which will produce batteries for electric vehicles from 2018. Samsung SDI announced in August that it plans to invest ar

They may be richer and more numerous than ever, but the world's urban dwellers can be forgiven a sense of dread as threats pile up from climate change, terrorism and anarchic growth.The fragility of fast-growing cityscapes has been exercising political and business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week.One projection from the Brazilian consultancy Igarape said cities will account for two-thirds of the world's population by 2030, from just over half now. The bulk of that growth w

South Korea is considering an envoy on a special mission as part of efforts to nimbly cope with fast-changing global economic conditions, government sources said Friday.According to the sources, the government is actively reviewing the option to choose an ambassador tasked with playing a role in reducing economic uncertainties mainly stemming from the incoming Trump government's economic policy."We are studying the way to name a special envoy amid increased uncertainties on a global economic fie

Samsung Electronics South Korea's tech giant, has filed a request for international arbitration against Sharp Corp. of Japan and two other panel makers, seeking US$492 million in compensation that it claims to be suffering from due to their halting of LCD panel supply, industry sources said Friday.According to the sources, Samsung has filed the request with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) demanding that they resume panel supply or compensate the loss.Sharp, taken over by Taiwan-based

Donald Trump campaigned on a detailed and extensive to-do list for his first day in office. A day before his swearing-in, his team was being coy about when and how he plans to cross items off it.As he's assembled his new government, Trump has backed off some of his promised speed, downplaying the importance of a rapid-fire approach to complex issues that may involve negotiations with Congress or foreign leaders. On others issues, he's affirmed his plan, indicating significant policy announcement

Toshiba’s possible spin-off of its chip business will narrow the technology and market share gap with its bigger rival Samsung Electronics, Mirae Asset Daewoo Securities predicted Friday. Toshiba, which is struggling from massive losses in its nuclear business, is mulling spinning off its lucrative NAND flash unit and selling the stake to its bigger chip rival Western Digital, according to news reports.  (Toshiba)“If the spin-off is confirmed, the financial condition of Toshiba’s chip unit will

Korean tech firms and telecom operators are filling in the gap left by flagship smartphones with their low cost products. The next premium smartphones, including Samsung’s Galaxy S8 and LG’s G6, are scheduled to launch after February.Samsung Electronics said it began sales its low cost Galaxy A5 on Thursday for 550,000 won ($467) in Korea. This is around half the price of its flagship smartphone Galaxy S series, which are sold for around 1 million won. Despite the low price, the device still fea

Samsung Electronics is expected to adopt the largest panels for its upcoming Galaxy S series to be unveiled in April, according to multiple news reports Wednesday.  (Samsung)Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus will reportedly come with 5.7-inch (14.5-centimeter) and 6.2-inch (15.7-cm) panels, which are larger than their predecessors Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, which came with 5.1-inch (13-cm) and 5.5-inch (14-cm) screens. The larger panels appear to be possible as the new devices will have the tiniest bezels -- th

Executives from Korea’s biggest tech firms told top policymakers that they were intimidated by Chinese companies’ improved home appliance technology unveiled at the latest Consumer Electronics Show."We were intimidated to see improved hardware technologies of Chinese firms at the event," said Lee Min, an executive at Samsung Electronics’ television business unit at a briefing attended by the ICT minister and eight tech firms on Monday."Although they are still behind us in terms of providing cust

LG Electronics will adopt voice-recognition technologies for all of its air-conditioners from next year, the firm’s home appliance chief said at the launch event Monday. “We will adopt voice-recognition technology for all of our air conditioners to be unveiled from next year. We are taking into account partnerships with outside technologies such as (Apple’s) Siri or (Amazon’s) Alexa,” said Song Dae-hyun, LG Electronics’ home appliance and air aolutions chief, at the launch of its new Whisen Dual