Samsung Electronics on Monday reaffirmed its intention of becoming a Tier 1 car supplier instead of becoming an automaker, denying rampant speculation that had followed its surprise announcement to acquire a leading maker of connected car solutions“Over the last week since the Samsung-Harman deal, we have visited many key automotive clients globally and made sure that we wanted to become primary solution provider, Tier 1,” said Harman International Industries’ CEO Dinesh Paliwal at the press bri

Mercedes-Benz has recently launched two sport utility vehicles, GLS and GLE Coupe, in South Korea to target the growing premium SUV market. “We have achieved the goal of doubling SUV sales this year thanks to the continued rollout of upgraded models,” Mercedes-Benz Korea CEO Dimitris Psillakis said at a recent launch event. 　The chief also added that the SUV market in Korea is expected to continue growing, despite the saturated vehicle market here.The German auto giant had sold 7,454 SUVs this y

SsangYong Motor’s flagship model Tivoli has retained the top spot in the compact SUV market in Korea with the continued rollout of upgraded models. Tivoli is SsangYong’s first vehicle -- which was released in early 2015 -- since Indian conglomerate Mahindra Group bought the Korean automaker in 2011. It cumulatively sold 91,000 units locally and 130,000 units globally. On its home turf, Tivoli takes up 56 percent of the market share, with sales of around 46,000 units this year through October. Ki

LG Electronics on Thursday unveiled its new air purifier, the latest in its air care brand PuriCare lineup launched late last year. The cylinder-shaped device quickly purifies air with its 360-degree air intake and a booster that creates a strong wind for faster cleaning process, the company said. “We will expand our air purifier business into the US, China and Europe following the launch in Korea,” LG Electronics’ CEO Cho Seong-jin said at a launch event held at the company’s headquarters in Se

The state-run Korea Testing Laboratory has launched a reinvestigation into an explosion case of the Galaxy Note 7, which was the first reported case after Samsung launched replacement devices, according to local news reports Thursday. The Korea Testing Laboratory will reportedly announce the final result after closely looking into the exploded devices, including the replacement.The reinvestigation came after local news report revealed that KTL had neglected the exploded devices instead of collec

Korean tech firm Nanobrick is set to develop a platform that can certify genuine goods in partnership with the Chinese government. The company said Wednesday it would develop and customize the system together with the state-run Sichuan Institute of Computer Science with the aim of launching it early next year. “We decided to develop a new certification solution with Nanobrick as diverse forgery prevention policies that were implemented have failed,” said an official at Sichuan Institute of Compu

Samsung Electronics said Wednesday it will acquire Canada-based NewNet Communication Technologies, a company operating Rich Communications Services.RCS, which are viewed as the standard for future SMS text messaging, allows regular text messaging to be used like chat messaging apps such as KakaoTalk or Facebook Messenger.Samsung said, “The acquisition reinforces the company’s commitment to RCS as mobile networks transit to IP-based networks and services.”The acquisition will enable Samsung to of

A team from Seoul National University on Tuesday unveiled a door-to-door self-driving taxi for the first time in the nation. Called Snuber 2, it is an upgraded version of an app-based self-driving taxi Snuber developed in November 2015. The new autonomous car developed with Hyundai’s Genesis sedan is capable of tracking moving subjects, avoiding collision risk, driving on narrow roads and recognizing traffic lights and speed limit signs. Sensors in Snuber 2 detect moving objects in green and yel

Samsung Electronics said Monday it will acquire US connected car system provider Harman International Industries to accelerate its push into the smart car business.It is the largest-ever merger and acquisition of a foreign firm by a Korean company. The tech giant said it will acquire Harman for $112 per share in cash, for a total equity value of approximately $8 billion.The transaction, which is subject to approval by Harman shareholders, regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditio

LG Electronics’ flagship smartphone V20 has reached cumulative sales of 200,000 units in the US market within 10 days of its launch, the company said Monday. The Korean tech giant said the sales of around 20,000 units per day were nearly double those of the previous model V10.  LG V20. (Yonhap)The V20, which sports a 5.7-inch display and dual cameras, is the most-hyped smartphone of the year when it comes to audio features. The phone is equipped with three mics and four digital-to-analog convert

Thousands of protesters angry over Donald Trump's election win took to the streets for a second straight night, with at least one demonstration degenerating into a riot against the tycoon turned president-elect. Accusing Trump of racism, sexism and xenophobia, protesters from New York to Los Angeles blocked traffic and chanted slogans like "Not my president" and "We reject the president-elect."The worst violence was in the northwestern city of Portland, where protesters hurled projectiles at off

Korean police have booked 15 people for allegedly smuggling endangered animals from Thailand and showing them at small zoos or to children at kindergartens and daycare centers. A police official in the port city of Busan said Friday that they seized 22 animals including Siamese crocodiles and slow loris monkeys.The official said most of the animals were bought from Thailand in 2014 by a 38-year-old man, identified only by his surname, Kim. He said Kim sold the animals to other suspects, some of

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors boss Choi Kang-hee has been nominated for the top Asian football coach award. The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on Friday announced nominees for its annual awards and Choi was shortlisted for the AFC Coach of the Year honor.The 57-year-old South Korean is up against two Japanese coaches-- Makoto Teguramori and Atsushi Uchiyama. Teguramori managed the Japanese men's Olympic football team at the Rio de Janeiro Summer Games, while Uchiyama guided Japan to the U-19 Asian

President-elect Donald Trump's vague and ambiguous foreign policy positions have cast a pall of uncertainty over whether American influence will decline in Asia, or if it will remain a force to be reckoned with, analysts say.The real estate tycoon-turned-politician frequently savaged China on the campaign trail, even calling it America's "enemy" and pledging to stand up to a country he says views the US as a pushover.But he has also indicated he is not interested in getting involved in far-off s

South Korea’s largest conglomerate Samsung Group’s Lee family has topped the wealthiest family list in Asia for the second straight year, according to Forbes’ ranking. The nation’s largest automaker Hyundai Motor’s Chung family was 12th. The Lee family had a combined wealth of $29.6 billion in 2016, up by $3 billion from 2015, the American business magazine said. Samsung Group, founded by the late Lee Byung-chul as a small trading company in 1938, has grown into the world’s largest smartphone an

Korea East-West Power Co., a subsidiary of Korea Electric Power Corp., is showcasing its smart working environment at the third Government 3.0 Fair, which runs through Saturday at BEXCO, Busan.The Government 3.0 Fair is an event hosted by the government to share the best practices of public information and communication within government divisions. Korea East-West Power Co. employees wear virtual reality glasses which show a 360-degree view of a smart office environment at the third Government 3

Samsung Electronics is being cautious about the rollout of its foldable smartphone as it closely gauges market demand, according to sources familiar with the matter. “Samsung is already capable of mass producing foldable phones -- although premium models are usually made in small quantities -- by late next year. But, the company is not sure whether there is market demand for the costly, foldable devices,” a source told The Korea Herald on condition of anonymity. “If (the market condition is) con

South Korea’s largest automakers Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors are expanding production capacity in China, the world’s largest vehicle market, with the aim of meeting growing demand for sport utility vehicles, eco-friendly cars and infotainment services. Hyundai and Kia said they plan to secure production capacity of a total of 2.7 million units -- 1.8 million units from Hyundai and 890,000 units from Kia -- in China by 2017 through its plants in Beijing, Cangzhou and Chongqing.  Hyundai Motor Gr

South Korea prosecutors raided the headquarters of Samsung Group on Tuesday to investigate the extent to which the conglomerate was implicated in a political scandal involving President Park Geun-hye and her longtime friend Choi Soon-sil.  Around 20 investigators searched the office of Park Sang-jin, who is chief of Samsung Electronics and chairman of the Korea Equestrian Federation, and the offices of other executives located in the company’s Seocho office building that is the group’s headquart

Samsung Electronics’ next flagship smartphone Galaxy S8 will adopt an artificial intelligence platform, which will also be applied into all of its home appliances, the company said Friday. “We will focus on how to provide more pleasure and convenience to users through VIV Labs’ AI solution,” Lee Jae-yong, Samsung Electronics’ vice chairman, said while meeting the chiefs of VIV Labs in the company’s Seocho office building in Seoul on Friday. Lee added that Samsung would strengthen its technology