Japan and North Korean government and Red Cross officials will resume talks next week in China, after holding their first meeting since 2012 earlier this month, officials said Thursday.The upcoming talks, scheduled for March 19 and 20 in the northern Chinese city of Shenyang, will draw foreign ministry officials from the two countries as well as senior members of their Red Cross societies.They will discuss on-and-off visits by Japanese nationals to the graves of family members who died in North

The death toll from a little-reported road explosion was disclosed Thursday to be a much higher 31, nearly two weeks after the blast shook a highway tunnel in northwestern China.The city government of Jincheng in Shaanxi province said a team assembled by the State Council to investigate the blast met Thursday in the city to brief on the latest developments. It said another nine people were missing.The city statement came minutes after China concluded its annual meeting of its ceremonial congress

The nation’s largest embedded software provider, MDS Technology, is shifting its focus toward smart car technology. Embedded software is built into vehicles, digital devices or aircrafts to control them, offering high levels of efficiency and safety. “The transition to the automotive business was not an option but a necessity,” said Chang Myung-sub, managing director of MDS Technology, in an interview with The Korea Herald. For the last three years, the demand for its software from the smartphon

The Busan Metropolitan Police Agency arrested a suspect involved in the trade of personal information of more than 12 million people, according to a police statement on Tuesday. The police arrested one suspect who sold personal information, and booked 17 buyers without detention.The suspect allegedly bought personal information from illegal distribution dealers in China and used it for marketing credit brokerage and mobile telecom services, the police said. Among the leaked personal information,

Local game company NCsoft will launch its flagship game “Blade & Soul” in the Japanese market in May, according to a company statement on Monday. “Blade & Soul” is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on fantasy martial arts. Following its limited trial service, to run for three days starting May 13, the MMORPG game will officially roll out on May 20. The company said it would charge a monthly fee and players can purchase additional items. The price will be announced at a later

Korea, anxious to hold onto its reputation as an IT powerhouse, is looking to the “Internet of Things” as a new high-tech industry. “The government will map out its plans to foster the IoT industry early next month,” said Kim Jung-sam, head of the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning’s new Internet industry division. IoT refers to the communication and exchange of information among devices via the Internet with little human intervention. “As IoT is no longer limited to information commun

한국의 완구 전문기업 오로라월드가 글로벌 캐릭터 회사로 거듭나는 날까지 쉬지 않겠다는 것이 최영일 대표의 다짐이다.  월트 디즈니 코리아와 워너 브라더스 코리아의 대표직을 거친 최대표는 2012년 오로라월드에 합류했다. 그는 4억 원 정도의 작은 규모였던 월트 디즈니 한국지사를 4년 만에 250억 규모로 성장시키고, 디즈니 아이스 쇼를 한국에 처음 선보인 장본인이다. 피겨 스케이터 김연아 선수도 디즈니의 아이스 쇼를 보면서 꿈을 키웠다고 한다. 이후 워너브라더스 한국지사로 옮겨 6년 간 근무하면서 ‘루니툰’ 등 히트 캐릭터를 국내에 소개하고, 순수 한국 캐릭터 ‘뿌까’를 워너 브라더스에 연결시켜주면서 글로벌 시장에 한국을 알리는데 앞장섰다.  그런 최대표는 2년 전, 오로라월드 창업주인 노희열 회장으로부터 “글로벌 캐릭터 회사로 바꿔달라”는 요청을 받고 오로라월드 대표로 취임했다.  그는 코리아헤럴드와의 인터뷰에서 “외국계 기업은 주주들을 중심으로 전문

The country’s telecom minister vowed to take all-out measures against the deep-rooted business malpractice in the telecom sector to eradicate excessive and illegal smartphone subsidies by the nation’s telecom operators. “Telecommunication is one of the basic rights of the people. Accordingly, it is inevitable for the government to punish (the mobile carriers) if they do not stop paying out subsidies,” said Science, ICT and Future Planning Minister Choi Mun-kee after a meeting with the CEOs of th

Samsung Electronics has been in low-key talks on providing its Drive Link in-car smartphone application to German automakers including BMW and Volkswagen, industry sources said Wednesday. “Samsung is negotiating with the two companies to supply its application to fit into their design concepts such as user interface,” a source familiar with the matter told The Korea Herald. The Korean tech giant is expected to unveil its Drive Link system on the Galaxy S5 this year. It would be an upgrade from t

SK Telecom, the nation’s largest mobile carrier, is to incubate start-ups in Silicon Valley in areas such as the Internet of Things, big data, cloud service and health care.Its North American arm SK Telecom Americas said Tuesday it set up the incubating center Innopartners, which can accommodate more than 11 companies in Sunnyvale. Two companies ― a transmission technology developer eTopus and a NAND storage provider Pavilion Data System ― have already moved into the center. The center aims to a

More than 1 million subscribers switched telecom operators to get new smartphones during each of the last two months, according to an industry source. This came as local telecom operators have continued their cutthroat battle to attract new subscribers with more subsidies. During the period, the daily shift reached 41,000, nearly double the 24,000 mark designated by the industry regulator to indicate an overheating market. As the subsidy war continues, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Pla

The Korean government is slated to foster smart cars, wearable smart devices and smart safety systems by 2020. “We have selected 13 industries for the government to focus on for the next six years based on the growth potential of markets, local companies’ competitiveness, employment and production,” said Cho Shin, head of the Planning Commission on Future Growth Engines and director of the Yonsei Institute of Convergence Technology. Among the projects initiated by the Ministry of Science, ICT an

KT, the nation’s second-largest telecom operator, ranked No.1 in the Long Term Evolution speed race in Korea, data showed on Thursday. With a download speed of 21.3 megabits per second, KT was in sixth place among 40 telecom operators worldwide and first among Korean mobile carriers, according to a report released by the British wireless network research company OpenSignal. OpenSignal surveyed 6 million users of 40 telecom operators in 16 countries to publish the global 2014 LTE quality report.

The nation’s telecom operators unveiled their Long Term Evolution advanced technology at the Mobile World Congress 2014, which opened this week in Barcelona. SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus have all demonstrated LTE-Advanced technologies, which can offer data rates of 450 megabits per second. SK Telecom, the nation’s largest mobile carrier, introduced three-band LTE-Advanced, which enables peak data rates of 450 mbps by combining three 20 megahertz channels. This is six times faster than conventiona

Local mobile carrier LG Uplus demonstrated its FemtoCell system, which both supports Long Term Evolution and Gigabit Wi-Fi technology, at the Mobile World Congress running this week in Barcelona.Developed jointly by LG Uplus and Samji Electronics, FemtoCell is a small base station designed to enable fast and stable telecommunications service in crowded areas such as coffee shops, Internet cafes or small stores where data traffic is concentrated. This technology provides high-speed Internet servi

The nation’s large companies are expected to make a foray into the water market on increased government support for the industry, including an initiative being taken by the state-run Korea Water Resources Corp. Korea Water Resources Corporation, also known as K-water has focused on supporting small and medium-sized companies in the water industry in developing water and sewage system technologies. Now K-water plans to encourage conglomerates and other major firms to participate in water industry

Who says Facebook Korea is on the verge of demise?Those who obviously have no access to the social networking service grapevine.“Korea is a unique market where over 90 percent of users access Facebook through smartphones,” said Benjamin Joe, head of Facebook Korea, in an interview with The Korea Herald. Noting that Facebook Korea has seen a threefold increase in personnel in the last two years, Joe stressed that further expansion will come down the road. His comments were aimed at dispelling rum

Small- and mid-sized local securities firms are becoming the targets of merger and acquisition deals as the stock brokerage industry has posted a sagging business performance over the past few years.According to the Financial Supervisory Service, 62 local brokerage houses reported a net loss of 109.8 billion won ($99 million) for the 2013 fiscal year, marking the first yearly deficit in 11 years since fiscal year 2002.FSS data showed Friday that 28 out of the 62 firms posted a net loss, most of

Naver Corp., the nation’s largest search portal, faces an unexpected bump in its global mobile messaging business. Facebook’s recent acquisition of fast-growing messaging start-up WhatsApp dealt a blow to the stock value of Naver. Shares of the Internet heavyweight rebounded 2 percent on Friday, following an 8 percent plunge on Thursday. Regarding the outlook for Naver Corp.’s overseas mobile messaging business, however, industry watchers still remain skeptical. As part of efforts to go global,

Korea Mobile Internet ― a consortium consisting of mobile virtual network operators, IT services providers and financial backers ― recently said it was ready to become the country’s fourth telecommunications company and offer lower, competitive service rates for consumers amid an upsurge in mobile data traffic.KMI seeks to provide such services through the Long Term Evolution Time-Division Duplex networks.This is the consortium’s fifth attempt at winning the license to operate as a mobile carrie