South Korea’s Netmarble Games is slated to officially launch its megahit role-playing game “Lineage II Revolution” in 11 countries Wednesday, amid rising expectations that the foray into overseas markets will attract new players and boost the game’s falling revenue.Netmarble will begin offering “Lineage II Revolution” in 11 markets in Asia including Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore and the Philippines from Wednesday. The game is set to arrive in Japan within the third quarter and in China via Tencent

Medytox, South Korea’s largest maker of botulinum toxin, said it has obtained regulatory approval for its new production plant in Osong, North Chungcheong Province.The Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety granted production and sales approval on Friday to Medytox’s third plant in Osong, able to produce 600 billion won ($533 million) worth of botulinum toxin products annually.With the approval, the new plant is set to begin commercial production this month, raising the firm’s production capaci

Like many others here in South Korea, 26-year-old office worker Park Na-young frequently exchanges mobile messages with her friends and colleagues through her smartphone.However, it’s not just text being exchanged. Conversations are taken over by colorful character emoticons -- or virtual “stickers” -- such as a blank-faced bear crying in a puddle of tears or a rabbit blissfully skipping around and blowing kisses.“I think I use them in most of my mobile conversations,” said Park, who owns dozens

DURBAN/CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- South Africa is a faraway land, especially for those on the other side of the world in East Asia. Once there, however, the breathtaking scenery of South Africa instills a newfound appreciation for Mother Nature.　Located at the tip of the African continent, South Africa often sits low down the list for Korean travelers -- a place to explore after having conquered other popular destinations around the world.However, the country boasts a vast array of stunning natu

US pharmaceutical company Janssen is slated to begin carrying out new clinical trials in the US for a diabetes drug candidate developed by South Korea’s Hanmi Pharmaceutical by the end of this year, Hanmi said Friday.　Janssen, the drug developer of Johnson & Johnson, has submitted a new application for carrying out a new set of phase 1 clinical trials for the Hanmi-developed drug candidate, JNJ-64565111, to the US Food and Drug Administration, according to Hanmi.The move comes after Janssen sudd

Kakao Investment, the venture capital arm of South Korean mobile messaging giant Kakao, has set out to discover and nurture local startups with promising artificial intelligence technologies and support their entry into global markets. 　The Kakao-owned investment company has teamed up with Seoul-based Venture Square and the National IT Industry Promotion Agency to initiate the fifth round of its startup accelerator program “Startup Nomad.” Applications are open until June 30.Initiated by Venture

Nexon on Thursday announced that it would begin offering its mobile action role-playing game “Dark Avenger 3” next month. The game is slated for official release on July 27.　“Dark Avenger 3” is an action RPG developed by Nexon-owned game development studio Boolean Games, the original creator of the globally popular “Dark Avenger” mobile game series which has racked up more than 35 million downloads worldwide.Nexon Vice President Lee Jung-hun introduces the company’s upcoming mobile action role-p

Competition is heating up in the global market for AI-powered smart speakers, as more global tech companies introduce new devices to rival forerunning voice-activated home speakers -- Amazon’s Echo and the Google Home.　This week, US tech giant Apple unveiled HomePod, the firm’s first voice-activated standalone speaker running on Apple’s artificial intelligence software Siri. It is equipped with Apple-engineered audio technology and advanced search algorithms.The $349 Apple HomePod, available in

Social networking giant Facebook continues to be mired in controversy in South Korea after clashes with local users, telecom companies as well as the government over the nature of some of its business activities in the country.The US-based social networking company is set to face an investigation by the state-run Korea Communications Commission after a local consumer rights group claimed that Facebook violated the law by sending out fake notifications designed to lure users into downloading its

North Korea Sunday rejected the latest sanctions resolution adopted by the United Nations Security Council over the North's several ballistic missile tests, pledging to continue on with its nuclear development."The DPRK Ministry of Foreign Affairs gives a strong condemnation and rejection to the UNSC's another campaign of sanctions as it is a crafty hostile act with the purpose of putting a curb on the DPRK's buildup of nuclear forces, disarming it and causing economic suffocation to it," the fo

    North Korea Sunday rejected the latest sanctions resolution adopted by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) over the North's several ballistic missile tests, pledging to continue on with its nuclear development.   "The Democratic People's Republic of Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs resolutely denounces and squarely rejects the U.S.and the UNSC's anti-North Korea sanctions, which is a vile act of hostility aimed at hampering our nuclear buildup and economically strangling us," the m

LONDON -- The death toll from a terror attack at the heart of London rose to seven Sunday as Prime Minister Theresa May convened an emergency security cabinet session to deal with the crisis.    The assault began Saturday night when a van veered off the road and barreled into pedestrians on busy London Bridge. Three men fled the van with large knives and attacked people at bars and restaurants in nearby Borough Market, police and witnesses said. The attack unfolded quickly, and police said offic

This year’s NewCities Summit is slated to kick off at the coastal city of Songdo in South Korea on Wednesday, with an aim to contribute to improving life in cities around the world through innovation and help Incheon City rise into a global smart city development leader.The Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority said that it will host the NewCities Summit 2017 from June 7-9 at the Songdo Convensia Convention Center located the Songdo International Business District.The theme of this year’s NewCiti

South Korea’s Netmarble Games is slated to introduce a new mobile game next week for the first time since going public last month, fueling expectations that the new release could help salvage its stock price which has plunged from its initial offering price. 　The Korean mobile game giant said Thursday that it would release “Destiny 6,” a strategic action role-playing game for mobile devices developed by local game developer Alpaca Games on June 7.  (Netmarble)Netmarble has already released a ser

Naver has introduced a new content curating app for mobile devices running on the firm’s newly-released artificial intelligence assistant platform Clova.The Korean internet giant Wednesday announced the release of Disco, which is short for the “discovery” of selected content tailored to individual tastes, according to Naver.  (Naver)Upon opening the Disco app, users can set their topics of interest based on which the app will recommend certain types of content on the web. By clicking “like” or “

　South Korea decided Wednesday to permit a civic group to contact North Koreans to prepare for a joint event to mark an inter-Korean summit anniversary slated for next month. 　The decision -- which came just weeks after liberal President Moon Jae-in took office in Seoul -- is widely seen as a sign of a thaw between South and North Korea. 　It may lead to the first joint commemoration of the 2000 summit in nine years despite heightened tensions over the North’s nuclear and missile programs.　On Tue

LG MMA Co., an affiliate of South Korean conglomerate LG Group, said Wednesday it will spend some 130 billion won ($116 million) to expand its facility in the country to meet growing demand for methylmethacrylate, used for various industrial materials.LG MMA, a joint venture with Japan‘s Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. and Japan Catalyst Inc. that was set up to produce industrial products, said its output will rise to 260,000 tons of MMA from the current 180,000 tons when the expansion work is compl

President Moon Jae-in said Wednesday South Korea‘s ongoing probe of the delivery of a US missile defense system is not intended to reverse the deployment agreement between the two countries but to conduct it with appropriate domestic procedures, according to the presidential office.Moon ordered a probe on Tuesday into the “undisclosed” delivery of four additional launchers of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system after the defense ministry failed to report it to the presidential policy

(Yonhap)진행자: 손지영, Paul Kerry1. 서훈 국정원장 후보자 청문회기사요약: 서훈 국정원장 후보자에 대한 국회 인사청문회가 진행되고 있다. 서 후보자는 ‘국정원은 정권을 비호하는 조직이 아니라’며 본 기관을 국내 정치와 완전 단절시키겠다는 강한 개혁 의지를 드러냈다. 또한 국정원의 댓글 조작을 통한 2012년 대통령 선거 개입 의혹에 대해서도 조사하겠다고 밝혀 관심을 모았다.아이튠즈(아이폰): https://itunes.apple.com/kr/podcast/koliaheleoldeu-paskaeseuteu/id686406253?mt=2 팟빵 (안드로이드): http://www.podbbang.com/ch/6638Intelligence chief nominee hints at reform[1] Suh Hoon, the National Intelligence Service chief nominee, is promising a spy agency dramatically d

After naming Naver’s former Executive Yoon Young-chan as chief presidential press secretary, the Moon Jae-in administration is expected to appoint another major IT industry executive to a key presidential post.Cheong Wa Dae is slated to appoint Jung Hye-seung, vice president of communications at the country’s mobile messaging giant Kakao, to lead the government’s social media and communication campaigns as the presidential secretary for new media, according to local reports Wednesday.Jung, 46, w