KUALA LUMPUR/SEOUL -- A North Korean man detained over the killing of Kim Jong-un's half brother got on an airplane heading to Beijing on Friday, after Malaysia released the suspect citing lack of sufficient evidence, foreign media reported.   Ri Jong-chol, 46, was the only one taken into custody out of eight North Korean suspects in connection to the murder of Kim Jong-nam at a Kuala Lumpur airport on Feb. 13. Four were said to have fled Malaysia to Pyongyang on the day of the killing.    He wa

LG Electronics has unveiled a prototype of a new virtual reality headset, developed in partnership with US-based PC gaming giant Valve, at the ongoing Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Valve announced earlier this week that LG Electronics will be showcasing a new head-mounted VR display device designed to deliver a “high fidelity, next generation VR experience” at Valve’s booth at the GDC 2017 which ends Friday.Though details remain limited, LG’s new VR headset is presumably a PC-base

Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis is slated to face additional punitive measures from South Korea’s Health Ministry later this month on charges of providing illegal kickbacks to local doctors in exchange for prescribing its drugs.　The Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare said Friday that it is in the process of reviewing its own administrative actions against Novartis Korea, which could take the form of a fine or a lifting of insurance benefits on drugs sold by the company here.The headquarte

South Korean online game giant Nexon said Thursday that it has forged a strategic partnership with connected play company PlayFusion, which specializes in bringing games to life by merging them with toys.The partnership came in the form of Nexon investing in PlayFusion. Details of the investment deal were undisclosed.Together with PlayFusion, the Tokyo-based company plans to introduce a wider variety of character merchandise and accessories based on the virtual characters and worlds of its flags

South Korean game company NCSoft on Thursday unveiled its first virtual reality game based on its hit online PC game “Blade & Soul,” at the ongoing Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. “Blade & Soul Table Arena” is a real-time strategy game featuring the characters from NCSoft’s original role-playing game “Blade & Soul.” “Blade & Soul Table Arena” (NCSoft)The Korean game maker introduced the new VR game as a partner to the US-based VR headset maker Oculus. It was included as one of 20 up

South Korean internet giant Naver and its mobile messaging subsidiary Line Corp. unveiled a new artificial intelligence-powered voice assistant platform Wednesday, emerging as a new Asian rival to forerunners in the field such as Amazon, Google and Facebook.Line’s Chief Executive Takeshi Idezawa introduced a set of new AI software tools to power its AI online assistant Clova that responds to voice commands in Korean and Japanese, during a keynote speech at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Sixteen global mobile telecom companies, including South Korea’s KT and SK Telecom, have joined hands to contribute their big data capabilities to help humanitarian crises.　The GSMA, the organizer of the ongoing Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, revealed Monday the “Big Data for Social Good” initiative at this year’s MWC.It will “leverage mobile operators’ big data capabilities to address humanitarian crises, including epidemics and natural disasters,” the GSMA said. A booth at the MWC exhibit

A new alliance has formed between Japanese tech giant Sony and mobile messenger operator Line Corp., as they are considering joining hands to develop new digital devices powered by artificial intelligence. 　　During the ongoing Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Monday, Sony Mobile stated that the two firms are exploring collaborative opportunities on new AI assistant technologies and products.　Sony is looking to merge its Sony Agent Technology adopted in its Xperia Smart Products with Line’s

South Korean biopharmaceuticals company Celltrion is expecting a rapid growth of its business this year, as sales of its biosimilars are likely to take off in the US and Europe, according to the company’s founding Chairman Seo Jeong-jin.“I believe that 2017 will be an important year that marks the beginning of Celltrion’s rapid growth,” said Seo during an event in Seoul on Monday to commemorate the company’s 15th anniversary.　“We will continue to leap forward for greater growth without losing si

One year into its launch, Kakao’s mobile navigation app Kakao Navi has hosted 730 million trips totaling a combined distance of 20.6 billion kilometers, the South Korean mobile messenger giant said Tuesday. This distance is equivalent to circumnavigating Earth 515,000 times, Kakao said as it laid out the app’s notable records and achievements to mark its first anniversary.Kakao Navi was born through Kakao’s acquisition of the operator of local car navigation app Kim Gisa, or Driver Kim, last yea

The opening of US premium burger joint Shake Shack’s first outlet in South Korea was the talk of the town last year, with hundreds of people enduring long waits to taste the famous hamburger hailing from New York City.Seven months into its opening, the brand’s first store near Gangnam Station continues to see long lines of customers day and night. And this store currently boasts the No. 1 sales across all of Shake Shack’s outlets worldwide, the brand’s founding chairman revealed Monday.“There ar

Samsung SDS, the Internet technology solutions unit of South Korea’s Samsung Group, is showcasing its artificially intelligent chatbot training solution for retailers at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.　Samsung SDS said Monday that it will showcase its “Nexshop Training” solution for retailers at this year’s MWC taking place from Feb. 27 to Mar. 2. Samsung SDS presents its new AI-powered training solution for retailers "Nexshop Training” at the MWC in Barcelona on Monday. (Samsung SDS)Its

South Korea’s Celltrion announced Wednesday that the European Medicines Agency has granted sales approval to Truxima, its biosimilar drug referencing Roche’s blockbuster lymphatic cancer drug Rituxan.　Truxima is the first ever Rituxan (rituximab) biosimilar to be approved by the European drug regulator, as well as the first ever Europe-approved biosimilar monoclonal antibody used to target cancer.Biosimilars are cheaper, near replicas of living cell-based biologic drugs whose patents have expire

Google on Wednesday announced plans to host the second Google Play Indie Games Festival in South Korea, pledging efforts to support the growth of small-sized local game developers.Google Play, the official app store for Android-based smartphones, has opened up registration for Korea-based game developers looking to partake in its second indie games festival here. Registrations will end on April 2.Chang Hyun-se, head of Google Play’s business development at Google Korea (Googe Korea)The Google Pl

South Korean mobile messenger giant Kakao said Tuesday its simplified mobile payment service unit Kakao Pay has secured $200 million in investment from the financial arm of China’s Alibaba Group, a move that broadens the scope of the two firms’ services.Kakao said it has struck a partnership with the Hangzhou-based Ant Financial Services Group, under which Kakao Pay will be synchronized with China’s widely used Alipay to allow subscribers of both services to use both systems.As part of the partn

Google Campus Seoul, a co-working space for startups operated by the US internet technology giant, on Tuesday pledged to offer more tailored support to South Korean startups to help their growth and global expansion in 2017.　 “This year, we want to offer more tailored programs to encourage new growth, global expansion and diversity among Korean startups,” said Jeffrey Lim, head of Google Campus Seoul. Google Campus Seoul head Jeffrey Lim (second from right) poses with local startup CEOs at the C

Recent advances in artificial intelligence have brought significant improvements in automated translations, which was accompanied by a sense of uneasiness that it would eventually spell an end to human translators.In a pre-emptive attempt to explore this question, a battle between a professional human translator and AI-powered translation software will take place in South Korea on Tuesday at 2 p.m. The event will be broadcast live via the Sejong Cyber University website.Organized by Sejong Cyber

NAVER’S AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE LICENSED -- Naver Labs, the research and development unit of South Korean portal website Naver, won a government license that allows the company to test-drive its autonomous vehicle on the road. Naver’s vehicle was the 13th self-driving car to be approved by the Transportation Ministry since its introduction of a temporary license system for autonomous vehicles in development in February 2016. Naver is the first local information technology company to have obtained a l

Niantic, co-developer of hit augmented reality mobile game “Pokemon Go,” has reportedly partnered with convenience store chain 7-Eleven in South Korea to designate select 7-Eleven outlets here as either “Pokegyms” or “Pokestops.”　It marks the first-ever corporate partnership between “Pokemon Go” and a major retailer in Korea, fueling expectations the game — which involves people visiting real-life locations to catch “Pokemon” on their smartphones — can help boost local businesses.  (Niantic)News

The Korea Herald is publishing a series of articles highlighting South Korea’s promising start-ups in the emerging sectors of digital healthcare and next-generation medical devices. This is the first installment. –Ed.Digital technologies continually transform every industry, but one area that technological advances are forecast to impact the most in the years ahead is the global health care sector.　Eyeing new opportunities, global tech companies, medical device firms as well as startups have beg