Along the overpass-turned-park Seoullo 7017 are large pots of flowers that have unfamiliar foreign names but are commonly spotted on the streets of South Korea. 　Among them are pink flowers with the Russian nomenclature Schlippenbach, also known as chuljjuk in Korean, one of the most widespread spring flowers here. Abies Koreana Wilson, better known in Korea as the Christmas tree, also stand on the bridge. 　According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, all the flowers being displayed at Seoul

　With increasing numbers of South Koreans relying on mobile devices to address health concerns about fine dust, app developers are competing for popularity with creative marketing schemes. 　During a meeting hosted by Google Korea on Thursday, the country’s three major fine dust app makers discussed their efforts to improve air quality assessment and warning systems for the general public. 　Among the ideas that came up was the use of funny characters to help users understand fine dust levels more

　South Korean battery maker LG Chem said Wednesday it had signed a long-term supply deal with Volvo Cars for electric vehicle batteries, as the Swedish carmaker is aggressively pushing electrification initiatives. 　The Korean firm was selected to supply car batteries along with Chinese battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology. 　While the two companies did not elaborate on the details of the financial deal and supply amount, LG Chem said the agreement will allow it to deliver lithium-

　South Korea’s SK Innovation announced Wednesday that it would invest 579.9 billion won ($488.3 million) to build a second electric vehicle battery factory in China, an effort to enhance its presence in the world’s biggest auto and EV market. 　According to SK Innovation, the investment decision was made Tuesday during a board meeting. The company did not specify its Chinese partner, the location of the new plant or its production capacity. 　SK Innovation said the goal of the investment was to en

　Regional telecom giants gathered in South Korea on Tuesday to discuss their business plans related to the 5G cellular network, as they seek to figure out ways to leverage it in various industries. 　The companies -- including AT&T, China Telecom and KDDI, and various telcos from the US, China, Japan and the Asia-Pacific region -- gathered in South Korea’s resort island of Jeju to attend the Pacific Partner Meeting, hosted by Korea’s KT. 　The participants are expected to discuss viable business m

Subscribers in their 50s and older are the most active users of YouTube in South Korea, data showed Tuesday.According to Seoul-based app analytics firm Wiseapp, people aged 50 and older spent the most time watching YouTube of all age bracket last month. They spent a combined 10.1 billion minutes, about 26 percent of total watching time across all generations. WiseApp said teenagers were the second largest age group with a combined 8.9 billion minutes of watching time on Youtube. It was followed

　With telecom companies here accelerating efforts to process massive data at faster speeds since the launch of the fifth-generation cellular network, competition in the cloud edge computing market has intensified. 　The country’s major mobile carrier KT said Sunday it had installed cloud computing systems at mobile communication centers in Seoul and Busan, where it has been operating edge computing technology since March to improve 5G network quality. 　Combining cloud services with edge computing

LG Electronics’ first 5G-powered smartphones have been fueling competition in a new network market where the nation’s three mobile carriers are in a fierce battle for subscribers since the commercial rollout of 5G network services last month. SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus have been scrambling to woo subscribers since LG’s V50 ThinQ hit the market Saturday, offering substantial subsidies and trying out other marketing gimmicks. Mobile carriers appear to be taking the launch of the V50 thinQ as an o

　South Korea’s top mobile carrier SK Telecom said Wednesday it will join hands with Instagram for digital advertising and online marketing by employing platforms for the 5G cellular network. 　During an event held at SKT’s headquarters in Seoul, the company’s Chief Strategy Officer Ha Hyung-il met with Instagram Vice President Jim Squires to boost their partnership. 　To spread more contents using 5G network, SKT said it will rely on a variety of distinctive features in Instagram. They include Sto

　South Korea’s telecom firms have flagged better-than-expected business outcome during the first quarter of this year, as the companies have witnessed growth in revenue from Internet television services. 　In a statement released Tuesday, SK Telecom said its operating profit came to 323 billion won ($275 million) in the January-March period. It was down 0.9 percent from a year ago, but the decline was much smaller than last year, when profit shrank about 20 percent compared to a year earlier. 　Th

South Korea has been seeking to outperform global competitors with many futuristic innovations, but cryptocurrency is not one of them. Alarmed by the massive price fluctuations of bitcoins, the Korean government has taken a cautious approach toward cryptocurrencies. Their trading has yet to show full signs of recovery since the government banned initial coin offerings in 2017. The measure had sparked intense debate over how to treat blockchain technology that underlies cryptocurrencies. While th

The South Korean government announced Tuesday it had decided to participate in US-led multinational efforts to return astronauts to the moon by 2024 by co-developing devices used for the lunar landing.According to the Ministry of Science and ICT, The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute signed a memorandum of understanding with NASA for cooperation on various space programs and exploration platforms.While the unmanned lunar lander will be developed solely by NASA and American companies, t

　Naver said Monday three of its web comics had been nominated in the Eisner Awards’ best web comics category, amid the South Korean internet giant’s foray into overseas markets. 　According to Naver Webtoon, its web comics “Lavender Jack” by Dan Schkade, “Let’s Play” by Mongie and “Lore Olympus” by Rachel Smythe have been nominated for the Best Webcomic for 2019 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award.  Naver`s web-based cartoon, "Let`s Play." Naver Webtoon　Other nominees in the category include “The Co

US investment bank JP Morgan has estimated that the price of chips for 5G-powered smartphones would be twice as much as those for 4G-based handsets, a Seoul-based research institute said Monday. According to the Institute for Information and Communication Technology Promotion, JP Morgan said in its 2018 report that the average price of various chips powering 5G handsets would be about 1.85 higher than for smartphones using the 4G Long-Term Evolution network.Titled “5g Smartphone: The Next Big Th

　Samsung’s first 5G-powered smartphone is expected to carry a higher price tag in the United States than in South Korea. 　US mobile carrier Verizon said Thursday that it had begun preorders for the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G, which will hit Verizon stores May 16. The 256 GB option costs $1,300 and the 512 GB option is $1,400. 　But in Korea, where the model became available April 5 after the rollout of 5G commercial services here, the 256 GB model costs about 1.39 million won ($1,205), with the 512 GB

 　LG Electronics confirmed Thursday that it would stop producing smartphones in South Korea and move manufacturing plants to Vietnam in an effort to improve profitability amid a slump in global smartphone demand. 　The smartphone maker has decided to transfer its phone manufacturing plants in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, to Haipong in Vietnam. Those working at its Pyeongtaek factories will be posted to Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province. 　With the transfer expected to be completed by the end o

　South Korean internet giant Naver announced Thursday its operating profit fell nearly 20 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, as the company has witnessed worsened profitability following aggressive investment in new business overseas. 　In its quarterly earnings report, Naver said its operating profit reached 206.2 billion won ($177 million) in the January-March period. During the same period last year, operating profit was 257 billion won. 　The tech company’s reduced operating pro

　Global streaming service Netflix said Wednesday it has concluded its trial of mobile-only subscription plans for South Koreans users, signaling it will not roll out the pricing scheme that is cheaper than current membership plans.　“The tests have concluded,” Netflix said in a statement sent to the The Korea Herald. “These tests we conduct may not get rolled out as member plans. Netflix will continue its efforts to provide the best entertainment experience for its members.”　Netflix said last wee

 　The South Korean government said Wednesday it will expand coverage of the fifth-generation wireless network, with a goal of providing the service to more than 90 percent of the population by the end of this year. 　A day after the meeting with mobile carriers Tuesday, the Ministry of Science and ICT said the carriers had pledged to build a total of 230,000 5G base stations in 85 cities, covering 93 percent of Korea’s total population of around 51 million. 　According to the ministry, 50,512 5G s

South Korean tech giant Naver said Tuesday its translation service has become more popular than that of Google among South Korean users, with the number of people using Naver’s Papago app surpassing the Google Translate app by up to a million. According to data from local market research firm App Annie, the number of monthly active users for Papago reached about 5.65 million in March, while 4.73 million people used Google Translate in Korea. According to Naver’s statistics, also released by the