'Pace yourselves,' Huh tells students

Korean American mathematician June Huh -- winner of the 2022 Fields Medal, the highest award in mathematics -- encouraged young students to stay patient with themselves when trying to figure out what they like. “If you are trying to like something but it’s hard to do so, I think you should support and wait for yourself. If you push yourself too hard, it’s difficult to purely like something. You should know when it’s time to relax, and I think that is how you can have goo

July 13, 2022

SK Telecom’s ifland to circulate in-metaverse cash

SK Telecom will distribute and circulate in-metaverse cash on its virtual platform ifland to encourage more participation from users starting in the third quarter, the South Korean mobile carrier said Wednesday. Calling it an introduction of internal economic system, ifland users will be given points that can used as cash in the platform, if they take part in continuous activities such as building up attendance and carrying out missions. With such points, users will be able to sponsor others w

July 13, 2022

Korea snubs display industry with focus on chips

Flat-panel displays usually come together with semiconductor chips as they are both considered basic elements of the most of the electronic devices in the world. But with the Yoon Suk-yeol administration placing its policy focus on semiconductor chips and as Yoon pivots toward “economic security” based on the Korea-United States alliance, South Korea’s display panel business has largely been sidelined. Experts say such shift could end up endangering Korea’s foothold in

July 12, 2022

[Herald Interview] All-in-one diagnosis of diseases possible, proteomics expert says

More research into proteomics -- the study of the collection of proteins in the human body -- could infinitely upgrade the diagnosis sector so that all types of diseases can be easily detected in the early stages, a proteomics expert said. “There are diseases that have limited relations with DNA and genomics, such as depression and cardiovascular diseases. On the other hand, protein is involved in most biological activities so there is a wide range of areas that can be dealt with proteom

July 11, 2022

Kakao Mobility at crossroads amid sell-off rumors

A dispute between Kakao Corp. management and its labor union is growing over the IT giant’s rumored attempt to sell its transportation service subsidiary Kakao Mobility to private equity firm MBK Partners. Kakao’s labor union on Wednesday accused the management of giving up on its mobility business, questioning if the sell-off to the private equity fund can help the business grow. According to the union’s statement, Kakao Corp. said its mobility platform cannot grow anymore

July 10, 2022

SK chief meets Mexico’s top diplomat

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won met with Mexico’s top diplomat at the SK headquarters in Seoul on Wednesday, where he stressed that the conglomerate will play an active role in economic cooperation between the two countries. Chey also asked for Mexico’s support of South Korea’s bid to host the 2030 World Expo in Busan. During his meeting with Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs Marcelo Ebrard, Chey talked about SK’s technology across such sectors as batteries, biotechno

July 8, 2022

Not illegal but not legal: The murky landscape of abortion in Korea

Women and doctors still navigate murky legal waters when it comes to abortion in Korea, despite the practice having been decriminalized over a year ago. The ban on abortion was ruled unconstitutional in April 2019, but the National Assembly has failed to meet its deadline -- which expired on the last day of 2020 -- to make new laws to reflect the changes. As of Jan. 1 last year, abortion was no longer a crime in Korea. But the lack of laws to guide practice may be undermining women’s r

July 7, 2022

Samsung’s upbeat earnings overshadowed by uncertain outlook

Samsung Electronics’ extraordinary win streak over the past three quarters is likely to end in the second quarter this year amid growing uncertainties surrounding the war in Ukraine, rising costs and inflation fears. In its earnings guidance released Thursday, the South Korean tech giant projected its operating profits at 14 trillion won ($10.7 billion) for the April-June period, up 11.38 percent from a year ago. Its revenue also jumped 20.94 percent to 77 trillion won, the highest figu

July 7, 2022

LG Innotek to invest W1.4tr to beef up production

LG Innotek said Wednesday that it is investing a total of 1.4 trillion won ($1.07 billion) into its local production facilities by 2023 to beef up the production of circuit substrates and camera modules – its key growth drivers. The company signed a memorandum of understanding for the new investment with the local governments of North Gyeongsang Province and its capital city, Gumi, earlier in the day. The new funding will be used to expand its production facilities in the city, includin

July 6, 2022

Fields Medal winner highlights importance of communication

Korean American mathematician June Huh on Wednesday underlined the importance of communication and collaboration when it comes to solving difficult problems in mathematics, a day after he became the first person of Korean descent to win the internationally prestigious Fields Medal. “The charming point of mathematics is that collaborative research has become very active in today’s mathematics,” Huh said in a press conference at the Korea Institute for Advanced Study in Seoul.

July 6, 2022

1st person of Korean descent wins Fields Medal

Korean American mathematician June Huh has won this year’s prestigious Fields Medal to become the first person of Korean descent to receive the prestigious international award. The Fields Medal, widely regarded as the Nobel Prize of mathematics, is given to mathematicians under the age of 40 for significant contributions to the field of mathematics at the International Congress of Mathematicians held every four years. The ICM, organized by the International Mathematical Union, took pla

July 5, 2022

[Herald Interview] Metaverse offices are future of work, say Zigbang execs

Local property technology firm Zigbang made a bold decision last year to relocate its Seoul headquarters -- not to New York or Tokyo, but to a virtual world. For its 400 workers, instead of a hellish commute in the mornings and evenings, they log in to a new interface the company has created. Workers’ avatars hop on elevators to get to their office in the metaverse to chat and have meetings with their colleagues. Meanwhile, their physical bodies stay wherever they choose to be -- at home

July 5, 2022

LG Innotek joins RE100

LG Innotek said on Tuesday its membership in RE100 has been approved. RE100 is an international campaign launched by nonprofit organization the Climate Group in partnership with Carbon Disclosure Project in 2014. The campaign aims for member businesses that consume more than 100 gigawatt-hours a year to switch to 100 percent renewable electricity sources like wind and solar power by 2050. Some 370 global companies including Google, Apple and Microsoft are members of RE100. LG Innotek plans t

July 5, 2022

S. Korea begins transporting country's 1st lunar orbiter to US for Aug. launch

South Korea on Tuesday started transporting the country's first lunar orbiter to the United States ahead of next month's launch using a SpaceX rocket, officials said. South Korea plans to launch the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, also known as Danuri, aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 8:24 a.m. on Aug. 3 (Korean Time). According to the Ministry of Science and ICT, Danuri was sent from the Korea Aerospace Research Institute in Daeje

July 5, 2022

[Newsmaker] 'Monkeypox test kits may not reap big rewards'

South Korean companies are dashing to develop diagnostic kits for monkeypox as the country confirmed the first case of the rare infectious disease last month. A number of firms that had success with the development of COVID-19 diagnostic kits in the earlier days of the pandemic, including Bioneer, Boditech Med, Genes Laboratories, Seasun Biomaterials, Seegene and Wells Bio, have already developed testing kits for monkeypox. According to companies, most Korean-made diagnostic kits can show th

July 4, 2022

Korean Police prepare for dystopian future with plans for power armor, robot dogs

South Korea’s National Police Agency appears to be preparing for the worst, as recent plans indicate the deployment of robot patrol dogs and body strengthening power armor within 30 years. The plans were part of a police policy outline obtained by Yonhap News Agency on police use of robotics, artificial intelligence and advanced mobility technologies, and extending operations to the metaverse. According to the policy outline, the national police force plans to deploy self-piloting robots

July 4, 2022

Apple to allow external app payment options in S. Korea in compliance with local law

Apple Inc. said Thursday it will allow alternative payment options for apps sold in South Korea in compliance with a law that bans app store operators from forcing their own in-app payment systems. The U.S. tech giant announced on its developer site that apps distributed on the company's App Store solely in South Korea will be able to use its "StoreKit External Purchase Entitlement" option to "provide an alternative in-app payment processing option." Apple said developers t

June 30, 2022

Samsung starts mass production of world’s first 3-nm chips

Samsung Electronics said Thursday it has started producing chips using its latest 3-nanometer manufacturing technology – an industry first globally. The 3-nm technology boasts greater transistor density than the current 5-nm technology, which means higher speed and lower power consumption of advanced chips for artificial intelligence, big data and autonomous cars. The new technology is a secret weapon for Samsung, the world’s largest memory chipmaker, to take on Taiwan’s TS

June 30, 2022

From 4-day workweek to workcations, local IT firms compete for staff with envy-worthy perks

From a four-day workweek to work-from-anywhere arrangements, also known as “workcations,” Korea’s big tech firms are riding on the global wave of workplace reforms toward extreme flexibility and better work-life balance for employees. The highly-enviable four-day working week experiment is to take place at Kakao. Starting from July, employees get every other Friday off. This is on top of the fully-remote work and flexible-hour system announced late last month. “As

June 30, 2022

Meta, Seoul National Univ. launch joint research center

Meta, formerly Facebook, said Wednesday it has launched a joint research center with Seoul National University to study extended reality (XR) technology and metaverse policies. The new facility, called XR Hub Korea, is part of Meta’s ”XR Program Research“ which kicked off last year as a collaborative research project with prestigious institutions worldwide. SNU has been participating from the beginning, the company said. The center will help form networks among scholars, and

June 29, 2022