[Editorial] Data breach, trust broken

SK Telecom’s hacking incident exposes cracks in South Korea’s digital armor In a hyper-connected nation where smartphones function as an extension of personal identity, the recent data breach at SK Telecom — a company with over 23 million subscribers — is more than another cybersecurity mishap. It is a stark wake-up call for consumers, regulators and telecom providers alike. SK Telecom disclosed Tuesday that a hacking incident had resulted in the partial leakage of universal subscriber identity module data — critical for authenticating mobile users. The breach stemmed from a malicious code attack detected Saturday, which infiltrated parts of its Home Subscriber Server. The company insisted that no resident registration numbers or bank account details were exposed, but that is scant consolation. USIM authentication keys, while not as overtly sensitive, can be weaponized in SIM swapping scams, identity theft and unauthorized access to financial services. This is not an isolated event. LG Uplus suffered a breach in 2023, affecting 300,000 customers. KT saw even larger breaches, impacting 8.3 million users in 2012, followed by 12 million in 2014. South Korea’s three telecom giants have all experienced large-scale data leaks. Public trust should be on the line. Yet the corporate playbook remains painfully predictable: a formal apology, vague promises to boost cybersecurity and then silence until the next breach. What sets the SK Telecom breach apart is not just its scope but its systemic implications. Telecom companies increasingly resemble public utilities. Smartphones today are not mere gadgets; they are digital vaults housing everything from personal chats to biometric gateways to banking apps. The data they hold is not simply metadata — it is a mirror of identity. SK Telecom acted by deleting the malicious code and offering a free USIM protection service. However, customers were only notified via text four days later. In the world of cybersecurity, where every hour can spell the difference between containment and catastrophe, that delay reflects a mindset dangerously out of sync with the digital age. Assurances that no misuse has been reported offer little reassurance. Forensic analysis is ongoing, and the full impact of the breach remains murky. In the meantime, one uncomfortable question looms: Are South Korea’s corporations doing enough to protect user data? The track record suggests not. Regulators are now investigating and considering sanctions. South Korea’s revised Personal Information Protection Act allows fines of up to 3 percent of related revenues. But past enforcement has lacked teeth. Kakao was fined a record 15.1 billion won ($10.5 million) last year — a sum that barely grazed its 7.87 trillion won in revenue. The three major telecoms posted combined operating profits of 3.5 trillion won in 2024; SK Telecom alone earned 1.82 trillion won. Penalties are increasing. So are the breaches. It’s clear that fines alone will not suffice. What’s needed is structural change — from mandatory investment in cybersecurity to regular independent audits. More fundamentally, a cultural shift is overdue: companies must stop treating data as a monetizable asset and start seeing it as the core of user trust. Speculation is already circulating about foreign actors, including North Korea, being behind recent breaches. Whether true or not, the growing sophistication of cyberattacks underscores a simple truth — the threat is global, but the defense starts at home. South Korea has long prided itself on its digital prowess, from advanced mobile services to nationwide broadband infrastructure. Yet that ambition has not been matched by cybersecurity rigor. The cycle of breaches followed by boilerplate apologies must end. It is time for Korean corporations to treat data protection not as a compliance box to tick, but as a pillar of public trust. Consumers have handed over their digital lives. The least they deserve in return is robust protection.

LG Establishes LG Awards Hall of Fame

"The most important principle we must uphold is putting the customer first." - LG Corp. Chairman and CEO Kwang Mo Koo SEOUL, South Korea, April 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- LG hosted the 2025 LG Awards at LG Academy (LG's Corporate University) in Icheon, South Korea, celebrating standout examples of customer value innovation. This year's event marked a milestone with the unveiling of the first-ever LG Awards Hall of Fame, created to honor past winners. Now in its seventh year, the LG Awards was launched in 2019 to recognize products and services that have meaningfully improved customers' lives. Since its inception, the awards have honored 492 teams and more than 4,000 individual contributors. *Award recipients by year: 2019(321), 2020(480), 2021(448), 2022(593), 2023(769), 2024(724), 2025(680). More than 500 people attended the ceremony, including LG Corp. Chairman and CEO Kwang Mo Koo, executives from across LG, customer representatives, and award recipients. An additional 1,000 employees joined the event via livestream, adding to the celebratory atmosphere during each award announcement. "We created the Hall of Fame here at LG Academy to honor the results of your innovation," said Chairman Koo. "The names and projects that will be added in the years to come will serve as a source of inspiration and guidance for all LG employees." During his remarks, he also emphasized LG's long-term vision: "Our journey to deliver differentiated value for the future will always continue, and the most important principle we must uphold is putting the customer first. Let's continue to build on LG's DNA of challenge and change, push toward new industry-firsts, and build a future where LG is loved even more deeply by customers." An LG spokesperson also commented on the broader business context: "At a time of growing global uncertainty, including rising trade barriers, there are many strategic paths to consider. But this moment reaffirms that our top priority must remain relentless innovation for the customer." The inaugural LG Awards Hall of Fame installation displays plaques engraved with the names and award-winning projects of past recipients of the "Customer Impression Grand Award." The Hall of Fame is located in the lobby of Yeonam Hall at LG Academy in Icheon, the company's main training center. It is where employees, from entry-level to executive, receive education in core values, management philosophy, and job-related skills. The location is designed to help all LG members naturally engage with examples of customer-driven innovation. The 31 members of this year's three Grand Prize-winning teams personally mounted their plaques, commemorating their contributions to customer value. LG is also creating dedicated display spaces within each affiliate's office to recognize their own LG Awards winners. Major meeting rooms will feature the names of grand prize recipients to inspire pride and motivation across teams. In addition to receiving plaques, winners are awarded cash prizes and opportunities to participate in overseas workshops. The 2025 LG Awards were judged through an open evaluation process involving both customers and employees. For the first time, customer evaluations went beyond individuals to include group feedback, incorporating perspectives from homemakers, professionals, international consumers, and the MZ generation. LG employee participation in the judging process also saw a major jump, rising from 10,000 last year to more than 14,000 this year, underscoring the growing enthusiasm for the awards. This year's awards honored 87 teams and 680 individuals. Recipients included three Customer Impression Grand Award winners in the categories of Individual and group; 39 teams received the Customer Satisfaction Award, and 45 were recognized with the Customer Empathy Award. Evaluation criteria included whether the innovation exceeded customer expectations, whether it delivered a meaningful improvement in customers' lives, and whether the project had the potential to be scaled into product processes or best practices. In the Individual category, Seong Kuk Moon of LG Electronics received the grand prize for developing the Clean View feature, which makes air conditioner hygiene easier for users. With the press of a button, users can open the unit to inspect and clean the interior, addressing long-standing concerns over cleanliness and maintenance. The innovation also includes a "Viewcase" at the base of the product, allowing users to display books or picture frames, reflecting thoughtful design for modern living spaces. The Clean View feature has been already been applied to current models, contributing to strong sales and helping LG maintain the top market share in the air conditioner segment. In the group category, the grand prize went to LG Energy Solution's Infrastructure FA Technology team. They developed a logistics solution using autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) to manage frequent equipment changes and fluctuating material flow at battery production facilities. In group category, the grand prize was also awarded to the Optical Solutions Division at LG Innotek for its contributions to advancing camera module technology. Other notable winners include LG AI Research, which received the Customer Satisfaction Award for its generative AI model EXAONE 3.5, and LG Uplus, which introduced, ixi-O, a real-time voice phishing detection technology that can answer calls on behalf of users to block scams. LG Chem also received the Customer Empathy Award for developing the world's first automotive sunroof film capable of both achieving a black tint and supporting segmented control. HSAD was also honored for its post-proposal initiative, which marked a first in the advertising industry where the company voluntarily continued ideation even after a project had formally ended.

Fire-ravaged southeast reels from unprecedented damage

Death toll rises to 27; authorities say fire spread is fastest on record; power, water supply, traffic disrupted Three wildfires continued to ravage southern South Korea for the seventh consecutive day on Thursday, with exhausted firefighters battling the deadly blazes while evacuees faced the devastation of losing their homes in the country’s most destructive wildfire disaster. The blazes scorched over 36,000 hectares of woodland — equivalent t about half the size of Seoul — despite a week of containment efforts, claiming 27 lives and injuring 32 as of Thursday afternoon, according to the authorities. Disaster authorities said that the wind-driven wildfires had spread at some 8 to 10 kilometers per hour. Though rainfall was expected Thursday, the forestry official announced it may not be enough to contain wildfires. "We plan to make every effort, considering the possibility that the wildfire may persist for an extended period," said Lim Sang-seop, who heads the Korea Forest Service, in a press briefing Thursday. Prolonged evacuations, along with power and water being cut off, have exhausted many evacuees. One Andong-based village council chief, surnamed Jung, was also quoted by Yonhap as saying that the evacuees from his village lacked essential relief supplies, including underwear and toothpaste. “The residents received their first aid kits, but additional supplies are needed as the evacuation is taking longer than expected,” Jung said. Though most of the evacuees were elderly rural residents, their emergency medications were reported to be insufficient. The Safety Ministry and different local disaster relief teams supplied daily necessities and bedding. But some of the shelters, like Gilan Middle School in Andong, reportedly failed to receive tents for displaced residents, leaving some elderly victims cold. The disaster authorities stated that they will try to make additional measures to minimize the evacuees’ inconvenience by using both private and public lodging. The government announced that it had set up two major support centers to expand current medical and psychological aid, offer relief, legal advice, insurance-related counsels and support temporary residential facilities. Over the last seven days, wildfires have engulfed multiple cities and towns in the Gyeongsang provinces — in Sancheong and Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province, as well as Uiseong, Andong, Yeongdeok, Yeongyang and Cheongsong, North Gyeongsang Province, and the city of Ulsan. The biggest conflagration of the three started in Uiseong — a county located in the country’s southeastern region — on March 22, claiming the lives of 23 people and forcing almost 30,000 residents to evacuate as of Thursday. According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, the affected area spans about 33,204 hectares, surpassing the east coast wildfires in 2000 — which had previously been Korea's biggest forest fire on record — that destroyed 23,794 hectares. The total number of evacuees rose to 37,185 on Thursday, an increase of some 10,000 people from Wednesday’s number. Among the residents, 20,485 have returned home while 16,700 remain displaced. Though authorities have attempted all-out efforts to combat the blaze by mobilizing the national firefighting systems with some 4,600 personnel, 79 helicopters and 693 fire trucks, trying to contain the fire under the strong winds — some 72 to 90 kilometers per hour — was untenable. On Thursday, wildfires started in Sancheong and spread westward toward Jungsan-ri and Samjang-myeon, which lie at the easternmost tip of Jirisan National Park, some of South Korea’s largest mountains. Hadong in South Gyeongsang Province announced that it had sent out emergency alerts to evacuate all visitors from Jirisan National Park. Some 1,600 residents were also evacuated to outside the fire’s perimeter. Another public safety alarm was sent to urge more people from Andong to evacuate on Thursday as well. The fires have already prompted a few mandatory evacuation orders for thousands of the city’s residents since Tuesday. But the additional emergency alert was made as wildfires moved north, threatening central Andong. A Buddhist monk presiding at Beopseongsa, a temple in the path of the Uiseong wildfire in Yeongyang, North Gyeongsang Province, has been found dead, according to local newswire Yonhap News Agency. The chief of Hwame 1-ri village, surnamed Lee, was quoted by Yonhap as saying that the Buddhist monk had been protecting the temple alone for a long time, offering shelter to those who lived alone and sharing food with others. “It seems he stayed at the temple until the very end to protect it,” Lee said. Authorities announced some electrical substations went offline Wednesday night, leading to power outages in the villages. Water purification plants were heavily affected by the wildfire in Yeongdeok, North Gyeongsang Province, with one incinerated and the other stopped by a power outage. Mobile communication services were reportedly disrupted across Yeongdeok and Uljin — another coastal county that lies adjacent to Yeongdeok — on Wednesday night. While the exact cause is still under investigation, the ministry suspected that the wildfires damaged communication lines of SK Telecom, KT Corp. and LG Uplus. Different sections of the local expressway were under control as well. A 158-kilometer portion of the Seosan-Yeongdeok Expressway, which connects Sangju — a western city of North Gyeongsang Province — and Yeongdeok was closed. A 91-kilometer portion of the Jungang Expressway that links Sangju and Uiseong has also been shut down since Wednesday. Meanwhile, the acting President and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo announced Andong, Cheongsong, Yeongyang and Yeongdeok were listed as special disaster zones after considering the growing size of forest loss and the increasing number of wildfire victims. The government previously designated Sancheong as a special disaster zone on March 22. Uiseong, Ulju and Hadong were added to this list on Monday. The designation of a special disaster zone allows the government to provide partial financial aid for the restoration of both private and public facilities damaged by wildfires. The affected residents will also receive a range of financial support, including a reduction in public utility fees, deferred local tax payments and more.

Biz groups join relief efforts in wildfire-hit areas

South Korea's major business groups have stepped up to support relief and recovery efforts for residents affected by recent wildfires in the country's southeastern region, they said Wednesday. Hyundai Motor Group said it has donated 2 billion won ($1.26 million) to aid the recovery in the areas hit by large-scale wildfires, including Sancheong of South Gyeongsang Province, Uiseong of North Gyeongsang Province and Ulju in Ulsan. The group has also dispatched six emergency support vehicles, including laundry and disinfection trucks, to offer sanitary assistance, along with two mobile office buses to provide rest areas for displaced residents and volunteer workers. SK Group has also donated 2 billion won for the recovery efforts, with its affiliates providing substantial services. Its telecommunications affiliates, including SK Telecom Co., have set up Wi-Fi and TV facilities at temporary shelters and have provided portable chargers for those affected. LG Group has also contributed 2 billion won to the nationwide recovery efforts. LG Electronics Inc. has provided air purifiers and other home appliances to temporary shelters, while LG H&H Co. has offered personal care products, such as toothbrushes, toothpastes and shampoos. LG Uplus Corp. has provided telecommunications services to displaced people. Retail giant Shinsegae Group has donated 500 million won, along with daily necessities, sanitary goods and clothing. The dayslong wildfires in the country's southeastern regions have been spreading rapidly amid strong winds, claiming at least 16 lives. (Yonhap)

LG Uplus, AWS team up to boost Korea’s AI cloud ecosystem

LG Uplus said Monday it will jointly promote an artificial intelligence transformation alliance strategy with Amazon Web Services to foster the domestic AI cloud ecosystem. At Mobile World Congress 2025, held in Barcelona, Spain, the two companies pledged to collaborate on developing a Korea-specific sovereign cloud, AI platforms and solutions, and AI consulting services. A sovereign cloud is a cloud service that ensures data sovereignty by storing, processing and managing data within a specific country in compliance with its laws and regulations. LG Uplus said that the joint development of a Korea-specific sovereign cloud will enhance data control and autonomy for domestic businesses. Additionally, LG Uplus and AWS will optimize the telecom carrier’s smaller, telecom-specific language model, ixi-GEN, along with AWS’ large language model, Nova. The two companies will also jointly develop Work Agent, an AI service designed to help companies integrate AI into their operations. This collaboration will enable Korean businesses, even those lacking AI expertise, to adopt AI services rapidly. LG Uplus plans to enhance its AI-powered customer service center with an advanced customer agent by integrating AI-based recommendation algorithms and the AWS platform. Under the agreement, LG Uplus will also join AWS’ generative AI innovation center as a specialized domestic consulting partner. Moving beyond AI partnerships, the company aims to establish itself as a leading consulting partner specializing in sovereign cloud security and data protection. “Through collaboration with AWS, we will address the pain points of domestic enterprises struggling with AI transformation. We will continue working with global leading partners to strengthen our (AI transformation) capabilities,” said Kwon Yong-hyun, executive vice president and head of corporate devision at LG Uplus.

LG Uplus accelerates global expansion with Google

At the Mobile World Congress 2025, LG Uplus announced a strategic partnership with Google to integrate the tech giant’s artificial intelligence model, Gemini, into LG Uplus’ AI agent, ixi O. The collaboration aims to enhance the AI assistant’s capabilities and drive global expansion. “Google approached LG Uplus with a proposal to merge Gemini with ixi O for international market expansion,” LG Uplus CEO Hong Bum-shik said in a press conference in Barcelona, Spain, Tuesday. “Our shared objective is to achieve about $300 million in revenue from this year to 2028.” With Gemini’s integration, ixi O is expected to evolve into an “actionable AI” with sophisticated analysis, summarization and recommendation functionalities, LG Uplus said. Hong highlighted the uniqueness of this partnership, noting that Google typically codevelops technologies and allows partners to handle sales while taking a share of the revenue. “It is rare for Google to engage in a ‘go-to-market’ strategy like this,” he said. “By combining Gemini with ixi O, we see the potential to expand globally.” Beyond its partnership with Google, LG Uplus is also in discussions with Amazon Web Services for AI cloud-related collaborations in three key areas: sovereign AI, AI contact centers and enterprise AI consulting services. Additionally, Japan’s telecom giant KDDI has proposed AI collaboration, which is currently under review by the Korean telecom carrier. Hong expressed his ambition for LG Uplus to establish itself as a frontrunner in the AI sector. “We may be a latecomer in the telecommunications industry, but we aim to become a first mover in the AI era,” the CEO said. “Our enterprise business will shift from conventional infrastructure-based solutions to a Software-as-a-Service model, allowing us to take the lead in enterprise software solutions.” LG Uplus said the key focus of its AI strategy is security. Hong introduced the company’s “4A” framework -- Assure, Adaptive, Accompanied and Altruistic -- with “Assured Intelligence” as the foundation. Unlike most companies that treat security as a final checkpoint when launching new services, LG Uplus plans to build AI security from the ground up. Hong also underscored the importance of global competition over domestic rivalry. “Rather than merely comparing ourselves to local competitors, we must position ourselves against global players,” he said. “Instead of focusing solely on growing domestic revenue, we are committed to achieving meaningful and sustainable profit growth.”

KT to launch AX unit with Microsoft in March

KT Corp. Chief Executive Officer Kim Young-shub said the company is set to launch a new artificial intelligence collaboration unit with Microsoft this month as part of its strategic push into AI. Speaking at a press conference in Barcelona on Tuesday, Kim unveiled plans to establish an AI Transformation Delivery Center, solidifying KT's commitment to AI innovation alongside Microsoft. “The AX Delivery Center will be a talent hub comprising over 300 experts from both companies,” the CEO said. “It will focus on accumulating world-class AX capabilities, developing customer-centric AI solutions and swiftly executing AX projects tailored to corporate needs.” In addition to forming the specialized center, KT has restructured its internal organizations to bolster AI expertise among employees. Measures include introducing an AX-prioritized job classification system, creating industry-specific AX communities and launching an AI education center covering key sectors such as education, healthcare, defense, energy and shipbuilding. KT's deepening partnership with Microsoft follows a landmark agreement signed in October, which outlined a five-year, 2.4 trillion won ($1.6 billion) collaboration in AI and cloud technology. The CEO said, “We will accelerate our efforts to achieve tangible results with Microsoft this year.” Through the dedicated AI unit, the two companies aim to expand into the enterprise AI transformation solutions market while developing Korea-specific sovereign AI models and cloud platforms. Kim highlighted KT's ambition to commercialize its “Korean AI” model and security public cloud by the second quarter of this year. “Korean AI is designed not only to process the Korean language but to deeply understand Korean culture, values and history while ensuring compliance with local regulations and security frameworks,” he said. The telecom carrier plans to integrate its large language model, Mi:dm, with Microsoft's AI solutions and various open-source models to create market-optimized AX solutions for Korea. According to KT, the SPC will offer high-security cloud services in full compliance with domestic laws and regulations. KT is also preparing to introduce a business-to-consumer AI service in the second quarter, competing with offerings such as SK Telecom's A. and LG Uplus' ixi O. As part of its broader AI strategy, KT will begin operating an AX strategic fund this month. The fund, jointly financed by KT and Microsoft, aims to support AI transformation among startups and small to mid-sized enterprises while fostering an AI-driven ecosystem led by KT. Additionally, the fund will facilitate the stable procurement of GPUs. Under the agreement, KT will invest 13 billion won, while Microsoft will contribute equivalent GPU resources.

Korea’s first alternative stock exchange goes live

Breaking Korea Exchange’s nearly 70-year monopoly, Nextrade offers extended trading hours, lower commission fees Nextrade, South Korea’s first alternative stock trading system, began operations on Tuesday, introducing a 12-hour trading system that extends beyond traditional market hours. The key advantages of trading on Nextrade include flexible trading hours and lower commission fees. However, a limited number of available stocks and low initial liquidity are cited as potential drawbacks. “We will make every effort to ensure that Nextrade provides swift, innovative services that meet the needs of the local capital market,” said Nextrade CEO Kim Hak-soo during the platform’s launch ceremony in western Seoul on Tuesday. Here are key questions and answers regarding the nation's new secondary stock exchange that ended Korea Exchange's monopoly of almost 70 years. What is Nextrade? Nextrade is South Korea’s first alternative stock exchange. It was launched by a consortium of 34 securities and tech firms in November 2022 to promote competition in the domestic capital market. After receiving final regulatory approval in February, Nextrade officially went live on Tuesday, breaking the monopoly previously held by Korea Exchange. What are the benefits of trading on Nextrade? Unlike KRX, which operates from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Nextrade offers extended trading hours, allowing investors to trade in the early morning or evening. Nextrade’s trading hours span 12 hours a day, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Premarket hours run from 8 to 8:50 a.m., regular market hours from 9 a.m. to 3:20 p.m. and aftermarket hours from 3:40 to 8 p.m. For operational convenience, trading is paused for 10 minutes twice a day: 8:50 a.m.–9:00 a.m. and 3:20 p.m.–3:30 p.m. Nextrade will charge commission rates 20-40 percent lower than KRX's fee of 0.0023 percent. Additionally, Nextrade will waive all commission fees until April 30 to encourage trading activity. Are all listed stocks available on Nextrade? No. In its first two weeks of operation, Nextrade will offer only 10 stocks for trading: Kospi-listed stocks: Lotte Shopping, Cheil Worldwide, Kolon Industries, LG Uplus, S-Oil Kosdaq-listed stocks: Golfzon, Dongkook Pharmaceutical, SFA, YG Entertainment, Com2uS By March 17, the number of available stocks will increase to 110. By March 24, it will expand to 350, including major stocks such as Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, Hyundai Motor, Naver and Kakao. Eventually, 800 stocks will be available for trading by March 31. Currently, exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded notes are not available on Nextrade, but the operator hopes to introduce them later this year. Can investors choose between KRX and Nextrade? Yes. During regular market hours (9:00 a.m.–3:20 p.m.), when both Nextrade and KRX operate, investors can choose which platform to use, considering factors such as commission fees, trading speed and bid price. During premarket and aftermarket hours, when only Nextrade is operational, investors must use Nextrade if they wish to trade. If investors do not make a selection, brokerage houses will decide on their behalf based on the duty of best execution, meaning they will evaluate which exchange offers better pricing or stability and execute the transaction via the Smart Order Routing system. Currently, 14 major brokerage firms, including Mirae Asset Securities, Kiwoom Securities, and Samsung Securities, support trading on Nextrade during all operational hours. Another 14 mid-sized brokerage firms, such as Shinhan Securities and Kakaopay Securities, only offer trading during Nextrade’s premarket and aftermarket hours for the time being.

LG Uplus teams up with Google to enhance AI agent ixi O

LG Uplus said Tuesday that it plans to enhance its artificial intelligence agent service, ixi O, in collaboration with Google. Under their partnership, LG Uplus said it would integrate Google's AI model, Gemini, into ixi O to refine call context analysis, enabling more precise conversation summaries and context-aware action recommendations. Leveraging Google Cloud's Vertex AI, LG Uplus also aims to introduce a new feature that allows users to search for relevant objects, situations and locations directly related to call content. Vertex AI is a platform designed to help enterprises train and deploy AI models and develop AI applications utilizing large language models. To enhance search capabilities, the telecom carrier is actively considering the implementation of the Grounding with Google Search feature within ixi O. According to LG Uplus, this functionality will enable AI models to access real-time information, delivering more accurate and relevant responses. Beyond these enhancements, LG Uplus plans to leverage Google's generative AI, including multimodal AI, to develop a variety of AI-driven services for ixi O. Additionally, the company is exploring opportunities for ixi O’s expansion into global markets. The two companies will also collaborate on LG Uplus’ AI transformation strategy, examining the potential integration of Google AI across home services, digital channels and workplace solutions. "We will continue collaborating with leading global companies to shape the AI ecosystem and establish our presence in the global market,” said LG Uplus CEO Hong Bum-shik.

Telecom carriers to showcase AI innovations at MWC 2025

South Korea’s three major mobile carriers -- SK Telecom, KT Corp. and LG Uplus -- are set to compete in artificial intelligence innovations at the Mobile World Congress 2025, the world’s largest telecom exhibition, scheduled to take place in Barcelona, Spain, March 3-6. This year’s MWC theme is "Converge, Connect, Create,” according to industry sources Monday. The theme reflects the industry's commitment to integrating and connecting diverse mobile technologies through AI to create next-generation solutions. Key exhibition topics include Fifth-generation Inside, Connect X, AI Plus, Enterprise re-invented, Game Changers and Our Digital DNA, outlining the future of the mobile industry. Until last year, only SK Telecom and KT had showrooms at MWC. However, LG Uplus will establish a dedicated booth for the first time this year, demonstrating its commitment to AI competition. Chief executive officers from all three carriers -- Ryu Young-sang of SK Telecom, Kim Young-shub of KT and Hong Bum-shik of LG Uplus -- will be present at the event, unveiling their visions for AI transformation while fostering collaboration with global tech giants. SK will present its innovations under the theme "Innovative AI, Accelerating the Future." The company will showcase AI-enhanced telecom services, AI data center solutions and autonomous robots, highlighting its industry applications. A key focus will be its AI data center solutions, featuring integrated technologies related to memory and security. Additionally, it will set up a dedicated area highlighting AI semiconductor technologies developed under the SK Group umbrella. This space will feature cutting-edge products such as SK hynix's fifth-generation HBM3E chips and high-performance solid-state drives for data centers, alongside AI inference-optimized neural processing unit technologies from Rebellions, a company strategically backed by SK Telecom. As a board member of the GSMA, the global association organizing MWC, KT will actively participate in discussions on telecom and network policy. The company will introduce the "K-Office" concept, modeled after its Seoul office building, to demonstrate its Korea-specific AI solutions for improving work efficiency. Attendees can experience firsthand AI-powered solutions for market analysis, GPU allocation, carbon emission tracking and customer service optimization. KT will also host a startup booth, showcasing innovations from partner startups in future networks and 5G precision positioning technologies. LG will mark its first-ever solo exhibition at MWC25, centering on "Trustworthy Intelligence." The company will unveil AI-driven solutions with enhanced security, including its AI agent ixi O. the telecom-specialized AI model ixi-GEN and anti-deep voice, a technology designed to detect deepfake voices and prevent voice phishing scams. The company will also introduce ixi Future Ville, an installation showcasing AI-driven lifestyle transformations. This exhibition will illustrate how LG Uplus’ AI technology, ixi, helps customers navigate daily challenges while fostering a more sustainable future.