Most Popular
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Do Korean doctors make too much money?
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Korean industries gauge impact of Biden's steep tariffs on China
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Court refuses injunction on medical school expansion
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Why Korean crime stories typically feature nameless, faceless perpetrators
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Is FTC's conglomerate listing a boon or bane for Hybe?
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NewJeans to headline palace show
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Coupang's Kim Bom escapes chaebol chief designation again
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Debate on 'no-seniors zones' heats up
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S. Korea, Cambodia forge strategic partnership
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Rare mid-May heavy snow warning issued over mountainous areas of Gangwon
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[Newsmaker] Galaxy S21 comes with striking design change, most powerful processor
Samsung Galaxy S21, unveiled Thursday at midnight, boasts a new, striking design and is equipped with the most powerful processor yet. Plus, it comes with a lowered price tag. Samsung streamed the Galaxy S21 Unpacked show through various online channels to introduce its flagship smartphones for 2021 -- Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21+ and Galaxy S21 Ultra -- one month earlier than previous years. The Ultra model supports the S Pen stylus for the first time. Samsung also introduced Galaxy Buds Pro
Jan. 15, 2021
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Will commercial breaks give second chance to terrestrial broadcasters?
Terrestrial broadcasters will be allowed to air commercial breaks starting June, the first time since laws regulating the TV industry have been in place 48 years ago. The Korea Communications Commission announced its “Broadcasting Market Promotion Policy Measures” on Wednesday. The Enforcement Decree of the Broadcasting Act states that commercial breaks will be allowed for all broadcasters regardless of their service providers. Current laws prohibit local terrestrial broadcasters
Jan. 14, 2021
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Only 3% of companies currently use AI: report
Only 3.6 percent of companies have adopted artificial intelligence technology, a report from the Korea Development Institute showed Thursday. To see how AI is being used or perceived in different sectors, the KDI conducted a survey of 1,000 companies with at least 20 employees, including conglomerates and small and midsized businesses. Conglomerates made up 91.7 percent of all AI-using companies, according to the report. By industry, 55 percent of AI-using companies were in the service secto
Jan. 14, 2021
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[Newsmaker] With Galaxy S21, Samsung gets aggressive to offset pandemic effect
Samsung Electronics, set to launch its first batch of mobile phones this year, is expected to take an aggressive pricing strategy to boost sales. The Galaxy S21 series will be unveiled Thursday at midnight, South Korean time, amid expectations that the new phones will be available at a wider range of prices than their predecessors. According to industry sources, Samsung will release three Galaxy S21 models -- the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21+ and Galaxy S21 Ultra -- with prices ranging from 999,
Jan. 14, 2021
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Personal data from chatbot Luda shared on Github
Scatter Lab, developer of artificial intelligence chatbot Lee Luda, has come under fire for uploading private messages on an open-source platform to train its AI model, local media said Thursday. Scatter Lab has reportedly uploaded around 100 datasets of KakaoTalk messages on GitHub dating from September last year, when the company started sharing its artificial neural network model for the chatbot, the reports said. The datasets contained personal information of users of the Science of Love
Jan. 14, 2021
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South Korean research team contributes to discovery of photon avalanches
A joint research team from South Korea, the US and Poland has discovered a new phenomenon called “photon avalanche,” which is expected to open up new ways of research on fields that use optical technology. According to the research team from the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, it has found that absorption of a single photon in some materials could trigger a chain reaction that produces a large burst of light. This special type of upconversion called photon avalan
Jan. 14, 2021
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Half of Alzheimer’s patients show mild symptoms of dementia
Half of patients with Alzheimer’s disease have mild symptoms of dementia, a group of researchers at the Boston University School of Medicine said Wednesday. Using data from the Framingham Heart Study, the researchers found that 50.4 percent of the patients had mild symptoms, 30.3 percent had moderate symptoms and 19.3 percent had severe cases. The Framingham Heart Study is a long-term cardiovascular cohort study of residents of the city of Framingham, Massachusetts. The study began in
Jan. 14, 2021
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3- and 4-year-olds hooked on TV, smartphones: survey
Teo, who just turned 3 years old this month, is cared for by a babysitter until sunset, as day care centers have been partially shut down due to COVID-19. After dark, the situation changes. “When I work overtime at home past 6 in the evening, it’s the smartphone that keeps Teo company in the living room,” the mother of Teo sighed, as she admitted that smartphone usage at such a young age may not be the best option for a child. A recent survey has demonstrated that Teo is not
Jan. 14, 2021
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S. Korea's smartphone market tipped to grow over 10% this year
The South Korean smartphone market is projected to grow 11 percent this year from a year earlier, a report showed Thursday, on the back of increased sales of 5G handsets. Smartphone shipments in South Korea are estimated to reach 19 million units this year, up from 17 million units a year ago, according to market researcher Counterpoint Research. It predicted that expanded 5G smartphone models and the release of smartphones with new form factors, such as foldables and rollables, will push up h
Jan. 14, 2021
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S. Korea to allow commercial breaks for terrestrial broadcasters
South Korea's media regulator said Wednesday it will ease rules to allow commercial breaks during TV programs for terrestrial broadcasters in a move to boost the country's slumping broadcast industry. Local terrestrial broadcasters are currently prohibited from airing commercial breaks to ensure viewer rights. Broadcasters, however, have skirted rules by dividing programs in two parts and airing commercials in between amid declining sales. The Korea Communications Commission said it will chan
Jan. 13, 2021
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Celltrion's COVID-19 treatment reports clinical improvement of 54%
A coronavirus antibody treatment under development by local drugmaker Celltrion has shown a clinical improvement rate of 54 percent among mild and moderate COVID-19 cases, the company announced Wednesday. The immediate reaction from the industry was that a 54 percent improvement rate is too low to be considered a treatment. However, antibody treatments are meant to only alleviate, not cure, some were quick to add. Celltrion's treatment will require early detection of an infection. If found ea
Jan. 13, 2021
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[CES 2021] Tech boundaries crushed as innovations rush in
A notable trend at this year’s CES is that the boundaries between different sectors of technology are not just being blurred, but crushed, as the pandemic accelerates the pace of innovation. With the all-digital CES 2021 heading into its third day, many viewers have been taken by surprise by unexpected presentations from major companies, such as conventional automaker General Motors, auto parts maker Bosch and camera company Canon. GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra proclaimed during her
Jan. 13, 2021
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[CES 2021] More Robots and AI from South Korean tech giants at CES 2021
At the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show, South Korean companies have presented more robots and artificial intelligence-based products and solutions that promise to make our daily lives easier in the near future. LG Electronics brought its AI-based virtual human character Reah Keem to the fore, who unveiled the company’s latest line of LG CLoi UV-C robots. The robot, designed to use ultraviolet radiation to reduce harmful germs in public and personal areas, was presented for the first ti
Jan. 13, 2021
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Telegram, Signal user numbers soar after WhatsApp’s controversial privacy update
Messaging apps Telegram and Signal saw a surge in the number of app downloads and active users amid a backlash over competitor WhatsApp’s new privacy policy. Telegram added 25 million new users in the last 72 hours to reach the 500 million active users milestone, according to the messaging app’s official Twitter account on Wednesday. Signal collected 7.5 million downloads from Apple’s App Store and Google Play period from Wednesday through Sunday, an equivalent to a 4,200 p
Jan. 13, 2021
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S. Koreans spend more time on mobile devices in 2020: report
South Koreans spent an average of 4.4 hours on mobile devices a day last year, up 19 percent from the previous year amid the pandemic, a report showed Wednesday. The country's increased use of mobile apps was in line with last year's global daily average of 4.2 hours, up 20 percent over the same period, according to the report from mobile data tracker App Annie. App Annie said the time South Koreans spent on financial apps last year especially increased, with the country's top five financial a
Jan. 13, 2021
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Samsung unveils Exynos 2100 ahead of Galaxy S21 Unpacked
Samsung Electronics on Tuesday unveiled its new mobile application processor Exynos 2100 through an online event ahead of the Samsung Galaxy S21 Unpacked event this week. The Exynos 2100, which is expected to power the upcoming Galaxy S21 series, is Samsung’s first mobile application processor integrated with a 5G modem. Manufactured on Samsung’s 5-nanometer extreme ultra-violet process node, the new processor comes with the most cutting-edge central processing unit and graphic
Jan. 13, 2021
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[Herald Interview] Korea’s COVID-19 response overlooks patients’ well-being
This interview is the first installment in a three-part series in conversations with the former directors of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- now the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency -- as the country looks back on a year of the COVID-19 pandemic. -- Ed. Good health care should not be sidelined in efforts to find and isolate people with COVID-19 and their contacts, says respiratory disease specialist Dr. Jung Ki-suck. Jung is the immediate predecessor o
Jan. 12, 2021
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[CES 2021] ‘AI would matter more in life after COVID-19’
Artificial intelligence would take on a bigger role in people’s lives after the COVID-19 pandemic, according to forecasts by industry researchers at the Consumer Electronics Show 2021 Tuesday. During an online press conference held on the first day of the annual tech tradeshow, researchers at the event’s organizer US-based Consumer Technology Association, pinpointed AI being at the center of changes occurring across industries since the virus outbreak and will gain more growth mo
Jan. 12, 2021
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[News Focus] Foul-mouthed chatbot Luda brings belated lesson in AI ethics
A social media-based artificial intelligence chatbot has been suspended in South Korea after stirring a series of controversies with discriminatory and vulgar language, leaving lessons for all parties involved in the related sectors dealing with AI. The chatbot Lee Luda, developed by local startup firm Scatter Lab, was introduced last December to run on Facebook Messenger. Designed to mimic a 20-year-old woman, it has attracted more than 400,000 users via Facebook so far. It, however, became
Jan. 12, 2021
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Samsung introduces first-ever water purifier
Samsung Electronics Co. on Tuesday introduced its first-ever water purifier as the tech giant enters the fast-growing home water purifier market amid the pandemic-induced stay-at-home trend. Samsung unveiled the BESPOKE water purifier that is highlighted by space-efficient design and easy care features at its media event for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2021. The new water purifier will be launched in South Korea in the first quarter of year, the company added. Samsung's BESPOKE wat
Jan. 12, 2021