Most Popular
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Marine Corps commander summoned by CIO for questioning on alleged influence-peddling case
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Debate rages over ‘overly fatty’ samgyeopsal
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[Weekender] Korean psyche untangled: Musok
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40 flights canceled on Jeju Island due to bad weather
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[Eye Interview] 'If you live to 100, you might as well be happy,' says 88-year-old bestselling essayist
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N. Korea slams US, other countries for seeking alternative to UN sanctions monitoring panel
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From fake prostitution ring to nonexistent robber, prank calls hamper police
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Missing S. Korean traveler in Paris found safe after 2 weeks
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Pandemic left Korea more depressed than before: report
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Defense chiefs of US, Australia, Japan decry NK-Russia military cooperation
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Race to lead OLED market heats up
[THE INVESTOR] All eyes are now on who will take the reins in the upcoming era of organic light-emitting diode, which is expected to bring a generational change to mobile devices and the whole IT sector. The smartphone OLED realm has been a stronghold of Samsung Display whose market share reached 97.7 percent in the Jan-March period, according to market research firm IHS.Among the runner-ups in the segment are LG display of South Korea and AUO of Taiwan whose market share stood at 0.9 percent an
July 27, 2016
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LG Display’s Q2 operating profit down 91%
[THE INVESTOR] South Korea’s display maker LG Display saw its operating profit drop 91 percent on-year in the April-June period, due largely to fierce competition in the global display market. The Seoul-headquartered company posted operating profit of 4.4 billion won (US$3.88 million) while its revenue came in at 585 billion won, down 13 percent compared to the same period in 2015.The TV and smartphone displays together account for more than half of the quarterly revenue -- 39 percent and 27 per
July 27, 2016
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LG Display bets big on OLED to take on Samsung
[THE INVESTOR] South Korea’s display manufacturer LG Display announced on July 27 that it would invest around 2 trillion won (US$1.80 billion) to build manufacturing facilities for plastic organic light-emitting diode displays, a type of flexible display mostly used for mobile devices like smartphones. The company will add the new facilities with the monthly production capacity of 15,000 sheets of the sixth-generation plastic OLED -- measured 1,500 millimeters by 1,859 millimeters -- at the firm
July 27, 2016
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LG Display to spend $1.75 bln on OLED display facility
LG Display Co. on Wednesday said it will spend 1.99 trillion won ($1.75 billion) to build a new production line for small to medium-sized organic light-emitting diodes used for smartphones and smartwatches. The new production line in South Korea will have a capacity of 15,000 sheets of the new OLED per month, LG Display said in a statement.LG Display said it will complete building the new facility by 2018, which will allow the company to produce a total of 30,000 sixth-generation OLED panels, th
July 27, 2016
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Korean women 20 cm taller than century ago
The average height of Korean women is now 20 centimeters taller than 100 years ago, according to a study published by Imperial College, London, on Monday. Korean women and Iranian men showed the highest growth in average height among 200 nationalities, between 1914 and 2014, said the paper by Elio Riboli and James Bentham. (YouTube capture)A century ago, South Korean women had an average height of 1.42 m, but their average height is now 1.62 m. North Korean women’s average height was 1.49 m in 1
July 26, 2016
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Huawei Korea under tax probe
South Korea’s National Tax Service is conducting an investigation into Huawei Korea, the local branch of Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies, the company said Tuesday. Investigators from the Seoul branch of the National Tax Service are currently conducting a tax audit on Huawei Korea, the firm said, calling it a regular process that takes place every five years.“The NTS has been investigating our company as part of a regular audit that takes place every five years,” a Huawei Korea spokesperso
July 26, 2016
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Trade fair on startups to open in Los Angeles
South Korean startups will show off their new products at a trade fair in Los Angeles later this week, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said Tuesday. The three-day fair, set to begin at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Friday, is aimed at helping the startups make inroads into the U.S. market and attract foreign investments, according to the ministry. During the fair, named the "Creative Economy Global Road Show," some companies will display beauty and fashion products for fa
July 26, 2016
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SK Telecom pulls plug on CJ HelloVision M&A
South Korean network provider SK Telecom said Monday that it was terminating its plan to merge its IPTV unit SK Broadband and the country’s top cable TV operator CJ HelloVision.The decision came a week after the Fair Trade Commission officially opposed the 1 trillion won merger deal ($875 million), citing concerns over a market monopoly by SKT in the competitive paid TV business.In November 2015, SKT had announced that it would acquire a 53.9 percent majority stake in CJ HelloVision from its own
July 26, 2016
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Samsung to expand Austin R&D center to secure tech talents
[News Analysis] Samsung Electronics’ latest plan to expand its research and development center in Austin, Texas, demonstrates its efforts to secure talents on its future businesses such as driverless cars or artificial intelligence, analysts said Tuesday.Samsung Austin R&D Center, which develops system large-scale integration for premium mobile devices, said last week it would be relocating its offices from its current location at Ladera Bend to a new, larger and updated 112,000-square-foot spac
July 26, 2016
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Nexon’s latest mobile game a big hit overseas
[THE INVESTOR] Online game developer Nexon said on July 26 that the number of downloads for the global version of its mobile role-playing game “HIT” has exceeded the 3 million mark since its debut less than a month ago. First released in Korea in November 2015, the global version was launched in 140 nations, excluding China and Japan, on July 7. The mobile app has been included in the top 10 best-selling paid mobile apps in Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Vietnam. Nexon has recently been in the
July 26, 2016
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‘Drone genius’ Korean boy tops Shanghai drone racing: KT
12-year-old Korean boy has won first place in a 16-nation drone racing tournament in Shanghai, KT Corporation said Tuesday. According to KT, Kim Min-chan participated in the competition as a member of KT’s drone racing team “GiGA5” and recorded a score of 55 seconds 56.(KT Corporation)Another player from GiGA5, 17-year-old Son Young-rok, took second place with 1 minute 12 seconds 10 record. The first Asia Cup Shanghai took place on July 23 and 24 with 128 players from China, Japan, Korea and 13
July 26, 2016
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SK Telecom withdraws merger plan with CJ HelloVision
[THE INVESTOR] SK Telecom announced on July 26 that it is officially withdrawing the merger plan between its IPTV unit SK Broadband and the nation’s No. 1 cable TV operator CJ HelloVision. The announcement comes after the Fair Trade Commission, the state antitrust regulator, disapproved the 1 trillion won deal on July 18, citing monopoly concerns that could further strengthen SK Telecom’s dominant market position in the highly competitive paid TV market. “SK Telecom has notified CJ HelloVision t
July 26, 2016
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Korea to adopt US UHD TV standard
[THE INVESTOR] Korea has decided to opt for ATSC 3.0, a technology standard in the US for ultra-high definition broadcasting, over the European standard DVB-T2, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said July 26.Most of the TVs made by Korean TV makers including Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are based on the European standard, a relatively outdated technology compared to the US counterpart.Samsung Electronics’ 105-inch UHD TV / Samsung ElectronicsAs a result, many of those wh
July 26, 2016
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Payment services start-up attracts W20b funding
[THE INVESTOR] JTNet, an operator of online and offline payment services, has attracted 20 billion won (US$17.5 million) of funding from BNW Investment and Zenitas Investment, the company said on July 26. The Korean company under Yellow Mobile’s online-to-offline business affiliate Yellow O2O, offers value-added network and payment gateway services -- core technologies behind credit card transactions.Founded in 1993, the company joined Yellow Mobile, a start-up giant consisting of dozens of diff
July 26, 2016
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Korea picks U.S.-based UHD TV standard
South Korea picked the U.S.-based Advanced Television Systems Committee 3.0 standard for the country's ultra-high-definition television broadcasting set to launch next year, the science ministry said Tuesday.The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said it preferred the ATSC 3.0 standard for UHD TV broadcasting that begins next February over the Europe-based DVB-T2 standard.UHD TVs manufactured by local TV makers have so far been based on the DVB-T2 broadcasting system and will require a
July 26, 2016
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Huawei’s S. Korean branch under tax probe
[THE INVESTOR] Chinese cellphone maker Huawei’s South Korean office is being probed by tax authorities, local media reported on July 26. According to reports, the Seoul branch of the National Tax Service recently dispatched officials from the international business division for a tax audit. While Huawei said that it is a regular audit conducted every five years, reports citing unnamed sources say that the NTS is focusing on determining whether tax evasion occurred in dealings between Huawei’s lo
July 26, 2016
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Interpark falls prey to email scam
[THE INVESTOR] The servers of leading Korean e-commerce firm Interpark were hacked, compromising its customers’ personal information including email addresses, and phone numbers, according to news reports July 26.A group of hackers, who accessed the firm’s servers with overseas IPs, stole around 10.3 million pieces of personal data in May. A notice posted on the Interpark internet homepageThe hackers reportedly sent emails with malicious codes to Interpark employees and got access to the sensiti
July 26, 2016
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LG to spend more for R&D on appliance parts
[THE INVESTOR] LG Electronics said it would spend 30-50 percent more on-year for research and development into key components of washing machines and air conditioners to maintain its competitiveness in the home appliance market. “The motor and compressor plays a vital role in our home appliance business, so we will invest accordingly,” said Park Jung-hyun, vice president of LG’s compressor and motor business unit at a press meeting in South Gyeongsang Province last week. LG Electronics employee
July 25, 2016
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OLED shipments for smartphones to double by 2017: research firm
[THE INVESOTR] Shipments of organic light-emitting diode displays for smartphones are expected to almost double from last year’s 250 million units to 450 million units in 2017, market research firm IHS predicted. Currently, about 97 percent of the market is dominated by Samsung Display, the display-making unit of Samsung Electronics. Samsung Galaxy S7IHS said this year’s shipments could surge 42.7 percent to 366.9 million panels compared to a year ago. Samsung has extended the OLED adoption for
July 25, 2016
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LG Chem to expand elastomer output
The nation’s leading chemical and battery firm LG Chem is set to triple its elastomer output to meet the growing demand in the global market, the company said on Monday. LG Chem said it would invest 400 billion won ($351 million) to build additional factories, which will be capable of producing 200,000 metric tons of elastomers on an annual basis. Elastomer is high-valued synthetic resins, which is used for materials for cars, shoes, functional films and electric wire. When the plants are comple
July 25, 2016