Most Popular
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Jimin of BTS, actor Song Da-eun suspected to be dating, again
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What's next for the government's push in quota hike?
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Trump may like to 'solve' N. Korean nuclear problem if reelected: ex-official
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Woman falls to death from acquaintance's home after exhibiting ‘unexplained' behaviors
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‘Malice should not undermine the system, social order,’ says Hybe's Bang
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N. Korea slams planned S. Korea-US military drills, warns of 'catastrophic aftermath'
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[Robert J. Fouser] Social attitudes toward language proficiency
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N. Korea fires short-range ballistic missiles toward East Sea: JCS
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[Graphic News] How much do Korean adults read?
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N. Korea says it test-fired tactical ballistic missile with new guidance technology
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Naver’s Q2 earnings surge 44% on upbeat overseas sales
[THE INVESTOR] South Korean Internet giant Naver on July 28 posted its second-quarter operating profit of 272.7 billion won (US$240 million), up 44 percent from a year ago, largely buoyed by soaring overseas sales of its immensely popular LINE mobile messenger. Revenue also soared 26.3 percent to 987.3 billion won during the April-June period.Overseas sales saw a whopping 43.1 percent growth to 349.7 billion won compared to a year ago, making up 35 percent of the company’s total quarterly earnin
July 28, 2016
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Samsung inks patent licensing deal with Valencell
[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics has recently inked a patent licensing deal with US-based biometric sensor developer Valencell in a move to further expand its presence in the soaring health care wearables market. Samsung Gear IconX earbuds that also work as a fitness trackerValencell has a highly cited patent portfolio in optical biometric sensor technology, which includes 35 patents granted and more than 70 additional patents pending. With the latest patent licensing deal, Samsung is expected
July 27, 2016
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LINE swings into black
[THE INVESTOR] LINE, the Tokyo-headquartered mobile messenger operator, said on July 27 that the company’s operating profit improved in the April-June period thanks to strong sales in its ad and media content businesses.Announcing its first earnings result on the day since its IPO in Tokyo and New York this month, the company said it logged 8 billion yen (US$75.74 million) in operating profit, up from an operating loss of 2.4 billion yen in the second quarter of last year. It also recorded 33.9
July 27, 2016
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LG Innotek suffers W34b operating loss in Q2
[THE INVESTOR] LG Innotek, the electronics parts unit of LG Group, suffered an operating loss of 34 billion won (US$30 million) in the April-June period, the company said in its quarterly earnings report on July 27. Revenue stood at 1.12 trillion won, down 22.6 percent from a year ago.The company said the slowing demand for smartphones has affected its overall sales negatively, adding that it would making a big push on the more lucrative automotive parts business as its new growth engine.In the
July 27, 2016
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SK Telecom steps up development of advanced AR, VR tech
South Korean network operator SK Telecom said Wednesday it has partnered with Israel-based 3-D sensor processing developer Inuitive Ltd. to step up its development of solutions based on augmented and virtual reality technology.SKT and Inuitive signed a memorandum of understanding in Seoul on the day, agreeing to jointly work on new AR-and VR-based solutions under development by SKT for mobile phones and small electronic devices.SKT plans to merge its AR and VR tech brand “T-Real” with Inuitive’s
July 27, 2016
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LG to invest W2tr in OLEDs
LG Display’s latest plan to make an additional investment in plastic organic light-emitting diodes indicates that Samsung and LG would be double vendors for Apple’s new iPhone to be unveiled in 2018, industry sources said Wednesday. LG Display said Wednesday it plans to invest around 2 trillion won ($1.76 billion) -- equivalent to around 15 percent of the display-maker’s equity capital -- to produce around 15,000 plastic OLED sheets per month in its Paju plant. LG Display CEO Han Sang-beom speak
July 27, 2016
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Naver to spin off mobile video messaging app Snow
South Korean Internet giant Naver said Wednesday that it will spin off its mobile video messaging app Snow as an independent company next month, encouraged by the app’s surging popularity across Asia.Camp Mobile, Naver’s mobile business unit, plans to separate out Snow as an independent company, to be named Snow Corp., on Aug. 1 with aims to nurture the app’s future growth with more efficiency and responsibility, according to Naver.Snow, a video and photo-sharing mobile messenger developed by Na
July 27, 2016
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Samsung narrows profit margin gap with Apple
[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics has narrowed its operating profit margin gap with archrival Apple, with the figure reducing to the lowest-ever 7.62 percent in the second quarter. This is the first time that the gap has narrowed to a single-digit percentage point between the world’s top two smartphone-makers. Koh Dong-jin, chief of Samsung Electronics‘ mobile business unit, holding Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge phones. Samsung ElectronicsAccording to its earnings guidance, Samsung posted 8.1 trillion
July 27, 2016
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Samsung, SK hynix to spend more on chips for self-driving cars
[THE INVESTOR] Korean chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are pouring more resources into producing chips for self-driving cars amid their slowing sales in key sectors such as PCs. SK hynix, the second-largest memory chipmaker next to Samsung, said on July 26 that its car business now makes more than 10 percent of DRAM sales. DRAM chips are used for temporary data storage. The company added the figure for NAND chips, used for long-term data storage on smartphones and computers, is lower
July 27, 2016
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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