Starting next year, subway passengers in South Korea will be able to enjoy free Wi-Fi services that are 10 times faster, the Ministry of Science and ICT said Tuesday. According to the ministry, subway commuters will be able to use Wi-Fi 6E that has a more reliable internet connection, and is 10 times faster than the current Wi-Fi speed. The upgraded Wi-Fi speed will be on par with that of priva...

Kim Il-du, CEO of Kakao Brain, the artificial intelligence technology research and development subsidiary of Kakao, said Monday its supergiant AI models are more practical than Naver’s, amid growing competition between the two tech giants over leadership in the AI business in Korea. “Although Kakao Brain’s Korean-language AI model KoGPT contains less parameters than Naver’s, it is just the size ...

The competition to enter the used battery business for electric vehicles is heating up among domestic and global car and battery makers, amid market prospects that the market size would grow to hit 20 trillion won ($16.8 billion) in less than 10 years, data showed. According to data from SNE Research, a consulting firm based in Korea, the global market size of used EV batteries is anticipated to...

South Korea’s commercial banks are rushing into the delivery service market, challenging the country’s big tech and retail companies that have blurred boundaries between finance and tech industries. According to Shinhan Bank, it will start its food delivery beta service Wednesday. The delivery app, dubbed “Ddaeng-gyoeyo,” is a separate app from the bank’s all-in-one mobile app “Shinhan SOL.” Th...

South Korean mobile realtor app operator Dabang said Thursday it has unveiled a contact-free signing service for real estate contracts, accelerating innovation in the country’s property technology industry. According to the property technology company, the mobile signing service, Dabang Sign, offers users the ability to sign real estate contracts via Dabang’s app. If landlords request to regist...

Kakao Brain, the artificial intelligence technology research and development subsidiary of Kakao, said Wednesday it has launched its second AI model that self-generates images, allowing the company to quickly expand its presence in Korea’s mammoth AI space. The AI model, dubbed “minDALL-E,” creates images the users wish to see, according to the company. For instance, when users type in requests ...

BROKERAGE OF THE YEAR / MIRAE ASSET SECURITIES Mirae Asset Securities, a South Korean brokerage firm, has set new records this year. Mirae’s overseas stock and retirement pension assets each reached a record high of 20 trillion won ($16.8 billion), the brokerage firm said. The company’s overseas stock trading volume has surged 20 times more than it was in 2017. Compared to 2020, it increased b...

“KakaoBank’s core value comes from flexibility. Based on trust, we need to voice out different opinions and even clash with each other in order to solve problems quickly,” Yun said in a message he sent to staff in the same year. Highlighting that creative ideas come from a less rigid workplace, Yun goes by the name Daniel instead of “sir,” and other staff and executives follow suit. Yun plans t...

South Korean internet giant Naver on Wednesday laid out its strategies to enter the global market with its latest metaverse technology that allows hyperconnection between the real world and virtual reality. “We have recently joined hands with SoftBank to make an HD map of cities in Japan through our ALIKE solution. It will be an important stepping stone for Naver to bring future without borders,...

Dunamu, the operator of cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, said Tuesday that it has launched the beta version of its video chat metaverse platform, pushing the boundary between the real world and virtual reality. Metaverse refers to virtual communities that let users interact in real time. On 2ndblock, the metaverse platform, a video chat window automatically pops up when users’ avatars are close b...

KakaoTalk, South Korea’s top mobile messenger, celebrated the 10th anniversary of its emoticon service, highlighting the jobs it has created for freelancers. KakaoTalk emoticons that can be purchased and used in the mobile messenger have raised 700 billion won ($586 million) in sales revenue since their launch in 2011, according to the company. More than 300,000 emoticon sets have been sold, an...

The metaverse, a kind of virtual community that lets users interact in real-time, carries potential legal risks, and requires regulations to ensure platform operators protect their users from digital crimes, experts said Friday. “Since metaverse embodies the virtual world as almost exactly the same as the real world, there are concerns on severe privacy violations. It is highly possible that dat...

South Korean blockchain research company AMAXG has put up an ad on the Time Square billboard in New York, sharing its vision on metaverse and nonfungible tokens. The ad says, “AMAXG Group is in full support of technological innovation of metaverse in Korea.” AMAXG Group has recently announced it will expand its BizAuto Platform, a group of metaverse services platforms, consisting of three platf...

Dunamu, the operator of cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, said Wednesday that it sold its first NFT art: two paintings by the famous Korean pop artist Jang Koal. The first art piece, “Mirage Cat 3,” started its bidding price from 0.0416 bitcoins, worth 2.8 million won ($2,350), and was sold on Wednesday on the Upbit NFT Beta platform to a bidder who had offered 3.5098 bitcoins, or about 240 million...

Kakao Brain, an AI technology research and development subsidiary of Kakao, said Thursday it will upgrade its Korean-language AI model to go full swing in promoting the development of local AI industry. According to the AI company, it plans to enhance the deep learning process of KoGPT, Kako Brain’s Korean- language AI model, and make it 100 times more efficient by using Google Cloud’s supercomp...