Mercedes-Benz Korea said Wednesday it has kicked off its Connected Car Startup Hackathon, a competition between startups to develop connected car services for innovative future mobility.The 48-hour nonstop event is taking place at the EQ Future Pavilion set up by the automaker in Sinsa-dong, Seoul. Nine startups that develop and produce connected car technologies such as mobility, UX, maintenance and charging have made it to the final, the company said.The event was organized in a joint partners

The Industry Ministry said Wednesday it has set aside around 9.4 trillion won ($7.8 billion) in its budget for 2020, up 23 percent from this year, to focus on technology independence from Japan and the expansion of renewable energy. The budget plan for the ministry was finalized through a resolution of the National Assembly on Tuesday. “In response to Japan’s export controls, the budget for supporting the materials and parts equipment has increased significantly from 669 billion won

South Korea and the United States have agreed to reduce inconveniences South Korean travelers experience when entering the US mainland, the transport ministry said Wednesday. In its annual aviation security meeting held in Washington last week, the Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transport said it signed a "joint statement" with the Transportation Security Administration to work on removing an interview for Koreans entering the US mainland, additional security checks and other inco

South Korea wants more investment from Japanese companies into their neighboring country and business ties should remain unfazed by the still ongoing trade row between the two Asian neighbors, Seoul's trade minister said Wednesday."Despite the temporal tumble in the bilateral relationship, the exchange and cooperation between the two nations must remain steady," Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee said during a meeting with officials from the Seoul Japan Club, which represents some 400 Japane

The number of executives at South Korea's top 30 conglomerates fell 0.5 percent compared to 2015, amid a slowing economy, data showed Wednesday.The data compiled by CEOScore, a research firm that tracks conglomerates, showed that the number of executives at 262 companies affiliated with the conglomerates came to 9,742 as of the end of September, down 53 from 9,795 during the same period of 2015.Samsung Group, South Korea's largest family-run conglomerate, whose flagship units include Samsung Ele

Hankook Tire & Technology Co., the world's sixth-largest tiremaker by sales, said Wednesday it began to supply tires for Audi's SQ8 TDI SUV in October.Hankook Tire supplies the high-performance Ventus S1 evo 3 SUV tires for the high-performance SQ8 TDI SUV in the form of original equipment tires, the company said in a statement. The company didn't give an exact time frame for the supply deal or the value of the deal. The tiremaker has supplied OE tires to a variety of Audi models, including

Samsung Electronics Co., South Korea's top electronics manufacturer, was the third-largest vendor of wearable devices in the third quarter of the year, a market report showed Wednesday, amid soaring global demand for wearables. Samsung shipped 8.3 million units of wearable devices in the July-September period, more than doubling from a year earlier, according to the latest report from market tracker International Data Corp. The tech giant emerged as the No. 3 player in the global wearables marke

Overseas orders won by South Korean construction companies fell 31 percent in the first 11 months of this year from a year earlier, a state-run bank said Wednesday.The combined overseas orders by the builders came to $18 billion in the January-November period, the Export-Import Bank of Korea said in a report, citing data compiled by the International Contractors Association of Korea.By region, orders from Asia accounted for the lion's share with $10.6 billion, followed by the ones from Middle Ea

Samsung Electronics is expected to see 19 percent on-year growth in its foundry business in the fourth quarter of the year, a market report showed Tuesday, though the performance will not be enough to narrow the market share gap with industry leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.  Samsung's foundry business was projected to log $3.4 billion in revenue in the October-December period, up 19.3 percent from a year earlier, according to market tracker TrendForce. Foundry r

　Almost 4 million South Koreans are subscribed to 5G mobile network as of October, with the number expected to breach the 5 million mark by the end of this year, government data showed.　The number of 5G users in the nation reached 3.98 million as of the end of October, adding 516,000 from a month ago, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Science and ICT. (Yonhap)

Prosecutorial reform was the hottest trending topic on Twitter in Korea this year, according to data released by the social media platform on Tuesday. It was the most mentioned social keyword on Twitter in Korea between Jan. 1 and Nov. 15. The “boycott Japan” movement followed in second place with over 1.3 million mentions in the cited period.Former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, who resigned after submitting his proposal for prosecutorial reform, was the most-mentioned person of the year

Samyang Biopharm USA has licensed in Belgium’s Talix Therapeutics’ first-in-class immuno-oncology compound for global rights, the companies said Tuesday. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.Under the agreement, Samyang Biopharmaceuticals’ subsidiary will gain the research rights, as well as exclusive options to worldwide rights for development, manufacturing and commercialization of Talix’s anti-CD96 antibody.The anti-CD96 antibody is a first-in-class co

LG Electronics said Tuesday it has kicked off sales of 8K organic light-emitting diode TVs in Japan, a market that is receptive to OLED TVs, ahead of the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.The South Korean TV maker has displayed the LG Signature OLED 8K model at flagship retailers across Japan. Due to the preference for OLED TVs in Japan, OLED TVs accounted for 20 percent of the country’s TV sales this year, far larger than OLED TVs’ global market share at 6 percent.  Amid the growing inte

SK Telecom announced Tuesday the mobile carrier has established an autonomous sailing platform for vessels based on its 5G network in collaboration with Samsung Heavy Industries, expanding the concept of autonomous operation to ships. The telecom company worked with Samsung’s shipbuilding unit at its shipyard in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province. Using the SKT 5G network established at the shipyard, the mobile carrier tested its autonomous and remote control platform connected to 3.3-meter-

Once admired tycoon Kim Woo-choong disgraced in later years after fraud verdict