SMILEGATE SHOWCASES ‘LOST ARK’ -- Smilegate RPG CEO Jee Won-gil introduces the company’s latest massively multiplayer online role-playing game, “Lost Ark,” during a media event in Seoul on Monday. Smilegate is accepting preorders for “Lost Ark” until Nov. 5. The game will officially be released Nov. 7. (Yonhap)

GS Retail Co., a major South Korean retailer, said it opened a "smart convenience store" using a face recognition system and other technologies Monday amid local retail firms' race to automation.The company launched its convenience store chain GS25 outlet at the headquarters of LG CNS, the information technology arm of LG Group, in Seoul as a test bed for new retail technologies, it said. (Yonhap)Some of the key technologies used at the outlet include a face recognition system for payments and f

Delegation highly symbolic, as businesses unable to contemplate immediate projects

Chung Eui-sun, now officially the second in command at South Korea’s biggest automaker and second-largest conglomerate, will be able to wield greater power across 55 affiliates, operating in business areas ranging from steelmaking and construction to finance, industry sources said Sunday.The 48-year-old heir apparent will assist his 80-year-old father in his newly created post, a notch higher than the six existing vice chairmen in charge of the group’s automaking, steelmaking and finance units.

Some South Korean big businesses are still asking smaller partners wanting to secure deals to submit technical know-how before the signing of a contract, a report by a local trade federation said Sunday.According to the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business that conducted a poll on 501 small and medium enterprises in July and August, 17 firms said they were asked to submit their technologies. The report was to check the extent of technology theft within the business community.It said tho

South Korea plans to conduct the first test flight of its locally developed booster engine at the end of next month, the ICT ministry said Sunday, as part of a long-term effort to produce the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-2 (KSLV-2), a three-stage rocket.The single-stage rocket, with a 75-ton thrust engine, developed by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute is set to be launched between Oct. 25 and Oct. 31 from the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province, the Ministry of Science and IC

Carmaker and unions agree to reinstatement of 119 former workers, ending longstanding conflict

South Korean President Moon Jae-in will visit Pyongyang this week, along with several conglomerate leaders, his office announced Sunday.Cheong Wa Dae said Moon's entourage will be composed of 52 government officials, politicians, business leaders and selected representatives from various other fields. (Yonhap)They include Lee Jae-Yong, vice chairman of Samsung Group; SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won; Kim Yong-hwan, vice president of Hyundai Motor Group; and LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo.Also on t

Lamda256, the blockchain research and development lab under Dunamu, operator of South Korea’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, has unveiled a blockchain app developer tool called “Luniverse,” designed as an easy decentralized app builder solution.　Luniverse is the Dunamu-owned research unit’s proprietary blockchain service development platform that lets developers build various dApps and run token economy systems in an easier and faster manner.“With Luniverse, you can build the key structure of

The globally popular arcade shooting game “Metal Slug” will be newly released as a virtual reality game this year, brought to fruition in partnership by US-based Studio Roqovan and South Korean telecommunications provider KT.KT and Studio Roqovan, developer of VR game “World War Toons,” have agreed to co-develop “World War Toons: Metal Slug VR,” and showcased a demo of the game at last week’s MWC Americas 2018, KT said Sunday.“WWT: MSVR” will combine the gameplay of first-person shooter VR actio

South Korea's corporate watchdog said Sunday that it has decided to slap a total of 36 billion won ($32 million) in fines on nine Japanese firms for allegedly colluding to maintain or raise prices of capacitors, a key electrical component used in smartphones and many other electric devices.According to the Fair Trade Commission, Tokin Corp. and eight other Japanese firms have colluded to rig prices of capacitors sold in South Korea and other nations, between July 2000 and January 2014. (Yonhap)T

Samsung Group's many affiliates are moving to hire a large number of new workers in the second half, amid a sharp drop in employment numbers in recent months, industry sources said Sunday.Data by Incruit Corp., an online jobs portal, and corporate insiders said 20 Samsung companies, including flagships like Samsung Electronics, Samsung Display, Samsung SDI, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Samsung SDS, Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung BioLogics, are planning to hire new employees in the coming month

The labor and management of SsangYong Motors agreed to reinstate 119 dismissed workers by the first half of next year, ending the prolonged dispute over the firm’s mass dismissal of them, according to the company on Friday. “We agreed to reinstate the laid-off workers in order to solve social problems and for the company to take off,” said the statement jointly released by the company’s union and management.  SsangYong Motors’ union holds a placard that reads, “Thank you” for the reinstatement o

Samsung Electronics is partnering with Google to unveil a next-generation messaging service based on rich communication services for smartphone users, according to sources on Friday. Rich communication services are the international standard for integrated messengers developed by the GSM Association, which represents the interests of mobile network operators worldwide.  (Yonhap)Using the new service, users can send messages, high-resolution photos and videos through the text messaging function o

The Korean-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry welcomed 117 new trainees for the Ausbildung program this year with participating German automotive companies, BMW Group Korea, Daimler Trucks Korea, MAN Truck & Bus Korea and Mercedes-Benz Korea. Ausbildung is a German dual vocational training program comprising 70 percent of job training in the actual field and 30 percent of corresponding theoretical instruction provided by a university.The program was introduced in Korea in September 2017 wit