Facebook’s chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg on Thursday held a meeting with Samsung Electronics’ vice president Shim Soo-ok to discuss ways to strike a “mobile partnership,” sources told The Korea Herald.On the surface, the visit was to promote her book, “Lean In,” for which Shim wrote a recommendation. Shim was designated as Sandberg’s official Samsung counterpart for this trip to Korea. But the sources said that, in reality, Sandberg was here to talk about hard business ― more specifica

Hyundai Heavy Industries, the nation’s top shipbuilder, will open its first luxury resort in Gangneung, a city on the east coast in Gangwon province, in 2015 by rebuilding its Hotel Hyundai near the Gyeongpodae beach, the company said in a press release on Thursday. Richard Meier, an American architect and a winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, will design the high-end resort, which will have a ‘hanok’ hotel, a 15-floor convention center, an outdoor performance hall, and a swimming pool. t

Samsung Electronics, in a rare move, on Thursday said it has replaced Sohn Dae-il, head of the company’s North American mobile phone operations, signaling that Sohn had somehow fallen out with the company.“It’s true Sohn has been there for quite a bit, but he may have done something wrong to irk the Samsung top brass because it’s rare to carry out personnel moves in the middle of the year,” industry sources said. Samsung usually conducts personnel reshuffling at the very end of the year. The nex

STX Heavy Industries has won a contract to build desulfurization facilities for Korea Western Power Corp.’s thermoelectric power plant units 9 and 10 in Taean, South Chungcheong Province, company officials said. The two contracts together are worth nearly 100 billion won ($87.7 million). STX plans to kick off its construction by delivering equipment to unit 9 this November, with a forecasted December 2016 completion date. The company will provide end-to-end engineering, procurement and construct

Visiting rural areas with well-preserved traditional houses is a common desire of city dwellers. Oeam Village, located 8 km south of Onyang in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, has been used as a location for several films such as “Taegeukgi: The Brotherhood of War” (2004) and “The Classic” (2003). The origin of the village goes back to the middle of the Joseon era, about 500 years ago. The noble Lee family of Yean settled in the area and its descendants have taken root there. Oeam Village has b

Located at the southern tip of Korea, Daraengi Village was not only on the list of “Rural-20” awardees last year but has also been on the list of 100 recommended local tourist sites by the Korea Tourism Organization for two consecutive years. The village was also named one of 50 beautiful places to visit in Korea by CNN. Some 230,000 tourists visit the village every year.The well-preserved village features the extraordinary sight of “daraengi,” or tiny paddy fields, on a steep mountain slope aga