Global mobile messenger provider Viber said Monday it will appeal a South Korean court ruling that may ban its local operation, signaling a protracted battle with South Korea's No. 1 mobile carrier, SK Telecom Co."Because Viber believes the court's decision was made in error, it is appealing the court's ruling and anticipates the appeal will show that Viber's technology does not infringe SK Telecom's patent," the company said in a statement. "We won the other three and will be appealing this one

POSCO, South Korea's leading steelmaker, is accelerating its push to sell unnecessary assets as part of its efforts to focus more on its key business and strengthen its financial soundness, industry sources said Monday.According to the sources, POSCO sold 28 billion won ($25.4 million) worth of real estate last year, including buildings and land in Pohang, its main base on the southeast coast and Gwangyang on the south coast. The sale was decided as the assets were regarded as idling or unnecess

South Korea's No. 2 tech giant, LG Electronics Inc., said Monday it will show how its latest wearable can activate a car in a demonstration using an Audi at an international mobile event in Spain.LG is debuting its new smartwatch, the LG Watch Urbane LTE, at the Mobile World Congress that kicks off this week in Barcelona. The wearable is the world's first to work on the long-term evolution network."A driver can just wear the LG Watch Urbane LTE and press the 'start engine' button to turn on the

South Korea's tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. said Monday it will work with Swedish furniture maker IKEA Group on wireless-charging technology for smart devices through furnishings. The announcement followed debut of Samsung's latest flagships, the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge, that come with a built-in batteries that can be charged without cords, a new technological breakthrough for the industry."This is a perfect match for the Galaxy S6 and its groundbreaking wireless technology, compat

Hotel Lotte won the operational right for a downtown duty-free shop in Jeju, officials said Friday, a move that is anticipated to bolster the company's footing in the South Korean resort island's ballooning duty-free market.  Hotel Lotte, among the three applicants that submitted competing bids, will operate one of the island's two downtown duty-free facilities for foreigners for five years, according to the officials.  The Jeju bid has drawn keen industry and media attention as a lucrative spri

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. said Friday it will not merge with Samsung Medison Co., its healthcare arm, five months after the handset maker said it was "considering" doing so.  "Our company has no plan to merge with Samsung Medison, or split off the medical business," the tech firm said in a regulatory filing. Samsung Medison, a local manufacturer of medical devices, became a Samsung Electronics affiliate in 2011.  The tech firm had said in September in response to a confirma

South Korea's top tech firm Samsung Electronics Co. said Thursday it has decided to freeze pay for its employees for 2015, as the world's No.1 handset maker struggles to bounce back from a slump in its mainstay mobile business that ate into overall profits.  A Samsung official earlier told Yonhap that the company plans to fix this year's salaries, although overall performance incentives, which depend on profits, would not be affected.  A company spokesman confirmed, saying, "It is true that the

Daum Kakao Corp., South Korea's top mobile messenger and web portal operator, said Tuesday it will work with local game developers to tap into mobile publishing in China in a bid to expand its footing in the world's most populous country. The company plans to set up a task force in Seoul and at its Beijing-based office in the first half to help local game developers publish their mobile game apps on Chinese platforms, including 360, Tencent and Baidu, Daum Kakao said in an emailed release. Daum

E-mart, South Korea's biggest discount chain, said Tuesday it is launching sales at an Alibaba-powered online shopping mall, its latest effort to revive retail footing in the world's second-largest economy after previous expansion attempts flopped.Starting mid-March, E-mart will sell some 100 food and electronic products, such as soybean paste and rice cookers, at Tmall Global, an online shopping mall operated by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, the retailer said in a press release.E-mart would

Samsung Electronics and Microsoft Corp. said Tuesday they have decided to end their yearslong patent fee dispute but declined to provide details on the conditions of the agreement.  "Samsung and Microsoft are pleased to announce that they have ended their contract dispute in U.S. court, as well as the International Chamber of Commerce arbitration. Terms of the agreement are confidential," the two companies said in a joint statement via their official blogs."Due to the agreement between the two c

Dessert cafe franchise Sulbing said Monday it plans to open 150 branches in the world's second-largest economy by 2017, joining in a legion of South Korean food producers and confectioneries that have expanded abroad to secure new growth engines.Sulbing has signed a deal with China's Shanghai Yabin Food Stuff Trade Co. to open two branches in Shanghai by April and have 150 branches across the country by 2017, the company said in a press release. The move marks the company's first overseas expans

The recent stake sale by Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo and his son in Hyundai Glovis Co. is "credit positive" as it reduces the risks from upcoming toughened government penalties on intra-group transactions, a main revenue source for the logistics unit, a global credit appraiser said Monday.On Friday, Hyundai Motor Group said that its chairman and his son, Eui-sun, sold about 5 million shares in Hyundai Glovis for an estimated 1.1 trillion won ($1 billion). The sale brought down th

South Korea's chip giant SK hynix Inc. said Monday it has started supplying its up-to-date memory chip for LG Electronics Inc.'s new flagship smartphone lineup, in its latest push to grab a bigger market share with the new mobile component as it vies against home rival Samsung Electronics Co. The low-power double data rate 4, an 8-gigabit dynamic random access memory mainly produced for mobile phones and digital cameras, has been installed in LG's G Flex 2, the curved-style handset that hit loca

Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co., South Korea's No. 2 builder, said Monday it has won a $126 million project to lay power transmission lines in Saudi Arabia. Hyundai E&C will build 249 kilometers of a 380-kilovolt transmission line throughout the Saudi capital of Riyadh, the South Korean builder said. The deal was struck with the Saudi Electricity Company."The latest project comes as the company received recognition for excellent engineering skills and overall performance seen in other sim