Science, Technology and Innovation Office chief Park Ky-young leaves the Ministry of Science and ICT in Gwacheon on Friday. (Yonhap)Park Ky-young, President Moon Jae-in's newly appointed senior science innovation chief official, stepped down Friday amid escalating controversy over her involvement in a stem cell research scandal 11 years ago."I once again apologize for disappointing the people and causing continuous controversies," she said through a written statement released Friday evening."I s

With less than two weeks to go before Samsung Electronics debuts its new flagship phablet Galaxy Note 8 in New York, numerous leaks and rumors have surfaced, revealing the device’s specifications, price and release dates. According to latest news reports citing insiders, the Galaxy Note 8 will sport a 6.3-inch display, which is the largest display ever to be featured on a premium smartphone and 0.6-inch larger than its predecessor, the Note 7. It will also feature a near edge-to-edge display lik

South Korea's top two tech firms, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, swept the chart for the week's most viral video ads, according to an advertising industry website Friday.LG's "Nano Cell Super Match," featuring a shooting match between Steven Gerrard and Adam Lallana of Liverpool, scored over 33 million clicks this week to top the Viral Video Chart released by Ad Age for the second week of August. The ad was posted at the start of the month on YouTube.The former No. 1 ad for Apple Inc.'s

South Korea’s semiconductor trade surplus in the first seven months this year reached $28.9 billion, rising sharply from $12.6 billion in the same period in 2016, marking over a twofold on-year increase. This year’s figure so far already surpasses the combined surplus of $25.6 billion for 2016.It also shows that memory chips take up nearly half of the country‘s trade profits, casting concerns over the economy’s excessive dependency to the industry that is vulnerable to global market fluctuations

Instagram, a photo-sharing app owned by US social networking giant Facebook, topped 10 million users in South Korea as of this month.Facebook Korea said Thursday that the number of monthly active users on Instagram surpassed 10 million as of August. Monthly active users refer to app users who log into the app more than once per month.Instagram was launched in Korea in December 2012. The photo-sharing app has since grown rapidly here, topping 6 million users as of March 2016. Globally, Instagram

South Korean mobile messaging giant Kakao said Thursday that it recorded its highest quarterly revenue to date in the second quarter, led by a hike in its advertising and content sales.　Kakao saw revenue of 468.4 billion won ($410.6 million) during the April-June period, marking a 24 percent jump on-year. During the same period, operating profit soared 68 percent on-year to 44.6 billion won. However, net profit came in at 12.5 billion won, down 6 percent on-year, due to increased operating expen

Uber Technologies Inc. launched its food delivery service in South Korea on Thursday, joining the country's heated delivery service app market.The mobile application UberEATS allows users to select food from registered restaurants and deliver the dishes by its delivery partners, its local unit Uber Korea said. "Food delivery is very advanced in Korea," said Allen Penn, Asia Pacific's head of UberEATS, during a press conference held in Seoul. "With that said, we still feel like we are at the very

Samsung Electronics Co. said Thursday it will live-stream a concert of British rock band Coldplay slated for later this month through its virtual-reality device, the Gear VR.The South Korean tech giant said users of the Gear VR in around 50 countries will be able to enjoy the concert slated for next Thursday in Chicago (local time). (Yonhap)Samsung said the VR device will allow users to enjoy the live concert in 360 degrees, giving them a new experience as if they are actually at the venue."Sams

Japan-based Sharp Corp. saw its shipment of liquid crystal display panels double in the second quarter from a three-month period earlier, data showed Thursdays, narrowing its gap with South Korean rivals -- Samsung and LG.According to the data compiled by industry tracker WitsView, Samsung Electronics Co. stood as the world's No. 1 player in global LCD panels for TVs in the second quarter, followed by LG Electronics Inc. and China-based TCL Corp.Sharp shot up to become the fourth player over the

Company in talks with leading display makers to launch first on-display fingerprint solution by H1 2018

Samsung Display Co. said Wednesday it plans to tap deeper into the premium liquid crystal display business through premium, ultra-slim curved TVs."Samsung Display will continue to roll out investment and develop technologies for the premium curved LCD," the company said during a forum it hosted in China. Major Chinese tech brands, including TCL, Hisense and Xiaomi, participated in the event. (Yonhap)The South Korean company showcased what it calls a "S-Curved" 65-inch LCD, which bends not only a

US-based Harman International Industries Inc., an audio and automotive company, recently joined forces with Google Inc. to enter the music-streaming business, the company said Wednesday.Under the agreement, the affiliate of Samsung Electronics Co. agreed to provide Google Play Music's services to its customers in 47 countries around the globe, including the United States, Russia, Germany and Brazil. The deal does not include South Korea. (Yonhap)Harman customers will be able to enjoy 40 million

SK Telecom has launched a portable artificial intelligence device with enhanced assistance services, it said Tuesday. Dubbed NUGU Mini, it is the country’s first Korean-based portable AI speaker, according to the company. It is a smaller and portable version of SKT’s home assistant NUGU speaker that was introduced last September and which currently has about 150,000 users here.  Models hold NUGU Mini devices at a picnic. (SK Telecom)The device measures 84 millimeters in width, 84 mm in length an

CallApp, a free mobile app for caller identification and call blocking services, developed by an Israel-based tech startup, has been banned in South Korea for illegally collecting and mishandling users’ private data.　The Korea Communications Commission said Monday that CallApp had been terminated from service in Korea. It asked Google Korea to take down the app from the Google Play app store from Friday, according to the commission.The KCC began investigating CallApp on allegations that it was i

Samsung Electronics Co. saw its presence in the Japanese smartphone market reach a four-year high in the second quarter, data showed Tuesday, helped by robust sales of the flagship Galaxy S8.According to the data compiled by industry tracker Strategy Analytics, Samsung Electronics sold 700,000 units of smartphones in Japan over the April-June period, taking up 8.8 percent of the market to become the No. 3 player.The figure marks a sharp rise from 3.8 percent posted in the second quarter of 2016.