South Korea's vice trade minister called for strengthened cooperation in technology with Israel Sunday to cope with the technology-driven fourth industrial revolution, the ministry said.Speaking to a forum in Tel Aviv, Jeong Marn-ki said South Korea and Israel can create synergy by combining Israel's technological prowess and startup spirit and South Korea's manufacturing skills and information and communication technology infrastructure. Jeong Marn-ki (Yonhap)"I hope that technology cooperation

Kim Yong-soo, a former aide to impeached President Park Geun-hye and deputy minister for information communications policy at the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, was inaugurated as a standing commissioner of the Korea Communications Commission on Thursday, amid controversy over the timing of his appointment. Kim was nominated by acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn on Wednesday to succeed Lee Ki-joo, a former KCC standing commissioner.KCC standing Commissioner Kim Yong-soo (Yonhap)The st

Samsung SDS, the internet technology solutions unit of South Korea’s Samsung Group, launched a new blockchain technology-based digital platform for enterprises Thursday. With the release, the company said it aims to become a forerunner in bringing the next-generation ledger technology to the wider market.　Named Nexledger, the blockchain-based cloud computing platform for enterprises aims to appeal to corporations looking for a cost-efficient method of managing digital financial transactions and

LG Electronics’ new flagship smartphone G6 is set to venture into the global market, starting with North America on Friday. The global launch of the G6 comes around a month after hitting the Korean market on March 10.“The G6 is to go on sale in North America on Friday via 11 mobile carriers including Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile and US Cellular. The phone is also available in Canada on the same day,” LG said Thursday.  (Yonhap)Verizon set the price of the G6 at $672, $120 cheaper than the 899

Hancom Inc., a South Korean software maker, said Wednesday that it has launched an artificial intelligence (AI) powered mobile messenger application that translates conversations in a foreign language.The app, available both on the Android and iOS operating systems, instantly translates texts between Korean and English, the company said. The service will be available in Chinese and Japanese sometime soon. (Yonhap)The homegrown software firm said it has applied a Neural Machine Translation (NMT)

As hundreds of companies around the world have pulled their advertisements from YouTube over inappropriate ad placement, Google is out to win back their trust by revamping its video sharing platform with the help of artificial intelligence and outside manpower.The US internet giant is training its artificially intelligent computing programs to better recognize and discern videos considered objectionable while also inviting outside actors to verify ad quality standards on YouTube.(123RF)The move

LG Electronics will boost its facility investment by about 20 percent to 3.57 trillion won ($3.17 billion) this year, according to the company Wednesday. In a report to the electronic disclosure system by the Financial Supervisory Service, the electronics maker unveiled its annual investment plan that reveals which business the company will focus on in 2017. (Yonhap)The company said it will allocate 544 billion won to the vehicle component division, accounting for about 15 percent of the total i

South Korean chipmaker SK hynix Inc., as well as US-based Micron Technology, Inc. and Western Digital are expected to lock horns to take over the memory arm of Japan-based Toshiba Corp., industry tracker said Wednesday.During a forum here, Walter Coon, director for NAND flash technology research at the industry tracker IHS, said while one of the three bidders are widely expected to be the potential winner of Toshiba, none of them currently hold a strong advantage. (Yonhap)The remark came as Tosh

Hyundai Motor is developing solid-state batteries that are safe from explosions for its electric vehicles, and reportedly owns pilot-scale battery production facilities, sources close to the matter said, comparing the move to a similar approach taken by the automaker’s Japanese rival Toyota.　“Hyundai is developing solid-state batteries through its Namyang R&D Center’s battery precedence development team and it has secured a certain level of technology,” the source told The Korea Herald.Hyundai M

South Korea on Wednesday announced measures to attract more investments into startups by removing stumbling blocks and fast-tracking processes.During an economic meeting presided over by Deputy Prime Minister for Economy Yoo Il-ho, the government endorsed a set of eased regulations on startup investment and new investment instruments, which Seoul expects to attract not only domestic but also foreign investors.Ministers discuss measures to boost investment in startups at a ministerial meeting hel

LG Electronics said Wednesday it won safety certification from an Illinois-based institution for its energy storage system as part of preparations to enter the US market. The company’s 1-megawatt ESS power conversion system has been certified by the American safety organization UL, winning the UL1741 certificate that is one of requirements for ESS suppliers in the US.  LG’s 1-MW ESS PCS (LG Electronics)LG is eyeing rapid growth of the US ESS market, which is forecast to expand from $445 million

Semiconductor equipment startup WIT on Thursday announced that it had recently become the first startup in Korea to develop and release a significantly smaller and lighter portable vacuum probe station. A probe station is a device used to measure the electrical properties of products, such as semiconductors and LCDs, before the assembly process. WIT’s products are primarily used to conduct tests of semiconductor wafers.“Most existing probe stations are about a meter wide and tall and are difficu

Facebook will help promising augmented reality and virtual reality startups expand abroad in partnership with the South Korean government, it announced Tuesday.The California-based mobile social networking service operator signed an agreement with Korea Innovation Center of the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning and Institute for Information & Communications Technology Promotion to support AR and VR startups at Facebook Korea Office in southern Seoul.Under the agreement, Facebook and t

(Samsung Electronics)Samsung, the dominant player of flexible OLED, is expected to add new facilities in Tangjeong this year. “Samsung Display is expected to add new facilities at the end of this year to meet the growing demand. The official announcement is predicted to be made after the presidential election in May,” Chung Won-seok, an analyst at HI Investment and Securities said at Display TechSalon held in Seoul.  “(To meet the demand) Samsung Display needs to either shift its current LCD ass

Samsung Display’s principal engineer said Tuesday foldable phones may not be commercialized until 2019 as bezel-free display currently sells well and the foldable display still has technical challenges to be addressed.There have been wide speculations in the market that Samsung may unveil its foldable phones that can both work as smartphones and tablets sometime this year or next year.“Because the bezel-free display currently sells well, we still have enough time to develop foldable display. The