Samsung Electronics has tentatively suspended its business with a Chinese supplier that was recently accused of hiring underage children, the Korean firm said Monday. The firm added that it would permanently end all transactions if the allegation was proven to be true.The statement came after New York-based China Labor Watch said on Thursday that it discovered minors were being employed at a factory owned by Shinyang Electronics in Dongguan of southern China.Samsung said in its official blog tha

China has told South Korea that it has blocked online services of South Korea's two popular mobile messaging applications, KakaoTalk and Line, since earlier this month, a South Korean diplomat with the knowledge of the matter said Monday, adding that the services would "soon" return to normal.Along with other foreign online services, including Yahoo Inc.'s photo-sharing site Flickr, users in China have been unable to access online services of KakaoTalk and Line for more than 10 days. Some anti-c

South Korea's leading tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. said Friday it has renovated its application store as "Galaxy Apps" to provide users with a wider choice for customization of mobile devices.The version is an update from the company's previous "Samsung Apps" store and offers hundreds of apps exclusively available to users of Samsung Galaxy smart devices. Samsung said the new app store will be available to 130 million users in 161 countries."At Samsung, we continuously strive to create val

South Korea’s tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. said Thursday it has commenced the sales of the Galaxy Tab S at home, the lightest and thinnest in its Galaxy tablet PC lineup.Samsung Electronics said the 10.5-inch version of the 6.6-mm-thin device will weigh only 465 grams, lighter than any of its tablet PCs released earlier in similar sizes. The 8.4-inch edition weighs 294 grams. They will both work under Wi-Fi networks.The tablets will be powered by Google Inc.’s Android 4.4, or KitKat, and a

South Korea’s Science Ministry said Thursday it will introduce a set of rules in the mobile devices market to provide better incentives and prices to all subscribers.The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said it aims to enact the tentatively named “Act on the Improvement of Retail System of Mobile Telecommunication Devices” in October after gauging the opinions of policy watchers and industry players next month.The new rules would induce mobile carriers to provide incentives not only

The South Korean government on Wednesday signed an agreement with two leading local manufacturers of display panels to jointly develop advanced technologies with 30 billion won ($29.6 million) of investment over the next five years.Under the agreement signed with Samsung Display and LG Display, the three parties will concentrate on indigenous technologies for display panels for future markets, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, a shift from a focus on products for swift com

South Korea’s telecom watchdog said Wednesday it will raise the ceiling for the incentives local mobile carriers offer to attract clients in a bid to reduce competition among carriers.The Korea Communications Commission said it will adjust the legal ceiling to between 250,000 won ($246.9) and 350,000 won, up from the current limit of 270,000 won that was put in place in 2010.The watchdog also said it will hold a meeting every six months to adjust the amount after considering market conditions, i

Amazon wants to put money in authors’ pockets while the online retail titan battles with Hachette over terms of selling books handled by the publishing powerhouse.Hachette told AFP that it had received the proposal on Tuesday, and fired back with a call for Amazon to “withdraw the sanctions they have unilaterally imposed,” on the publisher’s titles.Amazon is offering to give Hachette authors all revenue brought in for digital copies of books ― rewarding writers instead of making them casualties

South Korea’s exports of information-communication technology products climbed to a new high in the first six months of the year on growing shipments to China and Southeast Asian countries, the government said Wednesday.In the six months ending on June 30, outbound shipments of ICT products came to $83.83 billion, up 3.2 percent from the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.The country’s trade surplus in the ICT sector shrank slightly to $41.68 billion a