As global-bound Korean start-ups struggle to break into the fray of competition in the U.S. and China, a handful are seeking the road less traveled, but booming with potential -- to Southeast Asia.　Internet penetration from the Philippines to Indonesia has more than quadrupled in the past five years as rising incomes and rapidly developing infrastructure have allowed nearly 200 million users across the diverse region access to mobile services. 　And the popularity of Korean pop culture, from musi

SAN FRANCISCO ― All it took was one phone call in 2009 for Silicon Valley investor Jai Choi to put his money on a fledgling start-up called Coupang.Its founder, Bom Kim, had just dropped out of Harvard Business School with three or four months’ worth of data in hand. He envisioned transforming e-commerce starting in his native Korea through a systematic approach to sales, operations and customer service. Judging by the sharp way Kim answered their questions, Choi recognized his unique understand

A group of entrepreneurs in Seoul aims to repay the sacrifices of their grandparents’ generation by raising funds and awareness for elderly Koreans in poverty.Korea is confronting a demographic crisis as it struggles to support its rapidly aging population. Nearly half of Korean over-65s are living in poverty, while data this week showed that more Koreans over 50 are delaying retirement than ever before as they bear financial responsibilities to support both their parents and children. The elder

PALO ALTO, California -- Ever since first-generation artist Kang Full’s “Love Story” became a sensation on Korean portal Daum in the early 2000s, the local webtoon industry has grown into a $290 million industry with more iconic series like “Misaeng” and “Secretly, Greatly.”But it is one of Korea’s best-kept secrets, as local webtoons -- visual stories that read from top to bottom instead of left to right for easy screen scrolling -- have struggled to spread globally for the past decade. Tapas M

Entrepreneur Rebekah Kang has a dream that one day, technology will make politicians obsolete.“It’s really hard to communicate and hard to raise your voice. That’s why you don’t trust (politicians) and … a lot of people are not voting anymore,” she said. “If we’re not happy about what they’re doing, why do we need them?”Just as Google Nest manages a smart home, citizens will use a service to scroll through the legislation that is important to their lifestyle, such as whether they have a kid, a c

Of over 200 registered Korean victims of sexual slavery by Japan, just 47 are alive today. One social venture wants to help their stories live on through the trees in a memorial forest in western Seoul.On an 800-square-meter site at the World Cup Peace Park, the Forest for Victims of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan is filled with Siberian apricot trees, bellflowers, Korean starworts and other colorful blossom trees, surrounding benches where people can take the time to sit and contemplate the l

KPOP UNITED CEO Richard Choo is glad to see that it’s finally cool to be Korean in the world.Hallyu hits like Psy, Big Bang, Girls’ Generation and Wonder Girls, paired with the stylish haute couture image being exported, have put Korea on the “relevancy map,” and there is a high global demand for the country’s cultural contents, he said.But with the industry so new on the global scene and fans hailing from such disparate ends from Turkey and Brazil to Indonesia and Ivory Coast, promoters and eve

Tim Chae, venture partner of 500 Kimchi, speaks during an interview with The Korea Herald at the fund's office in Google's Campus Seoul in southern Seoul last week. Park Hyun-koo/The Korea Herald    Silicon Valley entrepreneur Tim Chae is betting -- $15 million, to be precise -- that in the next 3-5 years, Korea will be the Silicon Valley of Asia. And he says so because it’s the only country in the continent that meets the tech hub trifecta of being rich, relevant and cool.　　A decade after immig

JobSeekr, an English- and Korean-language job hunting website in Seoul launched last year by two expats, is holding its first job fair and networking event Sunday to connect foreign entry-level job seekers with Korean start-ups.British entrepreneur Simon Chan, cofounder of parent company SeekrLab, said his team handpicked fewer than 10 startups that would make the best use of international members, such as those going global, those dealing with translation and language-related services or those

This is the second article in a series on foreigners working in Korea’s technology start-up ecosystem. ― Ed.Tech industry pundits in Korea used to joke that this is where overseas companies would come to die. In a country once dominated by local titans like Nate and Cyworld, foreign rivals like Yahoo and Myspace struggled to connect with local Web users and eventually backed out.But the situation has flipped in the past three to five years, they say, as social media and content sharing behemoths

Mismatch remains in views of what small exporters needAhn Yong-joon opened his auto frame manufacturing company TLtek in 2000, using former business connections to form contracts with car companies in Japan. Looking beyond doing business locally, he set his sights abroad from the start. “There is no other choice than to export,” Ahn said, considering the limited size of the local market.A decade later, nearly 60 percent of his $26.4 million in sales in 2011 came from exporting to Japan, Europe a