Samsung Electronics on Tuesday named Koh Dong-jin, executive vice president in charge of mobile R&D, as the new mastermind of the company’s flagship mobile business division amid its recent struggle for profitability. 　A surprise appointment, the 54-year-old engineer’s replacement of the current mobile chief Shin Jong-kyun, 60, hinted at a generational shift in the Korean tech giant’s top brass. “Shin will focus more on long-term strategy and foster new growth businesses,” the company said in a

CULTURAL DIPLOMACY -- LG Group chairman Koo Bon-moo (center) attends a jazz concert Monday in Seoul to mark the 50th anniversary of ties between Korea and Japan. Koo said he wished for the two nations to strengthen their relations through cultural exchanges. (LG Group)

COLLABORATION FOR 5G -- LG Uplus said Tuesday that it had set up a research and development center for 5G network technology where it would work together with local and global network equipment firms on projects for the next-generation network technology. (LG Uplus)

Expectations are reaching new heights for Korea’s first online-only banks, or direct banks, to spark enormous changes not only in the country’s 120-year-old financial sector but also in other industries including information technology and retail.The financial authorities have given preliminary approval to two consortiums ― Kakao Bank and K-Bank, led by mobile messenger creator Kakao and mobile carrier KT, respectively ― to set up the banks with no brick-and-mortar branches. They will be the fir

　LG Display said Friday it would invest a whopping 10 trillion won ($8.7 billion) in building a new plant for organic light-emitting diode displays in Paju, Gyeongi Province.　The firm’s recent investment plan is part of its initiative, which was announced in August, to invest 10 trillion won in projects to foster businesses for OLEDs along with liquid crystal displays over the next three years.　The nation’s leading display manufacturer will first pour 1.84 trillion won into the construction of a

As digital disruption is accelerating across all industries, top market leaders will be outgunned by challengers quick to adapt to a digitization wave, according to a Cisco executive.Presenting a recent report about technological disruption and future business models at Cisco’s office in Songdo, west of Seoul, Thursday, Ross Fowler, president of the U.S. firm’s Digital Transformation and IoE (“Internet of Everything”) Acceleration in Asia-Pacific and Japan, said that "four out of top 10 companie

CHIPPING AWAY -- Samsung Electronics said Thursday it had started mass production of the world’s first 128-gigabyte DDR4 module for enterprise servers and data centers. The new DDR4 boasts the industry’s largest capacity and highest energy efficiency of any DRAM module. (Samsung Electronics)

An inspection committee for workplace safety and health at chipmaker SK hynix said Wednesday it could not find a direct link between diseases suffered by its employees and the working environment at its facilities. Announcing a yearlong inspection of the working conditions at the chip manufacturer’s factories and its correlation to illnesses, including cancer and leukemia, the committee noted that “some research showed meaningful results from a statistical perspective, but more time and data is

From smartphone-makers to retail firms, more companies are jumping on the mobile payment bandwagon in a bid to take the initiative for hassle-free digital payments.As there is no single dominant player or set of standards yet, the mushrooming mobile payment market is flooded with more than 20 related applications in Korea and may look like a hodgepodge of technologies for some.Many industry officials, however, had a positive outlook on the fledgling market, anticipating that the mobile payment s

South Korea’s leading telecommunications company KT unveiled a set of plans to build a Long-Term Evolution network for emergency services and provide emergency telecom services in PyeongChang, the host city of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangwon Province, Tuesday. The public safety LTE, an emergency communications technology, allows fire, police and rescue responders to better communicate with each other using standard devices operating on the same frequencies, according to the firm. Oh Sung-mok

LG BOOSTS MORALE AMONG SOLDIERS -- Executives and employees of LG Group affiliates -- LG Chem, LG Innotek and Serveone -- pay a visit to six frontline troops near the Demilitarized Zone, a buffer zone across the Korean Peninsula, to give care packages to soldiers. In the photo Park jin-soo (fourth from left, second row), the chief executive of LG Chem, poses with divisional commander Lee Jong-hwa (fifth from left, second row), military officials and soldiers at the First Infantry Division, in Gy

Samsung Electronics’ new Gear VR virtual reality goggles are getting an upbeat response in the U.S. as the device has already sold out at some online retailers such as Amazon and Best Buy in just 10 days of its launch. The $99 Gear VR is a stripped-down version of the Gear VR Innovator Edition, the Korean tech giant’s first generation VR headset that is priced at $199. The device weighs only 310 grams, about 22 percent lighter than its predecessor. A model tries the Gear VR at a launching event.

　Korea’s three leading wireless carriers -- SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus -- will start voice over long-term evolution services for subscribers from different operators Monday, according to the companies Sunday. 　“VoLTE” is a data-based communications technology utilizing the LTE networks to provide improved voice and video calls -- up to 12 times better compared to those utilizing 2G or 3G networks.　The three mobile carriers ran pilot programs for the advanced telecom technology from late June to

DAEGU -- A mainspring of the blazing economic growth of South Korea in just half a century after the 1950-53 Korean War was the export-oriented policy, which fostered the creation of competitive conglomerates in a variety of industrial sectors.The export-driven initiative propelled the nation, which had been regarded as a have-not country, to the upper echelon of the world’s economies.Today’s rapidly changing industry landscape coupled with fast technology development, however, requires global g

GIANT CAR-BATTERY MARKET — A model showcases Samsung SDI’s cylinder-shape lithium-ion batteries, which will be supplied to Chinese electric vehicle firm JAC. The batteries will power the firm’s new iEV6S electric SUV with a drive capacity of about 250 kilometers on a full charge. (Samsung SDI)