Believe it or not, South Korea’s mobile network industry, for the last three years, has been in limbo, with no additional money generated.Andrew Cope, chief executive officer of Nokia Korea and a seasoned expert on the telecommunications industry with 16 years of experience, describes the Korean mobile market as “not easy.” When he first came to Korea in late 2014, people didn’t recognize how fast their mobile services were. Korea had 200-megabit per second mobile packages that year, just a year

Hyundai Motor Group headquarters in southern Seoul. (Yonhap)Sales of South Korea‘s leading automakers Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors continued on a downward spiral in the US in May.Hyundai Motor, the country’s leading automaker, sold a total of 60,011 units in the US last month, down 15.4 percent compared to a year earlier when it sold 71,006 units, the company said. “We will strengthen the company’s core competency and aim to roll out new models to overcome low growth,” it said in a press statem

Hyundai Motor’s hybrid version of its flagship Grandeur full-size premium sedan as well as its Ioniq electric vehicles were used as official cars during former US Vice President-turned-environmental activist Al Gore’s visit to South Korea, the company said Friday.The hybrid version of Hyundai Motor’s flagship Grandeur sedan. (Hyundai Motor Group)The Grandeur Hybrid was used as Gore’s official car during his daylong stay, while related officials rode the Ioniq EV at Al Gore’s request for an eco-f

President Moon Jae-in on Friday met with former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, seeking the former top diplomat’s advice on the upcoming summit with US counterpart Donald Trump.This was Moon’s first face-to-face meeting as president with the former UN official, who was briefly considered the most likely conservative presidential contender in the lead-up to the election. “Diplomacy is an urgent issue at hand and I hope that you share your experience and wisdom (with us),” Moon was q

The deployment of the US’ Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-missile system could be delayed by environmental assessments, South Korea’s top national security adviser hinted Thursday. National Security Council chief Chung Eui-yong is in the US on a two-day trip to prepare for the South Korea-US summit slated for late June. Speaking to reporters on his trip to the US, Chung said that environmental studies would be conducted before the THAAD system is fully deployed. At present, two THAAD la

Samsung Electronics Co. said Friday it has reached an agreement with three local banks to allow users to use banking services via its voice command program, Bixby.The South Korean tech giant said under the project with Shinhan Bank, Woori Bank and KEB Hana Bank, users can ask the artificial intelligence program Bixby to display bank accounts or make financial transactions through voice. Users with a Woori account can also make currency exchanges via Bixby. The program was first adopted on S

Many newlyweds quit their jobs after having a baby, as it can be a struggle to raise children while working, data from Statistics Korea showed.Out of 235,000 couples who tied the knot in 2014, 130,000 couples, or 55.5 percent, had at least one child as of November 2015, up from 22.5 percent a year earlier. On the other hand, the proportion of married couples who were both working after having their first child was 50.8 percent in 2014, but this fell to 41.2 percent in 2015, according to the data

Absolut Vodka has added a new lime flavor to its popular series of vodkas, said the company Thursday.The new product, Absolut Lime, is made from natural ingredients without any artificial sweeteners to preserve the lime flavor, according to the company.  Absolut Vodka’s new lime-flavored vodka, Absolut Lime (Absolut Vodka)The company is also to offer 13,000 home-made cocktail kits that include a highball glass with a scale mark to make Absolut Cool Lime. “Absolut Lime will perfectly give the bes

That China is taking an assertive foreign policy toward its neighbors has quickly passed the point of debate and is now a reality. Xi Jinping’s foreign policy had “Amity, Sincerity, Mutual Benefit and Inclusiveness” as its guiding principles, yet it has been quite some time since China has upheld these values in its diplomacy. Instead, power politics have come at the forefront of almost all of its foreign relations, leading to conflict on all fronts. It is hard to say that the tragedy of great p

The big trick terrorists are trying to pull is to convince the world, little by little, that there is no other way out. Whether they are doing a good job or not, the “Stay Strong” or “We Are With You” taglines expressing solidarity with the latest city attacked are sounding less and less inspirational the more often they appear. The increasing frequency of terror attacks, however, is just half the story.　The world shakes every time a big bomb explodes or a truck ploughs through a crowd, but the