Naver and Kakao -- Korea’s two largest online service providers -- are prompting financial companies to better meet fintech needs and regulators to write rules that are fair to both of them. Naver Financial, a key Naver fintech subsidiary, started offering loans last year to small businesses with Woori Bank. The Naver Financial CEO said last month that he was considering seeking a permit to over...

Concerns over NFT frenzy However, concerns loom over the fledgling market as some market players lack an understanding of the legal restrictions related to the copyrighted work. For instance, Hermes recently lambasted the NFT sale of “Meta Birkins,” a Birkins bag NFT created by digital artist Mason Rothschild. The collection was sold for 230 ethereum, around $936,000, according to the auctionee...

Muzik Tiger CEO Song Eui-sub said he created the character after working in a design team at Hyundai Motor. “No matter how much we tried to make an American-style or European-style design, it was different from the ones that are created originally from America or Europe. We did not see a good result from them,” Song said. “When we tried blending in a Korean style, that was when we saw some meani...

On the same day, Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the minor opposition People’s Party, proposed abolishing a policy that mandates support for family members with low income. The obligatory provider policy only allows those without close kin or “obligatory provider” to receive livelihood benefits. “In this 21st century society where perspectives and structure have largely changed, it...

North Korea’s five-day party plenum was dominated by internal affairs including economic growth, agricultural development, and preventative measures for COVID-19, with Pyongyang’s recalibrated approach to South Korea and the US remaining veiled. North Korean state media on Saturday announced the outcome of the fourth Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea,...

Other Korean exhibitors will also show how to take metaverse to the next level, with the use cases of metaverse-inspired platforms in the real world. LG Electronics’ in-person exhibition booths are expected to offer visitors an immersive experience in a room-scale virtual reality space, featuring premium home appliances such as organic light-emitting diode televisions, fridges with ice makers un...

For Kwon Ju-hyeon, a 30-year-old freelancer living in Gyeonggi Province, the robot vacuum cleaner has become something he cannot live without after a month of using it. Kwon’s robot vacuum cleaner, approximately the size and shape of a pizza, sweeps the floor with just the push of a button on the remote control. Using sensors and drive routines, the autonomous device makes its way around the cha...

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics said Sunday it plans to unveil the world’s first gaming monitor with both a 4K resolution and a 240 Hz refresh rate display at the upcoming CES 2022. Thus far, gaming monitors with ultrahigh definition -- having the resolution of 3,840 pixels wide and 2,160 pixels high -- have shown a latency of up to 144 Hz display. With the new 32-inch monitor, dubb...

South Korea’s military said Sunday that an unidentified person crossed the eastern inter-Korean border into North Korea. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said an individual was spotted crossing the Military Demarcation Line at around 9:20 p.m. Saturday, through surveillance equipment installed in the border region. The JCS added it confirmed the person crossed the border at 10:40 p.m., some ...

South Korea's initial public offering (IPO) market is expected to have another bumper year in 2022 as a slew of companies, including battery maker LG Energy Solution, are planning for stock market debuts, analysts said Sunday. The amount of money raised via IPOs on the main and tech-heavy stock markets reached a record high of 20.8 trillion won ($17.5 billion) last year, according to industry da...

Proof of vaccination required for access to multiuse facilities will be valid only for six months after the primary series or booster doses starting Monday, health authorities said as they seek to stem the latest upsurge in virus cases. Under the tightened measure, those who completed the primary series on July 6 last year or before will not be allowed to use those facilities starting Monday if ...

The state human rights watchdog has rejected a petition accusing the government of a human rights violation over its decision to revoke the license of an anti-North Korea group of defectors for sending propaganda leaflets across the border, sources said Sunday. The petition was filed with the National Human Rights Commission in June last year after the unification ministry decided to revoke the ...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited the mausoleum of his late grandfather and father in his first reported public activity this year, Pyongyang's state media said Sunday. Kim paid tribute at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where the bodies of state founder and his grandfather Kim Il-sung and his father, Kim Jong-il, are enshrined, on the occasion of the start of the new year, according t...

South Korea's new coronavirus cases fell below 4,000 on Sunday as the country has implemented tighter antivirus measures to stem the spike in virus infections and the fast spread of the omicron variant. The country added 3,833 new COVID-19 infections, including 3,683 local infections, raising the total caseload to 639,083, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The...