Korea Electronics Show to kick off amid pandemic

The 2020 Korea Electronics Show will kick off Wednesday for a three-day run amid caution due to an ongoing wave of coronavirus cases in Seoul and nearby areas.

According to the event’s organizer, around 200 companies in the fields of semiconductors, consumer electronics, smart home technologies and future mobility will take part in the biggest IT trade show in South Korea.

The number of participating firms was over 450 last year, but this year many foreign businesses weren’t able to fly people in due to the pandemic.

Most of the offline seminars and conferences that took place in past years will go online this year, the organizer said.

Korean companies like Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are set to run exhibition booths at Coex as in previous years, showcasing their latest products and technologies.

LG said Tuesday that the company would introduce the LG CLOi DisinfectBot at the show.

The 160-centimeter-tall robot uses ultraviolet-C light to kill viruses and other microbes. 

LG says the UV-C rays remove 99.9 percent of E. coli within a distance of less than 50 centimeters, which was confirmed by a joint test with Korea Conformity Laboratories.

Equipped with an autonomous driving platform and the ability to avoid obstacles, the robot would be useful for non-face-to-face disinfection tasks in public places such as hotels, hospitals and schools, the company said.

“The event will be held under the guidelines of Level 2.5 social distancing by restricting the number of visitors,” said an official representing the show’s organizer.

Samsung will occupy one of the most spacious halls in the venue.

The tech giant is planning to exhibit its Micro LED TV at the show after an online show to unveil the new model Thursday.

The Micro LED TV is Samsung’s highest-end TV, competing with LG Electronics’ organic light-emitting diode TVs.

By Song Su-hyun (song@heraldcorp.com)