President Park Geun-hye championed her creative economy vision at this year’s meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. She suggested creative economy as a way out for countries experiencing slow growth amid high unemployment and income inequality.At the same time, she pitched Korea as an attractive place to invest to the participants in the forum. She held one-on-one meetings with the CEOs of some of the world’s top corporations to…

beSUCCESS, Korean startup media organization, events organizer, and global connector is happy to officially announce that their flagship startup event, beLAUNCH, is back in 2014 in a year that is already heating up to be one of the most promising for Korean, Asian, and Global entrepreneurship. The event will be held May 14 – 15 at the brand new Dongdaemun Design Plaza in the heart of Seoul. In addition, this year there…

Japan has been much harder hit by the global financial crisis than its North East Asian neighbors and has since struggled to catch back up. The country’s recovery has of course further been hampered by the devastating tsunami and subsequent nuclear crisis in Fukushima. Suffice to say that Japan has seen better days, and now news that in the lucrative semiconductor market Japan is also losing out to Korea. According to research…

I have published a number of stories about Google, Naver and Daum, the not so fair battle-ground of Korean internet, but this piece is also very worth while sharing, as it goes into great depth about the issue and also suggests that finally Google may be on the rise. The Korean hit drama series “Respond, 1994” which went off the air two weeks ago after attracting a huge following on cable TV,…

The e-book industry is hoping that Korea’s large enterprises will boost domestic demand, prior to market entry by large-global companies including Amazon and Kobo. According to the industry, GS Home Shopping will start its e-Book service next month with ‘Tabon Books’. CJ HelloVision has already introduced an integrated e-Book and Internet service, at the end of 2013. GS Home Shopping is scheduled to embark on an e-book business to target both domestic…

It was recently reported that Amazon plans to enter the Korean e-commerce market in 2014, potentially posing a major threat to existing domestic services and promising to further globalize the online shopping experience that has until now been dominated by domestic players. “As far as I know, Amazon is currently preparing to enter the Korean market,” an industry source said, adding that local companies are gearing up for a possible showdown with…

Although Michael Bay stole many of the headlines for his walkout at CES Samsung have been trying to regain the spotlight and have claimed with confidence that the will grab top market share of UHD TV sales in the first quarter of 2014. “Although our launch of UHD TV was little late, we are confident that we will take the world’s No. 1 position within the first quarter,”  Yoon Boo-Keun, head of…

South Korea’s tech giants are battling it out at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, promoting their cutting-edge “smart” products. A total of 3,200 global players will showcase at one of the largest tech shows on earth Jan. 7-10, demonstrating how they aim to change our digital future. First round seems to have gone to Samsung, with their Smart Home solutions, which have out-shone LG’s Smart TVs, for now….

LTE-A will shape our mobile broadband future, has been all over the Korean tech news for a while, and has huge scope to grow, from current download speeds of around 45Mbps to up to 300Mbps. I thought it worth taking a look at where it is now and where it is heading in the next 12 months. For additional information please access the links in the text. Basic Facts: LTE was first…

In 2014 The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) will a role out a raft of mid-to long-term software projects to bolster a number of domestic strategic industries. This will be achieved by developing 100 key software platforms for SMEs and foster high-quality human resources by organizing various educational programs. While it is certainly a positive step that the government is supporting these key industries, and is dedicated to bolstering innovation in…

Naver and Daum have made a tentative decision to shell out millions of dollars as a form of self-penance for abusing their market dominance in Korea’s internet portal industry, according to the Fair Trade Commission yesterday. As we have reported several times recently their has been concern voiced about the increasing dominance of the two companies in the Korean internet search market. The money will be spent in ways that benefit Internet…

Last week saw Lee Hae-jin, CEO of NAVER Corp., the country’s largest Internet portal operator, ranked No. 1 among Korean stock-rich business owners, in terms of valuation gains on his stock holdings. The combined value of Lee’s shares rose to 1.1 trillion won (US$1.24 billion), more than a two-fold increase, from 507.4 billion won, posted at the end of December 2012, according to data released by market research firm FnGuide. Global Ambitions:…

Korea’s contents industry exports, centering on gaming, is forecast to exceed $5 billion for the first time, an increase of over 10.% on last year. Sales in the sector are also expected to increase by 4.9% from last year, to KRW 90 trillion. The gaming industry will fuel this growth, with figures up 9.9% on last year and is likely to account for 60% of total contents industry exports from Korea in…

Samsung’s 4Q Operating Profit Likely to Fall Short of 10Tn Won Target Amid predictions that Samsung Electronics’ fourth-quarter operating profit will likely to fall short of their target of 10Tn won, the company’s stock price of Samsung Electronics hit a downward slope. Market watchers also predicted that this down-trend would continue into the first quarter of next year. According to financial information provider FnGuide on December 26, the consensus figures for Samsung…

Many had thought that the plethora of law suits that we saw earlier this year between smartphone giants Samsung and Apple has all but disappeared, but now it has emerged that Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s largest smartphone maker, on Thursday suffered a legal defeat against Apple Inc. on its home turf after a local court ruled that Apple had not in fact violated its patents. The Seoul Central District Court ruled…

The growth of South Korea’s smart connected device market is expected to turn negative this year for the first time from growing market saturation, data showed on Tuesday. According to the data compiled by market researcher IDC Corp., the country’s smart connected device market, which includes smartphones and tablet PCs, is estimated at 21.85 trillion won (US$20.78 billion) for the year, down 7.9 percent from a year earlier. In terms of volume,…

Bitcoin is changing finance the same way the web changed publishing, and in the wake of its emerging status as a “proper” currency, new ventures are rushing to get in on the action. So too is Korbit, a Korean startup founded by Tony Lyu. There is a Bitcoin craze in Silicon Valley at the moment. Exiting startups in the space are popping up everywhere with Bitcoin startup accelerator Boost VC leading the…

Who will come out as a winner in the new autumn version of the smartphone battles? Autumn 2013 will see a string of new smartphone releases, with the race already on. ‘Vega Secret Note,’ the ‘Galaxy Round,’ the ‘iPhone 5S’ and the ‘Vu 3’ will all be released in short succession over the next few months, with an advantageous position in the lucrative Korean market going to the victor. A fierce marketing…

Korea’s President Park has reason to be upset, as Obama allows a ban on some older Samsung smartphones to the US. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said, “We express regret over the decision of the U.S. trade representative not to veto the U.S. International Trade Commission’s exclusion order against Samsung.” The selected phones are said to have infringed on two Apple patents (the 949 patent, which deals with commands on…

Ever heard of Pantech? Probably not recently. The struggling tech company recently lost its head, who stepped down after ordering almost 1/3 of the workforce to take a six month ‘vacation’. The company is now hoping to gain some credibility back (from staff and customers alike), with the release of a new 5.9-inch phablet: the VEGA Secret Note. Pantech has posted three consecutive quarters of serious losses starting at 81.2Bn won in…