my timesThe Korea Times

Kim Yoo-chul

Korea Times Business Reporter

Go to Email

Read more

Tech & Science

KT employs more foreigners

By Kim Yoo-chulTelecommunications giant KT is hiring more foreign employees under Chairman Lee Suk-chae, the firm said Monday.As of the end of March, KT had 26 foreign employees on full-time contracts, compared to three in 2010 and only one foreigner in 2009.Sixteen are American, followed by three British, two Canadians, two Indians and one each from Japan, Russia and New Zealand.The firm said it is going to be more aggressive in increasing its number of non-Korean staff as it pushes to diversify its business structures and become truly global.“Over the last few years, KT has been consistent in hiring more non-Koreans as we believe foreigners will significantly help us effectively push for globalization,” a company spokesman said.The foreign employees are currently involved in the company’s key projects and their role is expected to expand as KT becomes less reliant solely on the local market. Frank Trevino is team leader at the Americas/Network Business Department inside KT’s Global Business Unit. His main job is to handle KT’s global alliance managemen

Apr 15, 2013By Kim Yoo-chul
Tech & Science

LG Uplus makes risky bet

By Kim Yoo-chulLG Uplus has received a mixed response from the market over its decision Thursday to offer unlimited voice call price plans, belatedly joining its biggest rival KT and the market leader SK Telecom. Some say it was an inevitable choice for the smallest carrier but many claim it is a risky bet as the latest price plan is expected to place a financial burden on the firm in the long term. Many analysts said it’s uncertain whether the Uplus plan will yield visible results.Simply put, customers who register for Uplus’ 69,000 won monthly pricing plan have unlimited voice calls without additional charges even to customers using rival services. Uplus’s cheapest free call plan also offers 5-gigabytes (GB) of data, an amount that exceeds the average customers’ needs. The majority of subscribers prefer plans that cost around 50,000 won monthly, and offer 2 GB of data, according to officials.Uplus CEO Lee Sang-chul admitted the plan could cut its annual revenue by as much as 600 billion won because Uplus can’t charge for heavy voice call use under the

Apr 12, 2013By Kim Yoo-chul
Tech & Science

Doosan realigns business portfolio

Group considers buying OLED maker NovaledBy Kim Yoo-chulPark Yong-maanDoosan ChairmanDoosan Group, the nation’s oldest conglomerate, is enhancing its electronics unit in an attempt to diversify its business portfolio.Group officials and stock market analysts identified electronic components, biotechnology and parts for oil pressure devices as some of the group’s likely areas of interest. It plans to invest as much as 250 billion won over the next three years in these untapped businesses, according to the sources.The group plans to spend 190 billion won of the 250 billion won to beef up its electronics business. This business exports copper clad laminators, which are used in electronic devices, to leading companies such as Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Apple and Sharp Electronics. It is also considering taking over a small display maker for a similar purpose.The move comes a year after Park Yong-maan became chairman of the group on April 2, 2012. The group’s core businesses have witnessed deteriorating profits over the last few years owing to market

Apr 12, 2013By Kim Yoo-chul
Doosan realigns business portfolio
Tech & Science

Samsung, LG re-locked in patent theft case

By Kim Yoo-chulThe display panel-making affiliates of Samsung and LG traded barbs over an ongoing police investigation into Samsung’s alleged theft of LG’s OLED technologies, Wednesday.Only weeks ago, the CEOs of Samsung Display and LG Display agreed to end the dispute some industry watchers had called “meaningless and ugly” at a meeting arranged by the government.However, the two have resumed the dispute, each accusing the other of stealing its technologies.On Tuesday, police raided four factories of Samsung Display to secure evidence for LG’s theft claims.LG Display claimed some of its White OLED (W-OLED) technologies were stolen by Samsung, and asked police to look into what it called a corporate espionage case.Samsung, however, dismissed LG’s claims as groundless, saying it has no reason to steal LG’s technologies because it already controls the global demand for OLED displays. Samsung has also accused LG of similar theft but has not asked police to investigate.“We believe police will find evidence that can probe Samsung’s mis

Apr 10, 2013By Kim Yoo-chul
Tech & Science

Exclusive Apple excludes Samsung from chip development project

By Kim Yoo-chulThe chasm between Samsung Electronics and Apple is expected to widen further as the U.S. electronics giant has excluded its Korean rival from a project to develop A7 application processors, due to be released in the first half of next year.Samsung, which sees Apple’s decision as a negative, plans to maintain growth momentum by expanding its business with NVIDIA through increasing contractual chip orders.``Apple is sharing confidential data for its next A7 system-on-chip (SoC) with the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). TSMC has begun ordering its contractors to supply equipment to produce Apple’s next processors using a finer 20-nanometer level processing technology,’’ said an executive at one of Samsung’s local partners in Korea by telephone, Wednesday.Unlike conventional memory chips, which are only used to write and store data, application processors are used to power computing devices, and are more profitable and less volatile price-wise.Apple has been paying billions of dollars to Samsung to use the latter’s appl

Apr 10, 2013By Kim Yoo-chul
Tech & Science

'China well aware of Samsung'

By Kim Yoo-chulLee Jay-yongThe heir-apparent at Samsung said he feels a greater responsibility to maintain momentum in the group’s key businesses as drastic advances by Chinese rivals are threatening the technology heavyweight.``I feel a responsibility,’’ Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jay-yong told reporters upon his arrival at Gimpo International Airport from a trip to China, Tuesday.Lee, who is the only son of Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee returned home from the Boao Forum for Asia in China. Lee was named as a new board member of the regional forum, replacing SK Chairman Chey Tae-won who resigned from the post due to “personal reasons.”The vice chairman said he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping twice during the session and discussed several pending issues. Samsung is heavily investing in China _ currently building a $7 billion NAND flash factory and $2.8 billion LCD factory there.The two met before in February and August 2010 for talks on cooperation. A Samsung spokesman refused to give out more details about the most recent Lee-Xi meeting.

Apr 9, 2013By Kim Yoo-chul
'China well aware of Samsung'
Tech & Science

LG takes lead in display market

A model poses next to an 84-inch liquid crystal display (LCD) panel that supports ultra high-definition(UHD) viewing, developed by LG Display.                                                                                                     / Courtesy of LG DisplayBy Kim Yoo-chulLG Display, the display-making unit of LG Group, is widening its lead over rivals in all flat-screen display segments.In Korea, LG has always trailed Samsung but LG is rewriting that story, at least in displays. LG Display is beating Samsung Display in the race for organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TVs.LG is also ahead of Samsung in liquid crystal displays (LCDs). According to the latest analysis of market research firm DisplaySearch, the Yeouido, Seoul-based outfit has maintained its global top position in large LCDs for the last three years.DisplaySearc

Apr 8, 2013By Kim Yoo-chul
LG takes lead in display market
Tech & Science

MS to stop Windows XP support

By Kim Yoo-chulKim Myung-ho, a senior executive at Microsoft Korea, speaks during a briefing on the company’s decision to end support for Windows XP platform at its main office in Seoul, Monday.         / Courtesy of Microsoft KoreaThe Korean unit of U.S.-based software giant Microsoft said Monday that it will no longer provide technical solutions to Windows XP and Office 2013 software beginning April 8, 2014, because of their vulnerability to cyber attacks.“Windows XP is unable to offer a safe platform and meet demand for sophisticated Web-based services,” Microsoft Korea said in a press release. The statement is regarded as “blackmailing” XP users because the end of service for XP means they will have to buy later versions of the Windows operating system.Spokeswoman Adecco Lee said XP and Office 2003 were great software when they were released. “However, there have been changes in the technology environment. People’s needs and expectations also change and evolve.” The firm urged customers to adopt advanced sof

Apr 8, 2013By Kim Yoo-chul
Tech & Science

LG Electronics CEO lauds TV technology

By Kim Yoo-chulLG Electronics CEO Koo Bon-joonLG Electronics CEO Koo Bon-joon rarely talks to the media, although he is known as an outspoken, charismatic person among company executives.He never gives clear answers to questions from reporters. Rather, Koo prefers to use vague metaphors, in the process giving reporters a hard time as they try to read between the lines in his wording.He looked a different person when he praised the firm’s TV technologies, saying, “We’ve improved a lot in terms of TV technologies” during the LG Cinema 3D World Festival in Seoul. Its TV business is led by the CEO’s “right-hand man” Kwon Hee-won.In this year’s event, about 540 TV products including LG’s in-house film-patterned three dimensional (3D) TVs, ultra high-definition (UHD) TVs and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TVs were displayed.Korea’s popular girl groups SISTAR and Girls’ Generation held live performances to attract people.During his one-hour stay at the festival, Koo paid much attention to content developers such as Blizz

Apr 7, 2013By Kim Yoo-chul
LG Electronics CEO lauds TV technology
Tech & Science

Shakeup at Samsung?

Lee’s return from overseas trip triggers speculationBy Kim Yoo-chulSamsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee answers reporters’ questions upon his arrival atGimpo International Airport from his three-month trip to Japan and Hawaii, Saturday.YonhapSamsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee talked of a “sense of crisis” upon his return from a long overseas trip Saturday, sparking speculation about a possible management shakeup.He said the world’s biggest technology company is being asked to tackle market uncertainties.“You should always have a sense of crisis. You should run faster and always study to have insights,” Lee told reporters at Gimpo International Airport, arriving back from a three-month trip to Japan and Hawaii.He previously took long overseas stays before unveiling large-scale business plans and managerial changes.Lee promoted Choi Gee-sung to group vice chairman and head of Samsung’s corporate planning office three weeks after he returned from a three-week trip to Europe in May of last year.This year marks the 20th since Samsu

Apr 7, 2013By Kim Yoo-chul
Shakeup at Samsung?
previous page
171172173174175
next page

Top 5 stories

Korea Times
About Us
Introduction
History
Contact Us
Products & Services
Subscribe
E-paper
RSS Service
Content Sales
Site Map
Policy
Code of Ethics
Ombudsman
Privacy Policy
Youth Protection Policy
Terms of Service
Copyright Policy
Family Site
Hankookilbo
Dongwha Group
FacebookXYoutubeInstagram
CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jinDigital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.krTel: 02-724-2114Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844Date of registration: 2020.02.05Masthead: The Korea TimesCopyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.