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Tech & Science

KEPCO to showcase power grid innovation at CES 2026

Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) will join CES 2026 as the world's first utility company to set up its own booth at the tech fair’s main venue. Through the event, the state-run utility company seeks to redefine itself as a technology-driven energy solutions provider. During the exhibition, slated for Jan. 6 to 9, KEPCO will operate its Energy & Solution Pavilion at Las Vegas Convention Center, featuring immersive content designed to visualize the entire power value chain, from generation and transmission to distribution and consumption. A centerpiece of the exhibition will be an electric turtle ship, a modern reinterpretation of Korea’s historic warship. Visitors will experience a 6.5-minute immersive video journey inside the structure through KEPCO’s core technologies, offering a vivid sense of how advanced energy systems are applied in everyday life. There will also be an interactive power value chain kiosk to help visitors trace the process from generation to consumption while highlighting electricity’s central role in both industrial and urban life. The featured technologie

Dec 28, 2025By Lee Gyu-lee
KEPCO to showcase power grid innovation at CES 2026
Tech & Science

SK Telecom to unveil hyperscale AI language model

SK Telecom will unveil a hyperscale artificial intelligence (AI) model with more than 500 billion parameters at a presentation for the government-led national AI foundation model project on Tuesday. The company said Sunday the SK Telecom consortium, comprising eight organizations including the telecom operator, Krafton, Rebellions, Seoul National University and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, has developed A.X K1, which will be Korea’s first AI language model with a total of 519 billion parameters. Parameters are learned values that a model uses to analyze data and widely regarded as an indicator of the model’s scale or size. During inference, A.X K1 activates about 33 billion parameters, allowing it to maintain high performance while optimizing computational efficiency. This design enables the model to operate flexibly from heavy-duty training to lightweight task execution. “Developing Korea’s first 500-billion-parameter scale model marks a new turning point for the country’s ambition to join the global top tier of AI leaders amid fierce international compe

Dec 28, 2025By Lee Gyu-lee
SK Telecom to unveil hyperscale AI language model
Business

Nearly 80% of dog meat vendors in Korea have closed

Nearly 80 percent of dog meat farms in Korea have closed as of this month, revealing the fast pace of shutdowns ahead of the government’s plan to begin penalizing violators in February 2027. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, 125 dog meat farms shut down between Aug. 7 and Dec. 21 this year, while the number of dogs bred for consumption declined by 47,544 during the same period. As a result, 1,204 of the 1,537 registered farms, or 78 percent, have now closed since the Special Act on the Termination of Breeding, Slaughter and Distribution of Dogs for Consumption was enacted in February last year, a month after the National Assembly passed the law. The figures are higher than the government’s goal for the period, which aimed to close 58 farms and reduce the number of dogs by 26,000. When the law was introduced, the government provided a three-year grace period to encourage farms to voluntarily shut down. The law took effect in August last year and the government has been offering subsidies and consulting support for those closing their operations or switc

Dec 28, 2025By Ko Dong-hwan
Nearly 80% of dog meat vendors in Korea have closed
Companies

Coupang founder to again shun parliamentary hearing on massive data leak

Coupang founder Kim Bom-suk has said he would not appear for a parliamentary hearing this week over the e-commerce giant's massive data breach, a lawmaker said Sunday, in what would be another absence of his over the hearing over the breach that affected nearly 34 million people. Kim has submitted a statement on his non-appearance for the hearing scheduled Tuesday and Wednesday, according to Rep. Choi Min-hee of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK). According to the lawmaker, Kim, the chairman of the board at Coupang, said he was unable to attend the hearing due to his current residence overseas and a "prearranged schedule." Kim's brother and the current head of Coupang's global operational excellence, Yoo Kim, and Kang Han-seung, the former CEO of Coupang's Korea unit, submitted a similar statement of non-appearance, according to the lawmaker. "We will of course, once again, disapprove," Choi wrote in a social media post. Choi also chairs the National Assembly's Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee. On Thursday, Coupang said it had identified the former employee

Dec 28, 2025By Yonhap
Coupang founder to again shun parliamentary hearing on massive data leak
Tech & Science

LG Display to unveil world 1st OLED products at CES 2026

LG Display said Sunday it will unveil a series of world-first OLED products at CES 2026, including a gaming display that delivers a refresh rate of 720 hertz, the fastest OLED panel currently available. During the tech exhibition, slated for Jan. 6–9 in Las Vegas, LG Display will showcase its 27-inch gaming OLED panel, capable of delivering a 720-hertz refresh rate and a response time of 0.02 milliseconds. The refresh rate measures how many times a screen refreshes per second, and a 720-hertz display refreshes 720 times each second. According to LG Display, this is the first time an OLED panel has achieved such an ultra-high refresh rate. The display also achieves a response time of 0.02 milliseconds, which is about 150 times faster than that of conventional LCD panels. Response time refers to how quickly pixels change color, and a lower response time is better for competitive gaming because it reduces motion blur and minimizes image ghosting. During the event, LG Display will also unveil the world’s first 39-inch 5K2K gaming OLED panel. The term 5K2K refers to an ultrawide resolutio

Dec 28, 2025By Nam Hyun-woo
LG Display to unveil world 1st OLED products at CES 2026
Tech & Science

PHOTO Samsung's new speaker

Samsung Electronics' new wi-fi speaker, Music Studio 5, is on display. The company will unveil Music Studio 5, Music Studio 7 and other sound bar products at its The First Look 2026 event in Las Vegas on Jan. 4, two days ahead of CES 2026. The Music Studio series was designed by French furniture designer Erwan Bouroullec, who also created Samsung’s The Serif TV, which gained popularity as an interior piece. Courtesy of Samsung Electronics

Dec 28, 2025By Nam Hyun-woophoto
[PHOTO] Samsung's new speaker
Others

K-pop snack collaboration gone wrong? Fans protest after Stray Kids’ Han missing from Pepero package

A Stray Kids collaboration package for the Korean snack product Pepero, produced by Lotte Wellfood, has sparked controversy among fans after it was discovered that one member, HAN, was missing from the design. The special-edition package, sold in Canada, quickly drew backlash online as fans questioned why only seven of the eight members appeared on the box. Photos of the collaboration box began circulating online on Dec. 21, after a fan shared an image allegedly taken at a Canadian store. The packaging showed Bang Chan, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, Felix, Seungmin, and I.N — but HAN’s image was absent, leading fans to call out what they viewed as an inexplicable omission in an officially licensed group product. Fans tagged the brand’s official accounts and demanded an explanation, with some users saying they found it difficult to see the incident as a simple oversight. Others criticized the move as disrespectful for excluding a single member from a group promotion, while some called for a temporary boycott until the company issued a response or corrective action. As criticism cont

Dec 27, 2025By Xportsnews
K-pop snack collaboration gone wrong? Fans protest after Stray Kids’ Han missing from Pepero package
Companies

Shinsegae affiliate reports leak of personal data involving some 80,000 employees

Shinsegae I&C Inc., the information technology (IT) arm of retail giant Shinsegae Group, said Friday the personal data of about 80,000 employees and subcontractors had been breached, but no customer information was compromised. "We have confirmed that personal data of our employees and staff working at our subcontractors has been leaked from our internal intranet system," the IT company said in a notice to the press about a data breach case. The affected information includes corporate ID numbers, names, departments and IP addresses of Shinsegae group employees and staff from subcontractors of Shinsegae I&C, the company said. No personal data of customers was compromised, the company added. Shinsegae first detected the data breach Wednesday and reported it to the Korea Internet & Security Agency on Friday afternoon. The IT unit under Shinsegae said it has launched an emergency inspection and took protective measures as soon as the data leak was identified. A malware infection was reportedly behind the data breach, though the exact cause is not yet known. "We are currently investigating the e

Dec 26, 2025By Yonhap
Shinsegae affiliate reports leak of personal data involving some 80,000 employees
Companies

LG Energy Solution says 3.9 trillion won battery deal with US firm canceled

Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution Ltd. said Friday it has agreed with a U.S. company to terminate a supply contract signed in 2024 by mutual consent. In a regulatory filing, LG Energy Solution said it has canceled the supply deal worth 3.9 trillion won ($2.69 billion) signed with U.S.-based battery pack producer Freudenberg Battery Power System (FBPS) LLC. LG Energy Solution said the termination came as FBPS decided to pull out from the battery industry. LG Energy Solution signed the $2.7 billion agreement with the U.S. company in April and had already implemented $110 million of the deal. Last week, LG Energy Solution announced the cancellation of a 9.6 trillion-won battery supply order from Ford Motor Co. signed last year. Following the latest regulatory filing, the combined amount of contracts terminated this month for LG Energy Solution reached 13.5 trillion won, which accounts for around half of the company's annual sales of 25.6 trillion won posted in 2024. The South Korean battery maker, however, said the terminations are expected to have a limited impact on its financial heal

Dec 26, 2025By Yonhap
LG Energy Solution says 3.9 trillion won battery deal with US firm canceled
Companies

Coupang rejects gov’t request to hire more non-Korean couriers

It was revealed Friday that Coupang has rejected a recommendation from the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) to increase the hiring of non-Korean delivery workers. According to the government agency’s disclosure, a foreign applicant for a courier position at Coupang was barred from taking a driving test in 2022 because of his nationality. After receiving his petition, the NHRCK advised Coupang last January not to exclude permanent residents from recruitment. As the e-commerce firm transferred its delivery operations to its subsidiary, Coupang Logistics Services (CLS), the commission sent the same recommendation to the unit’s chief executive. However, CLS later said it had no plans to hire more foreign couriers, citing communication issues with non-Korean workers, their unfamiliarity with Korean geography and the need to protect jobs for Korean citizens. The company noted it had hired a small number of non-Korean workers after receiving the recommendation. The NHRCK deemed the response discriminatory and decided to make the rejection public. “It is questionable whethe

Dec 26, 2025By Park Jae-hyuk
Coupang rejects gov’t request to hire more non-Korean couriers
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