TerraPower and Seaborg sign Korean cooperation agreements

(Image: South Gyeongsang province)The Governor of South Gyeongsang Province has signed agreements with TerraPower and Seaborg for cooperation in the design and production of next-generation nuclear power plants and research and development in the region.The agreements were signed at the Gyeongnam Small Modular Reactor International Conference, with the province saying it hoped the agreements would strengthen the region's position in the sector and provide opportunities to participate in technology development.Governor Park Wan-soo said in his opening remarks, at what was the first such conference: "Recently, cutting-edge industries such as artificial intelligence and big data are developing rapidly, and the demand for electricity is increasing worldwide. In the midst of these changes, small modular reactors, or SMRs, a carbon-free energy source that is stable and sustainable, are attracting attention from around the world. Last June, our province established a comprehensive plan to foster nuclear power ... and announced that it would invest KRW2.6 trillion (USD1.8 billion) by 2032 and...

Read More........ → November 27, 2024

From India to South Korea, crypto exchanges under regulatory lens

Seoul, (IANS): The financial regulator here said on Tuesday it will soon launch an inspection of virtual asset exchanges to check for any illegal or unfair transactions, as India cracks down on crypto platforms.The planned inspection will be the first of its kind since the country introduced tougher rules against illegal trading of virtual assets in July under the new Virtual Asset Users Protection Act, which enabled maximum punishment of life imprisonment for those who gain more than 5 billion won ($3.7 million) through illegal transactions.The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said it will inspect two South Korean won-based cryptocurrency exchanges, considering what it called "unusual cases" detected in earlier reviews, reports Yonhap news agency.There are said to be a total of four Korean won-based exchanges in the country.In addition, three more cryptocurrency exchanges and one cryptocurrency wallet provider will come under the planned inspection, as well as any other exchanges when and if any problems or complaints are filed against them, the FSS added.The inspection will check...

Read More........ → September 19, 2024

Polling underway in South Korea to elect new Parliament

Polling is underway in South Korea to elect a new Parliament. About 44 million people are eligible to vote for its 300-member National Assembly. The outcome of today’s polls will also set the tone for the remaining years of Yoon Suk-yeol’s presidency. The election comes nearly two years after conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol won the 2022 presidential election defeating Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party by just 0.73 per cent – the slimmest margin in South Korean history. South Korea has a powerful presidential system, checked and balanced by the assembly which can pass or stop bills. The parliament is currently dominated by the Democratic Party which holds 142 out of 297 seats.Polling underway in South Korea to elect new Parliame...

Read More........ → April 10, 2024

Twitch to shut down in SKorea over 'seriously' high fees

WASHINGTON - US-based streaming platform Twitch said Wednesday it would stop its service in South Korea in February because of "seriously high" network costs, dealing a blow to millions of users in one of the heartlands of e-sports.The Amazon-owned company said in a statement signed by CEO Dan Clancy that costs were 10 times higher than most other countries, making it impossible to continue operating.South Korea allows internet service providers to charge data-heavy companies like Twitch extra fees, which has already led to a long dispute with Netflix. Big telecom firms in Europe have pushed for a similar deal, which they call "fair share", but an EU consultation concluded in October that the idea was not popular. Twitch said it had tried to lower its costs by reducing the maximum video quality but it was still losing money and would pull out of the country on February 27."The cost of running Twitch in South Korea is currently seriously high," said the statement.- 'Stellar player' -Twitch, acquired by Amazon in 2014 for close to $1 billion, gained significant traction among gamers in...

Read More........ → December 07, 2023

N Korea stole $300m in crypto to fund nukes: UN report

A confidential UN report claimed that North Korea has stolen more than $300 million worth of cryptocurrencies through cyberattacks in recent months to support its banned nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. -Reports AFPCompiled by a panel of experts monitoring sanctions on Pyongyang, the report said the country’s “total theft of virtual assets from 2019 to November 2020 is valued at approximately $316.4 million”, citing a UN member state. Financial institutions and exchanges were hacked to generate revenue for Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile development, said the report, which was seen by AFP. The vast majority of the proceeds came from two thefts late last year. The North is known to operate an army of thousands of well-trained hackers who have attacked firms, institutions and researchers in South Korea and elsewhere. It has also been accused of exploiting its cyber capabilities for financial gain. The North is under multiple sets of international sanctions over its banned nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes, which have made rapid progress...

Read More........ → February 10, 2021

South Korea to Push for SPADGMS, minesweepers deal with India

The $ 3 billion Self Propelled Air Defence Gun Missile System (SPAD-GMS) deal is expected to be part of discussions between the Indian Army Chief Gen MM Naravane and the top brass of South Korea. In the SPAD-GMS, South Korea’s Hanhwa Defence had emerged as the lowest bidder beating the Russian competitor. In line with the government’s `Act East Policy’ and to explore avenues for further expansion of the military ties, the Indian Army Chief Naravane has left on a three-day visit to South Korea on Monday (December 28, 2020). He will be holding talks with his counterpart – the army chief and chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff as well as the minister of defence. He will also meet with South Korea’s minister of Defence Acquisition Planning Administration (DAPA). The army chief’s visit to South Korea’s capital Seoul comes close on the heels of his recently concluded visit to the UAE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. While in South Korea, the Indian Army chief will go to the Korea Combat Training Centre in Gangwon province and Advance Defence Development (ADD) facility which are located at Daejeon.Both...

Read More........ → January 03, 2021

Kim Jong Un marks New Year with visit to family tomb

Kim visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where the bodies of his father and grandfather are preserved under glass.North Korean leader Kim Jong Un marked the arrival of 2021 with a handwritten letter to the country’s citizens and a visit the tomb of his father and grandfather. However, there was no immediate indication he would give a speech as he has done in previous years. In the letter, Kim offered thanks to the people for having trusted and supported the ruling Party even in the “difficult” times, state news agency KCNA reported on Friday. The North Korean leader has previously apologised for failing to fulfil promises of economic improvement and for the hardships citizens have endured as a result of international sanctions and strict measures aimed at preventing a coronavirus outbreak. “In the new year, too, I will work hard to bring earlier the new era in which the ideals and desires of our people will come true,” Kim wrote, according to KCNA. North Korea has said it has no confirmed cases of coronavirus, although officials in South Korea and the United...

Read More........ → January 01, 2021

Chatroom sex abuse ringleader jailed for 40yrs

A South Korean court has sentenced the mastermind of one of the country’s biggest online sex abuse rings to 40 years in jail. Cho Ju-bin was found guilty of running a group that blackmailed girls into sharing sexual videos that were then posted in pay-to-view chatrooms.Citing a district court in Seoul on Thursday, CNN reported that the accused had distributed a wide range of sexually explicit content. Cho Ju-bin created these offensive contents by tempting and blackmailing many victims.CNN also reported that people used to be members of the chatrooms of the Telegram app in exchange for money. At least 10,000 people used the chatrooms, with some paying up to $1,200 (Tk 101,390) for access. Some 74 people, including 16 underage girls, were exploited.Meanwhile, Cho violated the law to protect children from sexual abuse. He used to earn money by selling these exploiting videos.Online sexual harassment has caused quite a stir in South Korea. The name of the accused was not disclosed at the beginning. However, Cho’s name was revealed in the petition signed by 5 million people of the...

Read More........ → December 13, 2020

S Korea tops in 10 most automated countries

According to the data of the International Federation of Robotics, within four years the units of installed industrial robots have been jumped to 113 from 74 as the pace of industrial automation is accelerating across much of the developed world. It has been reported that there was a total of 74 installed industrial robots per 10,000 employees globally in 2016 while that increased to 113 across the manufacturing sector by 2020. Asia now has a robot density of 118 units per 10,000 workers with pushing the Europe and Americas back for carrying the figures of 114 and 103 respectively. South Korea leads the way in the use of robots, with 855 installed per 10,000 employees, followed by Japan (364) and Germany (346), however, China is one of the countries recording the highest growth levels in industrial automation. Let's have a look at the 10 countries with the highest density of robot workers.No 1 South Korea (855)No 2 Japan (364) No 3 Germany (346)No 4 Sweden (277)No 5 United States (228) No 6 Italy (212)No 7 Belgium/Luxembourg(tie) (211)No 8 Spain (191)No...

Read More........ → December 08, 2020

Kim’s sister appears in public for 1st time since July

This undated picture released from North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on October 2, 2020, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and sister Kim Yo Jong visiting fields in Kimhwa County, Kangwon province; Photo: AFPNorth Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong made her first appearance in state media since July, an absence that speculated her power was “clipped” after she led a contentious pressure campaign against South Korea.Kim Yo Jong joined her brother and a handful of top cadres on a tour to inspect reconstruction work to repair damage caused by massive flooding in recent weeks, the state’s Korean Central News Agency reported Friday.The political analysts predicted that Kim Yo Jong is likely to be the successor to her brother Kim Jong Un during his prolonged absence in April raised questions about his health conditions.She was last mentioned in state media when she joined her brother on an inspection tour of a chicken farm, which included a glimpse of her picking up a cigarette butt from her brother.“The listing of the accompanying officials in today’s...

Read More........ → October 04, 2020

Korea punishes TikTok for data mishandling

In this file photo illustration, the logo of social media application TikTok is displayed on the screen of an iPhone, in Arlington, Virginia. TikTok has been caught up in the escalating dispute between the United States and China, with the Chinese-owned firm accused of acting as a surveillance tool for Beijing, an allegation it denies. AFP-Yonhap By Kim Yoo-chul: The country's top telecom regulator fined Chinese video-sharing platform TikTok 186 million won ($155,000) over the app operator's mismanagement of user data, with the regulator chief Han Sang-hyuck calling it a "problematic company." The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) said Wednesday the regulator's decision to impose the fine was based on its thorough internal investigation that uncovered TikTok's violation of local telecommunication laws. "The KCC can confirm TikTok didn't get parental consent when collecting personal data for users younger than 14. Plus, TikTok didn't notify its users of its overseas transfer of personal data. While TikTok had promised children under the age of 14 wouldn't be able to...

Read More........ → July 17, 2020

US 'strongly' supports inter-Korean cooperation: Biegun

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, right, talks with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul, Wednesday. / Joint press corpsUS envoy has no intention to contact NK side during Seoul visitBy Kang Seung-wooU.S. special representative to North Korea Stephen Biegun said Wednesday that the Trump administration "strongly" stands behind the government's efforts to promote inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation.His remarks came amid lingering speculation that Washington is uncomfortable with Seoul's independent push for inter-Korean ties, as the U.S. government has repeatedly insisted that such cooperation proceed in lockstep with progress in denuclearizing North Korea.Biegun, who doubles as the deputy secretary of state, also said contacting North Korean officials was not the purpose of his Seoul visit this time, brushing away speculations of any possible contact."The United States strongly supports inter-Korean cooperation and we believe this plays an important component in creating a more stable environment on the Korean peninsula," Biegun...

Read More........ → July 13, 2020

Korea's real estate policy fiasco

Seoul tops list of apartment price growth among major cities By Lee Min-hyung Since his inauguration in May, 2017, President Moon Jae-in and his administration have been waging a war against real estate speculation by employing all possible measures focused on punitive taxation and lending regulations. With the lofty goal of offering homes to more people at affordable prices, their policy initiatives have been considered to have had good intentions but the attempts have not come to fruition as they defy the basic market principle of supply and demand. Experts said that if the government continues to focus on suppressing demand without supplying more homes in the capital where most Koreans want to live, it will freeze trading and distort the market, eventually fueling pent-up demand and a further hike in home prices over the long term. The side effects of the government's ineffective real estate policies are manifested in the latest data comparing apartment prices in major cities around the world. Apartment prices in Seoul have posted the largest growth for the...

Read More........ → July 13, 2020

Satellite imagery showing activity at suspected N. Korean nuclear facility: CNN

Captured from CNN website New satellite imagery reveals a previously undeclared North Korean facility that experts suspect could be used to build nuclear warheads, CNN reported Wednesday. The images, captured by Planet Labs and analyzed by experts at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, show an active facility in the village of Wollo-ri near Pyongyang, the report said. "It has all the signatures of a North Korean nuclear facility ― security perimeter, on-site housing, monuments to unpublicized leadership visits, and an underground facility. And it sits right next to a bottled water factory that has none of those characteristics," Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the institute, was quoted as saying. "The big thing that sticks out is all the vehicle traffic ― cars, trucks, shipping containers. This factory is very active. That activity has not slowed down ― not during negotiations and not now. It's still making nuclear weapons," he told CNN. Nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang have stalled, with the two sides wide apart on the scope of...

Read More........ → July 10, 2020

N. Korea, US remain apart over summit

By Yi Whan-woo: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's powerful sister downplayed the possibility of another summit between her brother and U.S. President Donald Trump this year, saying it was "unnecessary" and "useless." Kim Yo-jong The statement by Kim Yo-jong, the North's de facto No. 2, came after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday he was "very hopeful" about resuming talks with North Korea including a summit between the leaders of the two countries. "This is my personal opinion but any summit between the U.S. and North Korea will not take place this year," Kim Yo-jong said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency. "As long as there is no decisive change in the U.S. position, a summit between the DPRK and the U.S. is unnecessary and useless this year, and in the future at least for us." Kim's view reiterates Pyongyang's declarations that it would not "gift" an additional summit, following the previous three from 2018 to 2019, to Trump if it does not get something substantial in return. The U.S. has been rejecting the North's demand to...

Read More........ → July 10, 2020

Donald Trump, Kim Jong Un pledge to denuclearise North Korea

US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un today issued a joint statement pledging to work towards complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and Washington committing to provide security guarantees to North Korea The process of denuclearisation (of Korean peninsula) would happen “very, very quickly”, adding that he had formed a “special bond” with Kim Jong Un and the relationship with North Korea would be very different, Trump said after his meeting with Kim. “President Trump committed to provide security guarantees to the DPRK and Chairman Kim Jong Un reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula,” said a joint statement issued after their historic summit in Singapore. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and North Korean officials would hold follow-up negotiations “at the earliest possible date”, the statement said. The joint statement, however, did not give any details on how denuclearisation would be achieved. Nor did it make any mention of the international sanctions imposed on North Korea, for...

Read More........ → June 29, 2020

Samsung launches 5G Galaxy Tab S6 in South Korea

Samsung has officially launched a fifth generation Galaxy Tab S6, a 5G variant of its Tab S6 tablet, which is also the world’s first 5G tablet. The Samsung S6 5Gg Tab is virtually unchanged from the original Wi-Fi and LTE models, with one exception that it incorporates a Snapdragon X50 5G modem – the S6 tab had no modem on the Wi-Fi model, while there was an X24 LTE modem on the LTE version. The Galaxy Tab S6 5G is currently priced at 999,900 won (roughly $848 or around Rs60,000) and will only be available in South Korea, for now. The S6 5G Tab also come in a single configuration with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The rest of the specs, including the 10.5-inch OLED HDR panel, Snapdragon 855 processor, and stylus, remain unchanged. There's no word on international releases, although that might hinge on carrier support. A 5G version of an existing tablet would be a low-priority item, and Samsung might decide that it's easier to roll out the Galaxy Tab S6 5G on a country-by-country basis. Galaxy Tab S6 gives more personal PC experience without a PC. The ultra-slim Galaxy Tab S6,...

Read More........ → June 29, 2020

Samsung launches world's first foldable glass phone, Galaxy Z Flip

The Galaxy Z Flip, the company’s latest futuristic flagship, features a first-of-its-kind foldable glass display that allows the user to capture, share and experience content. “When folded, the Galaxy Z Flip is a stylish and compact palm-sized device. When unfolded, it’s a full-sized phone whose stunning, 6.7-inch Infinity Flex Display –Samsung’s first to feature a 21.9:9 aspect ratio – offers users truly seamless multitasking, a company website release stated. The key highlight of Galaxy Z Flip is its bendable glass as it is for the first time that a brand has used thin bendable glass in a phone. The Galaxy is also the first foldable phone from Samsung to feature a clamshell design. The device takes on the new Moto Razr foldable phone and will bring back memories of style associated with flip phones. For the first time in mobile phones, Samsung has used thin glass over a flexible display. The Galaxy Z Flip features Samsung’s proprietary bendable Ultra Thin Glass (UTG). This glass layer makes the device look sturdy and the screen less delicate. Also, repairing the display becomes...

Read More........ → June 10, 2020

North Korea's Kim Jong Un reaches South Korea for historic summit with Moon

[North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, crosses the border into South Korea, along with South Korean President Moon Jae-in for their historic face-to-face talks, in Panmunjom. (Korea Broadcasting System via AP)] Goyang (South Korea): With a single step over a weathered, cracked slab of concrete, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made history Friday by crossing over the world’s most heavily armed border to greet his rival, South Korean President Moon Jae-in, for talks on North Korea’s nuclear weapons. Kim then invited Moon to cross briefly north with him before they returned to the southern side. Those small steps must be seen in the context of the last year — when the United States, its ally South Korea and the North seemed at times to be on the verge of nuclear war as the North unleashed a torrent of weapons tests — but also in light of the long, destructive history of the rival Koreas, who fought one of the 20th century’s bloodiest conflicts and even today occupy a divided peninsula that’s still technically in a state of war. It was all smiles Friday as Moon grasped Kim’s...

Read More........ → April 28, 2018

ROK, DPRK leaders promise to meet more often

ROK President Moon Jae-in (2nd L) meets with top leader of the DPRK Kim Jong Un (2nd R) at the Peace House, a building on the ROK side of Panmunjom, April 27, 2018. [Photo/Xinhua] Leaders of the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) promised to meet more often after Friday's summit, a senior official with ROK's Blue House told reporters at noon. ROK President Moon Jae-in and top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un held formal, closed-door talks for over an hour and a half in the morning at the Peace House, on the ROK side of Panmunjom which has divided the Korean Peninsula since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Before the formal talks, Moon greeted Kim right in front of the military demarcation line (MDL). Moon led Kim across the MDL into the ROK side of Panmunjom, and then Kim invited Moon to step into the DPRK side. They then returned to the ROK side together. Yoon Young-chan, Moon's senior press secretary, told reporters at the Panmunjom press center that Moon crossed over to the DPRK side as Kim suggested after Moon expressed the hope that...

Read More........ → April 27, 2018