2017년 2월 26일 일요일

KT Launches Line friends Smartphone and Smart Watch for Children in Korea


On Febuary 23, KT announced upcoming launch pf smartphone and smart watch for children using popular characters from line, one of most popular messaging app in Asia.

 The line friends smartphone, which is planned by KT and manufactured by Chinese smartphone maker ZTE, features a user interface (UI) with line friend character.

Operating system(OS)is Android 7.0, and equipped with 5-inch HD display with 5 mega front and 8-megapixel rear camera.

If you sign up for the KT 'Y Junior' service, children can use unlimited data at KRW 19,800 a month, and childeren can make unlimited calls to their parents(KT subscriber) at no extra charge.

The Smart Watch Line Kids Phone 2 is a sequel to the Line Kids phone, which was released last April.
It has a built-in 2 megapixel camera and added shooting functions.
When a parent views a child's location in a smartphone application, the current location is automatically captured and sent to the camera.

It provides IP67 waterproof and dustproof function that can withstand water depth 1m for 30 minutes, voice command function, warning about nearby sex offenders.

The line-up is priced at KRW230,000 for the line friend smartphone and KRW264,000 for the line-kids phone2.

2017년 2월 24일 금요일

New hanbok styles created by young designers in Korea


The hanbok, the most well-known form of traditional Korean clothing, is one of the most idolized and well-preserved elements of Korean culture.
In recent years, phenomenon of "wearing hanbok in daily life" is spreading among young Korean people.
It is easy to see youngsters walking in the streets wearing Hanbok in front of Hongik University and Samcheongdong in Seoul.
Hanbok (traditional and daily life style) and Hanbok shoes (leather and flower) sales in the auction, online open market in the first half of 2016 increased by 33% and 26%, respectively.
Trendsetting young designers are changing the game and making hanbok more accessible as they play with lines and patterns as well.

Director of Hanbok Promotion Center, Hyung Jung Lim said, "By introducing a variety of Hanbok styles that can be easily mixed with everyday clothes as well as traditional hanbok, we are trying to contribute to the revival of hanbok and show that people can wear hanbok in a more relaxed and fashionable way in daily life."

More and more hanbok disigners are mixing and matching hanbok with modern costumes to create more natural styling.
Leesle, a newly launced hanbok brand has introduced a rider jacket and a hanbok denim one piece dress recently.
Park Sang-hyeon, a fashion stylist said "The leather rider's jacket and denim are a pair that goes well together to begin with, Especially when the length of the skirt is appropriate to not be reached to the ankle and the pit is slim, the bodyline fits more beautifully. Casual denim sneakers are a good match with this outfit as well."





The biggest worry when wearing a hanbok is that it may look too dressed or mature. In this case, choosing a comfortable shoes like sneakers or driving shoes will solve the problem easily. When choosing shoes, it is necessary to abandon the stereotype that one of the colors in a hanbok should match. Tone-on-tone, which looks like orange or lemon-like color or similar color, looks more refined.
When wearing a hanbok skirt and hanbok jacket, fashionable cross mini bag suit well with outfit.

Denim is the best material to wear a hanbok young.
Leesle's denim Sapok(four pieces of fabric that are sewn together on the back of the men's hanbok pants to stick to the waist)and shirt jeogori(jacket) layering with the hoodie, one can produce a completely different style than the traditional concept of hanbok.

Men's Polyester Hanbok suits by Fashion House, YEOBACK & GUIROE have a generous shoulder line to show modern office style with the trace of Hanbok.
Another Designer brand 'Shiji N Lee' introduced a pant with hanbok line and a lap style jacket that proposed new women's office look.





2017년 2월 19일 일요일

Hyorin - Sojin 'Temptation of Flame Color'



Sistar hyorin and Girl's Day sojin showed an elegant outing look with flame color outfits.

On February 16, Sojin attended the launch of 'Dior Addict Lacquer Stick' at GLAD LIVE, located in Nonhyeon-dong, Seoul. 
She showed maturaity wearing flame colored turtleneck knit and impressive gold pattern skirts.

Hyorin wore yellow short-sleeved polo shirt and flamed color skirt that brings out her beautiful brown leg and finished the style with nude tone strap heel and mini bag.



Meanwhile, in the launching event held on this day, many female singers including Brown Eyed Girls' Gain, Hyunah, Hyorin and Sojin attended. 



2017년 2월 16일 목요일

Food War between Korea, China and Thailand: Gim(dried seaweed)


Gim, sheets of laver (dried seaweed) is a beneficial product to Korean fishermen. Last year, Korea exported 300 billion won of Gims, and this amount is increasing every year. The exports value of Gim are even more than ginseng in Korea.
The neighboring Asia countries are trying to capitalise on increasing popularity of Gim as well.
China is expanding its Gim farms in recent years, and Thailand, which does not produce any Kim, is making delicious snacks from Gim imported from Korea and China.

Only countries in the world that produce Gim commercially are Korea, China, and Japan.
Taiwan and New Zealand also produce Gim, but not enough and insignificant to be on statistics.


In the 1990s, most of the high-quality Gims produced in Korea were exported to Japan. Japan was the country which consumed most of the good quality Gim imported from China and Korea, as well as japan.
However, the market changed in the 2000s. In Japan, production and consumption of Gim have decreased while the production and consumption of Gim in China and Korea have increased.
More and more people are looking for Gim in the US, Europe, and Southeast Asia as well.
In the past Gim was called a black paper and considered as a kind of disgusting food in the US and Europe but now it is turning into a well-being healthy snack that can replace potato chips. The Wall Street Journal has also introduced Gim as 'super food with magical efficacy'. It is rich in vitamin A, protein and calcium.
In Korea and Japan, people usually eats gim together with rice as meal but in other countries Gim is favorite for snacks with drinks.

Currently, the country with the most export of Gim is Korea and  China.
Korea exported 300 billion won of Gim and China exported 150 billion won of Gim last year.
Korea's exports of Gim have increased five times in ten years and Gim is a second most exported product next to tuna among marine products.

There are three kinds of Gim products: dry Gim which is made by thinning and drying seaweed cut to a size smaller than that of A4 paper and seasoned Gim which is dry Gim seasoned with salt and oil and Gim snack, processed Gim product.
Among these, Korea is the strongest country in the seasoning Gim market.
Japanese seasoned Gim may be suitable for the taste of Japanese with soy sauce and sugar, but it does not fit the taste of foreigner and it failed to globalize. On the other hand Korea seasoned Gim which is flavored with sesame oil, perilla oil and salt is popular in foreign countries, especially North America.
In Korea, the country sold the seasoned Gim to the US for 70 billion won last year. The country that imported seasoning Gim was 32 countries ten years ago, but now it reaches 90 countries. Africa and the Russia are also customers of seasoning Gim.

But Korean food experts say they should watch out for China, the top producer of Gim. In fact, the production of Chinese Gim has nearly doubled from 600,000 tons in 2003 to 1.14 million in 2013.
China has produced large amounts of Gim in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces and has recently been producing large-scale farms in Guangdong and Fujian provinces.
"Since the 1990s, China has been pouring a lot of capital into Gim farming, including the introduction of aquaculture technology and facilities from Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong," said Jang Hong Suk, professor at KMI.
In the last decade, the production of Gim in Korea has increased from 200,000 tons to 410,000 tons (as of 2014), but it is not yet half of China.
If China, which consumes a lot of domestic produced Gim for its own country, changes its direction to export, it could be a big threat to Korea's export front.
Currently, the inflow of low-priced Chinese Gims are gradually increasing in countries such as the US, Southeast Asia, and Japan.
On the other hand, Japan's production of Gim has fallen to third place after China and Korea.


However, Thailand is the country that should be noted in global gim market. It is a country that does not produce any Gim but Thailand's Gim products exports are in third place after Korea and China, and its growth is also explosive. Thailand, which imported small amounts of dried seaweed from Korea and China 10 years ago, has been increasing its imports since six years ago.
Nowadays it is said that about half of Korea dried seaweed is sold to Thailand.

The history of making Gim snack in Thailand is only 10 years.
The founder of Taikenoi Co. Ltd., named Itipppyradadefan launched a Gim snack product in Thailand and it was big hit.
Tao Kae Noi Crispy Seaweed Snack occupies more than half of the Thai Gim market and operates a specialty shop in Bangkok including 'Terminal 21'.
As the Gim snack market grows in Thailand, many other large companies in Thailand also entered the market such as Singha, a renowned beer company created a separate subsidiary for the production and sale of Gim snack market last year.

Thailand also succeeded in exporting Gim snack products. KMI's Jang Hong-suk said, "The amount of Thai Gim exports is currently estimated at over 30 billion won, and we need to keep an eye on the increase in the amount every year." "Thailand is expanding its market to not only China, Japan, and the United States but also Australia, Singapore and Indonesia.
Thailand, a food powerhouse in Asia, has been supporting the food industry with its policy slogan of "Kitchen of the World." It has already become the world's largest producer and exporter of canned tuna.







2017년 2월 6일 월요일

Cabo, Korea's First Robot Bartender Debuts at Bar in Seoul


Cabo, new bartender who recently started working at classic bar 'Coffee bar K' in Yeoksam-dong, Seoul, single malt whiskey enthusiast's favorite place.

Cabo with a round face and big eye which resemble 'space boy atom' from Sci-Fi Japanimation introduced himself as a 'Little Ice Carving Robot'.
Carbo is the first robot bartender officially hired in this bar. It is a formidable newcomer who looks cute but has ransom more than 200 million won.

Cabo's main task is ice carving which makes square ice into a round ball shape.
The name Cabo made by fellow bartenders also means 'ice-carving robot'.
The rounded ice is smaller than the square ice, reaching the liquor, slowly melting and keeping the flavor of the whiskey for a long time. The ice used to make ice balls is "transparent ice", which is completely free of air and slowly frozen at high temperatures, much harder than the "white ice" made in a common refrigerator or ice maker.

"It is a hard skill to have this kind of ice in your hand and cut it in a circle, which is difficult for even skilled bartender to do it several times a day," said Bar manager.


CEO of Robocare, Kim Sung-gang who made Cabo said, "We applied precise robot technology that is used in the semiconductor process line. We will be able to do other tasks such as cooking if we change various tools according to the situation."

Choi Soon Ryung, who runs bar talked with Shin Kyung Ho who is director at Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) last year and came out saying "I want to make robot to work at bar". Shin who considered this an interesting idea has linked RoboCare, a company founded by KIST with Choi.

About eight months after commissioning and development, Carbo, the first customized robot made by the company, was delivered to the Choi, bar owner earlier this month.