Korea Pass Cards to spur demand during 50-day shopping event

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said it would aggressively promote the use of Korea Pass Cards during the “Korea Grand Sale,” which kicked off Monday at major department stores and shopping malls and runs through Feb. 28.

Korea Pass Cards, consisting of pre-paid cards and check cards for non-Koreans and credit cards and check cards for Korean nationals, can be used on subways, buses and taxis. They also offer 5-10 percent discount benefits at major shopping stores, tourist sites, museums, theaters and restaurants in Seoul.

A foreign visitor receives hotel accommodation vouchers and cultural performance tickets through a lottery at Incheon International Airport on Monday. The seven-day event is part of the shopping festival “Korea Grand Sale” which runs through Feb. 28. (Yonhap News)

The ministry launched the tourism cards, in cooperation with Lotte Card and the Korea Tourism Organization, on Dec. 20. 

Samsung eyes mid-range smartphone market with Android, bada software

Building on the success in the market for premium smartphones last year, Samsung Electronics Co. hopes to make a splash in the mid-range smartphone segment, the president of its mobile business said Wednesday, as smartphones are expected to quickly become a mainstream device.

   At the center of its push into the smartphone mass market will be the Android system and "bada," the company's 1-year-old proprietary mobile software, Shin Jong-kyun, Samsung's mobile president, said in a written interview with Yonhap News Agency before a tech gadget fest in Las Vegas, the United States. 

Japanese manga vilifies KARA, Girls’ Generation

A Japanese manga comic has sparked anger among Korean netizens for its depiction of lewd scenes of women clad in the signature clothes of Girls’ Generation and KARA’s butt dance.

Korean fans of the two famous girl groups claimed that the manga titled, “An Analysis on the K-Pop Boom Lies” is intended to vilify the groups who have made successful debuts in Japan.

The manga shows former Korean girl group idols-turned-hostesses revealing secrets of the dirty Korean music industry to reporters. The cartoonist of the controversial comic reportedly insists that the story is based on information he acquired. 

Voting campaign launched to pitch Jeju for ‘New7Wonders of Nature’

JEJU ISLAND ― South Korea has launched a campaign to encourage people to vote for Jeju Island in an initiative to list seven natural wonders of the world. 

The island is one of the final 28 global candidates for “New7Wonders of Nature.”

Lead by the Swiss-based, non-profit New7Wonders Foundation, the New7Wonders of Nature initiative started in 2007.

With 300 days left before the final voting date on Nov. 10, the National Committee for New7Wonders of Nature held a ceremony in Jeju to launch its campaign for votes. Some 200 people attended the ceremony.

“Jeju’s biggest strength in competing against other sites is that Jeju became the world’s first and only place to be awarded a triple crown in the natural science field by UNESCO a Biosphere Reserve in 2002, a World Natural Heritage in 2007 and a Global Geopark in 2010,” said Chung Un-chan, former prime minister and chairman of the National Committee for Jeju New7Wonders of Nature, at a press conference at Haevichi Resort Jeju in Jeju City on Thursday.

Google charged over credit card info, passwords

Company denies illegal activity
Police said they have charged global Internet giant Google Inc. Thursday for their online location tracking service over allegations it violated Internet privacy laws here. 

According to the Cyber Terror Response Center, the National Police Agency’s Internet crime unit, the conglomerate’s “Street View” mapping service gathered private information from unencrypted wireless networks during the filming process, violating three communication laws here.

Of the 16 countries currently investigating Google’s Street View, South Korea is the first to charge the headquarters, officials said. 

Google is suspected of traveling some 50,000 kilometers through the country using cars attached with special video-recording, information-collecting devices, not only taping streets and landscapes, but also gathering private information through unprotected Wi-Fi networks