All posts tagged: Koreas

South Korea’s LetinAR is building optics behind AI glasses

South Korea’s LetinAR is building optics behind AI glasses

Published by skeptic

Imagine you’re riding a motorcycle at 160 kilometers per hour when an arrow appears, floating on the road ahead, telling you exactly where to turn. No phone, no dashboard. Just your helmet, and a lens the size of a thumbnail. This is not a concept video. It’s heading to European roads as early as this year. And it’s one early glimpse of where smart glasses are heading. Over the past few years, Big Tech has been quietly (and not so quietly) placing its bets. Meta has been selling AI-enabled Ray-Ban glasses since 2023, Google is building Android XR, and Apple is expected to enter the market. Last week, Samsung was reportedly set to unveil its first AI-capable smart glasses, co-designed with Gentle Monster, at a Galaxy Unpacked event in London this July. China’s Huawei, Alibaba, Xiaomi and others are all moving too. The numbers reflect the momentum. Global AI glasses shipments surged to 8.7 million units in 2025, up more than 300% from the prior year, and analysts project that figure will cross 15 million …

Korea’s biggest manufacturers back Config, the TSMC of robot data

Korea’s biggest manufacturers back Config, the TSMC of robot data

Published by skeptic

Asia’s push into physical AI is being fueled by the same manufacturing prowess that made the region a global industrial powerhouse. Across South Korea, Japan, China and Taiwan, manufacturing remains a central pillar of economic growth. Unlike economies more heavily weighted toward services or software, these countries have long relied on large-scale production, export-driven industries, and highly optimized supply chains. That structural foundation is now shaping how artificial intelligence is adopted and where investment flows. Which makes it particularly significant that Config, a Seoul- and San Jose- based startup building the data layer for robotic foundation models (RFMs), has secured backing from the venture arms’ of South Korea’s biggest manufacturers. Samsung Venture Investment led its oversubscribed $27 million seed round at a valuation of more than $200 million, bringing Config’s total raised to $34 million. Hyundai Motor’s venture arm ZER01NE Ventures, LG Tech Ventures, and SKT America, a South Korean telco giant’s VC unit, also joined as strategic investors, alongside angel investor Pieter Abbeel (co-founder of Covariant AI and a UC Berkeley professor) and financial …

North Korea’s Kim reaffirms support for Russia’s ‘sacred’ Ukraine war

North Korea’s Kim reaffirms support for Russia’s ‘sacred’ Ukraine war

Published by Sam Flores

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reaffirmed Pyongyang’s support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, vowing to help Moscow achieve victory in its “sacred” war, state media reported on Monday (Apr 27). Pyongyang has sent missiles, munitions and thousands of troops to assist Russia in Ukraine, and analysts say Moscow is sending financial aid, military technology, food and energy to the diplomatically isolated country in return. A string of high-level Russian officials have visited North Korea in recent days, with Defence Minister Andrey Belousov meeting Kim on Sunday, according to official statements. North Korea “will as ever fully support the policy of the Russian Federation to defend the national sovereignty, territorial integrity and security interests”, Kim told Belousov, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Kim expressed “belief that the Russian army and people would surely win a victory in the just sacred war”, KCNA reported. Both sides said their delegations had discussed deeper military ties, with Belousov saying Moscow was ready to sign a cooperation plan covering the period from 2027 to …

North Korea’s hijack of one of the web’s most used open source projects was likely weeks in the making

North Korea’s hijack of one of the web’s most used open source projects was likely weeks in the making

Published by skeptic

A North Korean cyberattack that last Monday briefly hijacked one of the most widely used open source projects on the web took weeks to carry out as part of a long-running campaign to target the code’s top developers. The hijacking of the Axios project on March 31 was in part successful because it relied on well-resourced hackers building rapport and trust with their intended target over a long period of time to increase their odds of a successful eventual compromise. This kind of hack highlights the security challenges that developers of popular open source projects can face, at a time when government hackers and cybercriminals alike are targeting widely used projects for their ability to access, in some cases, millions of devices worldwide. Jason Saayman, who maintains the popular Axios project that developers use to connect their apps to the internet, provided a post-mortem with a timeline of the hack. He shared that the hackers began their targeting campaign around two weeks before eventually gaining control of his computer to push out malicious code. By …

South Korea’s Lee Says He Seeks to Work Together With France on AI, Nuclear Energy

South Korea’s Lee Says He Seeks to Work Together With France on AI, Nuclear Energy

Published by Sam Flores

SEOUL, April ⁠2 (Reuters) – ⁠South ⁠Korean President Lee ​Jae Myung ‌said ties with ‌France ⁠must ⁠go beyond partnership and become ​a pursuit of ​strategic collaboration that includes ⁠artificial ⁠intelligence and ⁠nuclear energy ​which are key ​to ⁠innovation, according to a ⁠text of his comments to Le ⁠Figaro released on Thursday. French President Emmanuel Macron begins a two-day visit to ⁠South Korea on Thursday. (Reporting by Jack Kim; ​Editing by ​Chris Reese) Copyright 2026 Thomson Reuters. Photos You Should See – March 2026 Source link

North Korea’s Kim oversees test of high-thrust engine: KCNA

North Korea’s Kim oversees test of high-thrust engine: KCNA

Published by Sam Flores

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw a ground test of an upgraded solid-fuel rocket engine, state media reported on Sunday (Mar 29), in the latest sign of Pyongyang’s push to enhance its strategic weapons arsenal. Solid-fuel engines enable faster missile launches as they require little preparation before ignition and defence experts believe North Korea is planning to use them for the intercontinental ballistic missiles it is developing. The test of the solid-fuel engine made of composite carbon fibre material, was “part of the national defence development plan in the period of the new five-year plan”, Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. Pursuing such high-thrust engines “conforms with the national strategy and the military demand for modernising the strategic forces”, Mr Kim was quoted as saying by KCNA, which did not disclose the date or location of the test. The latest engine being tested produced a higher thrust of 2,500 kilonewtons, KCNA reported. The development demonstrates North Korea’s “resolve to acquire missiles capable of hitting targets around the globe”, Dr Hong Min, …

Kim vows to ‘irreversibly’ cement North Korea’s nuclear status : NPR

Kim vows to ‘irreversibly’ cement North Korea’s nuclear status : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

In this photo provided by the North Korean government, its leader Kim Jong Un delivers a speech during a session of the Supreme People’s Assembly at parliament in Pyongyang, North Korea Monday, March 23, 2026. 朝鮮通信社/AP/KCNA via KNS hide caption toggle caption 朝鮮通信社/AP/KCNA via KNS SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has pledged to irreversibly cement his country’s status as a nuclear power while maintaining a hard-line stance toward South Korea, which he called the “most hostile” state, state media said Tuesday. In a speech Monday to Pyongyang’s rubber-stamp parliament, Kim accused the United States of global “state terrorism and aggression,” in an apparent reference to the war in the Middle East, and said the North will play a more forceful role in a united front against Washington amid rising anti-American sentiment. But Kim didn’t call out U.S. President Donald Trump by name and said whether his adversaries “choose confrontation or peaceful coexistence is up to them, and we are prepared to respond to any choice.” His comments largely aligned with …

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un reappointed as president of state affairs

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un reappointed as president of state affairs

Published by Sam Flores

Kim is the third-generation ruler of the nuclear-armed state founded by his grandfather Kim Il Sung in 1948. He has ruled the country since his father’s death in 2011. The election is a “highly choreographed event with a pre-determined outcome”, said Lee Ho‑ryung of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses. “Throughout the third-generation rule, the North has staged such events to showcase a procedure in an attempt to achieve political legitimacy,” she said. “But no one thinks any different outcome would emerge from it.” Photos released by KCNA show Kim dressed in a formal western suit and seated at the centre of a stage, flanked by top officials in front of two giant statues of his father Kim Jong Il and grandfather. Source link