Is this the next tech revolution where instead of everyone walking around with smartphones, everyone is instead wearing headsets?:
Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, center, poses with LG Electronics CEO Cho Joo-wan, left, and LG Corp. Vice Chairman Kwon Bong-seok, during a visit to LG Twin Tower in Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of LG Electronics
Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Meta, the U.S. tech giant behind leading social network services like Facebook and Instagram, held meetings with officials from Korean tech companies, Wednesday, to expand the extended reality (XR) ecosystem and foster cooperation in artificial intelligence (AI).
The Meta founder, who arrived in Korea the previous night, marking his first trip here since 2013, visited LG Electronics’ office and met with the company’s CEO, Cho Joo-wan. The discussions centered around technological cooperation related to extended reality (XR).
On the same day, the Meta chief also held private meetings with officials from XR-related startups in Korea. Later in the evening, he met Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong at Seungjiwon, Samsung Group’s VIP guest house located in Seoul.
Zuckerberg’s meeting with Korean tech company representatives is seen as a move to try to build a strong software and hardware manufacturing ecosystem like Meta’s rival Apple.
Korea Times
You can read more at the link.
Just another sign of how far the ROK’s defense industry has come that now even the U.S. is interested in procurement:
The U.S. Defense Department has started a process to solicit industry feedback on its pursuit of a defense procurement agreement with South Korea to allow easier access to each other’s market amid growing security uncertainties from North Korean threats and other challenges.
Last week, the department posted a notice in the Federal Register to request public comments on the pursuit of a new Reciprocal Defense Procurement (RDP) Agreement with South Korea through March 25.
Seoul and Washington have been seeking to sign the agreement as President Yoon Suk Yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden committed to strengthening partnerships in defense-sector supply chains and beginning talks on the agreement during their summit in April last year.
“The purpose of an RDP Agreement is to promote rationalization, standardization, interchangeability and interoperability of conventional defense equipment with allies and other friendly governments,” the department said in the notice.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
Can anyone think of a strike where people were protesting against the addition of jobs? That is essentially what this is. The government wants more medical school slots to address the shortage of doctors in rural areas and current doctor trainees do not want this:
A mass walkout by trainee doctors is approaching a deadline set by the government to return to work, as medical services have been crippled with both the government and junior doctors showing little signs of backing down.
About 9,000 trainee doctors walked off their jobs for the ninth day in a row Wednesday, as the government ordered them to go back to work by Thursday. Unless they return to work, they will face suspension of licenses and even indictment.
At the center of the dispute is the government’s plan to boost the medical school enrollment quota by 2,000 next year, from the current 3,058.
On Tuesday, President Yoon Suk Yeol said the plan is a “minimum necessary measure” to address a shortage of doctors and stressed that, “This cannot and should not be a subject for negotiation or compromise.”
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
Paris Baguette in my opinion is not a bad bakery, but it is not a great one either and they are going to be up against some big competition in the Hawaiian market:
SPC Group opened Hawaii’s first branch of Paris Baguette, the company said Monday.
The first outlet of the Korean bakery franchise in the idyllic island state that attracts around 10 million global tourists annually is located in Honolulu’s popular Bishop Street.
Since SPC Group entered the Chinese market in 2004, it has opened over 550 stores in 10 foreign countries, including the United States, France, Britain, Canada, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Korea Times
You can read more at the link.
It will be interesting to see how many of these refugee from Russia that South Korea ends up accepting:
A record number of Russians are seeking asylum in South Korea, according to South Korean authorities, with applications surging fivefold last year as Russians became the largest group seeking refuge in the East Asian country.
A total of 5,750 Russian nationals sought asylum in South Korea in 2023, according to a report released earlier this month by the Korean Immigration Service. That’s five times higher than the 1,038 who sought protection in 2022 – and more than the total number of asylum applications from Russians recorded between 1994 and 2019.
Last year also marked the highest number of overall asylum applications for at least the past eight years, according to the Immigration Service. After Russians, the largest groups of asylum seekers came from Kazakhstan, China and Malaysia.
