Samsung advances release of Galaxy Note 5 Question remains as to whether early release will help boost sagging smartphone sales

Samsung Electronics plans to advance the release of the Galaxy Note 5 to August from September in an apparent move to boost its sagging mobile devices, sources said Monday.

But it remains yet to be seen whether the global top tech giant‘s strategy will yield success, analysts said.

The world’s largest smartphone maker had planned to unveil the latest Note 5 at the IFA electronics trade show in Germany in September.

Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Note 4 (Yonhap)

“Advancing the unveiling date may not help Samsung much to turn the tide and make up for its lackluster sales performance in the second quarter of this year,” said Park Kang-ho, an analyst from Daishin Securities.

He added that Samsung seemed to plan to unveil its flagship phablet earlier than before to avoid direct competition with California-based Apple’s new iPhone model. Reportedly, the iPhone 6S is expected to be launched in September.

The problem for Samsung is that the launch dates for the phablet and the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus, a large-screen variant of the firm’s Galaxy S6 Edge, could coincide, according to some market watchers. The Edge Plus is said to be launched in August, too. The Note phablet series comes with a digital pen, a feature that will not appear with the Edge Plus.

“If both devices are released in the same month, they could eat away at each other in terms of sales rather than create synergy effects as often said in the case of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge,” said a market official who declined to be named. 

Lee Seung-woo, an analyst from IBK Securities, said it would be a long shot for mere improvements on devices, rather than a significant change in all aspects including design and specifications, to appeal to customers.

“Since Apple rolled out the high-end large-screen smartphone iPhone 6 Plus last year, the Android alliance has severely suffered from a decrease in sales and profits,” said Lee, expecting that Apple, which basks in high customer loyalty, will maintain its upper hand in the global high-end smartphone market.

He also forecast that the Android alliance, consisting of global smartphone makers including HTC and LG Electronics that make handsets running on Google‘s Android operating system, will continue losing ground to Apple this year while suffering the slowdown in the growth of the global smartphone market.

Global smartphone shipments will likely grow by 11.3 percent this year, down from 27.6 percent of growth last year, according to market researcher IDC. 

The upcoming Note 5 is expected to sport a 5.7-inch super AMOLED display and Samsung’s in-house processor, dubbed the Exynos 7422.

By Kim Young-won  (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)

Samsung to showcase next Galaxy Note in August

South Korea's top tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. plans to showcase its next phablet flagship, presumably the Galaxy Note 5, in earlier-than-expected August, industry sources said Wednesday, in an apparent bid to get a head start over Apple Inc.

   Under the plan, Samsung will hold its launch ceremony around the globe, including Seoul and New York in late August, although no other details are given, the sources said.

   Samsung had released its phablets, a cross between a smartphone and a tablet PC, at the Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) every year in September.

   The tech giant's earlier-than-expected release apparently came as its U.S. archival Apple is expected to showcase the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus in September. Apple's iPhone lineup has been one of the major drags on Samsung's ailing profits from the handset business.

   Other watchers also expect Samsung to release a phablet model with a display that curves on both sides like the Galaxy S6 Edge, as the quirky model brought more-than-expected attention and demand from the global market.

   The United States Patent and Trademark Office said Samsung won a trademark for the "S6 EDGE+" earlier this month, lending weight to such an outlook.

   Samsung is estimated to have taken up 24.1 percent of the world's smartphone shipments in the first quarter, trailed by Apple with 17.7 percent, according to recent data compiled by Strategy Analytics. The two players had tied in selling 74.5 million units, respectively, in the fourth quarter of 2014. (Yonhap) 

http://mobile.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/07/14/world/asia/ap-as-skorea-chat-hack-tech.html?referrer&_r=0

South Korean Spy Agency Explored Technology to Hack Chat App

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

JULY 14, 2015

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea's beleaguered spy agency has acknowledged exploring the purchase of technologies to intercept communications on the popular Kakao Talk smartphone chatting service, but maintains it only intended to strengthen its monitoring of rival North Korean agents, not South Koreans, lawmakers said Tuesday.

The revelation is sensitive because the country's spy agency has a history of illegally tapping South Koreans' phone conversations.

National Intelligence Service chief Lee Byoung Ho told legislators in a closed-door briefing that the agency bought hacking programs from an Italian company, Hacking Team, in 2012 that were designed to intercept information from cellphones and computers, according to details released to reporters by the office of lawmaker Shin Kyung-min, who attended the meeting.

Lee didn't indicate whether the agency obtained the technology for hacking Kakao, but he acknowledged that it asked Hacking Team about getting such technology, according to Shin's office.

The spy agency didn't immediately return calls seeking comment.

Lee said the hacking programs bought from Hacking Team would be ineffective for spying on civilians because the NIS only received enough to monitor 20 different devices at once. He said the programs have been used mainly for research as the country looks to strengthen its cyberwarfare capabilities against North Korea, which Seoul blames for repeatedly attacking Internet networks and stealing information from computers, Shin's office said.

Lee also told lawmakers that the programs the NIS purchased from Hacking Team were used by 97 intelligence and investigation agencies in 35 countries around the world.

Kakao Talk is a free mobile chatting app that is used by 38 million people at least once a month in South Korea. Kane Lee, a spokesman for Daum Kakao Corp. which operates Kakao Talk, said the company's servers have never been breached. However, Lee said there are hacking tools that could infiltrate mobile devices without going through the servers.

The story emerged earlier this month when a searchable library of a massive email trove stolen from Hacking Team, released by WikiLeaks, showed South Korean entities were among those dealing with the Italian surveillance firm.

Two previous NIS directors, who successively headed the spy service from 1999 and 2003, were convicted and received suspended prison terms for overseeing the monitoring of mobile phone conversations of about 1,800 of South Korea's political, corporate and media elite.

Earlier this year, another former NIS chief was sentenced to three years in prison after being found guilty of ordering an illicit online campaign to support then-ruling party candidate and current President Park Geun-hye ahead of the 2012 presidential election.

The spy service has previously countered that its agents were only trying to cope with North Korean cyberwarfare by posting comments meant to counter messages that praised the North and spread groundless rumors about South Korean government policies.

___

Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim and Youkyung Lee contributed to this report.

뉴스타파 - KB사태와 서금회(2015.7.9)

뉴스타파 - KB사태와 서금회(2015.7.9)

Published on Jul 9, 2015
1.“나는 지금도 이해가 안 돼요” - ‘KB사태’의 불편한 진실
2.‘KB사태’ 책임자의 화려한 귀환…‘서금회’의 힘?

뉴스타파 - KB사태와 서금회(2015.7.9)

1.“나는 지금도 이해가 안 돼요” - ‘KB사태’의 불편한 진실 2.‘KB사태’ 책임자의 화려한 귀환…‘서금회’의 힘? ☞뉴스타파 Youtube 채널 구독 : http://tinyurl.com/ohyq4af ☞뉴스타파 웹사이트 : http://newstapa.org ☞뉴스타파 후...

YOUTUBE.COM

국정원, ‘해킹팀’ 프로그램으로 휴대폰 감청했다

-국정원 2차장 산하 국내파트 사용 의혹
-목표물(target) 20개 모니터링 화면 포착

국정원이 이탈리아의 ‘해킹팀’으로부터 구입한 인터넷 감시프로그램을 주로 통신 도·감청에 활용했음을 뒷받침하는 자료가 확인됐다. 또 국정원은 이미 2012년부터 이 프로그램을 실제 사용했으며 동시에 모니터할 수 있는 목표물을 최초 10개에서 20개로 늘려 운영한 것으로 나타났다.

이 같은 사실은 뉴스타파가 인터넷을 통해 공개된 ‘해킹팀’ 유출자료를 분석한 결과 드러났다. 국정원이 만약 이 스파이웨어를 통해 국내 스마트폰 사용자를 대상으로 통화 도·감청을 했다면 통신비밀보호법 위반 논란이 불가피할 것으로 보인다.

국정원의 협력업체 역할을 한 국내 보안업체 ‘나나테크’가 해킹팀과 주고받은 메일을 보면 국정원은 지난 2010년부터 감시프로그램 구입을 추진했다.

국정원, 음성 통화 감시 기능 요구

해킹팀에게 자신들의 고객이 한국의 정부기관임을 이미 밝혔던 나나테크는 2010년 9월 보낸 이메일에서 “고객이 해당 제품이 휴대전화 상에서의 음성 대화를 모니터링하는 기능이 있는지 알고 싶어한다”면서 고객이 그런 기능을 원한다고 전하고 있다.

또 2012년 5월 해킹팀이 나나테크에 보낸 메일에는 원격감시프로그램인 RCS를 업데이트하면서 목표물이 아무리 많더라도 모니터링 기능을 한국 전체로 확장할 수 있는 기능과 알려지지 않은 통화자의 목소리를 서로 구분할 수 있는 기능을 옵션으로 제공한다 설명하고 있다.

이 같은 메일을 받은 국정원은 한 달 뒤인 2012년 6월, 10개의 목표물을 추가로 관리할 수 있는 계약을 요청해서 이후 모두 20개의 목표물을 감시할 수 있는 시스템을 갖춘 것으로 보인다.

국정원의 RCS 작동 화면에 그대로 드러난 운영 현황

아래 사진은 2013년 7월 27일 운용하던 감시프로그램에 문제가 생기자 국정원 측 관리자가 해킹팀에 보낸 국정원 RCS 콘솔의 실제 캡쳐화면이다. 국정원 관리자는 문제가 생겼다며 어떻게 해야 고칠 수 있는지 질문하며 이 사진을 첨부해 보냈다.

▲ 국정원 RCS 관리자가 해킹팀에 보낸 모니터링 화면 캡처 사진

화면 중앙에 표시된 Agent 17/20 은 현재 20개 가운데 17개가 작동하고 있음을 의미하는 것으로 보인다. Agent는 해킹을 위해 목표물에 심어놓는 스파이웨어를 말한다.

▲ 국정원 RCS 관리자가 보낸 캡처 사진 확대.

아랫부분에는 데스크톱과 모바일로 나뉘어 작동하는 플랫폼이 표시돼 있다. 윈도우와 안드로이드, IOS 등 어떤 운영체제에도 침투할 수 있다는 것을 보여준다. 해킹팀으로부터 유출된 이 같은 자료들은 국정원의 감시프로그램이 한국 내에서 목표물의 데스크톱과 모바일을 실시간으로 감시, 분석하고 통화 등을 도·감청하는데 사용되고 있음을 입증한다.

현재 우리나라 통신비밀보호법 제5조에 따르면 통신제한조치(감청)는 “계획 또는 실행하고 있거나 실행하였다고 의심할 만한 충분한 이유가 있고 다른 방법으로는 그 범죄의 실행을 저지하거나 범인의 체포 또는 증거의 수집이 어려운 경우에 한해” 허가되며 기간도 최대한 2개월로 제한하고 있다.

이렇게 국가보안법 위반 사건이든 형법 위반 사건이든 통신 감청에는 엄격한 제한이 있기 때문에 국정원이 법원의 허가 없이 감시프로그램을 이용해 감청했다면 통신비밀보호법 위반에 해당한다.

감시프로그램 운용 부서는 2차장 산하 국내정치파트?

불법 감청의 의혹이 생기는 근거는 또 있다. 2014년 1월 14일 협력사인 나나테크는 “고객(국정원)의 내부 상황 때문에 의회가 예산을 삭감해 매우 제한된 예산만 사용할 수 있다. 이번에는 유지관리 계약만 하길 원한다”는 이메일을 해킹팀에 보냈다.

▲ 2014년 1월 14일 협력사가 해킹팀에 보낸 메일.

내부 상황이라는 것은 2013년 내내 뜨거운 이슈였던 국정원의 대선개입 댓글사건을 의미하는 것으로 보인다.

그런데 당시 2014년 국정원 전체 예산은 삭감된 것이 아니라 동결됐다. 삭감된 곳은 2차장 산하 국내파트 뿐이었고, 3차장 소관인 대북정보파트와 1차장 소관인 산업스파이 파트 예산은 오히려 늘어났다. 국내 정치 개입에 대한 우려 때문이었다. 감시프로그램을 구입하고 활용한 국정원 부서가 국내파트인 2차장 산하가 아닌지 의심 가는 대목이다.

이 밖에도 국정원이 휴대전화 감시에 해킹팀의 프로그램을 활용한 증거는 곳곳에 포착된다. 지난 2014년 1월 29일 이메일에는 국정원의 또 다른 부서에서 아이폰의 운영체제만 지원하는 RCS(원격조정시스템)을 원하고 있다고 전하면서 가격에 대해 문의하는 내용이 나온다.

또 해킹팀의 기술지원팀 직원들끼리 ‘SKA(South Korean Army-해킹팀 내부에서 국정원을 지칭한 용어)’가 까다로운 것을 요구하고 있다면서 취약점 발굴이 필요한 삼성 스마트폰의 모델에 대한 정보를 교환하고 있는 내용도 포착됐다.

▲ ‘해킹팀’ 기술지원팀 직원들 사이에서 오간 ‘국정원의 요구사항’ 관련 7월 2일 이메일 대화 내용.

아직 국정원이 누구의 PC와 스마트폰을 도·감청했는지는 구체적으로 확인되지 않고 있지만, 국정원이 해킹팀의 감시프로그램을 이용해 2012년부터 통화 도·감청 등을 활발하게 실시하고 있으며, 기종과 운영체제를 가리지 않았다는 사실이 여실히 드러나고 있다.

▲ 다른 나라의 한 고객이 해킹팀에 보낸 RCS 운영 화면. 해킹한 스마트폰의 데이터가 RCS 콘솔에 똑같이 동기화돼 나타나 있는 것을 볼 수 있다. 국정원도 같은 감시프로그램을 운영하고 있다.

Hangang islets beckon with natural charm, ecological diversity

Every May, flocks of spot-billed ducks, black-crowned night herons and other migratory birds head to a pair of uninhabited islands at the heart of Seoul, joining 50 other species that use them as breeding grounds. 

Though no one lives there now, the Bamseom islets were home to more than 440 Seoulites until the city government relocated them and demolished the homes in 1968 as part of its project to widen the waterways in the Hangang River and develop nearby Yeouido. 

The wetlands’ pristine charm, coupled with the serene, humble lives of the people there, prompted Shim Sa-jeong, a renowned painter in the 18th century Joseon era, to pick the urban island as one of the eight scenic places in Seoul to depict on paper. 

(Seoul Metropolitan Government)

The Bamseom islets are among the seven remaining standalone islands along the river that flows through the capital, also including Seonyudo, Nodeulseom, Seoraeseom, Nanjido and Jeojado islands. They stand as not only hotspots for relaxation and various leisure activities for city dwellers, but also as historical treasure troves and ecological assets. 


Bamseom Islets, epitome of ecological diversity 
Located below Seogang Bridge linking Yeouido and Mapo, the Bamseom islets are the only remaining naturally occurring river islands in the Hangang River that have not been affected by modern human settlement. 
Over the last five decades, the sandy islets have become an epitome of ecological resilience. 

Their collective size has grown more than sixfold to almost 280,000 square meters since the U.S. forces measured them in 1966, due to natural sedimentary buildup. 

While some 180 species of plant flourish there, the surrounding waters provide a nursery ground for a multitude of fish species including the Korean striped bitterling, the Korean spined bitterling and the Korean oily shiner. 

Seoul City has been providing special protection since it designated the islands as an “Ecosystem and Landscape Region for Conservation” in 1999. In 2012, the Bamseom islets were added to the Ramsar wetland list.
 
“Bamseom’s instinctive ecological recovery represents the birth of a barometer for the Hangang River’s ecosystem,” Han Dong-uk, director-general of the PGA Wetland Ecology Institute, wrote in the 2009 book, “Islands in the Hangang River.” 

“Its reemergence has also greatly contributed to upgrading Seoul’s image as a metropolis, allowing residents to feel themselves the nature’s astounding resilience that created an ecological space and paradise for migratory birds in the urban center.” 

Nodeulseom Island, time-honored playground

Until the Joseon dynasty, Nodeulseom Island was one of the five main ports in the Hangang River basin, named after the neighborhood south of the river, meaning “a stone that white herons play with.” The name of nearby Noryangjin originated from the Chinese characters for “Nodeul naru (port).”

The 150,000-square-meter area, which was once a sandy plain visited by Seoulites for swimming, today supports the Hangang Bridge. 

It houses a pedestrian overpass, a 2,000-square-meter landing pad for helicopters and a monument dedicated to Lee Won-deung, an Army master sergeant who died while saving a teammate during a high-altitude parachute training exercise in 1966. 

The oval-shaped island was called Joongjido during the Japanese colonial rule before it gained its current name in 1995. 

Seonyudo Island, storied ecological park 
Known as the country’s first recycled ecological park, Seonyudo Island had for two decades been the site of a large-scale water purification plant until 2002. 
A building once used as a pumping station has since been transformed into a gallery that chronicles the history of the river, with the geological, ecological and cultural heritage of the surrounding region on display. 

In the 17th century, Seonyudo Island was a peak named Seonyubong that rose 40 meters above sea level, embracing two small mountaintops and a white sandy beach at its foot. Many boatmen were said to have often tied up their vessels by the river and indulged themselves in the breathtaking landscape, which was also portrayed in the works of Jeong Seon, a prominent Joseon period painter. During colonial rule, however, Japan broke rocks there to build an embankment to prevent floods, turning it into a low hill cut off from the land.

Now, gardens with different themes entice visitors, while Seonyugyo, an arch-shaped bridge connecting the park and the Yanghwa area of the south bank, is splashed with rainbow-colored lights in the evening making for a perfect night out for many and earning it the nickname “Rainbow Bridge.” 

“Though the reminiscences of Seonyubong were forgotten long ago, we now have a park that has left intact almost all memories of a water treatment facility, the fruit of industrialization, yet with an unexcelled aesthetic sensibility,” wrote Pae Jeong-hann, a landscape architecture professor at Seoul National University in the aforementioned 2009 book. 

Seoraeseom Island, home of canola flowers 
In May, Seoraeseom Island becomes carpeted with yellow canola flowers ― and couples and families seeking to greet the harbinger of spring, as well as volunteers tasked with telling them the island’s stories. 

The artificial island was built in a 25,000-square-meter area between Banpo and Dongjak Bridges as part of Seoul City’s drive to lay the Olympic Expressway and develop the overall Hangang River basin in 1982-86. Maps drawn in the 17-19th centuries showed another island called either Banposeom or Kido Island on the spot, and a sand dune was reported to have been there in the 1960s. 

In addition to the canola festival, weeping willows, reed fields and walkways along the shore have made the island a breathing place for urbanites, while many anglers visit the area to cash in on the slow stream flow and high water temperature to catch carp. 

Seoraeseom Island also provides a habitat for a number of migratory bird species and has a water ski stand and flower gardens. 

MERS outbreak ‘practically over’

South Korea reported no additional cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome for the seventh consecutive day Sunday, while hospitals resumed services and amusement parks and movie theaters saw a significant rise in visitors, showing signs that the outbreak is almost over. 

Once the outbreak is officially over, sources said Health Minister Moon Hyung-pyo, who has been criticized for his handling of the health crisis, is likely to be replaced.

The MERS outbreak has killed 36 and infected 186 since the index case was reported on May 20. The spread has consistently shown signs of losing steam lately, with no additional cases confirmed since July 6. If no new cases are reported until Aug. 2 -- four weeks after the latest case was reported on July 5 -- it can be announced that the outbreak in the country is over. 

A duty-free shop in Seoul is packed with visitors on Sunday. (Yonhap)

A total of 125 out of 186 MERS patients have recovered from the disease and been discharged from hospitals. A number of medical facilities that have been shut down, including Pyeongtaek St. Mary’s Hospital and Hallym University Medical Center, have resumed their services. 

All schools nationwide have been on their normal schedule since July 6. 

According to the Korea Film Council, 2.29 million people visited movie theaters from July 4-5, almost double the 1.2 million who went in same period last month.

The number of visitors to Everland, one of the most popular amusement parks in the country, also increased significantly in the first week of July. Some 68,000 Koreans visited the park earlier this month, while the park only received about 29,000 in the first weekend of June.

“We are discussing with local and foreign experts when and how we are going to declare the end of the MERS outbreak,” said Jeong Eun-kyung from the Health Ministry. 

The outbreak, however, dramatically affected the everyday lives of Koreans and the nation’s economy last month, as many avoided crowded and public spaces including shopping malls and public transportation. Almost 3,000 schools nationwide were shut down to prevent possible infection on June 12.

Last week, the Bank of Korea forecast that the economic growth rate this year would slow to around 2.8 percent, down from 3.3 percent last year, citing the MERS outbreak as one of the biggest burdens.

The outbreak also had an impact on the country’s $30 billion tourism industry, as more than 124,000 tourists, most of them from China, last month canceled their trips to Korea.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism estimates that the number of foreign visitors last month dropped by 24 percent from the same period last year.

The Health Ministry, led by Minister Moon, has been on the hot seat since the early stages of the outbreak, especially for trying to keep details about the crisis from the public. 

The government had refused to share the list of MERS-affected hospitals for 18 days after the first case was confirmed in late May.

The lack of transparency has been blamed for the public fear that eventually damaged the country’s economy. The ministry has also been accused of protecting the hospitals’ commercial interests by not sharing the information, rather than keeping the general public safe from the possible infection. 

President Park Geun-hye, who made her first on-site visit to meet medical staff more than two weeks after the first MERS case was confirmed, said last month that there were a number of problems with the government’s initial handling of the outbreak -- indirectly criticizing Moon’s leadership.

Minister Moon also publicly said last month that he was willing to take the responsibility for the ministry’s faults in handling the outbreak while speaking at the National Assembly.

“It’s likely that Moon will be replaced by someone else once the outbreak is officially over,” a Cheong Wa Dae official was anonymously quoted as saying in news reports.

Moon, a former senior economist at the state-run think-tank Korea Development Institute, was appointed as the Minister of Health and Welfare in December 2013 -- mainly to carry out President Park’s controversial civil service pension reforms. 

He completed the task in May, when the parliament approved reductions in annuities to former government employees. Ever since the MERS-outbreak hit the nation, Moon has been criticized for his lack of expertise in the field of public health, questioning whether or not he deserved to be in the post in the first place.