Korea gets full support from mobile network operators, card issuers, consumer electronics manufacturers and government organisations to push NFC technology in the country and has formed a coalition that aims to create a US$1bn business opportunity and more than 5,000 jobs. The Korea Communications Commission (KCC)recently unveileddetails of an ambitious project “designed to place Korean firms at the leading edge of NFC.” The Grand NFC Korea Alliance, as the coalition is called, is comprised of different Korean businesses and government organisations that aim to build and test an NFC-based service infrastructure and ‘mobile smart life’ projects....

Following the recentChinaandUAEreleases,Groupon, the grand-daddy of group buying websites, is officially launching in Korea on the 14th of this month. Groupon offers discount deals for products and services by partnering up with local businesses. Each deal must meet a minimum quota of sales for the transaction to push through. Launching asGroupon.kr, the site has more than 16,000 people registered prior to the official launch despite the relatively quiet announcement. Unlike rivalsTicket MonsterandCoupang, which are active in advertising through traditional media, the company relies heavily on word of mouth via social networksFacebookandTwitter, and has blogs onNaverandDaum....

The South Korean Army signed a deal with Korea University last week to establish an undergraduate program for cyberwarfare specialists, reportsThe Korea Herald. It’s the first time we’re hearing an official partnership between the military and a private university to legally train computer hackers. However, it’s not all that surprising given other countries such as China have beentransparentwith their government’s involvement in training “cyberwarriors,” so to speak. The cyber defense department will be handled by the university’s Graduate School of Information Security, and will reportedly admit 30 undergraduates for the four-year course from this fall....

Google’s offices in Korea have been raided by the Korean authorities most likely in response to the recent issues that the government has had with the company’s Android platform and antitrust issues,reports All Things D. Google has not commented on the raid but said that it is working with the Korean Fair Trade Commission to discuss the problems that the KFTC has with Google’s Android platform. “Android is an open platform, and carrier and OEM partners are free to decide which applications and services to include on their Android phones,” said Google....

Tensions are always fraught between North and South Korea. Now hackers on both sides of the border could be inflaming the situation further with a series of online attacks. The Guardianreports on a group of South Korean hackers who recently hijacked the official North Korean Twitter account, YouTube account and website. The group posted messages criticising the North’s leader, Kim Jong-il, and his son, Kim Jong-un, who is widely believed to be lined up as the communist state’s next premier....