SEOUL, South Korea--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 22, 2024--
LG Uplus (KRX:032640), one of the top three telecom carriers in South Korea, announced that its children’s platform, ‘KidsTopia,’ has received the Science and ICT Minister’s Award at the 2024 Metaverse Alliance and Self-Regulation Achievement Sharing Conference.
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Hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) of Republic of Korea, the conference brings together experts from industry, academia, research, and government to discuss achievements and honor outstanding companies and projects that contribute to the growth of the metaverse ecosystem. This year’s event took place on December 11 at the Seoul Dragon City Hotel in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.
KidsTopia earned the Minister’s Award in recognition of its exceptional performance in such areas as User Protection, User-to-User Interaction and Collaboration, and Authenticity for Users.
KidsTopia is a platform where children can explore and learn about diverse subjects including foreign languages, animals, dinosaurs, and space through engaging 3D virtual experiences with AI-powered characters. Key to its success are child-friendly graphics and the ability to hold multilingual conversations with characters—powered by ixi, LG Uplus’s proprietary AI technology.
This unique combination of technology and educational value has propelled KidsTopia’s popularity not only in Korea, but also across Southeast Asia. As of December 2024, the platform has exceeded 900,000 cumulative subscribers across the globe. It is an impressive feat, considering that the platform reached this milestone in just one year and seven months since its launch.
In addition to the MSIT recognition, KidsTopia was recently awarded the ‘Gold Medal’— the highest honor in the application category at the ‘2024 Mom’s Choice Awards,’ a globally renowned certification program for child-appropriate products, on December 4.
'Mom’s Choice' is an international certification organization that evaluates and recognizes outstanding products based on the overall assessment of their quality, educational value, and originality. Its judging panel includes not only education and media professionals, but also parents, and children.
The significance of this recognition from the Mom’s Choice Awards lies in the inclusion of parents—the primary decision-makers in purchasing children’s services—alongside education experts in the evaluation process. This collaboration between parents and experts enhances the certification’s credibility, establishing it as a benchmark for child-friendly products trusted by families worldwide.
Kim Min-gu, head of LG Uplus’s Metaverse Project, said, “We are immensely proud that our efforts to create a platform that is both enjoyable and beneficial for children have been recognized through these prestigious awards, both domestically and globally. LG Uplus will continue its efforts to advance KidsTopia as a premier global children’s platform, driven by its confidence and commitment to education, entertainment, and safety.”
KidsTopia honored with the Gold Medal at the 2024 Mom’s Choice Awards. (image: LG Uplus)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Two U.S. Navy pilots were shot down Sunday over the Red Sea in an apparent “friendly fire” incident, the U.S military said, marking the most serious incident to threaten troops in over a year of America targeting Yemen's Houthi rebels.
Both aviators were recovered alive after ejecting from their stricken two-seat F/A-18 aircraft, with one suffering minor injuries. But the shootdown underlines just how dangerous the Red Sea corridor has become, with ongoing attacks on shipping by the Iranian-backed Houthis despite U.S. and European military coalitions patrolling the area.
The U.S. military had conducted airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels at the time of the friendly fire incident, though the U.S. military’s Central Command did not elaborate on what the pilots' mission was and did not respond to questions from The Associated Press.
The F/A-18 shot down had just flown off the deck of the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, Central Command said. On Dec. 15, Central Command acknowledged the Truman had entered the Mideast, but hadn't specified that the carrier and its battle group was in the Red Sea.
“The guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, which is part of the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, mistakenly fired on and hit the F/A-18,” Central Command said in a statement. “This incident was not the result of hostile fire, and a full investigation is underway.”
From the military's description, the aircraft shot down was a two-seat F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet assigned to the “Red Rippers” of Strike Fighter Squadron 11 out of Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia. While Central Command referred to both as pilots, typically a two-seat F/A-18 has a pilot and a weapons officer on board.
It wasn't immediately clear how the Gettysburg could mistake an F/A-18 for an enemy aircraft or missile, particularly as ships in a battle group remain linked by both radar and radio communication.
However, Central Command said that warships and aircraft earlier shot down multiple Houthi drones and an anti-ship cruise missile launched by the rebels. Incoming hostile fire from the Houthis has given sailors just seconds to make decisions in the past.
Since the Truman's arrival, the U.S. has stepped up its airstrikes targeting the Houthis and their missile fire into the Red Sea and the surrounding area. However, the presence of an American warship group may spark renewed attacks from the rebels, like what the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower saw earlier this year. That deployment marked what the Navy described as its most intense combat since World War II.
On Saturday night and early Sunday, U.S. warplanes conducted airstrikes that shook Sanaa, the capital of Yemen which the Houthis have held since 2014. Central Command described the strikes as targeting a “missile storage facility” and a “command-and-control facility,” without elaborating.
Houthi-controlled media reported strikes in both Sanaa and around the port city of Hodeida, without offering any casualty or damage information. In Sanaa, strikes appeared particularly targeted at a mountainside known to be home to military installations. However, there were no images or information released regarding the strikes — which has happened previously when airstrikes hit vital facilities for the rebels.
Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesman, released a prerecorded statement hours later in which he claimed the rebels launched eight drones and 17 cruise missiles in their attack. He also claimed without offering any evidence that the Houthis shot down the F/A-18, likely following a pattern of him making exaggerated claims. During the Eisenhower's deployment, he repeatedly falsely claimed the carrier had been struck by Houthi fire.
The Houthis have targeted about 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip started in October 2023 after Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage.
Israel’s grinding offensive in Gaza has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, local health officials say. The tally doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians.
The Houthis have seized one vessel and sunk two in a campaign that has also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by separate U.S.- and European-led coalitions in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have also included Western military vessels.
The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the United Kingdom to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.
The Houthis also have increasingly targeted Israel itself with drones and missiles, resulting in retaliatory Israeli airstrikes.
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country would act “forcefully” against the Houthis, as it has against other allies of Iran, “only in this case, we are not acting alone.” Israeli media reports late Sunday, relying on anonymous sources, suggested senior security officials believe that Israel should directly strike Iran over the Houthi attacks, rather than hit targets in Yemen again.
CORRECTS YEAR TO 2024 - The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG 64) steams in the Mediterranean Sea, Dec. 15, 2024. (Kaitlin Young/U.S. Navy via AP)
The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG 64) steams in the Mediterranean Sea, Dec. 15, 2025. (Kaitlin Young/U.S. Navy via AP)
FILE - Aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is moored near Split, Croatia, Feb. 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic, File)
FILE - A fighter jet maneuvers on the deck of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Red Sea, June 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)
