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Can Apple stay afloat in Samsung's home country? It's certainly trying.

The tech company has hired a new general manager for its Korean division who knows the ins and outs of the market -- and the competition.

SEE ALSO:Apple announces new iPad with classrooms in mind

The new hire is Brandon Yoon, formerly a Samsung corporate vice president, as Apple Korea's new general manager, reports Bloomberg. At Samsung, Yoon was responsible for overseeing digital strategy, e-commerce, marketing, social media, and new business incubation, according to his LinkedIn profile. He left Samsung in March.

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As a general manager, Yoon will take on a broad administrative role, including setting and re-evaluating long-term company goals, overseeing business strategies, and managing senior staff, according to job descriptions from Monster and the Harvard Business Review.

SEE ALSO:Samsung's latest smartphone can't connect to the internet. Like, at all.

Apple and South Korea have had a rocky relationship in the past year.

Apple had 18 percent of the country's smartphone market last year, trailing far behind Samsung's 56 percent. South Korea was also part of the onslaught of lawsuits that Apple faced in December for purposefully slowing down older phones with iOS 11. Korean police raided the company's offices in November, ahead of the iPhone X's launch to ask "questions about its business practices" according to Metro.

But Apple is attempting to repair the relationship and gain a foothold, as we saw with the opening of the first Korean Apple store in January. Poaching a Samsung executive is yet another step.

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TopicsAppleiPhoneSamsung