South Korea’s LG Electronics has launched KizON, a wristband designed for pre-school and primary school children that will allow parents to track their whereabouts.

Using GPS and Wi-Fi, KizON provides real-time location information that can be fed into a smartphone or tablet.

Another feature is the One Step Direct Call button, which children can press to dial a pre-configured phone number (that can be changed at any time through a smartphone or tablet running Android 4.1 or higher).

If the child fails to answer a call from any of the pre-configured numbers within ten seconds, KizON will automatically connect the call to let parents listen in to what’s going on through a built-in microphone.

“Children as well as the elderly are ideal customers for wearable technologies,” said Dr. Jong-seok Park, president and CEO of LG Electronics’ mobile division.

KizON is water-resistant, comes in a variety of bright colours, and has a battery life of 36 hours. Parents will be alerted via their smartphones when the KizON battery falls below 25 per cent.

KizON goes on sale in South Korea on 10 July, to be followed by North America and Europe in the third quarter.

Details of availability and price will be announced locally.