other important headlines_August 29

- Prime Minister Han Myung-sook offered an apology for ‘the Sea Story Gate,’ saying “I feel great responsibility for the matter and I apologize for people’s suffering and concerns. In a letter for apology, she said “as the gambling places were spreading throughout the country, it caused severe damages on the lives of ordinary people and the economy.” “There must be several reasons behind this, but more than other things the government should take responsibility for inadequate handling of the possibility that some gambling places can exploit loopholes.”

- A survey commissioned by Joongang Ilbo finds out that Koreans have the worst sentiment towards business and market economy than Chinese and Japanese do. As for company-friendly environment, Korea again turns out the most difficult country among the three due to excessive demand for business sovial responsibility and government regulations. Meanwhile 77 per cent of Korean respondents say they are proud of Samsung, showing two different attitudes towards Chaebol.

- In the North American market, Samsung’s extreme-slim phones, A900 and T509, are becoming so popular, taking number two spot after Motorola, overtaking Nokia. According to Strategy Analytics, Samsung Electronics sold 6M cell phones in the market, selling 0.2 M phones more from a year earlier. Market share for Samsung is 15.5 per cent, still much lower than that of Motorola with 43.8 per cent.

- According to a survey on 561 listed companies, only 49.7 per cent of the companies say they have plan to hire new employees for the second half, which is 11.8 per cent down from a year ago. The reduced hiring plan is due largely to worse-than-expected economy outlooks.

- Cheon Ki-won, pastor of Doori Hana Missionary Church, said in an interview with Radio Free Asia, about 30 North Korean defectors is to seek an asylum in the US soon.

- The US seems to finalize its investigation into North Korea’s overseas financial transactions and will start re-launching severe economic sanctions.