other important headlines_Oct 17

- Uri Party lawmaker Park Young-sun argued that Samsung Group had ordered to scrap its internal document in the face of the 1999 investigation by the FTC into unfair internal trading with its affiliates.

- According to data prepared by the Unification Ministry, it is projected that an average $9.94m will be wired to North Korea for labor cost for Kaesung Industrial Complex when the construction of the park is completed in 2012. Among the money, goes the argument, only 30 per cent will actually go to North Korean laborers.

- GNP lawmaker Choi Kyung-hwan said cash transfer from the South to the North has totaled to W3,500 bn since the Kim Dae-jung government. He argued that “if we include some off-the-books money, the flow of cash to North Korea is beyond imagination.”

- GNP lawmaker Lee Han-koo said the money that South Korea has invested into the two inter-Korean economic projects is W236.8 for Kaesung Industrial Park, and W276.8 for Mt. Kumkang tour, and if the UN urges Seoul to stop these projects, it would be nearly impossible to retrieve most of the investment. He urged the government to come up with necessary measures to deal with such a problem.

- US presses quoted some intelligence sources as saying North Korea was preparing the second nuclear test. ABC reported about unusual car moves near the first nuclear test site and NBC also reported that US surveillance satellite spotted some moves of cars and people which might be connected to the second test. A high-ranking US government official familiar with the matter told to Yonhap “the US and Korea consider there is a possibility for another nuclear test by North Korea at any time,” but “there hasn’t been a clear indication for the second test yet.”

- Domestic MP3 player makers make a desperate effort to compete against Apple’s i-pod by introducing an aggressive low price marketing strategy.

- A Cheong Wa Dae official said of a possible second nuclear test by North Korea, “I can’t confirm whether the government spotted any clear sign,” but he didn’t reject the possibility. He said “the government is running a beefed-up surveillance system including information sharing with the US.”