today's headlines_Nov 20

Maeil Business Daily

- Amid disappointing business performance with the dropping number of tourists to Mount KumKang, Hyundai Asan is believed to reduce salary for its employees. Meanwhile Kumkang Golf course, currently under construction, will open next May and premier membership will sell for W25 m.

- Local banks resume mortgage loans as early as today, but people who want to take out loans should go thorough more rigorous paperwork.

- Since the Asian financial crisis, local companies’ debt ratio to asset has been reduced significantly from 300 per cent in the 1990s to 116 per cent today, but investment has been very slow, according to the report released by Bank of Korea.

Chsoun Ilbo

- The Supreme Court said yesterday that its chief justice Lee Young-hun met with three people from the KEB and Loan Star, including Yoo Hoe-won, in December, 2004 to discuss the civil lawsuit against the KEB.

- The Fair Trade Committee yesterday levied the most expensive fine in its history of W200 bn on local petrochemical companies including SK Corporation, LG Chem Ltd., and Homan Petrochemical Corp., for alluding to fix prices for plastic products.

Portal sites

- With increasing demand for reducing temporary job openings by labor, the overall number of jobs is flat because companies reduces temporary workers while not increasing regular ones. A high ranking finance ministry official said “temporary jobs have been recently on the decline, which holds down the overall number of job creation.”

- Former CEO of Daewoo Kim Woo-jung gave up appealing to the Supreme Court for the ruling of eight years and six months in prison, W10 m in fine, and W17 trillion in retrieved money.

- According to GNP Rep. Lee Han-koo, the number of presidential consulting government agencies increased to 25 compared to 18 in 2002, up 38.9 per cent. Budget earmarked for these agencies this year was W55.2 bn, 131.6 per cent up from 2002 of W23.8 bn.

- In an interview with Reuters, Finance Minister Kwon O-kyu said the government can advance the execution of next year’s budget as much as 57 per cent in an effort for pump-priming.

- As late as next September, ‘water call taxi’ will be in service connecting 20 stops at each side of Han River.