Today's headlines_Dec 12

- It is confirmed that Chang Min-ho had reported personal information of Democratic party members who were to visit North Korea just one day before he was arrested by security authorities. And facing financial difficulties, he asked the North to pay back his debt of W300m.

- Sohn Hak-kyu said yesterday, attending a conference, “for GNP to take power, changing the party and making it lead our country is the historic mission that is given to me.” “GNP should change if it is to make a fresh start for the country and make up for the lost five years,” he added.

- A court rejected detention warrants for seven people charged for violence and obstruction of justice by prosecutors in the anti-FTA protest, citing “there is no possibility for them to run away or destroy evidence.”

- Jerrald Post of George Washington University told the newspaper US sanctions against North Korea on luxury goods was aimed at Kim Jong-il’s psychological traits of ‘father complex.’ Stockpiling luxury goods while urging ordinary people to sacrifice themselves for Juche ideology stems from his obsession to look grandiose like his father. He fears to be compared to his father, the professor said

- A Chosun Ilbo survey on 572 South Koreans shows 60.3 per cent of people suspect the government has turned a blind eye to North Korean spies while 26.4 per cent think the government arrested a spy everytime it spotted. Regarding Ilsimhoe scandal, 33.2 per cent of respondents suspect the case must have been in some way manipulated by the government.

- Rumors are spreading that Lee Jae-yong might be promoted to vice-president of Samsung Electronics next January.

- Samsung Electronics and LG Philips were investigated by Korea, the US, and Japan fair trade authorities over a possible LCD price collusion. Korea’s Fair Trade Commission raided the companies yesterday for investigation.

- Park Byung-yeop, vice-president of Pantech Group, the country's No.3 mobile phone manufacturer that Monday formally sought a bailout from creditors to overcome its growing cash flow problem, said “as one of the founders of the company, I will give up on management control to creditors if the company can survive.” In an interview with Maekyung, he rejected a rumor of selling the company to a third overseas company.

- From as early as next March, people who don’t have overdue bills can have easier access to bank loans, according to a revised credit law which will be brought up in the National Assembly next February.