Today's Seoul_Feb. 5

- Four Korean cities including Daegu, Incheon, Pyongchang, and Yeosu, are competing against other international cities for a venue of global sports events and festival which are scheduled to be held within the timeframe from 2011 to 2014.

- A small town of Jeju is unearthed which was buried 5,000 years ago under volcanic ashes.

- GNP representative Kim Tae-hwan argued telecommunication companies are running a “location track-downing service” against the relevant law which stipulates the companies should inform people of the fact that they are track-downed.

- The government is working on a piece of legislation as part of the second phase of ‘balanced development scheme’ under which companies moving from the metropolitan area to a provincial area can receive a 10 per cent of corporate tax reduction for 10 years, doubling the amount that companies can currently receive.

- Lee Seok-haeng, the head of KCTU, indicates a turnaround in the way the organization is run by saying “it is ill-advised bravery to stick to the old-style labor movement.”

- The FSC (Financail Supervisory Commission)warned a danger of excessive investments into the Vietnamese market. A high-ranking FSC official said yesterday “we consider the Vietnamese stock market overheated now so we will strengthen consumer protecting measures by re-examining existing Vietnam funds and beefing up the approval process of new funds.”

- Local construction companies are looking for a breakthrough in the sluggish construction market. They especially set their eye on the mega construction projects worth trillion wons in the pipeline.

- Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook will announce this afternoon so-called “Vision 2030 National Human Resources Usage Measures” which include a new set of military service law revisions.

- Market reaction is rather calm after the court verdict on Chung Mong-koo was out this morning, indicating a general expectation that he is likely to go on probation when he appeals. Hyundai Motor shares dropped 1.58 per cent from a day earlier to W68,700 per share as of 11:57 am.

- GNP rep. Chung Hyung-keun argued that Kim Jong-nam is frequently staying in a five-star hotel which costs him $460 a night, and owning two up-scale villas in Macao ten years ago where he lives with his wife and son.

- The North authorities are said to have launched an active crack-down on North Koreans who are living in the Heoryong region of Hamkyungbukdo, which borders China, and trying to fly the country. The news is quickly spreading among brokers who help North Koreans fly the regime.

- The number of Cyworld’s Korean users passed 20m after 7 years and half month of service opening. Service users aged more than 50s amount to 1 m.

- Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook said this morning the property market enters a ‘stabilizing phase’ due to a set of cooling measures by government.

- Presidential hopefuls set to capitalize on the buzz of UCC (User Created Contents) in the December election. According to Pandora TV, the nation’s largest video clip provider, presidential hopefuls signed up for an internet channel platform.

- The Unification Ministry is believed to discuss with North Korea the introduction of an incentive system into Kaesung Industrial Complex as early as this year, a suggestion that has been consistently rejected by the regime.

- Hyundai Motor will launch a low-priced car of around W4.5-5 m in China in 2010.

- The KCGF (Korea Corporate Governance Fund), widely known as Jang Ha-sung Fund, is reported to have bought more than 5 per cent of Byucksan Construction Co., under the name of corporate structure improvement.

- The Daily NK reported North Korean soldiers belonging to a border patrolling division defected en masse to China and the North regime dispatched a team to China to arrest them.