- Finance minister Kwon O-kyu made a “dangerous” joke when he was tasting wines offered by Kim Jong-il during a luncheon on October 4. Kwon said to Kim, “I worked at the OECD and knows a little bit about wine, but this wine is the same level of Makgulri(막걸리).” Kim, however, didn’t seem to be offended by it and said “as for Makgulri, one from Pocheon is good.”

- Hana Financial Group is to buy a 37.5 per cent stake of Commonwealth Business Bank, which is located in LA and owned by a Korean American, for $21.5 per share.

- "Daejangkeum (A pearl in the palace),” a hit drama in Korea as well as around Asia, has made inroads into Africa. It has been broadcast in Tanzania since October, and is soon to be aired in Zimbabwe and Kenya.

- According to the document submitted by the construction ministry to the National assembly for audit, a total of 199 construction companies went bust as of September this year.

- The new pension system for the poor elderly aged over 70 will weigh heavily on local governments as they have to burden over one fourth of the money, which translates into W600bn next year.

- The daily number of airport express train users stands at 12,700, which falls far short of 161,300 predicted by the construction ministry. The ministry has to compensate W95.5 bn to Airport Railroad Co. according to the contract.

- Samsung Group accepted a resignation by Lee Woo-hee, CEO of S1, the security company, who is replaced by Roh In-sik, vice-president of Samsung Group’s strategic management team.

- Land compensation money for residents in the metropolitan areas amounts to W38.8 trillion.

- Cho Young-joo, president of KTF said of lowering mobile phone charge, “we will not disappoint users,” hinting that he considers a dramatic cut. SK Telecom lowered the charge by 50 per cent between its subscribers, and LG made it free for users who pay an additional W2,500 per month.

- Korean B-Boy team T.I.P won 2007 UK B-Boy Championship held in Brixton Academy in London. The 15-strong team was formed in 1996, the first B-Boy team in Korea.