- World’s biggest tidal power plant will be established in Kanghwa, west coastal area of Korea. The city of Incheon said yesterday it will start the construction in 2009 and finish it by 2015. A consortium led by Daewoo Construction Co. suggested the project.

- Unstable international market and high oil prices make economic experts jittery about next year’s economic performance. KORCHAM said BSI(Business Survey Index) for the first quarter of next year fell to 99 from 105 in the previous quarter, which implies there are more companies with negative views than those with rosy ones for next year’s economy.

KIET(Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade) expects in its recent report a trade surplus to fall and a current account to go in the red next year.

Hyundai Research Institute also says “because of high oil prices and rising interests, it is very hard for domestic companies to sustain their growth” and “the construction industry continues to suffer due to government policies.”

- Talented professionals rush overseas to work and exacerbated talent shortage is one of the reasons why Korea can’t find a next growth engine, said a SERI report. According to Hyundai Research Institute, 46 per cent of 3,400 who received doctoral degrees in the science and IT field in the US from 2000 to 2003 chose to stay in America.

- Samsung Tech Forum 2007 was supposed to provide investors, analysts, and reporters with next year’s business plans and outlooks but was soon turned into Q&A sessions where attendants voice concern over recent Samsung scandal and how it affects its business.

- [Financial News] Finance Minister Kwon O-kyu said there is a need to nurture a ‘new industry’ like service and financial industries as the country is badly in need of a new growth engine. “We are planning to announce a set of revised insurance laws within this year to upgrade insurance system and are mulling over revising banking laws,” he said.

- Kim Yong-chul was voluntarily investigated by prosecutors until midnight and again comes to prosecutor’s office this afternoon. Prosecutors are believed to raid on Samsung headquarters and affiliates soon.

- After President Roh’s acceptance of a special probe into Samsung, prosecutors hinted that they might stop the investigation when an independent probe starts. A senior prosecutor said “the bill has been passed and we are in agony whether to continue our investigation.”

- US six party chief Christopher Hill is to visit NK on Dec 3 for two days to check on the denuclearization progress.

- The Kaesung tour with daily capacity of 300 will start from Dec 5 and the price is W180,000 per person, said Hyundai Asan.

- The Ministry of Justice is set to establish in-house legal counseling department aimed for ‘inside government law firm’ to provide legal services to government offices.

- Prosecutors said yesterday it collected the money worth W8.7bn, which was found out at former Ssangyong CEO Kim Seok-won’s house during the investigation process related to Shin Jung-ah’s embezzlement case. They see the money being directly related to former President Roh Tae-woo’s slush funds.

- JYP Entertainment said yesterday it refused all requests by four political parties including GNP to use ‘Tell Me’, a mega hit song produced by singer and producer Park Jin-young, as their logo song.

- The two Koreas are said to nearly reach an agreement in the on-going second inter-Korean defense ministerial talks to allow private ships to pass the waters of Haeju.

- Past press interviews of LMB are contradicting his argument that he has never owned BBK shares. In the interview with Joongang Ilbo back in October 2000, Lee said he established BBK by himself. Lee said of the interview “I did the interview as a promotional activity…I might not understand the new business myself and there had been some communication misunderstanding.”

- As the government reiterates its position to allow a newly-established budget carrier to have international flights only after running domestic routes, Air Korea can’t start its international route service as planned for May next year. Meanwhile Jeju Air can run international flight from June next year. Air Korea can apply for the international route license in the second half of 2010.

- Good Friend, a NK human rights group, says North Korea’s open execution, which has been on the decline since 2000, is seen frequently this year. The group said “last month, a criminal was shot more than 90 times to death in front of 150,000 NKoreans in Suncheon, Pyongannamdo.”

- Yeosu won the right to hold the 2012 International Exposition, beating Morocco by 77 to 63 in the final rounds of vote.

- National Police Agency is to join government-led campaign of cracking down on press freedom by closing down press room.

- The confirmation hearing on the New NTS head appointee Han Sang-ryul will be held this afternoon in the National Assembly.

- National Election Commission says it earmarks a budget of W145.6 bn in the management of the upcoming presidential election.

- Christopher Hill, US's unclear negotiator, might visit NK on Nov 30th or Dec 1st after his Northeast Asian tour this week, according to government sources familiar with NK issues.

- The Financial Supervisory Service has started a probe into Woori Bank Samsung center branch regarding Samsung slush fund allegations, and is expected to investigate into Good Morning Shinhan Securities as early as today on the same allegations.

- Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers says it will file a libel suit against Kim Yong-chul for raising ‘groundless’ allegation towards the company that it received hefty fees for helping Samsung cook its financial statements.

- "Wall of Marriage Proposal,” the water screen which can be used by citizens to confess their love, in Cheonggye stream will open on Dec 24.

- Prosecutors have imposed overseas travel ban on Lee Kun-hee and 5-6 Samsung top employees including, Lee Hak-soo and Kim In-joo.

- It is reported that a US diplomat has been staying in Koryo Hotal (고려호텔) in Pyongyang since mid November as a contact between the two countries. The US is said to intend enhancing the current temporary office to permanent official one when NK makes clear its intention of discarding nukes.

- From next year, demonstrators will be fined up to W1 m unless they put away wastes created during demonstration by themselves.

- Last year’s union formation rate marked the lowest with 10.3 per cent since 1997, indicating increasing disillusion among workers.

- Samsung Electronics, Kookmin Bank, POSCO, KEPCO, Hyundai Heavy Industries, and Hyundai Motor have achieved the goal of passing W10 trillion in total sales and W1 trillion in operating profits this year, according to FNGuide, a stock information company. SK Telecom and KT, which have already earned more than W1 trillion in operating profits, are also expected to record W10 trillion in total sales within this year as well. Meanwhile S-Oil has passed W10 trillion sales mark and is expected to pass W1 trillion in operating profits by year-end.

- Japanese Mainichi Newspaper reported that Kim Jeong-chul of North Korea has been chosen as vice director of Rodong Party’s Organization and Guidance Department, one of the most important posts in NK. But the Korean authorities say they don’t consider the report true.

- Lawyer Kim Yong-chul is to hold a press briefing at 11:30 am today to reveal “as much as I can say about Samsung.” He said “the press briefing is about Samsung’s creation and management of slush funds and how Lee Jae-yong created his wealth alongside with supporting evidence.”

- Erica Kim says she will soon make public more evidence supporting BBK is owned by LMB.

- CFE (Center for Free Enterprise) reported Korea’s fiscal growth rate is the highest with 11.36 per cent in the OECD countries for the past 12 years. The average rate among OECD members is 4.99 per cent.

- A Woori Bank employee is reported to have been promoted right after he was punished for breach of real-name financial transaction system regarding Samsung secret bank accounts.

- Amid mounting suspicion over Samsung’s illegal activities, the company appears to shore up its security system. A SDS employee who asked not to be named said “the group and Samsung Electronics start upgrading computers, which is not the usual one because it makes deleted data impossible to be recovered,” and “I understand it(upgrading) will soon be done in other affiliates as well.” Meanwhile Samsung Securities has also started checking on company PCs.

- Kim Kyung-jun’s mother will arrive in Korea tomorrow to visit his son and she is believed to hand-deliver purported original contracts with LMB.

- Public health insurance fee will go up 6.4 per cent next year.

- For the past 10 years, only 52.9 per cent of the public money, or W89.1 trillion, poured into struggling companies after the Asian financial crisis has been retrieved.

- Income tax revenue has increased by a whopping 80.5 pre cent for the past 4 years, more than double national tax revenue growth rate of 38.1 per cent, due to steady rise in labor, property and transfer income taxes.

- Stock funds balance has been reduced by W13 trillion this month.

- BOK is to receive voluntary early retirements from employees who have been working for more than 20 years, in order to speed up promotion. Top senior employees who ask early retirement can be rehired, if they wish, as a contract worker to work on long-term researches.

- The Investigative Commission on Pro-Japanese Collaborators’ Property ruled on 8 descendants of pro-Japanese collaborators to return their lands to the country, which will be used for independent fighters’ offspring and related businesses.

-Korea takes the lead in officially establishing WTA(World Toilet Association) aimed at helping out 2.6bn people worldwide who live without a loo. The opening ceremony was held in the COEX convention center this morning, in which welfare and environment officials from 60 countries attended.

- Korean version of ‘Exon-Florio Act’ aimed at blocking hostile M&A attempts by foreign companies at ‘important’ domestic companies will be introduced next year. The commerce ministry will come up with a revised foreign investment law within this month and enact it early next year.

- The National Assembly is under discussion on the bill regarding launching the special prosecutors’ investigation into the Samsung bribery scandal. But disagreements between parties are too large to guarantee the bill’s passage.

- Kim Kyung-joon’s wife changed her mind in the last minute not to hand out a piece of original secret contract with Lee Myung-bak to reporters. In a press briefing held in LA, she said “I prepared the original secret contract, which prosecutors are investigating into, to give out to you, but I changed my mind after watching news early morning.” She said revealing the original contract containing LMB’s original signature could undermine their position in the case.

- The financial authority will soon begin an expansive investigation into financial companies including Mirae Asset on whether there have been any business irregularities regarding fund transactions.

- SNU professors leave the school for better research environments and higher salary. According to the school, 15 professors moved to another university for the last five years from 2003.

- Lawyer Kim Yong-chul postponed a press briefing slated to be held this afternoon, in which he was supposed to reveal some of financial documents related to slush funds. He said he will open it after watching closely on whether the bill on the special prosecutors’ investigation into the Samsung scandal passes the National Assembly.

- Lotte Mart finished the construction of Asia’s biggest distribution center in Osan. The company said “opening the Osan distribution center with enormous size and state-of-the-art facility lays the groundwork for the company to achieve the goal of expanding domestic branches to 110 and sales number to W10 trillion.

- A team of 40 prosecutors is to launch into the Samsung bribery case from next week.

- Due to tighter credit conditions, lots of construction companies especially in non-metropolitan area are in danger of going bankrupt, stoking fears that there might be lack of apartments next year.

- It is reported that the government is mulling over sending electricity directly to Anbyeon and Nampo areas where the two Koreas agreed to build a ship building complex. But it will cost Seoul hundreds of billions of wons.

- After Lee Yong-Chul, former legal advisor to president, revealed that he was bribed in cash from Samsung but return the money, Samsung appears to be at a loss as to how to respond to another bombshell and only briefly announced that the company didn’t order its employee to bribe him.

- Lawyer Lee Yong-chul said in the interview with the paper, “there must be many people who also want to talk about Samsung’s illegal activities. And I think there must be someone who secures evidence just like I did.”

- Lee Yong-chul is to have a press briefing at 2:00 this afternoon.

- As early as 2009, SKoreans can visit Pyongyang via a tour program, Hyundai Asan said. Yoon Man-joon, president of Hyundai Asan, said “the North understands Pyongyang should be included in the Mt. Baekdu tour in order to produce higher profits.”

- Forty rank-and-file members break away from the Grand National Party to announce their support for Lee Hoe-chang.

- Namkwang, the construction company, is in talks with Pyongyang to set up a joint construction company which combines Seoul’s capital and construction skills and the North’s cheap labor.

- Outgoing Prosecutor General Chung Sang-myung is in agony over the Samsung bribery scandal and the BBK stock manipulation, the two cases that have huge influence on the country. He said, “being a prosecutor is very inhuman and I often contemplate whether the last 30 years as a prosecutor was real.”

- The FSS is to launch an investigation into Woori Bank over Samsung’s opening bank accounts under its employees without their knowledge.

- On the internal company website of Samsung, there are increasingly ‘bold and honest’ opinions on the recent scandal. “Absolute loyalty is not the answer,” and “(regarding the case) high up there and people down here do not have the same thought,” read some postings. These remarks are considered really ‘brave’ since their names and departments are identified.

- Hanjin Shipping’s container ship collided against the lower part of Bay Bridge in San Francisco, spilling 140 gallons of oils into the sea.

- Members of People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy launched a protest in front of Supreme Prosecutors’ Office yesterday, demanding it to start investigate into Samsung’s bribery scandal. The prosecutor office reiterated it should know the list first before launching any probe. Kim Min-young of the civic group said “(prosecutors’ asking for list) reveals that senior members of the prosecutors’ office do not have the ability even to find out a prosecutor of integrity and honesty who can manage the case.”

- FSC said structural reform measures are in the work in order to enhance banks’ management transparency, which include demanding more stringent qualifications for bank president, executives and outside board members. It will soon finalize the measures and introduce them next year after consulting with the finance ministry.

- Samsung Life Insurance company receives early retirement requests from 2,000 manager level-employees, in its second move since May 2005. Samsung Electronics and Samsung SDI have recently done the same thing.

- Jerald Shiff, Assistant Director in the Asia and Pacific Department (APD) of the IMF, pointed out Korea faces three major problems, namely high household debts, rapid ageing population problems, and low productivity in the service sector.

- The first court trial of Shin Jung-a and Byeon Yang-kyun is to be held on Nov 12.

- NHN reported a record quarterly profit with W98.7bn in operating profits and W70.5bn in net profits. The company accordingly adjusted its yearly sales target to W900bn.

- NC Soft’s next new game title ‘AION’ will be introduced in the Chinese market early next year, in hands with Shanda, one of China’s biggest online game companies which is set to buy a 30 per cent stake in NC Soft China. Shanda is a Nasdaq-listed company with 4.4 m fee-paying members.

- Lee Myung-bak visited Lee Hoi-chang’s house this morning to no avail. He left a letter to him saying “Dear respectful Chairman Lee, I have been trying so hard to meet you for the last a few days, but couldn’t, so I left a few words to you. It is all because of my inability, but I have something to hear from you as well as to say to you. I wish I could talk to you even over the phone. Looking forward to hearing from you soon.”

- BOK makes it clear that it has no plan to redenominate the currency, but when a banknote worth W100,000 is introduced next year, the need for redenomination will be gaining ground. BOK governor Lee Sung-tae has recently told in the parliamentary audit session, “we don’t have such plan in the near future.”

- Housing prices will rise 1.5 per cent while leased-housing prices will goes up 4.0 per cent next year, predicts the Construction ＆ Economy Research Institute of Korea. The prediction means an actual price fall in housing prices given inflation.

- National Tax Service is in shock after its head was arrested yesterday. One senior officer said, “regardless of the investigation outcome, I am worried that NTS as a whole might be viewed as a corrupt group.” Another said “if the long-held custom of promoting insiders is shaken, NTS morale will badly fall,” referring to rumors that Cheong Wa Dae will appoint someone outside NTS in the top position.

- Amid bullish stock market, one of the most hotly debated topics among office workers is stock investment. In a big company located in Jeonju, people flock to one specific room in lunch time to visit online stock market, since it is the only room that allows internet connection to such sites.

- Samsung Economic Research Institute released a report titled ‘Korean movie industry’s crisis examination and what to do about it,” a report that points out four major problems to address, “lack of creativity, slow export, abundant online legal copies, too many production of movies.”

- Chung Ji-e, managing director at Hyundai U&I and daughter of Hyun Jung-eun, seems to take steady and gradual steps to take central role in her mother’s inter-Korean business. She has recently accompanied her mother on the visit to Pyongyang for a new tour program to Mt. Baekdu. Hyundai Group chairwoman told the reporters “chairman Kim (Jong-il) asked after my daughter a lot,” implying Chung receives a ‘special attention’ from the North.

- Since the inauguration of Roh government, the total amount of debt of 24 public companies rose 74 per cent from W7.3 trillion as of 2002 year-end to W128 trillion while their personnel increased by 33,368 or 64 per cent to 85,831.

- Korean Railway Workers’ Union said it will go on a general strike on Nov 12 for failed pay rise negotiation.

- Lawyer Kim Yong-churl is to reveal this afternoon the list of 40 prosecutors who he argues received bribe from Samsung.

- In the interview with the paper, Kim Yong-churl argued Samsung had a mock court trial prior to the court hearing on Samsung Everland CB case, in which people involved including witnesses practiced together their cooked-up testimonies and part of documents were fabricated to put the blame on Hur Tae-hak and Park Roh-bin.

- Yearly outbound wealth passed W2 trillion for four years in a row, partly because of strong won, according to BOK.

- FTC intervened in the takeover of R&C Korea by Owens Corning Korea on the grounds that the buyout can hamper competition in the domestic market as the two companies’ market share amounts to 53.3 per cent, in its first such move to order correction in M&A between foreign companies. R&C Korea’s parent company is French while Owens Corning is American.

- Hynix, world's second largest semiconductor, announced this morning that it will enter into CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) business as the world’s first semiconductor company to do so. It will cut green house gas emission and sell Certified Emission Reduction corresponding to the level of cut.

- The Foreign Ministry is at odds with National Intelligence Service on the peace regime talks. NIS Director Kim Man-bok said in a column posted on the Cheong Wa Dae website that a declaration to end the war was one of the process to establish a peace regime and would be the start point for peace regime negotiation. Foreign Minister Song Min-soon, however, said peace process on the peninsula could be completed only after denuclearization and a subsequent declaration to end a war.

Samsung regularly hands money to presecutors

Lawyer Kim Yong-churl also argued that Samsung regularly handed a secret money ranging from W5m to W10m to about 40 senior prosecutors either on New year’s day or Chosuk and for summer holiday.

He said “the restructuring office of Samsung spends about W1 bn a year for ‘managing prosecutors,” and “most of them resist taking the money at first , but later they normally accept it because it is cash and they are assured that taking Samsung’s money will not cause any problem later.”

Roh Hui-chan, lawmaker at Democratic Labor Party, said in the audit session of Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, “Lawyer Kim’s primary role at Samsung was managing the list of prosecutors subject to Samsung’s money,” and “I am confirmed that Catholic Priests Association for Justice (to which Lawyer Kim had ‘conscience confession about the slush fund) secured the list.”

Meanwhile, Prosecutor General Chung Sang-myung said of the issue “I hope we get the list as soon as possible. I have ordered to thoroughly study what Kim said.”

Catholic Priests Association for Justice is set to reveal Samsung internal ‘lobbying direction document’ next Monday. The document, it says, contains the selection of lobbying objects and specific lobbying methods.