What's Up Korea?

2010-10-26T00:39:00.001+09:00

Seoul Fashion Week S/S started last Friday, for the first time without its most endeared fashion icon, Andre Kim who died of cancer in August.

Famous for his glamorous, elegant wedding gowns that featured Korea’s unique patterns, he was one of Korea’s most prolific and popular designers. His dramatic star-studded catwalk shows were always the talk of the town, and an appearance in this show was the barometer of a star’s popularity.

Though his signature look of thick stage make-up, painted head and immaculate white spacesuit-like outer garment were often the subject of a comic parody, Koreans loved his down-to-earth, humble nature and his effort to express the beauty of Korea onto his pieces of ‘art.’

While his absence is still acutely felt by many in and out of the industry, the event is not without promising, fast-rising young designers, not to mention top established ones.

The showcase of delicately-executed garments by nine emerging designers including S=YZ and GILIYATE in the Generation Next stage got spotlighted with minimal, practical yet womanly dresses in silk, chiffon, and see-through fabrics.

The collection by Doii Lee, a graduate from Central St. Martins College who worked with world renowned designers such as John Galliano, again exhibited her imaginative, fashion-meet-fairytale-like lovely traits with colorful skirts hemmed with flamboyant fringes.

The seven-day show will be wrapped up with Miss Gee Collection by Ji Choon-hee, the darling of Korean celebrities, who made clothes for a handful of TV dramas. One of the most well-established designers, she is vocal about her desire to make clothes unique but wearable.

On top of 61 runways, a discussion session under the theme of ‘Rising Asia’ will be held, for the first time on Tuesday, attended by fashion week organizers from Japan, China, and Singapore.

And more than 100 buyers including from French, Hong Kong, and German department stores are expected to be attending exclusive fair shows, who might be on the lookout for the next ‘Andre Kim.’

the show goes on

2010-10-26T00:25:00.000+09:00

Seoul Fashion Week S/S started last Friday, for the first time without its most endeared fashion icon, Andre Kim who died of cancer in August.

Famous for his glamorous, elegant wedding gowns that featured Korea’s unique patterns, he was one of Korea’s most prolific and popular designers. His dramatic star-studded catwalk shows were always the talk of the town, and an appearance in this show was the barometer of a star’s popularity.

Though his signature look of thick stage make-up, painted head and immaculate white spacesuit-like outer garment were often the subject of a comic parody, Koreans loved his down-to-earth, humble nature and his effort to express the beauty of Korea onto his pieces of ‘art.’

While his absence is still acutely felt by many in and out of the industry, the event is not without promising, fast-rising young designers, not to mention top established ones.

The showcase of delicately-executed garments by nine emerging designers including S=YZ and GILIYATE in the Generation Next stage got spotlighted with minimal, practical yet womanly dresses in silk, chiffon, and see-through fabrics. The collection by Doii Lee, a graduate from Central St. Martins College who worked with world renowned designers such as John Galliano, again exhibited her imaginative, fashion-meet-fairytale-like lovely traits with colorful skirts hemmed with flamboyant fringes. The seven-day show will be wrapped up with Miss Gee Collection by Ji Choon-hee, the darling of Korean celebrities, who made clothes for a handful of TV dramas. One of the most well-established designers, she is vocal about her desire to make clothes unique but wearable.

On top of 61 runways, a discussion session under the theme of ‘Rising Asia’ will be held, for the first time on Tuesday, attended by fashion week organizers from Japan, China, and Singapore.

And more than 100 buyers including from French, Hong Kong, and German department stores are expected to be attending exclusive fair shows, who might be on the lookout for the next ‘Andre Kim.’

ship wreckage and rescue efforts

2010-04-02T13:34:00.002+09:00

It's been a week now but it is still not known what caused the South Korean navy ship, the Cheonan, to break into two and sink, which might have taken 46 precious lives with it. Relatives of the missing sailors still believe their sons, fathers, or husbands are still trapped inside the ship, alive, but chance of that looks increasingly slim.

Right after the explosion, the other ship which was patrolling father south was ordered to move closer to the Northern Limit Line to guard the area, and soon detected an unidentified object moving fast northward on its radar. The ship fired artillery toward it for 5 minutes, suspecting that it might have been a North Korean submersible ship that attacked the Cheonan and ran away. But the military later said that the object was a flock of birds given the characteristics of the movement.

Defense minister Kim Tae-young a few days ago said the left-over mines dating back from the 1950-1953 Korean war might have caused the explosion, but people is skeptical about the possibility of more than 50-year-old mines still working properly.

The military is saying there was no unusual activities by North Korea detected on the night of the incident, but it can't possibly detect every single sinister movement, can it?

Having seen frantic, unorganized rescue operations and the lack of rescue facility by the South Korean Navy, I am really worried about their readiness for a possible war with North Korea.

Elite divers risk their lives without even proper equipment and there is lack of decompression chambers which are crucial for them to keep working for the dangerous operation. Strong current and poor visibility are also working against the rescue efforts. US Navy's divers who arrived at the scene a few days ago have not been able to go into the water because they are not allowed to do so according to their manual.

Sorry to say this but we should not push Korean navy divers to go as far as risking their own lives to save people down at the bottom of the sea, who is likely dead by now.

King back to the throne

2010-03-24T15:15:00.006+09:00

At long last!

After two years of waiting for the right timing, Lee Kun-hee is finally back to Samsung, this time as CEO of Samsung Electronics.

Of course the company has been building up its case why former chairman of the Samsung group should come back. Here is what Choi Gee-sung said last september.

“To achieve ‘strategic focus,’ we need owner’s determination.’ We need owner’s vision for the future.” He went on to say “there are many times when we need to put together all the strength the company has in order to win in this highly competitive world, which is not possible under the current system.”

The company put out this morning the statement that read :

As of today, Lee Kun-hee returns as chairman of Samsung Electronics.

Samsung presidents’ council discussed his return to management on 17th and 24th, and agreed that Lee’s experience and leadership is needed to Samsung in taking a lead in the global market amid rising uncertainty and rapidly changing management conditions in the global economy.

The council wrote up a letter asking his return after the Fabruary 24th meeting, and Lee Su-bin, Chairnman of Samsung life insurance, gave the letter to Lee Kun-hee.

Lee Kun-hee said “now is a real crisis. Best companies in the world are collapsing. We don’t know what is going to happen to Samsung too. In the coming 10 years, businesses and products that represent Samsung today will mostly disappear. We need start anew. No time to hesitate. We should go forward."

So the company need a hero to salvage it from a 'real crisis'? Does this giant comapny still need a babysitter? This whole claim is to about scarying the Korean people into a belief that Samsung can't survive without its founding family. What does this company take its countrymen for?

To be fair, the country's biggest conglomerate might need to treat the old hero better for his substantial role over the past decades in the company's astronomical growth.

Lee Kun-hee stepped down April 2008 over tax evasion and breach of trust charges against him. His regination then helped this scandal to fizzle out. He later paid fines and received a suspended jail term, as widely expected.

It was a disgraceful departure of chairman of the Korea's biggest chaebol surely for the founding family and many executives who have been close aides to Mr. Lee.

Though some people close to the matter say he is not going to be involved in day-to-day business matters, most Koreans consider this as the 'return of the king.'

No one will doubt that he exerts enourmous influence over the group. In fact he has never lost that power since he took the helm.

what a moron

2010-03-23T19:05:00.001+09:00

Korea Communications Commission Chairman Choi See-joong told a group of female reporters last week that women should stay at home rather than having a job and just being a good mom and wife contributes to society.

Saying that his two daughters got married as soon as graduating from Ewha Woman’s University, women’s mission should be based on home, otherwise there is no way to resolve this low birthrate problems, he said.

So he basically echoed this repetitive claim, which has been made again and again by many men in Korea, that working women are solely responsible for the country’s record-low birthrate, and they should stay at home and have more babies!!!

Wow, I knew that many helpless old ajussis often make that kind of ridiculous charges, but how dare he spoke that in front of FEMALE REPORTERS?

Facing a barrage of criticism by women activists groups and female reporters, he made a public apology three days later, and again the next day he tried to appease angry women, saying “I have total respect in and support for the value of women’s participation in the workforce and sex equality…and will try to make a social environment where women can juggle work and family.”

If he is not alone in this absurd mind-set, Korea has a really long way to go. This makes me really sick.

Unlikely politician interviewed by LA Times

2010-03-03T13:18:00.006+09:00

Kang Ki-kab, a farmer-turned-lawmaker, is one of the most unlikely politicians you can think of being in the National Assembly to execute law and order.

He is infamous for being stubborn, reckless, and irrational. In particular, he is famous for his Kung-fu-like kicking and punching in the National Assembly. He once was so angry for not being paid attention to by other politicians, so he stomped angrily on top of a table, turned it over, and wielded a hammer. He said he wanted to be heard, which he said was ignored.

If you ever paid attention to TV debates during the highly contentious US beef 'crisis'-I'd like to call the crazy time a crisis- a few years ago, you must be quite familiar with this guy who asserted so strongly about how hazardous US beef was to the health of Korean people. As far as I remember, he hardly offered solid evidence for it.

As LA Times pointed out, once he believes in something, all the other arguments fell on his deaf ears. Once something is branded evil to his eyes, it is OUT forever.

Though his arguments, to me, often doesn't make a sense at all, his unique stubbornness makes him, to some others, a sincere believer in Korea's dirty political scenes where political opportunists seem outnumber hard-working honest politicians.

But lawmakers should maintain decency and manner. The last thing Korea's politics needs is another violent activist. We have had enough of them whose actions have spoken more than their words.

He showed enough of himself during his two consecutive terms to let voters know he is not qualified to represent people for another term. It shouldn't just happen.

**see the below link to LA Times story on Kang Ki-kab

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-korea-outsider2-2010mar02,0,2857319.story

Dreams came true.

2010-02-26T18:19:00.003+09:00

What a day!

All the women skaters performed their heart out and skated their best. Everyone expected Yuna to win a easy gold medal, given her staggering short program scores, but watching her actually making it, and doing so perfectly and flawlessly was making me almost close to tears.

She never revealed before the pressure she was under, but when she finished the game, she let her emotion shown, tears sprung up in her eyes, making hard for Korean commentators not to be swayed by the emotional scene. Their voices were all shaky and they fought hard to hold their tear back.

It was such an emotional moment for all Koreans who knew what this young girl went through and how she tried hard to make it all through to here.

There is nothing that Koreans need, just for now, that’s for sure.

Amazing bond girl!

2010-02-24T16:10:00.008+09:00

Now I can finally sit back and enjoy Smooth King's Yuna Smoothie.

Watching her being so tense and nervous just before her performance was heart-wrenching, especially right after her arch rival Mao Asada's flawless game.

But the 19-year-old bond girl regained her control as soon as she got on to the ice and skated as if she knew that she was going to prevail. She was so artistic and showed more-than-perfect jumps and spins. And her facial expression! It perfectly turns this young girl into the sexy, sly bond girl.

I was holding my breath for the entire performance, praying for her making no mistakes. But now is the time for me just to enjoy watching her mind-blowing skating which surely will be played over and over again on Yuna-obssessed Korean media.

Another big day for Korea

2010-02-24T10:03:00.004+09:00

This morning, my babysister told me a pleasantly surprising news that Korean player, Lee Seung-hoon, who got a silver from 5,000 meters, won a gold medal in the 10,000 speed skating! What an amazing news!

The three golds that Korea's speed skaters won in this Olympics are so unexpected that it is almost shocking to me. Men's 500 meters are often compared to the 100 meters sprint, a sport that has been dominated by players from western countries and believed that Asians are physically less competitive than their western competitors.

The achievement shows there is nothing impossible in the world of sports.

I hope for the best for Yuna who without doubt is under enormous pressure to deliever a gold to her home fans. Her short program will start about 1 pm this afternoon.

A new book about Samsung

2010-02-23T17:45:00.008+09:00

You remember Kim Yong-churl, a whistle blower from Samsung, who unveiled back in 2007 how the giant company had been engaged in massive, extensive, and illegal lobbying activities?

The book titled "Thinking about Samsung" has just came out but attracts lots of attention from people here who want to know a thing more about Samsung's secretive corporate culture, let alone that of the "royal family." It is on the bestseller's list.

I am in almost half way through the book and kind of shocked how the whole company is putting the interests of the founder family ahead of those of shareholders, and how they use chunk of company's money for things like throwing sumptuous Lee Kun-hee's birthday party where super stars come and sing 3-4 songs to be paid tens of thousands dollars.

I didn't really know how big and core the whistle blower was in the company when the scandal broke out, but it seems clear now to me that he is the right one who know things enough to write a book about the company.

You will definitely have second thoughts about this chaebol when you read this. I am sorry that we don't have a English-translated version of the book..

start afresh

2010-02-23T11:49:00.003+09:00

After more-than-a-year break, I am trying to give a fresh life to my dying blog.. It's not an easy job to write a blog.. much more time/effort-consuming than I thought it would be. Changing the template refreshs the look of my blog, which I like! Let's get busy with creative activities!

Stop passing the buck

2009-04-24T11:05:00.002+09:00

Despite his disappointing handling of administration, Roh’s doubters gave the former president the benefit of doubt at least because he seemed to be ‘clean,’ and ‘different’ from the generally rotten political system.

But it turns out he is not that 'different' from the former presidents who got mired in a slew of corruption scandals after their terms when it comes to moral and integrity. Not only his relatives, but also his wife and sons are all revealed to have received slash money from a shoe tycoon.

Roh argued he didn’t know anything about the kickbacks delivered to his wife at the presidential blue house.

What shocks me most is the fact that he appears passing the buck onto his wife. It is not convincing at all that his wife received all this bribery behind his back. The businessman must have given billions of wons, expecting some business favors, which come from the president, not the first lady.

He should stop lying about what’s happened and come clean before it is too late.

Former president mired in corruption

2009-04-13T16:34:00.003+09:00

He was heralded as a president who was ‘different’ from others. One thing that was shared not only by his fervent supporters but also by many doubters, was he would show a possibility of new, clean politics, unseen by past governments that were marred by corruptions.

For all the beliefs, what is now being displayed shocks everyone.

Billions of wons, to say the least, were known to have been handed in black money by his long-standing friend Park Yeon-cha, a shoe-making businessman, to Roh’s wife. He argues his wife asked Mr. Park the money without his knowledge to pay back some ‘debts’, but many doubt his argument.

Roh’s entire family, his wife, son, and brother, are mired in alleged corruptions, but he continues saying he knows nothing about the secret bribing activities surrounding his family. How come does he not know? How come does he think people would believe that he didn’t know? Is he saying Park give tens billions of wons to the Roh family without expecting any favors back?

It is not new a former president is mired in bribery scandals after his term. But what makes this scandal more disappointing is that he was elected on platform of breaking away from an old, dirty, and corrupt politics of which Koreans were sick and tired.

He is turing out to be no better than a crooked politician he famously and confidently declared to get rid of from the Korean political scene.

How sad.

internship as a way to tackle unemployment?

2009-03-05T18:17:00.003+09:00

Korea’s conglomerates have yielded to a growing demand from the government to salvage a wave of fresh university graduates with bleak job prospects, when they announced to cut overall wages of executives and entry-level employers thereby creating budget rooms enough to hire a few hundreds of them as an intern.

This certainly serves as good news at a time when all-time-high unemployment numbers are one of the most serious problems facing the country.

I did an intern myself for two months during my graduate school years in newspaper, and it was not as an exciting work as I had previously imagined. I only was levied on unwanted boring works from 9 to 6, without writing opportunities in sight. When my portion of works was done, I was just sitting on my desk, killing time, doing some errand for other reporters.

As time has changed since then when internship was not so much an actual work as an ‘experience’ of corporate atmosphere, it is now regarded as one of the most feasible solutions for youth unemployment. It must be different both for companies and interns as to how to consider the nature of ‘internship.’

It remains to be seen whether companies could find jobs more than just menial and simple assistance to the highly-educated who would otherwise be hired as a regular employee. And interns should be more aggressive and responsible in taking care of the jobs given to them.

2008-04-07T14:35:00.001+09:00

- Inter-Korean businesses rose in the first quarter by 53 per cent from the same period last year while humanitarian aid bound for the North declined by 20.4 per cent for the same period. Commercial transactions involved in the joint industrial complex of Kaesung especially showed a much spike in its volume with 91 per cent increase. An official from the unification ministry cited the uncertainty of the new government’s NK policy as the main reason for the aid decline.

- Japanese newspaper, Nihon Geizai, reported yesterday China adopted a new financial settlement system which allows a North Korean business to open a Chinese bank account to expedite business transactions between the two countries. It is a rare move by the Chinese government especially since it imposed a financial sanction in 2006 when the North defiantly tested its nuclear missiles.

- Nuclear negotiators of the US and North Korea are to have a meeting tomorrow in Singapore hopefully to bring the prolonged nuclear deadlock to an end. It is expected that Pyongyang is likely to deliver its final position on the reporting of its nuclear activities since the US demanded Pyongyang’s position on the declaration as the pre-condition to the meeting.

- Lee Kun-hee, Samsung Group Chairman, admitted he was responsible for the on-going controversies surrounding Samsung, to some extent. Asked whether he acknowledged any wrongdoings after the investigation by the special counsel, he replied “not 100 per cent in some cases.” But he categorically denied any group-wide conspiracy or his direct order in the sale of Everland convertible bonds to his son.

- Rising prices of grains and fertilizer might cause some problems for the government in its northern-bound humanitarian aid. Seoul has been shipping around 0.4 million tons of rice and 0.3 M tons of fertilizer every year to Pyongyang. An official from the unification ministry admitted that shipment could be cut in volume due to budget constraints.

Embarrassed Chung Mong-jun

2008-04-03T16:02:00.002+09:00

Chung Mong-jun, a GNP candidate for the up-coming general election, is embroiled in an embarrassing ‘sexual harassment’ allegation.

During the electioneering yesterday, he was alleged to ‘tap’ twice a female reporter from MBC on the cheek when asked a question from her. She is reported to immediately confront him about the action, saying “you are sexually harassing me now.” And he, looking clearly embarrassed and awkward, exited the scene without saying sorry to her.

Chung’s wife is reported to visit the MBC headquarters later that day to apologize for her husband’s inappropriate action but MBC and the reporter rejected to accept the apology. He explained today in the press release that he mistakenly, not deliberately, touched her face and expressed sorry to her.

It is very worrisome that some of those high figures in Korean society are often found to have no clear standard for what is appropriate and acceptable. Choi Yeon-hee, a three-time representative and running as an independent in the April 9 election, hit the headlines in 2006 when he was reported to ‘grope’ female reporter’s breast in an restaurant. He later explained he mistook her for a waitress, a remark that triggered fierce angry reactions from restaurant owners and waitresses nationwide.

Though it is not clear how this incident will play out for Chung’s election, the last thing voters want is to see those lacking in social manners run this country.

Rising consumer prices worry Seoul

2008-04-03T15:22:00.001+09:00

Consumer prices in March jumped 3.9 per cent from the same period last year, putting more pressure on the government to grapple with the ever-increasing prices. Fuel prices are found to be the biggest contributor to the rise, followed by gas bills.

The so-called ‘MB items,’ comprised of 52 necessities handpicked by the president last week subject to close monitoring, are reported to have seen 5.78 per cent increase in the price from a year ago. The president is said to have ordered his staff to closely watch the prices of those necessities because they are deemed very crucial items for people’s everyday life.

The Ministry of Strategy and Finance warned April 1 that “consumer prices are expected to grow in the mid-three percentage points for the time being.” The ministry is to hold the second Task Force meeting tomorrow to hammer out prices-stabilizing measures.

Hong Rae-hee summoned

2008-04-02T16:57:00.001+09:00

Hong Rae-hee, the queen of the Samsung dynasty, was summoned today by the special probe team to answer whether she was involved in the purchase of expensive paintings with the slush funds.

Her appearance was the second by the Lee family since Lee Jay-yong, the heir-apparent of the Samsung kingdom who is suspected to have bought shares of Samsung Everland at a far below market price in order to take management control, appeared before the investigation team on February 28.

The team has issued an overseas travel ban on her on February 18, and been since considering the right timing for the summon.

A scores of people involved in the case have been called into the prosecutor’s office for questioning, but many suspect that the company is highly likely to get away with its alleged wrongdoings. In fact, the junior Lee was acquitted of the charges that Samsung affiliates lost tens of billions of wons by buying back his shares in several Samsung internet enterprises, where he was the biggest shareholder, at a firesale price.

That the newly-elect president was a chaebol-man himself and vowed to make Korea a more business-friendly, or 'chaebol-friendly' as pointed by some, country is not of any help for people to believe that he is serious about getting chaebols to clean up their acts. His recent around-the-clock hot-line with the business people clearly shows how far he is willing to go to get things easier for the nation’s big companies. He seems to believe that his promise to reengineer the Korean economy can be materialized when chaebols can exert unfettered influence and are not bothered by ‘law and order’ as they have always been.

It remains to be seen whether the counsel can fulfill its ‘special investigation’ purposes to live up to the expectations of most Koreans who believe now is the time to right the decade-old problems related to illegal transfer of management control.

People are no longer to buy the claim that Samsung can’t sustain without the family. After all, the Lee family holds only 4.5 per cent of Samsung Group and the rest is owned by shareholders.

Blogers' opinions on the on-going Samsung investigation

2008-04-02T15:25:00.003+09:00

Public opinions on the on-going investigation into Samsung problems

By zagni http://news.egloos.com/

Now is a boiling point when it comes to the Samsung problems. There is a mountain ahead of us to climb over for our society to grow further. It seems Samsung doesn't have an ability to do so on its own. The public opinion is the strongest power and we should gather it together.

by nammoo http://studioxga.egloos.com/

A Samsung's collapse will certainly have the ripple effects on the economy. But a company has a social responsibility. It is not right that one company moves to the interests of some of the management.

By cuzim http://cuzim.egloos.com/

Samsung can't exist above the law. It should be punished for its wrongdoings and Korea takes this opportunity to establish a clean corporate culture. I hope Samsung remains worthy of its reputation.

by cactus http://realmove.egloos.com/

Samsung group is robbed by a family who has systematic methods for the robbery and has been doing all the dirty things to transfer wealth from grandfather to grandson. Then what should the real owner Samsung do? They should get rid of the criminals. Keeping everything good about Samsung in place but the Lee family.

by eulpaso http://eulpaso.egloos.com/

By far, people have been brainwashed by groundless sayings created by Samsung's power and money and the press that Samsung equals Korea. Before too late, we should be out of this ridiculous illusion.

By Lee Jung-won http://www.jw2blog.com/

One of the biggest problems of Koreans is the belief that a business is owned by a chaebol family. We should remove such perceptions. A company belongs to not a single person or family, but shareholders.

These following opinions are displayed on the internet forum of Chosun.com

By Lee Won-young

The Special investigation into Samsung causes the economic growth rate to be cut by more than 1 per cent. And it will ultimately lead to Samsung affiliates collapses, which will churn out massive number of the unemployed, adding pains for Samsung employees as well as many SMEs.

By Park Myung-joo

It (the investigation) goes too far. They should stop driving this country to a chaos. All companies did their share of wrongdoings. Is there any company that has contributed to our economic revival more than Samsung did since the Asian financial crisis?

By Sohn Jong-rak

Samsung is a global company that represents Korea before we can call it as Lee Kun-hee's company. It is our pride. We should seriously consider how big losses would be, economically and nationally, when this company is hurt. The politically-motivated investigation should be stopped right away.

.....................................

With the result of the research, my conclusion is the majority of people seem to think that the investigation into Samsung is a necessary evil.

Even though it might have some bad effects on the economy, we should resolve this matter this time. It seems like a "now or never" kind of mindset.

Also many people think they have been brainwashed or persuaded to believe that Samsung is owned by the Lee family, not by shareholders, and try to dispel the wrong belief this time around. People seem to increasingly think that Samsung will be OK even without the family because they have a firm belief in the power and technical edge of Samsung.

Pyongyang steps up its war of words

2008-04-01T15:48:00.002+09:00

Pyongyang’s uneasiness with the current Lee government finally raised its ugly head. In the today’s Commentator’s article in Rodong Sinmun, the party’s official mouthpiece, titled “The only thing the South can get by confronting the North is self-destruction,” the regime directly criticized the president Lee for turning sour inter-Korean relations again after a decade of rather thawing-out relations under two engaging governments.

In the article which is believed by many NK experts to be often used by the regime when it wants to express deep frustration or angry over external situations, it put blames the recent developments including casting South Korean officials out of Kaesung, the joint industrial zone, last month, solely on Lee Myung-bak, who took office vowing to have a tough line against its recalcitrant Northern neighbor.

“Lee Myung-bak and his clique try to overturn every accomplishment since the June 15 declaration citing nonsense like ‘regaining the lost decade,’ ‘putting priority on the Korea-US relations,’ ‘and pragmatism,’" goes the article, not failing to mention the name, Lee Myung-bak, as the prime target of its bold criticism.

Since the conservative president took power over a month ago, the North avoided an all-out verbal war with the South, even though it continued showing its usual hard-feelings against the fact that a conservative candidate won the election which indicated Seoul’s future NK policy would be a lot different from the ones of the last decade.

Seoul remained unmoved by NK’s outburst of anger against the president but scurried to call its senior officials together on an emergency meeting to discuss how to respond to it. Lee Dong-kwan, Blue House spokesman, said “we will respond (to it) according to our practical position of thorough principles and flexibility.”

Given that Pyongyang’s decades-long tendency to try to tip the difficult situation to its side by waging a war of words, this can be understood as such, but the fact that Lee was elected on promises to act sternly against Pyongyang’s misbehaviors points that the two Koreas would not find it easy to see eye-to-eye on every issue ranging from inter-Korea businesses to more tricky human rights issue in NK.

NPS set to wield influence on business management

2008-03-13T15:53:00.001+09:00

National Pension Service, the country’s largest institutional investor, is not going to cast a favorable vote for Chung Mong-koo, Hyundai Motor Chairman, and Park Yong-sung, Doosan Infracore Chairman, in its board meetings when the next sets of board members are chosen.

The agency, holding a 4.56 per cent share in Hyundai Motor and 2.92 per cent in Doosan Infracore, cites the two business moguls’ crime records of embezzlement as the main reason for the decision. The regulatory book of the agency stipulates that it can oppose to the appointment of anyone as a board member who damages corporate values or infringes upon shareholder’s rights.

Many believe that its shares are not enough actually to cast the two chairmen off the board but the decision is believed to ring an alarm bell in many Korean chaebols for better management and exert influence onto other shareholders in their decision making.

Samsung heir-apparent cleared of breach of trust

2008-03-13T15:24:00.001+09:00

The Samsung special inquiry counsel yesterday acquitted 28 defendants including Lee Jay-yong, the heir apparent to Samsung Group, of charges of breach of trust, citing lack of evidence.

The defendants, comprised of employees of 9 Samsung affiliates, were accused by a civic group of buying back Lee’s shares for three days from Mar 27 to 29 back in 2001 of four loss-making internet start-ups run by the junior Lee , thereby incurring financial losses to their companies.

The investigation team concludes the share-buying was proceeded with a ‘normal decision making process’ within those companies, which does not seem subject to breach of trust, and the claim that Samsung affiliates were forced to buy the shares in order to financially save Lee Jay-yong is not convincing, given those internet companies have been in the black since 2004.

Samsung Group made a short statement saying it was a relief that any misunderstanding related to this case could be cleared.

BAI launchs a sweeping audit into state agencies and firms

2008-03-11T17:29:00.000+09:00

The Board of Audit and Inspection has started a vigorous audit into 31 major public companies and agencies including KEPCO, Korea Gas Corporation, and Korea Racing Authority, a move that has been widely expected since the inauguration of Lee Myung-bak who stressed the importance of government overhaul.

The state agency allocated 240 personnel on the mission of tracking down on lax management and unnecessary spending, and excessive in-house welfare system in order to enhance work efficiency in the public sector.

A senior official from the agency, criticizing a widespread delinquent management in the state-run sector, said “the BAI has been inspecting public firms since 2004 but lax management of some companies remains unchanged…In order to spur competitiveness, it is necessary to reform, which has been however blocked due to organizational self-interests.”

2008-03-10T15:27:00.000+09:00

- The government is set to gradually reduce corporate taxes by as much as 5 per cent by 2013 to enhance business investment, a measure that Seoul expects sees a W8.6 trillion worth of tax cut.

- The Ministry of Strategy and Finance says it expects this year’s economic growth to be around 6 per cent and to create 350,000 new jobs, the projection that is downsized from the previous goal of an annual growth rate of 7 per cent and 600,000 new jobs. But it admits the goal is not easily achievable, by saying it ‘tries to accomplish the goal,’ not definitely saying that it will.

- A group of 15 chicken-meat producers have recently filed an appeal at the Fair Trade Commission to ask the agency to allow price-fixing amid slowing business environments. There is an exception to the law that lets companies temporarily collude to fix prices, but in the last ten years there has been no such case that is permitted by the state agency.

- Kim Sung-ho, NIS appointee, is reported to have established a foundation called ‘Happy World’ and collected a 1.5 bn worth of donation from 20 businesses right after he retired from Justice minister in last December. The donation came while rumors swirled that he would be appointed as new NIS head.

- This year’s government policy on the property market is to stabilize the market and assure a sound supply of housing, which does not see a dramatic change from the goals of the previous government. It is also hard to expect any deregulation for the time being for the sake of market stability.

- A total of household debts surpassed W630 trillion last year, which translates into a debt of W38.42 m per household, says a report released by Bank of Korea. Households’ bank loans decreased a lot to W17.4 trillion last year from W40.7 trillion in 2006 due to loan restraints, but credit cards debt jumped by W3.7 trillion from a year earlier.

Business leaders' hotline with president

2008-03-05T14:16:00.000+09:00

President Lee, elected on the promise to reinvigorate the economy by boosting a business-friendly environment to encourage investment, is said to soon establish a hot-line with which he can communicate with business leaders at any time of the day.

An official of the presidential house told “we will soon set up a mobile phone for the president to directly talk to business people whenever it is and wherever he is.” They decided to go with a mobile phone, not a fixed line in the presidential office, because of president’s order that he should be able to get a call even at home.

This latest move was one of his campaign pledges during the electioneering.

Firms negative on economy

2008-03-04T14:51:00.000+09:00

Korea Employers Federation revealed in its survey that about half of 418 domestic companies paint a bleaker picture for this year’s economic conditions than when they drew up the 2008 management plan later last year, mainly due to economically negative factors such as rising raw materials and oil prices and worries on world economic recession. 29.6 per cent of companies surveyed say they plan to scale down this year’s employment while only 16.7 per cent will expand the plan. Meanwhile 52.6 per cent consider pump-priming measures to be necessary for reviving the economy.

New cabinet make-up reveals more pragmatism

2008-03-03T15:51:00.001+09:00

The LMB cabinet is comprised of mainly former bureaucrats (57 per cent), followed by scholars with 18 per cent. The so-called ’386-generation’ who made up an important part of the early Roh government is conspicuously absent in this new one, with only one cabinet member being considered one, the fact that demonstrates the new government will pursue more ‘pragmatism,’ rather than ‘idealism.’ ‘The 386-generation was in the vanguard of student movements for democracy in previous military governments in the 1970 and 1980s.

FTC established international cartel team

2008-03-03T15:50:00.000+09:00

The Fair Trade Commission established an ‘international cartel team’ aimed at heightening global cooperation to combat with international cartel of price and supplying collusion. An official from the cartel watchdog said “an international cartel case has been further down in the priority list compared to a domestic one due to lack of personnel, and it usually takes years to conduct and study one case, but now that the exclusive team is formed, we expect market supervision and analysis will be much strengthened, and consequently we can spot more illegal cases.”

FSS to make early announcemnet for accounting changes

2008-03-03T15:49:00.000+09:00

The Financial Supervisory Service will make early public announcement for impending changes to the accounting standards in drawing up a balance sheet. It said “all listed companies should adopt the international standard in their balance sheet from 2011… so we are considering earlier public announcement of revised accounting standards to prevent any confusion or damage arising possibly from the changes.”

Samsung formed up a countermeasure team

2008-03-03T15:48:00.000+09:00

Samsung Group is said to have formed up a special task force for damage control, if any, from the decision by Sony to construct the 10th generation LCD factory, not with Samsung but with Sharp. The special team is expected to thoroughly study possible ripple effects of the ‘break-up’ with Sony, a future business partner replacing it, and relations normalization with its former Japanese partner.

2008-03-03T15:47:00.000+09:00

- The government decided in today’s cabinet meeting presided over by President Lee that it scrapes the existing investment cap on chaebol within the first half of this year and reduces oil tax by 10 per cent by this May.

- The court dealing with the KEB case said it would wrap up the case within this year. The judge said “it was the case of 2006 and is a very topical one, so we plan to wrap this case up within this year by finishing questioning witnesses by this fall.”

2008-02-28T14:25:00.000+09:00

- Current account deficit in January hit a record high in 11 years with $2.6 bn, according to the data released by Bank of Korea today. An official of the bank warned “if oil prices continue to rise and service account deficit deepens, the current account deficit might grow further.”

- Foreign investors are found to have taken their investment worth $10.68 bn out of the Korean stock market in January, the biggest volume in history, according to the Bank of Korea.

- Kim Sung-ho, former justice minister, is expected to be announced as the NIS head as early as today. President Lee has put this appointment on hold due to consideration for ‘balanced regionalism.’ With this choice, the heads of NIS, Prosecution, Police, and tax agencies are all from the Kyungsang-do region.

- Seoul Police Station raided Hanro Telecom in an allegation that the company leaked customers’ personal information

- National Tax Service held a meeting with 108 tax officials from foreign firms in which it explained them the revised corporate tax laws. From now on, any foreign firms who failed to report corporate taxes or underreport them are subject to the payment of a 40 per cent charge in fine.

- Former Daewoo Chairman Kim Woo-joong is reported to have been offered by Pyongyang to lead a special economic zone of Nampo last October, but politely refused the offer.

2008-02-27T14:19:00.001+09:00

- Financial Supervisory Commission says it will cooperate in the investigation into the Samsung slush funds case if necessary. The special prosecutor team sent an official request for the financial watchdog’s help on the matter, saying it was suspected some bank accounts were opened in Samsung Securities under the false names for amassing secret money.

- Kang Man-soo, finance minister appointee, backed down from the six-percent-economic-growth-rate for this year, conceding the government would “do its best to achieve a 6 per cent growth rate, rather than sticking to the position.” The remark came after a few downward readjustments from an ambitious 7 per cent growth rate. He attributed the downward adjustment mainly to the difficult world economic conditions. But he maintained the government would not pursue artificial pump-priming measures.

- LG Electronics is to exchange free of charge its problematic battery for the Z-series notebook which has recently invoked two incidents. “We are investigating into the reason for the incident,’ the company said.

- All sixteen ‘English Towns’ nationwide, run by either the local governments or the education ministry, are reported in the red, despite more than 1 M visitors by the end of last year. Kyungki-do has recently decided to hand the English towns in Yangpyong and Ansan to a private hand due to snowballing budget deficits. However eleven more such towns nationwide are due to open by next year.

2008-02-25T16:10:00.003+09:00

- Samsung Group is to appeal against the ruling that the group has to pay back W2.3 trillion to the creditors of Samsung car unit. Meanwhile, fourteen Samsung car creditors are about to also appeal against the court ruling to call on Samsung Group to pay back immediately in cash. The court ruled the group to sell the shares of Samsung Life Insurance owned by the creditors and returned the money.

- The Finance Ministry will comp up with measures for rising prices after watching the February price index which will be out early March.

- Korea’s two biggest portal sites, Daum and Naver, in hands with the cultural ministry, are to open a conference for bloggers on March 16 in order to enhance offline networks between bloggers and help them share various skills and know-how in running a blog. About 2,400 bloggers are expected to participate in the event.

- ‘Made in Korea’ products have been losing its share in the US market for a third consecutive year to 2.43 per cent in 2007, from 2.47 per cent in 2006 and 2.62 per cent in 2005, according to a report by the Korea International Trade Association. Electronic device has seen the biggest drop in the US market with 3.98 percentage points, followed by clothes with 3.78 points for the last three years.

- Korea’s 17th president Lee Myung Bak is going to receive W163 m in a yearly salary, half of what US president Bush gets for his job of W446m and three times what Russian president Putin gets of W73 m.

- Japanese newspapers reported that Sony is set to change its LCD supply channel from Samsung to Sharp, a decision that is likely to strike a blow to an already domestically-troubled Samsung. Samsung and Sony have co- established a joint venture ‘S-LCD’ in 2003 and maintained a close business relations since then. Experts believe the move signals a step by Sony to ditch the five-year-long joint venture.

2008-02-25T16:10:00.000+09:00

- Samsung Group is to appeal against the ruling that the group has to pay back W2.3 trillion to the creditors of Samsung car unit. Meanwhile, fourteen Samsung car creditors are about to also appeal against the court ruling to call on Samsung Group to pay back immediately in cash. The court ruled the group to sell the shares of Samsung Life Insurance owned by the creditors and returned the money.

- The Finance Ministry will comp up with measures for rising prices after watching the February price index which will be out early March.

- Korea’s two biggest portal sites, Daum and Naver, in hands with the cultural ministry, are to open a conference for bloggers on March 16 in order to enhance offline networks between bloggers and help them share various skills and know-how in running a blog. About 2,400 bloggers are expected to participate in the event.

- ‘Made in Korea’ products have been losing its share in the US market for a third consecutive year to 2.43 per cent in 2007, from 2.47 per cent in 2006 and 2.62 per cent in 2005, according to a report by the Korea International Trade Association. Electronic device has seen the biggest drop in the US market with 3.98 point per cent, followed by clothes with 3.78 point for the last three years.

- Korea’s 17th president Lee Myung Bak is going to receive W163 m in a yearly salary, half of what US president Bush gets for his job of W446m and three times what Russian president Putin gets of W73 m.

2008-02-21T14:15:00.001+09:00

- Fair Trade Commission fined W11.5 bn on Samsung Electronics for its unfair business practices with part suppliers and ordered the company to correct the practices. The company is said to have urged its suppliers to reduce prices for parts and unfairly interfered with management of some companies.

- Shim Sang-jeong and Roh Hui-chan, who offered to break away from the troubled Labor Democratic Party, plan to establish a new ‘progressive party’ on March 16.

- The Ministry of Government Administration Home Affairs said the fire broke this morning didn’t destroy any important government document.

- Joo Ho-young said of the special investigation team’s result that it was a relief that all allegations were cleared once again to allow the new government to start afresh. Lee Dong-kwan, the spokesman of the transition team, said “truth will prevail in the end(사필귀정).”

- The Ministry of Construction and Transportation revealed a revised aviation law which takes effect in May. Under the law, a foreign airline should fly more than 20,000 domestic flights for two years without any accident to get permission for international flight, just like domestic airlines. But 49 foreign airlines, already flying to Korea, are not subject to the new rule.

- The Construction Ministry drew up a revised construction law under which a ‘PC Room’ is permitted to operate when it is adjacent to a road of more than 12 M in width. Online game companies and PC Rooms nationwide lambasted the new law for ignoring a reality, saying 20,000 or more than 80 per cent of PC rooms would be closed down by the rule.

- Kim Jung-il is said not to stay through the concert by NY Phil Harmonic orchestra but appear during recess between the performances, said North Korean sources in Beijing. If he doesn’t show during the recess, he is expected to visit a dinner in Yanggakdo Hotel.

- The compromised government slim-down plan will reduce the number of public servant by 3,700, not 6,900 according to the original plan.

2008-02-20T14:37:00.000+09:00

- United Democratic Party and Grand National Party made concessions today to agree keeping Ministry of Gender Equality and Family intact and scrapping Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries.

- Christopher Hill was awarded this morning the Distinguished Order of Diplomatic Service from the government for his efforts in solving North Korea’s nuclear problems and contribution to better relations between Seoul and Washington.

- Consumers stocked up heavily with instant noodles on the news that some snack companies raise noodle prices as much as W100. Big marts like EMart and Home Plus have seen their noodles sold out. An official at Lotte Mart says Shinramyeon(신라면) would be out of stock in ten days.

- PM nominee Han Seung-soo said, attending his confirmation hearing this morning, he would do his best in ‘resource diplomacy’ if officially appointed. “Securing resources is not the matter of today or tomorrow but the problem that we have to solve in consideration of the future of our economy.

- Twenty-five per cent of 350 Korean companies working in China are found to have seriously considered withdrawing from the country and 3.1 per cent is currently preparing for leaving China, according to a research by Korea Chamber of Commerce. 85.8 per cent think business environment in China will deteriorate, compared to only 3.9 per cent which paints a rosy picture. Labor management is the biggest challenge facing Korean companies doing business in China with 43.1 per cent, followed by constant changes in laws and regulations (21.4 per cent), and difficulty in adapting to the local market (13.3 per cent.)

- Special inquiry team is investigating into the claim by a former SDS employee that Samsung SDS has amassed tens of billions of won in secret money in the name of ‘managing computer system’ for the last five years.

2008-02-19T14:32:00.001+09:00

- The incoming government released the list of government cabinet nominees last night. LMB made last-minute change and named Kim Doh-yeon, not Euh Yoon-dae, as education minister. Other nominees are all the same as the list released to the public before.

- The number of unsold apartment nationwide reached a record high with over 120,783. The number is the highest in the Kyunggi province with 20,170, followed by Daegu with 17,295, and Pusan with 12,170.

- The economic team of the incoming government consists of officials who think of economic growth first, among other things. The LMB government puts priority on growth by reinvigorating investment through deregulation and tax cut.

- North Korea’s weekly magazine Tongil Shinbo lambasted, for the first time since LMB was elected, the remarks made by the president-elect when he said in his new year press briefing that the new government would implement the agreements between the two Koreas after considering feasibility, budget conditions, and public sentiment. The North seems to believe LMB intends to review the October 4 agreement.

- National Human Rights Commission includes improving North Korean human rights conditions in its list of six main projects this year in its firs move to be more aggressive in tackling human rights abuse in the North. The commission has been under fire for its lack of attention on the issue since its inception.

- National Tax Service ordered Hana Bank to pay tax of more than W1 trillion for breaking law when Hana bank took over Seoul Bank in 1998. The agency found out the problem in its regular audit last year that Hana Bank forged a document in order to evade paying tax.

- Special investigation team said they are thoroughly reviewing the tax history of Lee kun-hee family received from NTS.

2008-02-18T14:33:00.000+09:00

- Special prosecutors’ investigation on LMB is in the final phase and the result announcement draft is being drawn up, which will be made public on 22 or 23. Having visited LMB for investigation for three hours on Sunday, the team is said to clear him of any wrongdoing related to various suspicions surrounding the BBK scandal.

- Samsung investigation team hinted at summoning an ‘important figure’ this week from the company. Speculation swirls that Lee Kun-hee might be called into the prosecutor’s office.

- Public feeling toward business turned sourer compared to previous years. A poll on 2,035 adults conducted by Korea Chamber of Commerce and Hyundai Research Institute shows friendly feelings toward business in 2007 slid to 46.6 from slightly over 50 in 2006 and 48.5 in 2004. ‘Unethical management’ is the biggest reason for unfavorable feelings toward business.

- North Korea will lift a public ban on mobile phone use in Pyongyang in April, Tokyo Newspaper quoted a North Korean official in Beijing as saying. The North regime has imposed the ban since April in 2004 after an explosion in Yongcheon. It is reported the North soon expand the lift to other cities.

- The incoming government will strengthen information gathering missions of National Intelligence Service by putting more personnel and bigger budget in the mission, in order to better understand North Korea’s internal situation. It will also put more focus on nailing North Korean spies, which has been very sluggish during the two ‘pro-North’ governments.

- Nongshim, Korea’s one of the biggest snack companies, raises snack prices by 11.3 per cent, or an average W100, due to surging international wheat flour and palm oil prices.

2008-02-14T16:53:00.001+09:00

- Seoul’s rice aid to the North is reported to have been used in the NK army, according to a government source. The source said rice shipment from Korea was spotted being unloaded from a truck in the North Korean army bases near DMZ area by Korean soldiers near the border. Many North Korean defectors testified to the fact before but it was the first time to be witnessed and confirmed by Seoul.

- Former dean of Korea University Uh Yoon-dae is likely to be appointed as Minister of Education and Science, actor Yoo In-chon as Minister of Culture, former finance vice-minister Kang Man-soo as Minister of Planning and Budget, and Ambassador to Japan Yoo Myung-hwan as Foreign Minister.

- Food shipment the government sent to the North since 1995 amounts to 2.55 M tons of rice and 0.2 M tons of corn, which translates into more than W1 trillion. The vast part of the shipment was done during the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun governments. But how the shipment is distributed is practically out of Korean government’s control. The government is supposed to monitor the distribution but the monitoring is too restricted to properly check the distribution system. One NK defector testified last year more than 90 per cent of rice shipments went directly to army bases.

- The special investigation team today raided Samsung Electronics headquarters in Suwon.

- Last month’s Producer Price Index jumped 5.9 per cent compared to a year ago due to rising oil and fodder prices, which rose 28 per cent and 29 per cent, respectively, compared to last December. The overall PPI hit a three-year high since November 2004 of 6.8 per cent.

- LMB is said to like to communicate with other people on the phone, rather than talking face-to-face whenever the situation is awkward or difficult to solve because he thinks phone-conversation is more practical and convenient. His most frequent saying during the day is “please put me through to…” and he talks on the phone about 70 times a day.

2008-02-13T15:13:00.000+09:00

- Samsung Electronics’ 15,000 part suppliers are struggling with business uncertainty as the company practically suspended investment plans and deferred infrastructure expansion amid the on-going prosecutors’ investigation.

- The special investigation team is said to request a search warrant for the National Tax Agency to secure documents related to the slush funds. The team previously asked the agency information on 1,000 Samsung executives’ wealth and stock exchange activities but the agency rejected.

- Korea University might return the government the permission for establishing a law school because the number of enrollment is too small to properly run the law school.

- Kyunju city is planning to build Sea World, a luxurious resort with an underwater hotel modeled after Hydropolis of Dubai. If things are going according to the schedule, the construction is expected to be completed by 2015.

- Korea-US FTA bills are finally brought up for discussion before the standing committee in charge of the agreement.

- Korea Chamber of Commerce data shows 71.5 per cent of 520 manufacturing companies have investment plans for this year and the scale of planned investment increased by 14.6 per cent from last year. Investment growth will be biggest among ship manufacturing companies with 29.5 per cent, followed by machine producing companies with 19.5 per cent and textile manufacturers with 17.1 per cent. The biggest hurdle for bigger investment is raising raw material prices (49.4 per cent), followed by a rising won (16.5 per cent) and sluggish economy of the developed countries (11.0 per cent).

- Solidarity for Economic Reform, a civic group, today charged 33 former and sitting Samsung executives who received investigation from the prosecutors as witnesses with obstruction of justice, violation of law, and concealment of offenders.

The arson suspect nailed

2008-02-12T15:56:00.000+09:00

The president-elect suggests getting donations from the public for restoring the burnt-down national treasure. “I have thought that it would be more meaningful to restore it with donations from people rather than the government budget because it might give more comfort to people,” he said, visiting the office of transition team.

The suspect of the arson attack is found to be discontented with what he thought the lack of compensation for land he used to live in Ilsan which was demolished and reconstructed. In April, 2006, he set Munjungjeon of Changkyunggung ablaze and was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months with the stay of execution for two years. He is reported to have considered terror attacks on public transportations but gave up because of possible, huge casualties.

Meanwhile, Yoo Hong-jun, the head of Cultural Heritage Administration, offered to resign today over the fire on the historic relic.

Namdaemun burned down

2008-02-11T14:22:00.000+09:00

The National Tresure No. 1 Soongraymoon (Namdaemun) totally burned down yesterday in what is believed to be an incendiary fire by an unidentified middle-aged man who disappeared after the fire.

Namdaemun was more than 600-year-old and the oldest wooden building in Seoul. Cultural Heritage Administration said the restoration process will take as long as three years and cost W20bn.

People were dumbstruck by the fact that the 600-year-old historic building was totally ruined overnight and there were no protective measures in place. The bulletin board of the Cultural Heritage Administration was filled with angry voices, lambasting the agency not to do their job properly to protect the most proud and precious national treasure. The site is currently down due to flux of users.

Rich NKoreans bribe univerity

2008-01-30T14:51:00.000+09:00

‘Good Friends,’ a South Korean agency to help out NK people, said on Jan 28 that there is a flurry of cases reported that the regime's most prestigious university can be bribed to enter. According to the report, Kim Il-Sung University is often accepting students, not based on academic excellence, but on the amount of money parents are willing to pay.

In its regular news letter, the agency introduced the case of a high-ranking NK official who spent more than $1,000 to send his kid to the school. He was quoted as saying “all rich people or people high up there have their children accepted to school this way.” It is also reported that university life proves to be easier for this well-off kids, who easily buy off professors or school officers to obtain better grades.

First acknowledgement of secret bank account

2008-01-30T14:35:00.000+09:00

A former Samsung executive, who worked for Samsung Electro-Mechanics, conceded, for the first time, that one of his accounts was related to the company slush funds. During the investigation, he said “the account is the one that I don't know about and the money in it is not mine.” All other summoned Samsung executives, however, have strongly denied the existence of alleged slush-funds-related bank accounts by saying the account was opened up by themselves.

A tall order

2008-01-30T13:44:00.000+09:00

English teachers is expected to be in high demand as the transition team unveiled its ambitious plan called 'Public English Education Completion Project Roadmap ,’ with an ultimate purpose of turning Korea into ‘the best English-speaking country in Asia’ by 2010.

According to the plan, English classes will be taught only in English by 2010, and the number of newly hired teachers will amount to 23,000, an grand plan that is estimated to cost the government W1.7 trillion.

In an effort to reduce private education spending, a state-run English proficiency test will be produced by next year to replace TOEIC or TOFLE from 2013 as a standard measure for student’s English levels.

Just before opening a public hearing attended by education experts, teachers, and parents , committee head Lee Kyung-sook said “the plan is aimed at enabling high school graduates to communicate in English without private education, and capitualte Korea into the best English-speaking Asian country in ten years' time.” “I am well aware of a reality where people spend more than W1 m for sending their kids to English kindergarten…we can greatly reduce private tutoring spending by starting ‘live English education’ which makes students speak English on a daily basis from elementary schools," said the head.

But how to supply sufficient numbers of capable English teachers in such a short period of time remains a big stumbling blcok in the road to the "best Enlgish speaking country in Asia." And many people remain skeptical that the plan can achieve its intended goals, not least becuase various solutions have failed to educate students even to barely communicate in that language, let alone being fluent. In reality, even English teachers who spent their whole life in teaching it are often found to be in lack of a decent level of communication ability.

Incoming government’s plan will be completed and publicly announced by next week.

NK opened an online shopping site

2008-01-28T14:25:00.000+09:00

South Korea's Chosun Ilbo reported on Jan 28 that North Korea opened an internet shopping site which sells about 100 kinds of products including agricultural products, machines, building materials, stamps, movie, medicine, and computer software. On the site is the announcement that the payment can be done by credit card.

The North has recently finished establishing the online site in hands with a Chinese company, which lends an internet server to the communist regime, reports the paper. The site is not accessible from Korea due to National Security Laws under which ordinary citizens are not allowed to visit any North Korean sites.

Samsung destroyed evidence of slush funds

2008-01-28T14:13:00.000+09:00

The special investigation team said they have found out systematic efforts by the company to destroy evidence related to slush funds when they raided Samsung Fire and Marine Insurance Co. on Jan 25. In the shredder were full of bits of destroyed documents and on 22nd floor were there traces of hasty attempts of removing secret safe.

Global Internet firms struggling in Korea

2008-01-28T12:21:00.000+09:00

A flurry of global IT companies is making ambitious inroads into Korea, with recently Second Life and YouTube launching services here. It remains, however, to be seen whether their success can be repeated here.

Google, the world-biggest search site, has been struggling with less than 4 per cent of domestic search market share and trailing far behind in Korea. Second Life is already embroiled in a controversy that a possible cyber-sex using a ‘pose ball’ might cause serious problems with young users. For YouTube, copyright infringement and close monitoring of obscene video clips are the big challenges for it to take off here.

Han Seung-soo designated as PM

2008-01-28T11:59:00.000+09:00

Han Seung-s00, UN special envoy on climate change and a long-time politcian and diplomat, was appointed as Prime Minister for the incoming LMB government.

He said “I appreciate the appointment, and I will do my best to create a ‘global Korea.’ I hope people’s encouragement and support for the mission.”

Lone Star chairman left Korea

2008-01-24T15:13:00.000+09:00

John Grayken, the chairman of Lone Star, left Seoul this morning after going through 10-day investigation by prosecutors.

“I totally cooperated with the prosecutors’ investigation and will continue to do so if necessary" he said just before leaving at the airport. “I hope my explanation was helpful in this investigation and wish it is now proven that Lone Star worked as an investor with good faith in Korea,” he said.

Meanwhile the prosecution decided not to indict the chairman regarding the alleged misdeeds of the company.

NTS set to improve taxation for foreingers

2008-01-24T14:58:00.000+09:00

National Tax Service is to improve taxation service for foreign companies. The head of NTS said today “in an environment where the country should have fierce competition with the world to entice foreign investment, taxation should not work as a stumbling block.”

The national agency will clarify any ambiguity in the tax law, improve service, and minimize taxation interruption for foreign companies which are paying taxes sincerely. It will, however, firmly deal with any attempt to avoid paying taxes using Aggressive Tax Planning, in consistent with international standard.

Ombudsmen will be empowered

2008-01-24T14:44:00.000+09:00

Yoon Jin-sik, the head of a task force handling attracting foreign investment of the presidential transition team, said the new government will revise the current ‘Ombudsmen’ system which was set up in 1999 aimed at help out foreign investors working in Korea, to empower it with more legal authority.

There are seven ombudsmen currently working to resolve various problems facing foreign investors, and the number is likely to increase so that one ombudsman can handle about 100 companies, not 400 ones they are currently dealing with.

Experts against the plan to abolish the unification ministry

2008-01-24T14:22:00.000+09:00

One hundred and forty experts on North Korea issued a statement on Jan. 24 against the incoming government’s plan to close down the unification ministry, saying “the plan do not give consideration to the characteristics and consistency of inter-Korean relations, and thus it should be withdrawn.” “To view inter-Korean relations only in light of national interests and diplomacy could cause a serious problem,” read the statement.

Incoming government set to ease financial regulations

2008-01-24T14:16:00.000+09:00

The transition team is set to ease regulations regarding the setting-up of PEF(Private Equity Fund), bring forward the introduction of hedge fund to as early as this year, and make it easier for foreign banks to open a branch in Korea. Under the current law, a foreign bank should be capitalized at more than W100bn to establish a branch in Korea, which excludes capitals from the headquarters.

Hooray! Female-only subway

2008-01-23T14:56:00.000+09:00

‘Female-only compartments’ in subways will available all day in subway lines 6 and 7 from Jan 30 as a pilot project, says Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corporation. Oh Se-hoon, Seoul mayor, said earlier this year, “female-only compartments will be provided so that working women can use public transportation in a safe and comfortable way.
.........................................................

”What a brilliant idea! Seoul governemnt has launched a pilot project of 'female-only-compartment' in subways. As an active public transportaiton user myself, I often feel very uncomfortable whenever using densely-packed subways in the mornings and evenings.

It is not rare at all to witness a fight between a young woman and a man, often old, because a woman becomes easily irritated with the unavoidable phisical contact with an unknown man, and often suspects the guy to stand too close to her with some sleazy purposes.

Hope the plan to be introduced in subway line 1 and 2, the busiest lines, and my most frequently used lines~

Pension fund to be input earlier into the stock market

2008-01-23T14:12:00.000+09:00

Financial authorities are determined to act aggressively against a volatile stock market, by pouring state pension funds, earlier than planned, into the market in order to stave off free-falling stock prices and sooth jittery investors.

W9 trillion has been earmarked by the government as investment money for this year, but the government plans to increase the volume and advance the timing of investment.

Despite mounting pessimism about the economy, financial officials say the Korean economy is in ‘not that serious condition,’ expecting a steady economic growth and employment expansion this year.

Philips likely exits the LCD business

2008-01-23T13:54:00.000+09:00

Japanese Nikkei newspaper quoted on Jan.23 Philips CEO as saying that the Dutch company is likely to sell off most of its shares of LG Philips LCD within this year, thus withdrawing from the LCD business. The company is holing 19.9 per cent of shares in the joint venture. The details of the sell-off have not been determined yet, says the paper.

Everland Warehouses, Secret Place to Hide Expensive Art

2008-01-22T11:49:00.000+09:00

State prosecutors yesterday raided the warehouses of Samsung Everland, an amusement park located in Yongin, southwest of Seoul, on suspicion that expensive paintings are stored there, to confirm that there are indeed tens of thousands of local and foreign art works.

The investigators say the warehouses are equipped with state-of-the-art facilities to maintain the optimal temperature and environment for the stored pieces of arts, and will work on finding out whether those arts have been purchased with the slush funds.

Belated Apology

2008-01-22T11:19:00.000+09:00

Samsung Heavy Industries belatedly issued a public apology on today's major newspapers. The worst-ever oil spill took place more than a month ago, but the company has been totally silent about the catastrophe, which caused two fishery farmers and one fish restaurant owner in the affect areas to kill themselves.

It should have expressed earlier its sincere apology for causing so much environmental damages and ruining the livelihood of farmers. It seems too late to turn back people's disappointment and appease grave anger it triggered in society.

New Governmnet Reveals Reform Plan

2008-01-16T14:58:00.000+09:00

The government is to be scaled down from the current 18 ministries to 13 according to the government’s structural reform plan revealed on Jan. 16. Unification, information, Science, Maritime, and gender equality ministries will be all abolished and the post of vice prime minister will be scrapped as well. With the major government reforms, more than 6,900 civil servants will be shed as a result.

Probe into President-elect Starts

2008-01-16T12:57:00.000+09:00

The special inquiry team has started its probe on Jan. 16 into four major allegations surrounding the president-elect including BBK’s stock prices manipulation. The team is the biggest in size among eight independent prosecutor’s teams in history, with 15 prosecutors, 40 investigators, and 50 officials. It is given as long as 40 days of inquiry that expires just two days before the inauguration day of February 25.

NIS Head Resigns over Leakage

2008-01-15T15:41:00.000+09:00

Kim Man-bok, the head of National Intelligence Service, resigns over the leaks of the conversation between him and North Korean official Kim Yang-kun on December 18 last year.

The conversation took place in North Korea a day before the presidential election day and the leakage was done by the agency with the approval of the head to a senior member of a local press in order to explain, off-the-record, the reasons for the head to have gone to the North.

Samsung Headquarters Raided

2008-01-15T13:25:00.000+09:00

The special investigation team raided Samsung headquarters this morning to seize further evidence for the slush funds. The whistleblower Kim Yong-chul had testified that there is a secret safe on the 27 floor of the headquarters, in which, he said, bunch of cashes and gift certificates accumulates and have frequently taken in and out for bribery purposes.

Hyundai Motor Makes Inroads into Securities Industry

2008-01-14T13:54:00.000+09:00

Hyundai Motor said Jan. 14th that it struck a MOU with Shinheung Securities for the buyout of 29.76 per cent, or 3,455,089 shares on 11th . The company had previously revealed its ambition to take over a securities firm to make synergy effects with card, capital, and savings companies it owned, and to grow the financial company into an investment bank.

Government Offers houses to Newly-weds

2008-01-14T11:44:00.001+09:00

The Construction Ministry is going to provide houses in the second half of this year to the newly-weds within three-year of marriage and the couples who are soon to be married. The ministry said it is reviewing the existing housing laws to revise them for the plan.

Prosecutors Raided Lee Kun-hee's Office

2008-01-14T11:29:00.000+09:00

Fifty prosecutors raided this morning on Lee Kun-hee’s office in Itaewon, and senior Samsung officials houses including Lee Hak-soo and Kim In-joo in order to secure more concrete evidence for the allegation of Samsung’s amassing slush funds under the names of senior employees and to verify witnesses’ testimony that the chairman himself directly ordered to accumulate the secret funds.

President-elect Thinks More Practical NK Policy

2008-01-14T11:09:00.000+09:00

It became known on Jan 13th that Lee Myung-bak had asked Christopher Hill that the US tried harder to dissipate North Korea’s concern over a regime-change through more active dialogue, during his meeting with the US nuclear negotiator on Jan 10th.

Seperately when he met with US Ambassador Alexander Vershbow recently, he is said to have told him “I am aware of my North Korean policy not being enough to encourage the North to openness,” and “to drive the North to openness, the North should not be worried over sustaining its regime, and the key is in the US hand.

An official close to the president-elect said “Lee seems to think that the current government’s prime North Korean policies such as seeking a declaration of an end to the Korean war or holding a summit meeting between the four major powers are not practical, thus do not mean much.... he will bring up more practical measures after his first summit meeting with President Bush in March or April.”

Special Investigation into BBK Scandal Set To Continue

2008-01-10T14:36:00.001+09:00

The Constitutional Court ruled against the appeal filed by LMB’s six aides that the special investigation into the president-elect is unconstitutional, and cleared the way for independent prosecutors to continue their probe into the so-called ‘BBK scandal.’

The court, however, determined it is against the constitution that a witness can be summoned without warrant in this specific case, thus ensuring Lee Myung-bak can be only called into the prosecutor’s office for investigation only after the warrant is issued. But the investigation has its own limit since law stipulates president is not subject to criminal investigation.

Big Firms Increase Investment This Year

2008-01-10T13:56:00.000+09:00

The Federation of Korean Industries revealed that the investment this year by 30 major Korean firms is expected to increase 19.1 per cent to W89.9 trillion from last year’s W75 trillion, which is in response to president-elect Lee Myung-bak’s determination to create a more business-friendly environment particularly by cutting unnecessary red-tape.

POSCO will double this year’s investment to W8 trillion from W4 trillion of last year and Hyundai and Kia Motors have promised to invest a total of W11 trillion, up from W7 trillion from a year ago. Hynix is the only company within the 30 biggest firms by market capitalization to reduce investment. The company slashes investment to W4 trillion from W4.4 trillion.

Independent Investigation Team Starts Probing Samsung Slush Funds

2008-01-10T11:31:00.000+09:00

A special investigation team investigating into Samsung’s slush fund scandal has been up and running from Jan. 10. It will mainly look into three major controversial issues of amassing illegal slush funds, illegal transfer of management control to Lee Jay-yong, the heir-apparent of the Chaebol, and extensive lobbying to political, legal, and government sectors, with as long as 105 days before it wraps up the probe.

Lone Star Chairman Arrived in Korea for Court Trial

2008-01-10T11:13:00.000+09:00

John Grayken, Lone Star chairman, arrived in Korea on Jan.9 to attend a court hearing on Jan 11 as a witness for the alleged stock price manipulation of KEB card. He will face intensive investigation by prosecutors after appearing in the court.

Asked whether the chairman can depart from Korea whenever he wants, prosecutor Kim Kang-wook said “he should abide by the Korean law,” hinting it is highly likely that he might be grounded until the investigation ends.

It seems the hope that his appearance could speed up the stalled sell-out of KEB to HSBC by April 30 when the contact expires encouraged the chairman to visit Korea.

But it remains to be seen whether his appearance in the court can expedite the investigation to finally bring an end to the dragged-on sale process or further aggravate the already painful procedure.

2008-01-09T12:13:00.000+09:00

- The transition team will be considering adopting defensive measures against hostile takeover attempts, such as a ‘golden share’ when a public firm is privatized. However it will not introduce the rule to a private firm, in line with the global standard and considering a possible negative impact of the rule to the stock market.

- The new government is to establish an economic team within Cheong Wa Dae, with the mission of ‘control tower’ to manage and control overall economic policies

- The Fair Trade Commission is set to change its company investigation practices, often criticized as being ‘hard-handed,’ as the presidential transition team asked it to be more company-friendly. An official from the agency said “we have been conducting investigation according to law and relevant regulations but we are going to look into where there needs to be some revision on the existing practices as our investigation often makes firms ‘cowered.’”

- The Labor Ministry revised laws to enable firms to hire irregular workers from the current 2 years to three years to overcome prevalent practices by companies of firing non-regular workers after two-year contract expires.

- Korea Chamber of Commerce has submitted a recommendation to the new government, which asked to adopt more business-friendly measures such as aggressive corporate tax cut, abolishing the wall between banking and business sectors, and adopting defensive measures against hostile M&A attempts.

- The Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea is said to have been conducting probe into the management of inter-Korean cooperation funds since the end of last year. Seven or eight companies involved in the inter-Korean business have been confirmed to misuse the government fund.

Korea's Business Heavyweight Remains Low-profile

2008-01-07T15:50:00.000+09:00

For a while it would be difficult to publicly see one of Korea's most powerful men. Samsung's chairman Lee Kun-hee refrains from appearing in public as his company is embroiled in a number of huge scandals which are under the state prosecutor's probe.

Except the meeting hosted by presdient-elect Lee Myung-bak a several days ago, the chairman remains as low profile as possible.

Lee Kun-hee is said not to attend the in-house ‘Proud Samsung Men’ award ceremony, due to be held Jan.9 at the company headquarters, which is the first absence by the chairman since its start where he has been giving the prize to winners by himself.

Given the importance and personal favoritism by Lee of the event, his absence clearly shows the on-going scandals are just as embrassing and serious to the company as the public feels about them.

on-going plans by presidential transition committee

2008-01-07T15:48:00.000+09:00

The presidential transition committee announced to abolish the cap on chaebol’s cross-investment in affiliates because it is “an obstacle to boosting investment and no similar regulation exists in developed countries.” It also makes it easier for firms to establish holding companies by lifting regulations under which only firms with a debt-to-equity ratio of below 200 per cent and a less than 5 per cent stake in non-affiliates have been allowed to establish a holding company. Regular tax audit into big companies will be also shrunk.

It will add a new pension system to the current one, which provides people with the same amount of monthly pension, to guarantee a minimum standard of living and to correct the unfairness of the current system.

President-elect LMB’s grand plan to ‘save’ people who defaulted on their personal debt faces a big challenge as the public oppose the plan to delete defaulters’ debts and bad credit history. The transition committee plans to scale down the size of defaulters it planned to help out and withdraw the scheme to erase poor credit history.

2008-01-04T14:16:00.000+09:00

- John Grayken, Lone Star Chairman, might face arrest when and if he comes to Korea to get investigated by the prosecutors as a witness for the alleged stock price manipulation of KEB card. He is believed to attend the court as early as January 9th.

- The presidential transition team will work on drawing a ‘new strategic master plan’ for forward-looking and comprehensive alliance with the US.

- It is widely speculated that a high-ranking official might attend the presidential inauguration ceremony slated to be held on Feb 25. The transition team and close aides to the president-elect say that there hasn’t been any official discussion on the matter with the North, but Nam Sung-wook, in charge of North Korean matters in the team, said “I think we should send a special envoy to the North during January so that a high-ranking official could come to attend the ceremony.”

- 2008 calendar designed by ‘무한도전’ team have been selling off like hot cakes. The sale reached W100m for a single day. The calendar, priced at W3,500, is 50,000-copy limited edition and the profits will be donated to charity. 무한도전’s last week episode was about taking funny photos by team members for the calendar.

- According to the government tourism agency, Kaesung tour is very popular, attracting 7,470 tourists as of the end of December since the launch of the program on Dec 5 and the number is expected to pass 9,000 tomorrow. Hyundai Asan plans to expand infrastructure and vary the program in accordance with growing visitors.

2008-01-03T15:43:00.000+09:00

- According to BoK, last November’s outflow capitals regarding overseas studying decreased 4.3 per cent compared to a year earlier, for the second time since September last year when the capital outflow marked minus 0.2 per cent growth rate.

- The Fair Trade Commission expands surcharge deduction rate to 20 per cent from the current 15 per cent for companies which voluntarily report price-fixing collusion or fully cooperate with the investigation by the antitrust agency.

- A sequel to the hit movie ‘Monster’ is to be produced against the backdrop of Cheonggye Stream. The movie is scheduled to be out next summer.

- Three telecommunication subsidiaries of LG Group takes one step further from ‘expressing concerns’ to file a document at the Information Ministry and the Fair Trade Commission, saying SK Telecom’s takeover of Hanaro Telecom should not be allowed on the grounds of the group’s monopolizing the market. 　

- The presidential transition committee says the LMB government will remove governmental PR agency (국정홍보처) and recover briefing rooms.

- The presidential transition committee says the new government will more than halve the number of educational ministry staffs and distribute ministerial jobs to schools and other government agencies, measures which practically dissolve the ministry.

- The presidential transition committee is reconsidering LMB’s election pledges such as corporate tax reduction promise whether they are feasible.

- The Commerce Ministry said trade volume fell in the red in December last year, for the first time in four years and nine months, partly due to surging oil prices and rising raw material costs.

2007-12-27T11:11:00.001+09:00

- Samsung workers had a press briefing yesterday in front of the Labor Ministry to call on the ministry to launch an investigation into an increasing number of cases of leukemia among employees of Samsung Semiconductor. They argued “the company and the government do not conduct a proper research into the case and have only been trying to cover it up.”

- The Commerce Ministry announced the plan for natural resources development in North Korea this morning. The development in Dancheon area will be led by the government while that in the ‘west coast belt’ connecting Haeju and Nampo will be led by the private sector.

- President-elect LMB is to review his main election promises in order to double-check the feasibility of his main pledges and minimize possible confusion the new government might cause after taking power. Lee asked his aides to refrain from talking in public about the pledges because they might cause confusion or unnecessarily high expectations among people.

- People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy has taken the initiative in protesting against Woori Bank for its alleged roles in helping Samsung Group amass slush funds. The civic group receives online complaints from people and will relay them to the bank. The bank says it can’t issue any public apology until the prosecution ends its probe.

- Green Korea United, an environment group, says half of volunteers who worked in Taean to clean up oil-spilt areas suffer from nausea, dizziness, fatigue, and difficult breathing. 97.6 per cent of them worked without prior safety education and 72.5 per cent say they don’t have any idea what the exposure to the chemical substances might cause to their health.

- Domestic flights’ air fares will increase from next year due to rising fuel surcharge. The industry sources advise customers to buy tickets within December.

- 'UCC Room’ opened in Kangnam where customers make UCCs, and edit or composite them with whatever pictures or backgrounds they like. The UCCs can be copied to CD or sent to a specific website or mobile phone.

Bizarre candidate attracts 96,756 votes

2007-12-20T14:47:00.000+09:00

Hur Kyung-young came in first among four minor candidates with 96,756 votes or 0.4 per cent of support rate. He ran in three previous presidential elections, but couldn’t attract a teeny attention.

Many people couldn’t decide whom to vote for until very last minute, however, he managed to succeed in, at least, letting people recognize his name, with outrageous and quirky election pledges.

His main promises were moving the UN headquarters to the DMZ area, reducing the number of representatives to 100, giving W100m to newly-married couple, W30m to woman who gives birth, scrapping political party system, monthly doling out W700,000 to old people aged more than 60.

Among 5,974 election-related UCCs posted on Freechal, from Nov 27 to Dec 19, UCCs about Mr. Hur were replayed 336,952 times, more than Lee Myung-bak’s 329,606, which shows netizens’ interest in his bizarre claims and attitudes.

He claims that he was sent from Heaven and former president Park Jung-hee specially scouted him to work for Park because he has an IQ of 430. He also said “politics by people with an IQ of 100 is just like kid’s playing games.”

President-elect LMB Press Briefing this morning(Q&A)

2007-12-20T12:20:00.000+09:00

Q. Many people think, now that conservative Lee is elected there will be huge changes in North Korean policy. You said before that you would open a new inter-Korean cooperative era, and could you tell me what North Korean policy will you pursue and if your government still aid North Korea even before the complete destroy of NK nuclear programs?

A. I will pursue a practical diplomacy, transcending both progressiveness and conservativeness. The same can be said to the inter-Korean cooperation matters. The most important issue in the inter-Korean relations right now is to discard North Korea’s nuclear programs. I think inter-Korean economic exchange can really start in earnest by removing NK nuclear, so I will try to persuade the North to believe getting rid of nuclear will help sustain its regime and be more helpful for their citizens. I know persuasion is not an easy task. But we need to persuade in strong and reliable manner, and for that matter, I think we should actively cooperate with the international society through the six party talks. And the government should help, among other things, the NK-US talks go smoothly.

Q. Could you tell us about specifically how you are going to save the economy?

A. It is true that people have various and complex requests for me. But I know for sure after primary and final elections that majority of people want, more than other things, the economic revival. I think reviving the economy means increased investment by companies. I am positive about how to encourage companies to invest. Of course, there will be many ways to do that, certainly deregulation will be the one. But who would become president, in itself, makes the investment atmosphere to be wholly different. For the last 10 years, business has been reluctant to invest due to anti-market and anti-business environment, even when regulations, in fact, have not actually increased. I believe, with Lee Myung-bak becoming president, the economic environment will totally change.

When the transition committee is up and running, we will meet, first of all, mid-size firms and various business people face to face to explain them how we are going to change investment plans and environment. So even before the new government takes office, we will spur companies to plan for a new investment. And to boost foreign investment, we are going to found a special department within the transition committee. I will start contacting foreign investors, explaining them Korea is an investor-friendly country.

[interview] polling survey

2007-12-19T17:20:00.000+09:00

1. Male, Business owner, mid-50

I voted for LMB because there is no alternative. That we have to change is obvious, but there seems nobody appropriate. I think he will be good at handling the economy, but I don’t know about politics. I am worried about the BBK scandal. I hope the next leader to be honest.

2. Male, business owner, 63

I voted for LMB. Because the economy will be better. For the last 10 years, the economy was miserable, but it will improve(should LMB be elected president).

3. Eun Hee-mok (male), Visa agency, 67

President is not an honorary job, he should be a worker. And we need to elect a good worker, not anyone who only talks. And there is only one person who can work well with international business experiences. (If Lee was elected) the economy will be definitely rescued and the overall atmosphere will be good. The BBK scandal doesn’t matter much. If you look closely into other candidates’ morality, it will come out that they are just the same as LMB. Everyone has their weak side. That(his moral problems) will not make any problem for LMB to work.

4. Lee Joo-young, business owner, 54

You should vote for a person who can save this country, and you shouldn’t vote for a scrub. Only crazy people vote for LMB. The economy is not the problem. You should save the country. Lee Hoi-chang has been working so hard for this country and he is the one who can get this troubled country through all the difficulties. If LMB was elected, political scuffles only increase.

5. Male, an optician, in his 60s

The BBK video footage is nothing. All other candidates have been focusing only on killing LMB during the whole election campaign period. But he has nothing to be ashamed of. There is no candidate as competent as LMB. Look at what he has done while he was Seoul Mayor. He knows how to enhance the economy. A president should be business-minded and lead the country like a CEO.

Funny remarks by candidates

2007-12-19T17:17:00.000+09:00

1. By Chung dong-young

Voting for LMB is backpass, for Lee Hoi-chang is an own goal, and voting for me is going to the future (Dec 1)

His late father(Chung Joo-young) must click his tongue, tut-tut, underground. (for Chung Mong-joon’s support for LMB) (Dec 3)

People want not his wealth, but his return of truth and confession (Dec 7)

The recent oil-spill accident is really catastrophic disaster but we might have a second oil ship crash in a week (Dec 12)

2. By LMB

There are chicken houses called BBQ and I heard they have recently sold really well (Dec 4)

Who appointed prosecutors? The government of Chung Dong-young, and Roh Moo-hyun did. You don’t believe them( prosecutors), then would you believe North Korean prosecutors? (Dec 6)

I can’ verbally beat other candidates in the debate. All candidates don’t say things they would do for the country, but they are always engaged in personal attacks (Dec 12)

As soon as the election is over, the atmosphere will totally change and not even before the new government takes office, you can see the effects. You can call that ‘Lee Myung-bak effect.’ (Dec 14)

The result will be the same whatever, other than special investigation, is done. You can’t force others to believe a deer is a horse. (Dec 17)

3. by Lee Hoi-chang

I become prettier after the egg massage in Daegu (someone threw him a egg while he was doing the electioneering). I, Lee Hoi-chang, am not afraid of egg massage or even a rock because I don’t act cowardly in front of justice ( Dec 8)

what's happening on election day

2007-12-19T17:12:00.000+09:00

- In Suwon, a thirty-something man was caught taking photo of the polling paper in the polling booth with his mobile phone. Polling control people heard the sound and immediately stopped him and he hurriedly removed the photo. The man said “I promised my colleague to bring vidence of my voting and that is the only reason.” Officials say “his behavior is problematic but his voting paper was not revealed to any other person, so his polling is valid.”

- A polling center in Incheon, the announcement poster to inform voters of two drop-out candidates, Shim Dae-pyung and Lee Soo-seong, mistakenly included Lee In-je, causing voters confusion. The poster was taken out at 7:30 in the morning after a voter reported it to the police. Democratic Party is fuming over the mistake, saying “how come election commission say the candidate who is obviously running dropped out?? We are considering filing a lawsuit for annulling the whole election.”

- President Roh Moo-hyun is registered as “000001” and First Lady as “000002” in the voter’s list.

- A sixty-five year old man suddenly collapsed during voting in Pocheon, Kyungki region. He was immediately taken to the hospital but dead. His death cause is not immediately known.

- LMB supporters and party members threw a surprise party for LMB and his wife for his birthday, and wedding anniversary and went to vote around 7 am at Jaedong elementary school. After polling he said “The government change should be done by people’s power and people’ hand. In order to do that all people should participate in polling. Please participate!.”

- A match-maker company, Sunwoo, invites its members who finished voting to a café in Daehakro(대학로) and arranges a blind meeting for them. On the café wall is hung up a poster saying “Whoever voted today is the best spouse.”

polling infomation

2007-12-18T16:52:00.000+09:00

Polling Time : 6am-18pm

Electioneering is allowed until the day before the election day, so no electioneering on polling day
Vote is carried out by election districts.

Election districts are 13,178 nationwide, and vote counting centers are 249 nationwide

Vote is not electronic, and voters mark on the empty box next to the candidate they would vote for, using a marking pen which is provided to voters

The exit poll will be reported by each broadcasting station as soon as the polling ends, so it is not clear when exactly the exit poll result come out. But YTN says they will announce the first exit poll result around 6pm. From seven in the evening, National Election Commission will report real-time the vote counting process on its website

The final result will be known around 9pm

Presidential election and blogosphere

2007-12-18T16:46:00.000+09:00

Ppopular blogs opened up a special page dedicated to the presidential election where people can update their opinions on candidate, election pledges, or campaign and so forth.

One of the biggest blogs is Allblog, which has recently opened the election page (http://ch.allblog.net/politics/election2007/#candidate10). On the site, you can read bloggers’ opinions on presidential candidates. The site automatically scraps famous postings from various blog sites, as its name ‘all blog’ implies.

On Dec 17, Grand National Party attacked the site for slandering its candidate because anti-LMB articles are posted on the front page. But in it official announcement regarding the matter, the site said the arrangement is not on purpose but the system automatically arranges which postings appear on the front page.

Chung Dong-young, on Nov 13, has actually given out ‘press card’ to a few famous bloggers to allow them to officially report him. They can attend press briefing at UNDP’s headquarters, and are entitled to the same treatment just as other reporters.

LMB also opened a blog (http://www.nmaru.com/front/index.jsp), but it is just one tool of his election campaign activities, so is full of articles saying why it should be LMB, not Chung Dong-young.

On the main blogs, there aren’t many articles as to why LMB should be elected or supportive writings about him and his allegations related to the BBK scandal. The general idea is it should be LMB because there is no alternative, or he seems to be the only one who is competent enough to ‘save the economy.’

Here are some examples from hit postings

ID: MATIO?
I don’t want a criminal president who betrays and lies to people. I don’t want a Korea where innocent people get punished and honest people get ill-treated.

ID: Look into the world
This year-end is really irritating and depressing. It is just one day ahead of the election but there is no ‘chap’ to vote for..I am really torn between vote or not vote. But I know I should not give up. That is the only means I have to punish them.

ID: Tistory Studio
If you do support Chung Dong-young, go for it. But if you don’t support him but vote for him just because of ‘some other reasons,’ you have to stand Chung’s boasting of his support ratings after the election. You will only give the acquittal to Chung and UNDP who don’t reflect on their past errors. Do you want that?

ID: 복분자주
Why am I saying that LMB will definitely become the president? That is because people who speaks badly about him and dislike him say they won’t vote at all. They say even if they vote, the consequence is the same: Lee becomes president, so why bother? I think even if your vote becomes useless, shouldn’t we vote? If you are not going to vote, don’t even try to say how rotten Korean politics is, or thing like that.

ID: windi
I hate Chung Dong-young. First, he doesn’t prove his quality and capability to lead this country as a leader.. Second, he looks funny for not taking responsibility and being opportunistic.. Third, he is arrogant and seems to only think of none but himself.

ID: Backstreet internet world
What do LMB, prosecutors, and psychopath have in common? That’s they lie all the time and don’t feel guilty about it.

ID: Road begins where it ends
LMB is not an economic expert but a fraud expert. But what’s more shocking is his fraud is helped by faithful prosecutors, old-style press, and some established interested in this society.

ID: Lefinion Post
Why people support for LMB is obvious. It is because people just follow the general trend.

2007-12-18T13:57:00.001+09:00

- By 9 pm tomorrow night, it will be possible to know who becomes the next president. Vote counting will be done by 20,000 people as well as 1,377 machines (each machine can count 240-280 votes per minute) and will take approximately 4.5 hours.

Vote counting will be first done by machines which divides votes by candidates and counted by hands twice in order to ensure accuracy and fairness.

- In a press briefing yesterday, LMB appealed to the public to give him overwhelming supports for stable management of the government. He said he wanted to be elected by a sweeping majority of votes.

- The government passed a revised copyright law under which copyright protection period will be extended from 50 to 70 years.

- 57.3 per cent of 1,274 respondents aged from 20-50 say they feel stressed because of various election campaign related activities, reveals a poll by a career portal site (www.career.co.kr). Most of them say they are irritated by campaign noise (75.5%), followed by TV debates full of personal attacks (68.1%), and ridiculous election pledges (45.6%). 62.9 per cent say the stress will have some influence on their vote.

- The first-ever negotiation between the government and the group of 10 labor unions of public servants reached an agreement after 5-month-long bargaining.

- All major candidates put the finishing touches to their 22-day-long campaign activities today and they all stay in Seoul to meet as many voters face to face as possible.

- National Election Commission advised UNDP not to play in public the controversial video footage of LMB. It says it is against the election law to air in public rival candidates’ speeches or activities.

election-related updates

2007-12-17T15:35:00.000+09:00

- In the 17th presidential election, internet seems to play much less role than expected and Blogs and UCCs have been used as just one of tools for campaigning. ‘Internet politics’ and public opinions on the internet do not emerge as a powerful force.

One thing that is new in this election campaign is video footages posted by ‘tagalong blogers’ who follow after candidates on the campaign tour, recording vivid campaigning activities and posting them on their blogs.

Famous such blogs are ‘flytothemoon.kr’ for Moon Kuk-hyun, ‘dyrang.net’ for Chung Dong-yong, ‘bluedream.tistory.com’ for LMB, and ‘www.beautifulroad.kr’ for Kwon Young-kil.

- Chung Dong-young this morning asked for other candidates excluding LMB to join his plan to make the next government, if elected, into an ‘anti-corruption joint government.’ To public, he appealed to people against LMB to vote for him, saying that there are far more people who are against LMB, but ‘split votes’ are useless and LMB will get elected when people’s vote is split.

- Capitalizing on the LMB’s video footage made public yesterday in which he said he founded BBK, UNDP runs a campaign advertisement on major newspapers that says LBM should take the responsibility and resign as candidate. The advertisement says “we are concerned about the country. We can’t have the presidential election twice. Truth should defeat lie.

Meanwhile GNP counteracted by running a countering ad in newspapers in which LMB says “I don’t have nothing to feel ashamed of in front of people, and truth is only one. And truth does not change. Please stay with me for the government change. ”

- LMB had an emergency press briefing at the GNP headquarters and said he decided to allow ‘BBK special investigation’ to take place. He said “I didn’t oppose to a special investigation because I feared. I opposed (to it) because it was (politically) motivated. But I will accept it.”

- In the last round of TV debate, LMB was harshly attacked by all other candidates regarding the video clip in 2000. Audience rating was less than the last one, with around 10 per cent.

- National Election Commission plans to dispatch 189,000 people to each voting center for smooth running of voting.

- Lee Hoi-Chang argued LMB should resign as presidential candidate, mentioning the ‘BBK video footage,’ in which LMB said “I founded an asset management firm called BBK in January this year. I also obtained preliminary approval from the government for the establishment of a cyber securities firm to carry out work needed for the company.”

- Koh Hyun-Chul, Chairperson of National Election Commission, is to make a public announcement at 9:30 tomorrow morning to appeal for public participation in the vote. It will be nationally televised.

- Groups of 5.18 democratization movement related people announced their support for LMB on Dec 13.

- Oil-spill-struck areas are worried over a possible lack of volunteers on the Election Day. In Taean, 300 out or 650 public servants should supervise the election on the day. And 20,000 daily volunteers from nationwide might not come on that day.

2007-12-17T11:48:00.000+09:00

- The ministry of Justice decided not to exert the right to direct prosecutors to reopen the investigation, citing an impending the independent investigation into the case.

- Korea’s asset management firms are trying to export overseas locally-made fund products. Hana Daetoo, Samsung, and Mirae Asset securities have all launched funds aimed at selling in foreign countries. Cosmo Asset Co. has been running various funds for foreign investors since three years ago and it invests W1.2 trillion in overseas funds. Hana Daetoo securities introduced HFG Korea Fund Ltd on Dec 3 for overseas investors.

- The government breaks down business barriers between banks, insurance companies, and securities firms in the run up to the capital market integration act slated to take effect in 2009. The Finance Ministry issued an advance notice for the revised securities transaction laws, under which securities firms can sell, for example, gift certificates which have been available only in banks and insurance companies. The revised law changes the current ‘positive rules’ to ‘negative rules,’ which means securities firms can sell whatever items, except for things that is specified as not-to-sell-products.

- Middle school students rush to hakwon in flocks to prepare for ‘special-purposed’ high schools. An average competition ratio for 51 such schools this year was 4.46 to 1. A research reveals that 83 per cent of students in the metropolitan area who are preparing for the entrance exams either go to hagwon of which monthly fee amounts to W500,000-W600,000 or receive private teachers’ education. The market is believed to amount to at least W5 trillion. Big hagwons even succeeded to get investment from foreign private equity funds. For example, Topia Academy attracted W18 bn in investment from Carlyle Group.

- The overall domestic fund market grew by 30 per cent, recently passing W300 trillion. And the stock fund market exploded, with 130 per cent growth rate year-on-year.

- SK Group is found to acquire the most affiliates this year with 9 new subsidiaries, followed by Hanaro Telecom with 8 new ones, said the Fair Trade Commission.

- Vote turnout in the presidential election is expected to be very low as an increasing number of voters say they would travel overseas or go skiing, instead of casting their ballot. According to travel agencies, overseas travel packages are booked like in peak seasons as lots of people take Thursday and Friday off for the travel. National Election Commission revealed on Dec 12 that only 67 per cent of 1,500 voters said they would definitely vote, far lower that 80.5 per cent vote turnout in 2002.

- The construction ministry said it reached an agreement with the US on BASA (Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement), which enables Korea to export 150 aviation-related products including plane tires, black box, and air-data computers that have not been allowed to export. The US has such agreement with only 14 countries in the world.

Quirky stories about presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak

2007-12-13T16:53:00.000+09:00

LMB’s profile

- 1941. 12. 19 born in Osaka, Japan
- 1965 enter Hyundai Construction
- 1970. 12. 19 married Kim Yoon-ok
- 1977-88 President of Hyundai Construction
- 1978 CEO of Incheon Steel (later Incheon steel merged into Hyundai Steel Co.)
- 1988-92 CEO of Hyundai Construction
- 1992-95 Representative in the 14th national assembly
- 1996-1998 Representative in the 15th national assembly
- 2002-2006 Seoul City mayor

This below information is from Chsoun Ilbo interview with LMB

Nickname : Comdozer (Computer + Bulldozer)
Alcohol : One bottle of beer
Family : wife, one son, three daughters
person whom he respects: Ahn Chang-ho (independent fighter against the Japanese colonial rule), Gandhi
personal motto : always do my best
favorite foods: 순두부, 비빔밥, spaghetti
how to get rid of stress : exercising, chatting with friends on the phone
most embarrassing moment : when I was selling popping rice in front of girl’s high school (I was a high school student at that time)
my fashion style : wear whatever my wife tells me to wear for the sake of peace at home
my childhood dream : teacher, fire fighter
most regrettable thing in my life : couldn’t buy my mother a single new clothes while she was alive
three most amazing incidents in my life : having such a good mother, my middle school teacher’s encouraging me to advance to high school, meeting Chung Joo-young

Two TV dramas depicting LMB’s life

- In 1989, KBS ‘Time of Ambition’
- In July 2004-March 2005, MBC ‘Time of Heroes’: The drama was about Korea’s industrialization process in the 1970s-80s and supposed to run until June 2005, but no obvious reason, it abruptly ended in February. Rumor has it that MBC and involved people were under huge political pressure not to beautify Park Jung-hee and LMB.

The writer of the drama said in an interview “before the drama was aired, I had got a few phone calls from a former high-ranking ruling party lawmaker, warning me that I would be in big trouble unless I was very careful in depicting the rising political force.”

His childhood

He was born Dec 19, 1941 in Osaka. When she was pregnant with him, his mother dreamed about a full moon coming to her and she hugged it with her skirt. He was the third son and fifth child, with three brothers and three sisters. (his elder sister and youngest brother died during the Korean war from injures inflicted when a US combat plane dropped off bombs in his village to kill North Korean soldiers believed to have sneaked into the village.)

When his family lived in Japan, life hadn’t been that hard, but his family lost all of their family fortune when the ship in which his family boarded for Korea went down. Severe poverty continued more than 20 years until LMB turned 20. When his brother Lee Sang-duk entered Seoul National University, he had to earn money as well to support his brother. His parents didn’t allow LMB to go to high school but he managed to go to a night-time high school which gave him scholarship.

Episode 1

Chung Joo-young asked LMB in the company interview,
Chung : “what do you thing construction is?”
LMB : “It is creation.”
Chung : “Why is that?”
LMB: “It is because it creates something out of nothing.”
Chung : “You are at least a good speaker.”

Episode 2

In the welcoming party for new employees, LMB and Chung Joo-young were the last two persons to survive when all others went dead drunk. Chung liked LMB’s pluckiness and confidence.

Episode 3

When he was promoted to president of Hyundai Construction, Chung said to him “you know how to deal with people, and I hope you take charge not for me but for the company.” Chung was said to have deeper trust in Lee than in his sons.

Episode 4

When Hyundai was constructing the Seoul-Pusan highway, he (then he was the field supervisor) complained of dust and particulates coming from the aggregates plant next to the construction site. The company promised him to take measures to stop particulates from disrupting highway construction site. But it didn’t deliver what it promised, counting on the connection to Cheong Wa Dae. LMB became angry and drove a bulldozer to dig up the earth on the main road to the plant. Even Cheong Wa Dae pressed LMB to stop making a fuss but he insisted Cheong Wa Dae had nothing to do with the issue. The aggregates plant finally gave in to his demand to build a protection facility against dust. This incident shows why his nickname is bulldozer.

Episode 5

Chung Joo-young asked LMB to join his newly-formed party but Lee declined the offer by saying “I don’t want to do politics and have no reason to jump into the politics.” But a few months later he ran for the National Assembly and succeeded to become a representative of Kim Young-sam’s Democracy and Freedom Party, which was a rival party of Chung’s Unification People’s Party. “I came to think I have to do something after I watched what changes could be brought to the world by just one person called Gorbachev,” he later said of the reason to enter the politics.

Episode 6

When serving as Seoul mayor, he was lambasted because of his lecture to young Christians in which he said he would dedicate Seoul City to God. In “the letter to God” he read out loud during the lecture was there his signature of “Seoul City Mayor and presbyter Lee Myung Bak,” and on the cover of the letter printed the Seoul City official emblem.

Episode 7

In 2002, he brought his son and son-in-law to the official event to give Guus Hiddink, then national soccer team coach, honorary citizenship. LMB made them take picture with Mr. Hiddink. Photo session was supposed to take place after Q & A session by reporters, but he abruptly changed the schedule to have the photo session happen first. The first one who could take pictures with the then-hero was Lee’s family members.

Episode 8 (verbal mistakes)

In 2003, “the reason for the miserable education system is because people in charge of education policies all come from rural areas.”

In 2005, “I really want to stop the construction of administration complex towns, even by mobilizing military, if necessary.”

Criminal records
(on the National Election Commission, only his arrest related to student movement instigation is made public)

- He instigated student movements against Park Jung-hee dictatorship and unfair Korea-Japan relations normalization summit in 1964, and he surrendered himself to the police after one month of run-away. He was sentenced two years in prison and three years in stay of execution. During the court trial, he said “student movements should be about raising problems based on pure passion, and when we try to solve the problem, it will cause another problem.” “You shouldn’t choose student activism as your profession.”

- In 1996 he was ousted from the National Assembly for violating election law by spending much more during election campaign than permitted by law. He was fined W4m.

2007-12-12T11:15:00.000+09:00

- Korea rank the last in the surveyed 16 countries including Japan, China, America, Israel, Germany, and France, in negotiation skills, a study by KOTRA revealed.

- In the second round of TV debate of presidential candidates yesterday, the word ‘BBK,’ unlike the first debate, didn’t come out at all. It seems that candidates think seemingly endless attacks on the frontrunner don’t help them gain voters’ hearts and minds.

- One in five Japanese company voices concern over possible bubble burst in the Korean economy, a KORCHAM survey on 340 Japanese companies based in Korea shows. Unstable labor-management relations, high salary, and rising won are all pointed out as a factor challenging the Korean economy.

- For the last six days before the election day, opinion poll results can’t be made public by election law.

- As of March this year, 31.9 per cent or 2,928 elementary schools closed due to diminishing number of children. Which translates into that one in three elementary school disappeared.

- The court ruled that Psy (싸이), a singer and producer, should rejoin the army. He worked in an IT company on an alternative military duty, but later was revealed that he didn’t properly worked there and instead continued singing career and had concerts.

- Actor Bae Yong-jun will donate W320 m to Taean, the oil-spill-stricken area, said his management company.

- Kim Yoon-kyu, vice CEO of Acheon Global Corporation and former vice CEO of Hyundai Asan, has embarked on an aggressive inter-Korean business. After his visit to Pyongyang on December 5-8 by road, he told reporters he had expansive talks with North Koreans about international funds, businesses, and infrastructure construction. Acheon is currently working on logistics center construction near Kaesung, inter-Korean construction committee foundation, North Korea mining business, and North Korean labor export business.

- The Gun and ammunition stolen from soldiers in Kanghwa were found under a bridge near Paekyang temple in Jellanamdo.

2007-12-11T11:15:00.000+09:00

- New York Philharmonic is to have a concert in Pyongyang on February 26 next year, on request by the communist country.

- Inter-Korean train runs again today on Kyung-eui railway, 56 years after the Korean War broke out. Cargo trains are being loaded with raw materials and finished goods, running to and from Kaesung Industrial Complex, which is expected to save transport time and cost will be reduced by more than 30 per cent compared to shipping via road.

- An employer can be sentenced up to 2 years in prison or W10 m in fine if he or she refuses to allow an employee time to vote in the upcoming presidential election.

- Google Korea announced hottest search entry in 8 sectors this year. The result is Shin Jung-ah in People category, Samsung Electronics in Stock, Mirae Asset in Investment, Net Marble in Game, Job Korea in Job Searching, Yonsei University in University, Kookmin Bank in Bank, and Hyundai Motor in Automobile.

- Kyungsangbukdo said yesterday it will build ‘Korea Santa Village’ in Bonghwa-kun by 2010 with a budget of W50 bn to make it a world tourist spot. The project will benchmark Finland’s Rovaniemi village with a bit of ‘Korean touch.’

- LG’s high-end mobile product Viewty was introduced today with a price tag of W737,000. Market watchers say the phone might help LG establish high-end image but will not sell very much due to the price. But the company is confident that the phone will be the next ‘Chocolate Phone,’ the mega hit phone, saying it sold more than 200,000 units in the European market for the space of just three weeks after the launch.

Eugene to take over Hi Mart

2007-12-10T14:23:00.000+09:00

Eugene Group is to take over Hi Mart, the nation's largest consumer electronics retailer, for W1.95 trillion.

In a public statement to confirm the buy-out today, the company said“this takeover of Hi Mart will not only promote the brand image of Eugene Group, but it also offers an opportunity for us to let our management capability be clearly recognized in the market.”

As for the reason to be chosen as a undertaker,“not only price, but also our management ability to grow Hi Mart in a stable manner and promise to secure employment are largely considered ," said the company.

Hi Mart takes up 17 per cent in the consumer electronics retailing market and expects to achieve more than W2 trillion in sales and W185 bn in EBITDA(Earning Before Interest Tax Depreciation Amortization) this year.

2007-12-10T11:34:00.000+09:00

- Chung Dong-young said in an interview with the paper, “if elected, I will definitely make US-NK diplomatic relations normalized within Mr. Bush’s term.”

- Nine banks which own 36 per cent of Hynix shares decided not to sell shares until the Hynix sales process is completed to prevent share price from falling. Originally they were not going to sell shares by the end of this year.

- The government declares the oil-affected west-sea areas as a disaster zone.

- All of the recent opinion polls point that Chung Dong-young slightly leads Lee Hoi-chang by a few points.

Separately they all show people’s distrust in the prosecutor’s investigation results on the BBK scandal. MBC poll found out 51.7 per cent of respondents say they don’t trust the investigation results and Kookmin Ilbo research also showed 56 per cent said prosecutors made a ‘political decision.’ 55.2 per cent of respondents didn’t think prosecutor’s probe properly clarified allegations surrounding LMB, according to Hankyoreh poll.

- Eugene Group is chosen as a preferred bidder for the takeover of Hi Mart, the nation’s biggest consumer electronics retailer. The company offered W1.95 trillion, lower than W2 trillion offered by GS group, but to let the current management continue managing the company, minimize restructuring and increase investment.

- Local banks seem to focus more on sustainability rather than growth and competition next year. In order to cut unnecessary spending, Kookmin Bank starts PPR (Paperless Process Reconstruction) project from January next year, which is expected to save billions of wons and increase work efficiency, and halve the ad budget to W30 bn from the current W60 bn. Shinhan Bank continues its branch restructuring programs into next year by removing or merging them. Woori and Hana banks also plans to reduce unnecessary spending next year.

- Chung Dong-yong and Moon Kuk-hyun’s plan to forge an alliance seems to practically fall flat.

- Lee Hoi-chang said he will create a new party next year, hinting that he sees beyond the presidential election and sets his eye on increasing political influence in the next year’s general election.

- The government is said to be working on holding working-level talks on economic and energy assistance for NK in Beijing possibly on 11th or 12th this week.

2007-12-06T11:29:00.000+09:00

- Amid increasing number of Asian women coming to Korea to go under plastic surgery, the Seoul City Government plans to set up a support center next year which connect overseas patients with hospitals. The center will provide various services including interpretation. It expects Chinese customers to surge after the Beijing Olympics.

- Foreign minister Song Min-soon voiced concern over NK’s report on nuclear programs in a stalemate, saying “right now, the nuclear issue is at the crossroads whether it will go into the stabilizing phase or it will suffer from creaking instability.” But “the government tries to solve it in a stable matter no matter how long it will take,” he said.

- Park Yeon-cha, CEO of Taekwang Ind Co. and President Roh’s close friend, issued a public apology on the company website for making an ugly scene inside a plane on Dec 3. He was under the influence when he picked a fight with flight attendants, thereby delaying the plane by 1 hour and being kicked out of the plane.

- Erica Kim, the sister of Kim Kyung-joon, canceled a press briefing aimed at countering prosecutor’s yesterday investigation results, just one and half hour before the expected briefing. The reason for the cancellation is not immediately known.

- After the prosecutor’s announcement on the BBK investigation, LMB’s approval rating soared to 45.3 per cent, up 6.1 per cent from a week earlier, cementing his status as the frontrunner, according to the poll by CBS and a survey company, Real Meter. But Lee Hoi-chang slid to the third spot with 13.1 per cent allowing Chung Dong-young to climb up to the second post with 18.5 per cent.

- Four major telecom companies, LG Telecom, KTF, LG Dacom, and LG Powercom, called on the government to intervene in the possible problems arising from SK Telecom’s expected takeover of Hanaro Telecom. They argued SK Telecom would distort the market using its monopolistic status and huge capital.

- 'Brand Call-taxi’ will be up and running from Dec 10 in Seoul. Customers can get a taxi within five minutes and the Seoul City government has chosen three taxi companies to do the service. Payment will be available by credit card and female drivers are available upon request.

- Democratic Labor Party will charge Seoul mayor O Seo-hoon of damaging cultural heritage. The party said the Seoul City seriously damaged Koeui water purification plant, a registered cultural treasure, in the process of building a baseball field on that site and ignored warnings from Cultural Heritage Administration.

- Samsung Electronics lost an appeal cast it filed against Intergigital, the US IT company, and has to pay it $134 m in royalty. The court ruled that Samsung Electronics infringed the 2G terminal equipment patent.

2007-12-05T12:17:00.000+09:00

- The Cabinet approved a parliamentary proposal for an independent probe into Samsung’s slush fund case. The investigation is expected to begin late this month or early January. Prosecutors are tracking down suspicious 120 bank accounts which seem to have been used to channel secret money.

- The Unification Ministry is reported to have agreed with the North to pay them $1000 for every video letter by a separate family member. Technological equipment is also provided by the South.

- Seoul High Court ruled yesterday it was legitimate that Kangnam-gu Office levied registration taxes on Lone Star for buying out Star Tower Building in 2001.

- Hite-Jinro vice CEO Lee Jang-kyu said the company is looking for ways to strike a M&A with companies in Russia, South East Asia, and the US. And he made it clear not to sell out Jinro Japan because it has established brand power in Japan.

- SK Telecom is to advance into internet shopping business from January next year.

- Korea ranks sixth in IT-related export volumes in the world, according to a WTO report.

- German’s Munich Re Insurance Company, which is in talks with online Daum Direct insurance company for takeover, says it will enter into Korea’s insurance industry.

- BOK predicts the economy will post a similar growth rate to this year’s 4.8 per cent, with 4.7 per cent.

- Banks, including SC Korea First, Hana, and Shinhan Banks, are having difficulty to reach an agreement with its labor union on salary increase, irregular workers, and early retirement. SC Korea First Bank’s labor union has asked National Labor Relations Commission yesterday to intervene in their disputes with the management.

- Korean companies suffer losses from fake products ranging from fake luxury to car parts made in China, and the loss is expected to amount to W14.9 trillion, which is up to 6 per cent in the total expo

2007-12-04T15:04:00.001+09:00

Moon Kook-hyun officially proposes to Chung Dong-young this morning either one of them should run in the presidential election. He said “either I or Chung Dong-young should make ‘a decision of sacrifice’ by 16th after going under evaluation by people regarding who should lead a new Korea.”

Chung’s party immediately welcomed the proposal but said the timing should be advanced.

Mr. Moon suggests having one-on-one debate with Chung to show people “who is really capable of making a ‘real economy,’ which is centered around people, by reviving our economy and mid-sized companies, creating good jobs and slashing the number of irregular works.”

He said “I am not saying to form an alliance but either one of us should make a tough decision.”

2007-12-04T12:40:00.000+09:00

- Household debt passed W600 trillion for the first time as of the end of September, which means an average of W38.19 m debt per household, according to BOK.

- Institute of Global Management polled 100 CEOs in the manufacturing, service, and finance, IT, and telecommunication to find out that 45 per cent of respondents had positive attitudes towards hostile M&A. 63 per cent said hostile M&As have positive influence on the Korean economy.

- Convenient store Family Mart says Bingre’s Banana milk overtakes Chamesuel(참이슬) as the best seller this year. Banana milk has been the second-best selling product since 1999.

- Household spending overseas hit a record high in the third and fourth quarters due to surging overseas travel, taking up to 5 percent in the total household spending, according to BOK.

- Absentee vote for the upcoming presidential election is to take place in Dokdo on Dec 13 for the first time. A bout 100 including security guards and residents will cast their vote.

- In Royal Drury Lane in London, North Korean flag, not South Korean’s, is displayed next to the statement warning Korean visitors of not taking pictures inside and phone-talking.

- There is speculation that more whistleblowers from Samsung Group provide prosecutors with important information. Meanwhile Hwang Young-ki, former CEO of Samsung Securities, denied the allegation that he is directly involved in the slush fund.

- Democratic Labor Party Rep. Shim Sang-jeong argued based on the document submitted from the FSS that at least W2 trillion was poured into 19 local banks to make up for losses arising from their accounting fraud before and after the Asian Financial Crisis.

2007-12-03T11:27:00.003+09:00

- Prosecutors secured a list of 100 former Samsung executives under whose name a secret bank account was open, and Samsung’s internal document detailing how to react prosecutor’s probe. They also seized emails to Samsung’s strategic management department from a former Samsung Securities employee who blackmailed the company to disclose secret bank accounts.

- Korea’s obesity rate as of 2005 is found to be the lowest among OECD countries, with 3.5 per cent compared to the OECD average of 14.6 per cent. However male smoking rate is reported to be 46.6 per cent, the highest among OECD members.

- Pusan International Air Co. is to increase capital to W24.5bn from W6.4 bn by Dec.17 to earn a transport business license. The company was established last September by businessmen based on Pusan and the City of Pusan, aiming at starting its service from June 2009.

- A court ruled that the government is not responsible for the death of Kim Sun-il who was kidnapped by a group of Iraqi militia and murdered in 2004. The family of Kim had filed a lawsuit against the government for failing to protect its citizen.

- The prosecution is in the final phase of investigation into BBK stock manipulation case. A senior prosecutor said “the probe is completed about 80-90 per cent and we are currently doing the last part of investigation as well as drawing up a public announcement on the investigation result.” The result will be announced by as late as Dec 5. It is believed that LMB will be cleared of being involved in the stock manipulation.

- Baek Jong-chun, national security adviser to President Roh Moo-hyun, visits the US for three days from today to discuss with his US counterpart the NK nuclear dismantlement process, peace on the Korean peninsula, and a declaration on the formal end to Korean war.

- Independet lawmaker Chung Mong-jun visited the GNP office and declared his support for LMB this morning.

- Domestic fund account number is reported to account to 21.2m as of October, which translates into more than one fund account per household. The average subscription period is 341 days.

2007-12-03T11:27:00.002+09:00

2007-12-03T11:27:00.001+09:00