Here we go again. The won has hit a new low against the dollar, falling to its weakest point in the past 30 months to 1,049.6 won to a dollar, a fact that has to be disconcerting to anyone getting their paychecks in the Korean currency and doing the mental calculation in another currency (i.e. [...]
Ignoring the advice of legions of bitter waegookin, Warren Buffet has actually decided that South Korea isn’t such a bad place after all. After decades of sound financial decisions guiding Berkshire Hathaway into one of the most successful investment holding companies in the known universe, 77 year old Warren Buffet thinks that for 2008, South [...]
Okay, not really, but the picture is deserving of some kind of (attempt at a) witty remark. It’s not every day you get a image of the two greatest living oligopolists of their respective countries conspiring with each other.
Anyways, looks like Bill Gates came to Korea on Tuesday to meet with LMB, business leaders and [...]
The Korea Times today reports that foreign investment has all but evaporated in the wake of five years of Roh Moo Hyun’s government and its handling of foreign-investment bête noire Lone Star Funds. Well, duh.
Bad news for hub dreamers:
“I don’t think Korea can change in the near future to reverse the poor FDI trend,” [former [...]
In this editorial on the controversy over US beef imports and the recent related MBC program, the editorial staff at the Chosun put the danger of contracting vCJD into perspective:
미국 쇠고기 반대운동을 벌이는 세력들의 거짓과 논리적 모순과 위선(僞善)은 한두 가지가 아니다. 우리 국민 1000만 명 가까이가 매년 광우병이 위험하다는 미국과 유럽 일본 지역에 태연히 관광 [...]
As reported in two Chosun Ilbo articles, Koreans may be “going overboard” with mad cow disease. “PD Diary”, the famous MBC current affairs program, has claimed that 94 percent of Koreans have a “special” gene that makes them more susceptible to getting Mad Cow Disease vs. regular Americans or Britons (Canucks, Kiwis and Aussies were, [...]
So says today’s BusinessWeek Asia. With Samsung leaping past Motorola last year as the 2nd largest cellphone manufacturer and LG recently leaping past Sony Ericsson to take the #4 spot, consulting group Strategy Analytics says that Motorola is “…in real danger of being overtaken… by… [LG].”
It seems ever since they came up with the RAZR, [...]
Daai Tou Lam Diary is a quiet C-blog written by an American resident of Hong Kong. As he is fluent in Chinese, his posts often contain translations from the local Hong Kong media, and he is very critical of the Chinese government. A recent post on the Carrefour boycott drew this conclusion:
As anyone [...]
OK, I will continue carry the banner of the Yi So-yeon around here (and don’t you naysayers try to shake it loose). Cheers to her as she came back to Korea yesterday and will soon start her new gig(Chosun).
Having earned a doctorate from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in February, Yi will now work [...]
With the sub-prime tremors cooling down and with nothing else better to do on a slow news day, Forbes has compiled a list of Korea’s richest 40 people. I know the gallery is not as interesting as the race girls or Djamilya scrubbing away dirt and body oil, but I sort of think that #4, Lee [...]
As you may all know, Lee Kun-hee has publicly resigned as Samsung Group’s Chairman. Or has he? According to today’s Washington Post, Lee’s power and influence may stay long after his announced resignation. The tentacle-like arms of the Lee family are long and far reaching and the press conference yesterday may merely be a rehearsal [...]
April 22, 2008 – 11:48 am
Or so says Yonhap.
Update:Or does he? I have been admittedly turned a rather jaded eye to the whole Samsung thing, half expecting Lee to play the “Hospital Card”. Something caught my eye.
Who will control Samsung now? The literal heir apparent is Lee Jae-yong, Kun-Hee’s son who has been groomed for quite a while. However, the [...]
You know it’s not a good sign when the guy you signed on to make your country a “hub” renews his contract, but decides it best he work outside the “hub”.
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A couple mundane business stories get odd when compared side by side. What can you make of these two:
Major banks are making inroads into the riskier consumer financing market to provide loans to those who have difficulty in getting loans due to credit problems, drawing mixed reactions from consumers and analysts. - Korea Times, April [...]
I do not know why, but this really pisses me off. Excuse me for being a little impolite, all my snarkiness went to the title.
At the time the Korean-US FTA was agreed to, Korea got some resolution to one of its pressing issues. The US agreed to make Korea part of its visa waver program [...]
March 20, 2008 – 11:48 am
It seems that President Lee does not see a weaker won as all good news (Reuters):
“Although there is more or less a positive effect, (the weaker won) becomes a threatening factor to corporate management, and especially, appears to cause a sharp rise in consumer prices,” Lee said.
Trying to keep the won weak against the dollar [...]
OK, to take a break from the sex-crimes for just a sec, now i’m seeing a “Basic Rate” (middle rate) of w1,029 = $1 on my computer, and that’s just outrageous, worrisome, damaging (and kind of sickening in the pit of the gut for anyone who lived through the financial crisis that started just 10 [...]
Perhaps, according to Reuters:
Japanese camera makers such as Canon and Nikon have long ruled the $22-billion digital camera market, but South Korean upstart Samsung Techwin is making a serious bid to build its brand to take on the big guns.
Read the rest on your own.
(HT to reader)
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March 14, 2008 – 12:02 pm
This is giving me a headache. You know somebody got millions of won to pitch an idea like that. Somebody should tell Samsung, KT&G, and others that if your name means everything it really means nothing. Besides, how the heck do you get “Challenge to the Top” from “C&T”?
UPDATE
Speaking of things that mean everything so [...]
Given the recent history of its chairman Kim Seong-yeon and his “unique” crisis management skills (let alone his skills in determining what IS a crisis), I find amusing the consternation of a Hanwha spokesperson on being assigned one of Fortune magazine’s least admired companies in the world:
“We can hardly understand this article, which lacked the [...]
