March 11, 2008 – 11:14 am
But man, I hate watching officials resign over something as stupid as this.
Perhaps I’ve been in Korea too long, but I find it reassuring that my leaders are getting laid, although admittedly, you have to wonder about the judgment of any man willing to shell out up to US$31,000 a day for a piece of [...]
March 11, 2008 – 10:37 am
Businessweek looks at the tensions between Korean and American managers at Hyundai’s US operations (something we’ve looked at here). Stuff like this:
The problem is that the companies keep booting out American talent. And many of the American executives who do stay find parent Hyundai Motor’s corporate culture to be suffocating. According to several current and [...]
Somebody is either smarter than I expected, or reading this blog. Yesterday the government announced measures to fight inflation. Among them are reducing some tariffs on food products.
While I find it a good step, I find it curious at the same time the exact products and their new tariffs are not given. As I noted [...]
In an irony-free investment move, the National Pension Service has invested US$300 million with US private-equity fund Texas Pacific Group, which rescued Korea First Bank in 1999 and got no thanks for the effort. TPG’s affiliate/competitor Newbridge Capital, you may recall, got kicked around to no end in the press when it exited in 2005 [...]
Many around me are disappointed I have not drank the Lee Myung-bak Kool-aid. Much like Obama-maina in the US at the moment, Lee is supposed to be “break” from the past, and more importantly is “different” then all before him. Somehow Lee is to waive a magic wand and cure all the problems with South [...]
February 11, 2008 – 12:22 am
Good news (kind of). According to Finance Minister Kwon Ok-kyu: “The direct impact of the bad debts from the subprime mortgages on Asian financial institutions should be limited, because the proportion of Korea’s exports to the U.S. nearly halved in the past decade, and the export ratios of China and southeast Asian nations member states [...]
February 2, 2008 – 9:22 am
Police detained HP Korea executives and officials on charges of receiving bribes from one of its distributors.
Police said Thursday that they have referred HP Korea’s vice president, identified as Ham, and nine other former and incumbent officials of the company to the prosecution. Dozens of other company and government officials were also booked in connection [...]
February 2, 2008 – 8:53 am
Lone Star’s chief of Korean operations, Paul Yoo, was found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison. He was taken directly to prison from the courtroom. Ruling for the court, Lee Kyung Choon stated:
. . . Their activity constituted a grave fraud activity and severely damaged the interest of minority shareholders of KEB Credit [...]
January 28, 2008 – 7:28 am
Apparently Korean banks play all sorts of games in either giving or denying ATM/Credit cards to foreigners in Korea. Some banks even go as far as to claim they can not issue one due to a law or regulation — which apparently does not exist — even though one may have all of their money [...]
January 27, 2008 – 4:18 pm
Upcoming Royal Asiatic Society–Korea activities of interest to M-holers:
Sat February 2nd: Sobaek-San National Park Tour with Huibang-Sa and Guin-Sa Temples After a bus-ride down thru the scenic Jecheon / Danyang region, we’ll take a pleasant hike through the scenic Sobaek-san National Park, visiting the historic temples Huibang-sa (with lovely icy water-fall) and Guin-sa (Cheontae Order; biggest non-Jogye temple in [...]
January 19, 2008 – 11:48 am
Don’t get me wrong — I fully agree with what the Chosun Ilbo’s Park Jung-hoon suggests — it’s bargain time in the United States, and if Korean firms can take advantage, more power to ‘em. It’s better than putting the entire country in hock to the Bank of China. It’s just that, well:
There are plenty [...]
January 11, 2008 – 1:24 pm
Canals — that is, if one is a billionaire arms dealer like Adnan Khashoggi. It seems that certain foreign companies and mutual funds have caught canal fever and sent letters of interest regarding LMBs dream project. Naturally companies in the Netherlands and Germany that have experience in canals are interested and now it seems that [...]
January 8, 2008 – 7:03 pm
Somehow, I have a feeling that this figure is going to be adjusted over the weeks ahead (Yonhap):
Compensation measures are not yet clear. The warehouse, owned by the logistics company Korea 2000, is covered by a 15 billion won (US$16.3 million) insurance contract with South Korea’s LIG Insurance Co., Ltd., but the payment mostly applies [...]
January 7, 2008 – 11:57 am
As per initial reports, LMB’s advisor David Eldon (El-don) has “advised Korea to significantly change its practices and attitudes to foreign investors.“ This is appropriate given that foreign investment in Korea has seen a decline for the third year in a row. Oddly enough, El-don seems to be practicing magic since his press conference included [...]
January 3, 2008 – 12:52 pm
He might be keeping the canal, but President-elect Lee is dropping his target for 7% growth during his term. This is probably a good decision, especially when it’s accompanied by comments like this: “Lee said Korea must seek out growth engines in order to make the economy grow without the help of pump-priming measures. It’s [...]
January 2, 2008 – 3:23 pm
A quote from the Chairman of the Federation of Korean Industries, Cho Suck-rai,(their phonetics, not mine) that inadvertently singed my nose this morning as I drank coffee:
The new government should establish a stable society where the market economy is respected and law is observed.
I could snipe and point out how staunchly the FKI defended this [...]
January 2, 2008 – 6:43 am
Apparently he was serious. Lee is trying to find his prime contractor for the canal project.
December 31, 2007 – 5:39 pm
I guess this was widely expected by all… No sure who else made The List, tho:
S.Korea pardons Daewoo founder, death-row inmates
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea’s president on Monday commuted the death sentences of six inmates on death row and pardoned the founder of the Daewoo conglomerate, convicted of fraud in one of the biggest corporate [...]
December 28, 2007 – 9:04 am
Samsung Electronics has filed a complaint against Sharp over patents filed in the US by Samsung. Sharp earlier this month sued Samsung in South Korea and Texas, claiming patent violations over LCD technology, but apparently part of the controversy seems to be price-fixing between vendors such as LG, Sharp, Phillips and Samsung.
Likewise, Samsung has [...]
December 27, 2007 – 9:36 am
President-elect Lee Myung-bak has named David Eldon, Chairman of Dubai International Finance Center Authority, as a member of his Transition Committee. Mr. Eldon will assume the post of Joint Chairman of the Special Committee for Strengthening National Competitiveness, making him the first foreigner to assume a post in a presidential transition committee. So does this mean [...]
