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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Apparently he was serious. Lee is trying to find his prime contractor for the canal project.
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Since the Marmot nicely gives me a bigger megaphone than the comment line, I thought I would breathlessly give my thoughts on recent election as the rest of the contributors have done, or will do.
First, I really got to say something about the campaigns. If I needed any more reason and a vote, Chung Dong-young [...]
Kim Young-chul held a press conference today where he made new allegations and disclosed documents to back up his claim. First he detailed how Samsung affiliates created a 200 billion Won(about USD 200 million) slush fund.
According to Kim, Samsung Corporation, one of the group affiliates, made contracts with another subsidiary Samsung SDI’s offices in London, Taiwan and [...]
I was just playing with the power of the headline. The Kia Cee’d actually did very well, coming in fourth place in `Car of the Year’ awards done by a group of European journalists, after the Fiat 500, the Mazda 2 and the Ford Mondeo.
Not too shabby.
It even won its group (from Korea’s English-language newspaper of record):
Approved by 58 [...]
The Blue House has expressed its opposition to the Samsung Special Investigation Bill that is being proposed by the National Assembly.
The presidential office Wednesday urged the three political parties to reconsider the bill for a special prosecutor to investigate the Samsung lobby scandal because it covers too broad an area and would take about 200 [...]
The Catholic Priests’ Association for Justice (CPAJ) released the names of three former and incumbent prosecutors who have allegedly received bribes from Samsung.
The three named were Lim Chai-jin, prosecutor general nominee; Lee Jong-baek, chairman of the Korea Independent Commission Against Corruption; and Lee Kwi-nam, head of the Central Investigation Department at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office.
They [...]
I hate it when people are predictable. Anyone want to start up a betting pool on when Lee Kun Hee will be in the hospital for “stress” or whatever they call it to avoid jail/investigation? Those of you with longer memories will remember he went to the US for “health” reasons the last time the [...]
Yesterday, PD Notebook interviewed former Samsung lawyer Kim Young Chul. Most of what he said during the interview were repeats of his previous statements, however he did make one new allegation;
At one time, it was reported that LG beat Samsung in refrigerators. When the Chairman heard about this, he went ballistic. At that time, the [...]
A MBC News program called News Who has interviewed former Samsung lawyer Kim Young Chul, the person who revealed that Samsung created several bank accounts in his name and used it to manage slush funds. Showing a document allegedly written by Chairman Lee Kun-hee’s secretaries, which summarized his directives, he made the following revelations;
According to [...]
