LTW - SK Nukes, Foreign Murderers, Yeosu Expo, & Generic Viagra

 
1. National
1) U.S. plans nuke bomb in South Korea
The U.S. House Armed Services Committee called for the re-introduction of nuclear weapons to South Korea. The U.S. pulled out nuclear weapons in South Korea in 1991 after two Koreas signed on the denuclearization of the peninsula. Obama being the supporter of negotiations to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear weapons, it is doubtful Obama government would actually send the weapons to South Korea. North Korea carried out nuclear test in 2006 and 2009, and is thought to be preparing the third one.

The House Armed Services Committee cited China’s failure to curb North Korea in nuke bomb development as the reason for deployment. Very strange that the nation of 1.4 billion people can’t shut up a spoiled kid just across the border.
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2) More foreigners commit murders in Korea
According to statistics by police, 7.9% of all murders in Korea are committed by foreigners even though foreigners account for just 2.8 percent of the population. Violent crimes such as murder or rape took 31% of the crimes committed by foreigners in Korea, compared to 22% of the crimes committed by local Koreans. Police plans to make more patrols in areas which have large foreign populations.

While most foreigners are law abiding in Korea, there are a few foreign gangs, mostly from Asian countries, who prey on those from their own countries. Good thing gun ownership is not allowed in Korea. It could have been a lot worse otherwise.

2. Economy
1) Expo grand opening in Yeosu
Yeosu, a small sea port city in the southern tip of Korean peninsula with 300K people, began a 3 month journey of 2012 Yeosu Expo with the participation of 105 countries and an expected crowd of 100,000 visitors a day. CNN named it the top place to visit in 2012, and Lonely Planet described the Yeosu Expo as one of the top things to do this year. This is the 2nd Expo in Korea after Daejeon Expo in 1993.

I am interested in visiting Yeosu, but, my nightmare in Universal Studio in Orlando, Florida in 1991 still haunts me. I had to wait 3 hours in line for a damn 5 minute E.T. ride.

2) Korean firms to market generic Viagra
As Pfizer’s patent on Viagra expires this month, 15 local pharmaceutical firms are launching generic versions of Viagra with 28 different product names. They are about one-third cheaper than the original. Since its debut in Korea in 1999, a total of 36 million pills of Viagra have been sold, and many more fake Viagra smuggled from China.

Viagra is to Korean herb medicine doctors what KFC is to chickens. Korean herb doctors prescribe and sell various herb extracts for stamina, but the extracts usually require months of intake to take effect. The survival of herb doctors now depends on how soon they can locate a super herb in the forest that turns a sponge into a rock in less than 30 minutes.

3. Auto Industry
1) Hyundai Beijing under fire
The production at Hyundai’s Beijing No.1 plant came to a complete stop as a fire broke out at its paint shop on May 8. The fire was put out within two hours without any casualties. There was a fear that some 1,300 units a day production of Accent, Elantra and Sonata from the No.1 plant would be down for weeks, but Hyundai made it in three days. How? Hyundai sent the vehicles from welding shop in No.1 plant to the paint shop in No.3 plant 30km away like piggyback on the trucks, and transported painted bodies back to the assembly shop in No.1 plant. The new No.3 plant was going to be fully operational in July, but Hyundai is using its paint shop many weeks in advance.

This is the second fire incident this year that threatened Hyundai’s global production. The first was in Georgia in March when one of its interior supplier’s plant got on fire. It happened just three days after I made a trip to Atlanta. The Beijing plant’s fire broke out just a week after my another trip to Atlanta late April. Hyundai just banned my further trip to Atlanta indefinitely.

Regards,
H.S.

LTW - Brotherly Love, Gaga over Gaga, Mad Cow, & K9 Debut

1. National

1) A touchy Canadian brotherly love
The family of a Canadian Korean War veteran Archibald Hearsey who died last year will bring his ashes to Korea to his final wish to be buried with his elder brother Joseph Hearsey who has been buried in Korea since 1951 when died during the war. Born in Ignace, Ontario, in 1929, Archibald was sent to Korea in Dec, 1950. His one year older brother Joseph was concerned about the safety of his younger brother, and joined the same battalion as his younger brother on Jan 6, 1951. The two brothers fought in Korea, Joseph in the front line and Archibald at the rear, but Archibald was never informed his elder brother was in the same battalion. In Oct, 1951, Joseph died at a battle in Gapyeong in Gyeongido Province, and it was only then Archibald learned his brother was fighting in the same battalion in Korea. The upper photo is Joseph, and the lower one is Archibald.

1. National
1) A touchy Canadian brotherly love
The family of a Canadian Korean War veteran Archibald Hearsey who died last year will bring his ashes to Korea to his final wish to be buried with his elder brother Joseph Hearsey who has been buried in Korea since 1951 when died during the war. Born in Ignace, Ontario, in 1929, Archibald was sent to Korea in Dec, 1950. His one year older brother Joseph was concerned about the safety of his younger brother, and joined the same battalion as his younger brother on Jan 6, 1951. The two brothers fought in Korea, Joseph in the front line and Archibald at the rear, but Archibald was never informed his elder brother was in the same battalion. In Oct, 1951, Joseph died at a battle in Gapyeong in Gyeongido Province, and it was only then Archibald learned his brother was fighting in the same battalion in Korea. The upper photo is Joseph, and the lower one is Archibald.

Some 26,000 Canadians fought for South Korea during the Korean War, and 516 of them were killed in action. Koreans thanked Canadian contribution by buying Canada’s Cando nuclear reactors and building a car plant in Bromont near Montreal where I used to work for five years from 1988 to 1993. My wife and I thought about what else we could to for Canada at that time, and worked as a team to add two more boys in Canadian population.

2) Protest over Lady Gaga’s performance in Seoul
Lots of applause and boos at the same while Lady Gaga kicked off her “Born This Way Ball” world tour in Seoul in front of 45,000 fans, despite a ban on those under 18 and protests from Christian groups who criticized the self-dubbed “Mother Monster” is obscene. Korean government implemented an adults-only rule, and Lady Gaga referred it as “I was told that your government decided my show should be 18 or over. So I’ll make sure it will be.” Concerned about Lady Gaga’s advocacy of homosexuality, profanities and grotesque costumes, the Christian groups threatened a boycott against Hyundai Card, which was a main sponsor for Lady Gaga show in Seoul.

I being an old man, this was the first time I heard about Lady Gaga. Paris Hilton must be in fear that she has a tough challenger for her world championship in obscenity.

2. Economy
1) Venezuela opportunities for Korean companies
The Ministry of Knowledge and Economy signed four Memorandum of Understandings and one Letter of Intent with Venezuela’s energy and oil ministry. Korea will pursue five energy and infrastructure projects in Venezuela worth U$1.1 billion. The deals cover the building of pipe lines, storage and harbor facilities for oil, a petroleum coke power generation and an oil refinery project and petrochemical facility. Hyundai Construction & Engineering, Daewoo Construction, GS Construction and SK Construction are the Korean companies working on these projects.

Venezuela is special to me. I stayed in Barcelona in Venezuela for a month in March 1996 to support a local car maker to launch Hyundai Excel. I took time off on a weekend to tour a wild forest, and got checked by the local police for not keeping a passport which I left at my hotel. I was put in a prison for five hours until a hotel boy brought my passport from my jacket in the hotel. When I returned to hotel, I found my $2,500 gone. I reported it to the hotel, and went to the police for questioning. I found my face in the front page in the local newspaper the following day. The experience in Venezuela was special to me as it gave me the first time ever experience in jail, and my successful debut in the media.

2) U.S. beef sales slips with the outbreak of mad cow disease
Sales of U.S. beef are falling fast at the news of mad cow discovered in California on Apr 24 as consumers have some worms over the safety of U.S. beef despite the government’s efforts to reassure the public by dispatching inspectors to the U.S. E-Mart, Korea’s largest wholesaler, said the sales of U.S. beef dropped 66.8% from last Thursday to Sunday compared with the same three-day period one week earlier. Leftist groups lost no time to use it as an opportunity to promote their causes, and already began to hold candle light protests to stop the U.S. beef import, much like what they did exactly four years ago. Korea is the fourth largest importer of U.S. beef after Canada, Mexico and Japan.

No doubt mad cows are very dangerous to the health of people. More dangerous are those protesting mad people whose logic circuits and common sense in their brain went haywire pretty badly.

3. Auto Industry
1) Money keeps coming, coming and coming to Hyundai
Hyundai Motor announced that its Q1 earnings jumped 30.6% from a year earlier thanks to strong sales overseas. Net profit reached 2.45 trillion won ($2.15B) in Q1, compared with 1.87 trillion won a year earlier. Sales went up 10.6% on-year to 20.16 trillion won in the 3 month period, with operating profit jumping 24.9% to 2.28 trillion won. Overseas sales reached 917,879 units in the same quarter, up 22% from the same period last year. Domestic sales slipped, though, down 7.1% on-year to 154,800units. Hyundai’s sister Kia also made record net income of 1.2 trillion won ($1.1B) in Q1.

Reflecting the high profit, Hyundai shares hit all time high of 272,500 won per share on May 2. It was around 100,000 won just two years ago. My wife bought a few Hyundai shares in April 1999 at around 10,000 won. She still keeps Hyundai stocks, and plans to sell lunch tickets with her at 10 times higher price than Warren Buffett’s lunch.

2) Kia debuts K9 luxury sedan

Hyundai-Kia Chairman Chung Mongkoo proudly unveiled Kia’s new K9 luxury sedan at Hyatt Hotel in Seoul. Mr.Chung said all state-of-the-art technologies are in K9 for the safety and convenience of drivers. The K9 shares the same platform with Hyundai Equus, but is 7cm shorter for more dynamic look. It is equipped with head-up displays that enable driving data displayed on the window, a radar-based blind spot detection device and electronic shift lever, all of which are not available in more pricy Equus. The K9 is powered by 3.3L and 3.8L V6 engines, with the price tag ranging from 53 million won ($46.5K) to 86 million won ($75.6K). Kia expects K9 compete against BMWs and Mercedes.

Kia plans to market K9 overseas from the 2nd half this year, but Kia’s marketing people are in headaches as foreigner consumers might think K9 is a nice bus for a highway drive. K9? Canine? Greyhound!!!!

Regards,
H.S.