LTW - Rocket Launch, Nuke Blast, Super Ads, #1 in Plastic Surgery

1. National

1) North Korea conducts third nuclear test

Kim Jong-un celebrated lunar New Year with his first, the third one to include two from his late father, nuclear test on Feb 12, just a day before Obama’s State of the Union address to send a “Leave me alone” message. The blast was estimated to be 7 kilo ton of TNT, about half the magnitude of Hiroshima.  South Korea has beefed up its military alert one level up, deploying long range cruise missiles to target any part of North Korean territory. While the UN Security Council condemned the test, Chinese government has not expressed as much criticism that the U.S. and South Korea were hoping for. It is reported that North Korea has informed China that there will be one or more tests this year. 

  

More chance for a man biting a dog than China ditching North Korea, no matter what Kim Jong-un does. If the two Koreas get united with South Korea leading the unification process, Chinese soldiers might have to watch muscular American G.I.s lifting their weights across Yalu River, the border between China and North Korea.  

2) South Korea launches its first rocket

 South Korea finally succeeded in launching its first own Naro rocket, placing a 100kg research satellite into orbit on Jan 30. Previous attempts in 2009 and 2010 failed, and the third and final attempt had to be postponed twice due to technical glitches. The Naro rocket was built jointly with Russia which supplied the first stage booster, while S.Korea building the second stage of the rocket and payload. The Naro rocket will no longer be used in Korea’s space program, as the government has begun on a project to develop a wholly indigenous, three- stage rocket by 2021.

South Korean are O.K that it took 56 years to put a satellite into the orbit after Russia’s Sputnik in 1957, but are in shame that it was a month after Kim Jong-un’s successful satellite launch in December. Just the same disgrace 207cm(6’11”) Dominique Wilkins in Atlanta Hawks had to suffer when he lost NBA Slam-Dunk contest in 1986 to his 170cm (5’6”) short team mate Spud Webb.

2. Economy

1) South Korea No.1 in cosmetic surgery 

British Daily Mail reported that South Koreans have more plastic surgery than any other nation. Citing the figures from the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (ISAPS), South Korea had the highest proportion of its population, one in 77 people, having surgery, often to look more ‘Western’ in 2011. One of the most popular surgical procedures is double eyelid surgery, which reduces excess skin in the upper eyelid to make the eyes appear bigger and make them look more ‘Western’. The U.S. was the fourth nation to put needles and knives under the skin, but Americans were for other than double eye lid surgery. 

 

 I was really serious about double eyelid surgery when I was in puberty in the 70’s. All the good looking guys I watch on TV had big eyes, and I got frustrated with my rice eyes. Though the frustration has diminished over time, it has continued until last August when Psy suddenly popped up. My eyes are just a little bigger than Psy’s. 

2) Korean companies or a Korean in Super Bowl ads 

While few Koreans have watched Super Bowl between the 49ers and Ravens itself, many Koreans had watched some of its commercials on TV news and internet. Koreans were gleeful that the ads from Samsung, Hyundai and Kia were among the $4 million per 30 seconds commercials, but they were more excited to watch PSY singing “Crackin’ Gangnam style” in Pistachios commercials. It was probably the first time for most of the Koreans to hear of Pistachios.  The ads by Samsung and Kia were named by the Huffington Post as two of the nine Super Bowl ads worth seeing. 

 

 Samsung’s commercial called it San Francisco ‘fifty minus oners’ for 49ers, and Baltimore ‘black birds’ for Ravens, to make fun of Apple’s patent lawsuits against Samsung. It also called it ‘Big Game’ for Super Bowl. Well, there is better word for Super Bowl to avoid lawsuit.  Call it ‘Super Ball’, as this is how 99 percent of Koreans would spell when they are asked to spell, well, Big Game. 

2. Auto Industry

1) Hyundai Sonata tops in J.D. Power dependability ranking 

Sonata ranked top in its mid-size sedan category in a vehicle dependability study by J.D. Power. Sonata scored 94 points to beat Camry(104), Accord (107) and Altima(110). The study was based on a survey about 202 vehicle problems with parts such as the engine or transmission given to the customers who bought their cars between Sep 2009 and Feb 2010.  It determined each car’s score based on the number of problems per 100 vehicles reported by owners of 3-year-old models, so the lower, the better.  By brand, Kia ranked 13th and Hyundai 14th. Kia jumped three spots from last year, while Hyundai took a dive to14th from fourth. 

   

. The Sonata being marketed currently is the fifth generation. The first generation Sonata debuted in Aug, 1988, and it was the model that was also produced in Hyundai’s Bromont plant in Quebec, Canada. The first overseas plant for Hyundai, the Bromont plant had a grand opening on Jul 4, 1989, but had to be closed in October 1993 due to falling sales. The total Sonata produced in Bromont was 99,995 from my memory with vehicle ID numbers. Don’t call Apple’s lawyers if my number is wrong, but it was definitely just a few short of 100,000 vehicles. 

2) Fiat returns 

With sharp increase of import cars in recent years, taking nearly 10 percent of domestic market, Fiat had a launching ceremony in Seoul to introduce Cinqueneto and Freemont models in Korea, 16 years after it pulled out of Korea in 1997 during the Asian Crisis. Massimo Roserba, head of Asia-Pacific region, said Fiat can be a good fit for Koreans interested in fuel economy. The Cinquento and Freemont to be supplied from Mexico are to be sold at eight show rooms throughout Korea, with Cinquecento price ranging from 26.9 million won($24,780) to 29 million, nearly 15% lower than its competitor BMW Mini Cooper. 

 

Fiat has a long history with Korea. It had relationship with Kia Motors from 1971 to manufacture Fiat 124, and Fiat 132 until 1981. After Kia stopped the production of Fiat 132, Kumho and Hanbo had imported Fiat models from Italy until 1997 when it pulled out. Fiat probably decided to come back to Korean market buoyed by the success stories of Italian brand Prada and Gucci in Korea. Fiat’s first task for the same level of success is to get my wife’s full support.

Regards,

H.S. 

LTW - Thick Glass Ceiling, Minor Baby Boom, & NK Anger

1. National
1) North Korea in anger over a slap in the face by UN
Just hours after the UN Security Council’s unanimous decision to sanction North Korea over a rocket launch in Dec, North Korea vowed to boost its nuclear program. North Korea said there will be no more denuclearization talks “due to the U.S.’s worsening hostility toward North Korea.” North Korea also lashed at China for its agreement on the UN sanction by saying “ Big counties had been pressured by the U.S. and relinquished basic principles that must be protected.” It has threatened “strong physical countermeasures” against South Korea if Seoul directly takes part in the sanctions. A report from Johns Hopkins University said North Korea’s third, Kim Jong-un’s first, nuclear test is imminent.


If we think the world would be much safer without Kim Jong-un, we might be wrong. Just look at what is happening in Egypt after almighty Hosni Mubarak gone. Kim, 28, got educated in Swiss with good understanding of democracy and capitalism. The world leaders need to give Kim a firm assurance that he wouldn’t be another Nicolae Ceausescu of Romania even if North Korea opens to the world.

2) More babies born in Korea
According to the government report, Korea’s fertility rate jumped up to 1.3 children per woman last year, the first time Korea to have reached the level in 11 years. The 1.3 mark is important as that level is deemed in the “lowest-of-low fertility” category.  From Jan to Nov last year, 450,600 babies were born, 3 percent up from the same period. The government warned that Korea will become a super-aged society by 2026, in which people aged 65 or over account for 20% of total population if the current rate of low fertility continues.




While the government incentives were the main reasons for the fertility rebound last year, another key reason was that 2012 was the year of “Black Dragon” which comes every 60 years. Koreans believe that the babies born in “Black Dragon” would have more fortunes in their life. Hard to believe? The marriage increased over 8% in Jan and Feb in 2012 over the same period in 2011, but got reduced to -8.3 percent in May, and kept declining throughout the rest of 2012 except for Jul and Oct.

2. Economy
1) Glass ceiling in government remains thick
 According to public information site, Alio(www.alio.go.kr), only 9.1% or 272 executives out of 2,993 state-run institutions are women. Only 16 of 288 public institutions had female chief executive officers, and 149 had no female executives. The worst was the Financial Services Commission, which had only 1 female executive out of 109, less than 1%. . The best was Korea Childcare Promotion Institute where 66.7 percent of the executives were women.  Both ruling and opposition parties have jointly proposed a bill to raise the ratio of female executives to 15 percent in public institutions in three years and to 30 percent in five years.

If it is the glass ceiling in the government institutions, it is 10 inch thick steel plates in private companies as there are probably more female commanders in Al Qaeda than female executives in Korean private companies. There were three females out of 124 colleagues who joined Hyundai together with me on Dec 1, 1986. Two were assigned to the R&D design center where they sketch future models, and one to finance team. All of the three left the company within three years.

2) K-Swiss to be bought by E.Land
 Korea’s E.Land agreed to pay $170 million for K-Swiss to add the U.S. athletic shoemaker’s brands to its portfolio. The K-Swiss stockholder will receive $4.75 per share, 49% more than closing price on the NASDAQ. K-Swiss was not good financially as the revenue in the 12 months through September was $231M, compared with $508M in 2005. Net losses from 2009, 2010, and 2011 totaled more than $160M. E.Land’s business “will provide K-Swiss with the resources and scale to return to its former performance levels,” said Steven Nichols, President of K-Swiss.



E.Land was established in 1980 by Mr.Sungsoo Park who opened a small clothing store in front of Ehwa Women’s University in Seoul at the age of 28. Mr.Park has grown the company over 10 trillion won($9.5 billion) in sales in 2012. A devout Christian, Mr.Park’s success comes from his deep belief in God, and his frugality.  He drives his own Kia Carnival (Sedona in the U.S.), brings his own lunch box, flies in economy class, and stays in a cheap motel when in business trip. To save hotel cost further, Mr.Park makes his employees stay in one room together, rather than two or three.

3. Auto Industry
1) Leave me alone, damn politicians!
 Ssanyong Motors, Korea’s 5th largest automaker which went bankruptcy in 2009 then got bought by India’s Mahindra in 2011, is urging the main opposition party and outside activist groups to stop meddling in the labor disputes, arguing that such interference only makes the matters worse. Ssangyong union also issued a statement opposing the legislative investigation over the layoff of workers at the time of bankruptcy, saying that could jeopardize its corporate image and operations. The union said “Ssangyong’s revival depends on new investment and improved sales, but if politicians beat and shake the company, we all die.” The opposition Democratic United Party is still pushing for the legislative investigation, urging president elect Park Geun-hye from the ruling party to agree to the investigation.
   
Both Ssangyong management and union are preaching the politicians to leave them alone. A husband named Joseph was probably shocked when his wife Mary delivered a baby called Jesus not from his own blood, but Joseph was O.K with it. Over two thousand years have passed since. Why do still people keep talking and arguing about Mary having a baby, when her own husband Joseph had no problem with it?

Regards,
H.S.

LTW - Google in NK, Prez #'s, & Good To Be Born Korean

1. National
1) Google CEO visited North Korea
Google CEO Eric Schmidt and New Mexico governor Bill Richardson made a four day visit to North Korea on Jan 7 despite U.S. government’s opposition. They met with leading North Korean officials, and toured a computer lab at Kim Ilsung University. In the interview at Beijing Airport after the visit, Schmidt said he went to express his view that North Korea will be better off with more cell phones and wider internet use. Richardson said “dialogue rather than conflict” is needed at this time of leadership changes in South Korea and Japan. South Korean government hoped the Americans’ visit will promote peace and stability in Korean Peninsula. Not known whether they met with Kim Jongun.

It might be that the real motive for Eric Schmidt’s visit was to meet with Kim Jongun to transfer his state-of-the-art horse dancing skills he learned from PSY during his visit to Seoul last September.

2) Presidential transition committee kicked off
 President-Elect Park Geun-hye got her presidential transition committee kicked off. The transition committee will get reports from current administration to help Park set up new policies for her 5 year tenure that starts on Feb 25. She also began to meet with envoys from key nations. In a meeting with China’s Vice Foreign Minister, Park said “North Korea’s nuclear weapons can not be tolerated, but added “doors will be open for dialogue and cooperation through a trust building process.” In the meeting with Japanese envoys, Park called for building up mutual trust in accordance with public sentiment.
Park is to meet with the envoys from the U.S. this week.
  
It might be that Park was destined to be the Korean president. Here is why. Park won 51.6% of the vote and her father took power after the military coup on May 16, 1961. She became the 18th president and her father ruled Korea for 18 years until 1979. Park is becoming the president at the age of 60 and her father got killed at the age of 60 by his own KCIA director. The opponent Park defeated last month was Mr.JI Moon, and her mother was killed by an assassin called Mr.SK Moon in 1974. Just a coincidence?

2. Economy
1) Korea ranked 19th best to be born
Korea ranked 19th best country for babies to be born, to the Economist Intelligence Unit, a think tank affiliated with the business magazine. Of the 80- countries surveyed, Korea scored 7.25 points ahead of Japan in 25th (7.08), and China in 49th (5.99). The U.S. and Germany shared 16th spot. Switzerland came first, followed by Australia. The 11 categories of the ranking were geography, demography, social and cultural characteristics, public policy, gender equality, political freedom, health, job security, crime rates, the state of the world economy and future income projected for 2030.
   
 When I was a kid in the 60’s, Korea was one of the poorest nations in the world, with personal annual income of less than $100 when that of Philippines was over $800. I remember my friends lamenting “how happy could we be if we were born in other rich countries like U.S. or Canada!”  Fifty two years have passed since Park Geun-hye’s father took power and initiated economic miracle process. Korea became a nation that my two sons born in Canada chose to keep Korean citizenship by joining the military last September.

3. Auto Industry
1) Denso and Doowon beat Halla, thus Visteon
According to the Korea Economic Daily, Hyundai has begun diversifying its air climate control systems supplier. To the newspaper, Hyundai Alabama has changed its supplier for next generation Sonata from Halla, a subsidiary of Visteon, to Denso. It also reported that Hyundai Beijing will be getting components from Doowon for its new models.  Denso being a keretsu company of Toyota, Hyundai has relied on Halla for the bulk supply of climate controls systems. Halla also has been Hyundai’s good partner with 60% of its sales from Hyundai/Kia. The newspaper said Hyundai may further diversify climate control systems suppliers to meet the interest of global manufacturing sites.
   


 According to another daily called Jose Ilbo, a Hyundai official said the business to Denso and Doowon from Halla has nothing to do with what happened between Hyundai and Halla last September.

2) Subaru and Mitsubishi say sayonara to Korean market
Subaru announced that it will withdraw from the Korean market. Launched in 2009, Subaru Korea was not successful in seducing Korean customers with its Legacy, Outback and Forester models. In 2011, Subaru Korea sold only 664 units, and mere 558 units by Nov this year. CXC Motors, the sole distributor for Mitsubishi in Korea is also likely to end its operation shortly. It has been selling Lancer, Outlander and Pajero, but has sold pathetic 61 units by Nov last year. In the mean time, the import cars took 10.01% of Korean market in 2012, breaking 10% market share barrier for the first time with 130,858 units sold. BMW was the leader with 28,152 units followed by Mercedes(20,389), VW(18,395) and Audi(15,126). The best selling model was BMW 520d which sold 7,485units.


 Hyundai also didn’t do well in Japanese market, and had to withdraw a couple years ago. The withdrawal of Subaru or Hyundai has nothing to do with the public sentiment between Koreans and Japanese. The car markers just need to “build models in accordance with customer sentiment,” to borrow words from Park Gen-hye.

Regards,
H.S.

LTW - Madame Prez, Samsung#1, & NK's Moonie Motors

1. National

1) Park Geun-hye elected as 18th president
Winning 51.6% of the votes, Park Geun-hye of the ruling conservative Saenuri Party won the 18th presidential race, beating Moon Jae-in from liberal Unified Democratic Party. Park became the first female president, and got the honor of being the first child of a former president as she is the daughter of former president Park Jung-hee who ruled South Korea from 1961 to 1979. Park was mostly favored by the voters in the 50s and 60s who were not comfortable with Moon’s left leaning policies. Park’s 5 year term starts on Feb 25 next year. No 2nd term allowed in Korean law.
 




Park owes a lot to Lee Jung-hee, the female candidate with 1% approval rating from the Unified Progressive Party known for its extreme pro North Korea policies. In a live three way TV debates with Park and Moon, Lee kept making rudely vicious comments against Park, but expressed warm words to Moon. This led many to believe Moon was a good friend of Lee. It was a typical case of “You are helping me a lot if you do not help me at all” to Moon. President elect Park might be serious about hiring Lee Jung-hee as her PR woman.

2) North Korea launches rocket successfully
North Korea unexpectedly fired a long-range rocket on Dec 12, putting a satellite into an orbit successfully. This proved the fear that North Korea has the technology to deliver a nuke bomb 13,000km (8,075 miles) away, or any place of U.S. territory. Though the U.N. denounced the launch as the violation of U.N. resolutions against North Korea, no real sanction is expected to take place due to objection from China. After analysis of debris retrieved from the Yellow Sea, South Korean government said Pyongyang had used red fuming nitric acid to fuel the first stage propellant.  That chemical is mostly used for intercontinental ballistic missiles in other nations like Iran.
 




The rocket launch was a Korean version of Sputnik shock. South Korea’s two attempts to launch the Naro rocket for a satellite failed in 2009 and 2010, and the third attempt this year has also been a flop so far, with two abortions just minutes before lift-off. What is more embarrassing is that the 1st stage rocket for Naro was made in Russia, meaning Naro is not wholly South Korea’s rocket. South Korea better pay Kim Jong-un only one tenths of what it paid to Vladimir Putin, and beg Kim to launch the damn Naro satellite rocket for South Korea.

2. Economy
1) Samsung stands tall as #1 cell phone maker
According to HIS iSuppli, Samsung has become the world’s #1 mobile phone maker in terms of annual sales, taking 29% of the global market, overtaking Nokia with 24%. Samsung got this goal achieved 24 years after it began making cell phones. Samsung also maintained its top position in the global smartphone market, with 28% market share, beating Apple with 20%. Nokia, HTC and RIM accounted for 5% each. On a separate note, Motorola, the first maker of mobile phones, announced that it will pull out of Korean market by February next year after losing the battle against Samsung and LG in Korea.
 
Motorola is just another foreign company pulling out of Korea, like Wal-Mart or Carrefour, with no real impact to me personally. The problem is Yahoo as it will end its business as of December 31. I will have to type in all of my e-mail address in my yhs816@yahoo.co.kr account into my Gmail account. The good side of it? I will become #1 in 500 words per minute World Championship after all the e-mail address typing.

3. Auto Industry
1) Unification Church to pass automotive decisions to North Korea
Pyeonghwa Motors’s president Park Sang-kwon said the management control of the joint venture company between South Korea’s Unification Church and North Korea will be taken over by North Korean government, according to Voice of America. “We transfer the right to them to practically run the company,” Park was quoted. Pyeonghwa Motors began operation in 2002, manufacturing about 2,000 vehicles every year with five different Fiat models, but was not making enough money due to lack of economy of scale. The total capital of the company was 43.5 billion won ($40M)) as of 2009.

It is probably a good decision to transfer the right to run the company from South Koreans to North Koreans. North Koreans will soon make Pyeonghwa Motors a bigger company than Hyundai, from what we have seen with the rocket launching.

Regards,
H.S.

LTW - PCH Retires, Election Heat, Gender Gaps & Pricey Seoul

1. National
1) A Korean baseball legend retires
Chanho Park, former L.A. Dodgers pitcher, announced his retirement after 19 years in the U.S., Japan and Korea. Park was the first Korean major leaguer when he joined the Dodgers in 1994. His best season came in 2000 when he won 18 wins. Park also played in Texas Ranges, San Diego Padres, New York Mets, New York Yankees, and Pittsburgh Pirates, with total of 124 wins, the most win by any Asian pitcher in MLB, one more than Tornado Nomo Hideo who won 123 wins. Park played a season in Orix Buffaloes in Japan, before returning to Korea this year to play in Hanhwa Eagles.
         
 

There are other world class Korean athletes with Park as family name. Jisung Park of Manchester United, Taehwan Park who won a 400m freestyle swimming in 2008 Beijing Olympics, and Seri Pak who have won 25 LPGA wins. Why only Seri chose to use Pak, not Park, as her family name?  Well, R pronounced in Korean sounds like “testicles,” so Seri Pak better not have R.

2) Presidential race heats on
With the Dec 19 presidential election approaching fast, the two candidates are busy crisscrossing Korea to appeal to voters. One of the two is Park Geun-hyeo, the candidate from ruling conservative Saenuri Party, and the other is Moon Jae-In from liberal United Democracy Party. Park is the daughter of late president Park Jung-hee who got assassinated by his own KCIA director in 1979 after 18 years in power. She came into politics in 1998 when she became a lawmaker.  Moon is the protege of late president Roh Mu-hyun, serving as Roh’s secretary. Roh committed suicide in May, 2009 when he was under pressure over a financial scandal a year after he left the Blue House, Korean version of White House. Park is leading the poll by some 3 or 4 percent. If Park does win, she will become the first female president in Korea.
 
A big brawl occurred lately at a bar in heaven as Park Jung-hee and Roh Mu-hyun were having a fist fight over who has to become the 18th president of Korea. “It has to be my daughter! She knows Blue House very well after living there for 18 years.”  “Hell, no! There was a building renovation done in Blue House a few years ago while I was there, and your daughter doesn’t know a damn thing about where the main office is located.”

2. Economy
1) It is expensive in Seoul! 
Seoul is one of the most expensive cities in the world to buy wind, infant formula, smartphones, cosmetics and jeans because of its exclusive distribution structure, according to Consumers Korea which compared the prices of 55 daily necessities sold at department stores, discount stores and supermarkets in 18 countries. Seoul was among the top 5 most expensive cities for 17 of the products. For example, Ritz Lytton Springs Zinfandel wine from the U.S. was sold at the highest price of 113,000 won ($104.20) in Korea, followed by China (97,490 won), Italy (78,170 won), Taiwan (75,420 won) and Thailand (58,160 won). In the U.S., the same product retails for 28,000 won, meaning it is four times more expensive in Seoul. Exclusive distributors like department stores tend to import and distribute foreign wines, cosmetics, jeans and infant formula, and they have the most expensive distribution margins and sales commissions.
 
A Metaldyne executive once stayed in Renaissance Hotel in Gangnam, Seoul, and he was very much surprised at the $38 price tag for a breakfast buffet at the hotel.  He ended up gaining 10kg in a week in Renaissance Hotel. Being very strict in his cost efficiency policy, he emptied as many dishes as possible, counting how much money spent per kilogram of food he consumed.

2) Korea’s gender wage gap the most 
According to the survey by OECD, Korea has the largest wage gap between men and women among 28 OECD nations surveyed. The average man earned 39% more than the average woman in 2010. The wage gap in Korea was 2.6 times bigger than in the OECD as a whole, which is 15%, and 10% points higher than 2nd raked Japan which had 29%. The third place was Germany with 21% gap, followed by the U.S. and Canada. The gender wage gap in Korea was 40% in 2000, so it took 10 years to lower it by only one percent.
  

The gender wage gap in Korea is nothing compared to the wage gap between the military and the civilians. My two sons joined the military three months ago in September, the first son in the army and the second one in the air force. They are getting 81,500 won ($80) a month. Well, the wage gap has been narrowed a lot for the last 30 years. Their father got 3,000 won a month when he joined the army in Aug, 1982.

3. Auto Industry
1) GM Korea to build turbo engines 
GM Korea announced that it will invest over 100 billion won ($92M) to build next generation 1.4L turbocharged gasoline engines at its Bupyeong plant in Incheon. The turbo engine will power the Chevrolet models including Trax SUV from the first half of next year. Sergio Rocha, the president of Gm Korea, said “The significant investment is a clear evidence of GM’s long-term commitment in GM Korea and confidence in our ability to offer more advanced engines to satisfy our customers.”  There has been a criticism to GM Korea lately over its recent decision not to make new Malibu models in its Gunsan plant.
   
The Bupyeong plant is surrounded by high rise apartment buildings now, with land price about $360 per square foot, but there was nothing when Saenara Motor Company built the plant in 1962. The first model rolling off from Bupyeong was 1961 MY Nissan Bluebird that Saenara manufactured with imported components from Nissan as SKD (Semi-Knock-Down). It then became like Chapter 1 in Matthew in the New Testament. Saenara got sold to Shinjin Motors 1965. Shinjin Motors got bought by GM in 1972. GM sold the plant to Saehan Motors in 1976. Saehan then got purchased by Daewoo Motors in 1978. Daewoo Motors was acquired by GM in 2001.

Regards,
H.S.

LTW - Defectors Return, Korean Diabetes, Hyundai goes to Brazil

 1. National
1) Defectors from N.Korea return to their country
The North Korean news agency announced that Kim Kwang-hyok, 27, who defected to South Korea in 2008 via China has returned to North Korea along with his wife, also a North Korean defector whom he met in South Korea. Showing the couple in a press interview, the news agency reported that the couple was lured to the South “by dint of gimmicks, appeasement and manipulation of brokers and agents of the South Korean intelligence agency” and “suffered a miserable life in S.Korea.” It was the 2nd time North Korea reported on the returning defectors in the media this year.
 

North Koreans defect to South Korea because of poverty, but North Korea has claimed that the defectors are not the victim of poverty in North Korea. One North Korean said in a press interview that “More South Koreans are moving to the U.S. than North Koreans coming to South Korea. Are the South Koreans the defectors to the U.S. because of poverty in South Korea?”

2) More Koreans have diabetes
According to a report from the Korean Diabetes Association, one in 10 adults over 30 was diabetic in 2010. The rate rose to 22.7% for people over 65. If to include those suffering from pre-diabetes symptoms like abnormal glucose levels, nearly half (47.4%) of all senior people are either diabetic or close to it.  The rate of diabetes among Koreans was 8.6% in 2001, and rose to 9.1% in 2005.  KDA said the rising number of senior citizens, surge in obesity, lack of exercise, consumption of fatty foods and stress are the main reasons behind the increase.
 
I respect my wife for spending two hours every day at a fitness center as I feel 5 minutes on a treadmill is worse than 5 hours of watching a cricket game. My respect for her evaporates quickly, however, each time she pushes the button for an elevator at my apartment where we live on the third floor.

2. Economy
1) Hyundai Heavy Industries to build a diesel engine plant with Cummins of U.S.A.
Hyundai Heavy Industries broke ground to build a new diesel engine plant in a joint venture with Cummins Engine in Daegu, 300km southeast of Seoul. The plant will produce 50,000 engines a year once it is completed in 2014 with $80M investment. HHI said the JV will secure a steady supply of engines for construction equipment as it is expanding its business in this field. HHI’s construction equipment division has sales of $3.7billion last year, up 29% from 2010. HHI expects the new plant will generate 5,000 new jobs and $1.8 billion in economic effect.
  

HHI is the world’s largest shipbuilder with 53.7 trillion won ($48.8B) in sales in 2011.With slowdown in European economy, HHI just began offering “honorary retirement” package to cut labor cost, the first time to do so in its 40 year history. What is irony is that HHI had spent billions of won in T.V commercials until just a few months ago to boast their contribution to the society by saying “Do you know a company whose average employee service period is 19.1 years?”  Well, “Do you know a company which plans to cut average employee service period by 30% in less than 3 months?”

3. Auto Industry
1) Hyundai opens its Brazil plant.
Hyundai Chairman Chung Mongkoo was in Piracicaba, 160km northwest of Sao Paulo, for the grand opening of its first automobile plant in South America. Built on a 1.4 million area with investment of $700, the plant can roll out 150,000 units a year. The HB20 subcompact car that runs of gasoline and bio-ethanol is the plant’s first model. With the 35% duty exemption for those from the new Brazil plant, Hyundai expects to boost its sales in Brazil significantly from 85K a year to capture 10% of the Brazil market. The Brazil plant is Hyundai’s 7th overseas plant after India, Turkey, Beijing, Alabama, Czech Republic, and Russia, not counting Kia’s three other overseas plants.
  

I can testify the grand opening of the Brazil plant was the work of nearly 14 year preparation. When I put my resignation in Hyundai, my boss thought I was still a value for the company and put me in Brazil project task force team on April 30, 1999. I left the company on May 10, though. There had been ups and downs with the Brazil project ever since, and Hyundai finally broke ground in Oct, 2010 as Hyundai thought its goal of world’s No.4 maker would not be possible without a plant in Brazil that has become world’s 7th automotive manufacturing country. It wasn’t that Hyundai wanted to reinforce its soccer team by hiring a bunch of Pele’s proteges.

2) GM Korea’s Gunsan plant in dispute
The union in GM Korea is protesting at the company’s recent decision not to produce new 2014 MY Cruze in its Gunsan plant, 300km south of Seoul. Employing 3,300 employees, the Gunsan plant currently manufactures 260K passenger cars a year, and 160K of them are Cruze. GM Korea President Sergio Rocha said there will be no reverse of the decision, and the decision was made after GM’s strategy over manufacturing cost, profit and sales opportunities. The union threatened that “GM will receive huge protest from the workers unless it revokes its decision.” The union also said they can even wage strikes.

   
The union is getting emotional instead of logical, just like what they have been doing so many years under Daewoo Motor days. This is GM, a typical American company, and it is those in Detroit who are making global strategic decisions. The union can strike, make protest visits to GM in Detroit, petition to Korean politicians or have PSY sing “Gunsan Style” at Today Show, but all their efforts still would not be productive unless they can better explain to Mr.Rocha and GM CEO Dan Akerson why Cruze production in Gunsan means more money to GM than anywhere else. Just an opinion of someone who has worked for an American company for 14 years after Brazil project.

Regards,
H.S.