L2W - Ferry Sorrow & Economics, High Won, & O in Korea

1. National

1) Korea still in sorrow

The sadness of Apr 16 Sewol ferry incident has continued, with 275 dead and 29 still missing. A principle committed suicide out of shame he was save while many of his students have not. The Prime Minster had to submit his resignation, and President Park Geun-hye apologized for the government’s initial handling of the disaster. Outraged by KBS newsroom chief’s personal comparison of the Sewol tragedy to traffic accidents, the families of the victims staged a sit-in in front of the Blue House, demanding President Park to fire the head of KBS and to meet with them. Another tragedy also occurred as one rescue diver lost his life in his efforts to retrieve the victims from the water. Nearly 50% of news time is still about the ferry incident, nearly a month after the incident.

It is an irony that anti-government forces are taking advantage of the tragedy to overthrow Park’s regime, harassing Park to step down in street protests, but there are no protestors at all in front of the headquarter of Chonghaejin, the ferry operating company. It’s like Americans blaming George Bush and Whitehouse for 9/11, instead of Bin Laden and Al Quaeda.

2) Barack Obama in Korea

Mr. Obama made a two day visit to Korea on Apr 25. He consoled the families of the ferry boat victims, sent a strong message to Kim Jong-un not to tinker with nuclear tests, and agreed to delay South Korea’s takeover of wartime operational control, currently scheduled for 2015, during the visit to the U.S. Army base in Seoul with President Park. He also touched on diplomatic issues, bringing up China’s role to better control North Korea, and mentioning “comfort women was a terrible violation of human rights.”

Kim Jong-un must be ticked off by Obama’s comments in Seoul. Soon after Obama’s visit, North Korea’s news agency poured racial insults to Obama, like “Obama is a monkey to live in a zoo in Africa” or “Obama is a crossbreed.” Kim Jong-un should learn from Donald Sterling of LA Clippers on how damaging it can be to make racial slurs to the Americans.

2. Economy

1) High Won to cut export profits

With the constant increase of Korea Won against the U.S. dollar, export driven companies are in worries. It was 1,084 won per dollar on Feb 4, but got strengthened to 1,022 won on May 8, a 5.7% increase in three months. It was the strongest won value since Lehman Brothers crisis in Nov 2008.  Though the impact may be limited for big companies like Hyundai or Samsung that has hedging mechanisms, analysts believe their profit margins will weaken if the won strengthens to the 1,010 won level. Much more difficulties are expected for small and midsize exporters with less ability to hedge currency risks.

While high won is a bad news for Korean export companies, it was a good news for parents who send their children to the U.S. for schooling. My wife and I got into a panic in 2009 to find money for $40,000 tuition fee at Washington University in St.Louis for my first son, when the currency rate was running around 1,600 won at that time. We took a sigh of relief only after he managed to get a scholarship fund that covers most of the tuition. Attaboy!

2) Ferry incident’s negative effect in economy

The government has decided to pour 7.8 trillion won to provide support for regions and industries hit hard by the ferry incident and the sag in domestic spending that followed. According to the Seoul Association of Chartered Bus Transportation Business, almost all reservations of chartered buses for school trips since Apr 16 have been cancelled. Korea’s largest discount store E-Mart saw its sales drop by 3.5% in April, while its rival Lotte Mart also suffered 4.5% drop. Daily credit card spending got reduced by 4.6% after the Apr 16 accident. Housing transactions also reduced about 11% in April from March as “there have been fewer people willing to buy a house in the sorrowful national mood,” to a realtor in Seoul.

There was a big flood from typhoon Lusa in Gangwon Province in the east of Seoul in 2002, and many were in sorrow over the loss of lives and properties. While people were working hard for restoration in a village, there was a tourist group from outside, drinking, dancing and having good time, right next to the restoration workers. The drinking tourists were severely hammered by the media, but local authority asked more people to come to their town for drinking and dancing. Gangwon Province’s main industry was tourism.

3. Auto Industry

1) Big hands to Hyundai Genesis from IIHS

Hyundai’s new Genesis earned “Top Safety Pick+” ratings from the U.S. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) crash test, becoming the first passenger car to receive top grades in all 29 categories of the test.  IIHS said the redesigned Genesis received a “Good” rating in the small overlap frontal crash, and “Superior” for its front crash prevention system, the first time any Hyundai or Kia model to do so. Hyundai hopes the IIHS rating will boost its Genesis sales in the U.S. and globally, reaching 24,000 and 68,000 units, respectively, this year.  

.With the success of Genesis, Hyundai has chosen many good names for its future models. They are Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, …….

Regards,

H.S.

L2W: Double Justice Standard, NK Drones, & Students Staying Home

1. National
1) The fairness in Korean justice system under question
Koreans must feel proud about a prisoner who has higher wage than Bill Gates. The Supreme Court began reviewing the prison labor system after a huge public outcry over a court’s decision to allow Huh Jaeho, the owner of once Korea’s 52nd largest company,  to pay off 25.4 billion won (U$23.5M) fine by spending 49 days in a prison labor house, making paper boxes. This means 500 million won a day for Mr.Huh, while the ordinary prisoners are paying off only 50,000 won ($46) a day.  As the controversial ruling was given by the judge who has been stationed in the same district for 29 years, which might have led to improper connections with local big wigs, the Supreme Court is making a system in which judges are to move to new locations after serving certain years in a city.

The injustice in Korean judicial system was high lighted in 1988 when four prison escapees took a girl in hostage in Seoul, protesting why they should get 17 years of jail sentence for 5 million worth theft, while ex-president Chun Doohwan’s brother got only 7 years for 7 billion won embezzlement. All but one killed themselves in a live TV broadcast, shouting “No money, much guilty. Much money, no guilty.” (無錢有罪. 有錢無罪) If they were Americans, they would have shouted, “One law for the rich, another for the poor!”

2) North Korea drones flying over South Korean air space
Korean got worried with the discovery of three North Korean drones in different locations in the last two weeks. What is disturbing is that one of the drones had pictures of Blue House (Korean Whitehouse), and many are wondering what if the drone had bombs with GPS locked on the Blue House? The drones were made of foam core fiber glass, powered by 4-cylinder engine, and equipped with Canon DSLR cameras without real time transmission function. The military thinks the drones had crashed returning to North Korea due to lack of gasoline or engine trouble. North Korea has not claimed the drones were from North Korea, but ridiculed South Korean military for letting drones fly freely in South Korean airspace.


 Arms dealers should flock to Pyongyang as the North Korean drone that flew over the Blue House without radar detection would cost less than $25,000 to make. Why pay 150 million dollars for an F-35 stealthy fighter from LockeedMartin that basically has the same capability as the North Korean drone?

2. Economy
1) Less Koreans students studying overseas
According to a government statistics, the number of Korean students from elementary school to high school studying abroad has halved for the first time in six years. It rose from 4,397 in 2000 to peak at 29,511 in 2006, began to slide after Leman Brothers crisis to 14,340 in 2012, marking a 51.4% drop in six years. Experts attributed the decline to the ongoing economic slowdown, and a growing awareness that studying overseas with better English skill no longer means a leg up in landing good jobs in Korea.

The term ‘Goose daddy’ was coined in early 2000 to describe a father who lives alone and makes money in Korea to send their kids abroad for study with his wife because a goose tends to take care of his babies without trying to find another partner when he loses his spouse. A close friend of mine from Hyundai has been a goose with his two kids and wife in Vancouver for over 15 years. I nicknamed him Super Goose.

2) Philip Morris to move production from Australia to Korea
AFP reported Philip Morris plans to close its 60 year old factory in Melbourne, Australia by the end of this year and relocate it to its facility in Yangsan, Korea.  The decisions came after the Australian government’s decades long drive to carry out anti-smoking policies such as forcing cigarette companies to display strong health warnings on cigarette packets. There will be loss of 180 jobs in Philip Morris Australia from the shut down.

   

 There is a strong bias against women smoking, and it would be like a woman hanging an “I am spoiled” sign if she smokes in public places. My boss in the U.S. was once very much surprised to see so many men smoking in the streets in Gangnam, but no women smoking at all. He should have checked female toilets in a nearby Starbucks.

3. Auto Industry
1) New Sonata unveiled
Code named as LF, the new 7th generation Sonata was unveiled in Seoul, featuring 2.0L Nu engine and 2.4L Theta engine. Well aware of foreign competitors mostly priced around 30 million won, Hyundai put its price tag at 29.9 million won for its top version. Hyundai has boasted that advanced high-strength steel with tensile strength of more than 60Kg (132Lbs) per square millimeter is used in 51% of the new Sonata’s structure, enhancing frame strength by 41 percent. Since its 1st generation launch in 1985, Hyundai has sold nearly 7 million Sonatas so far. Hyundai plans to sell 228K Sonatas this year, and 380K next year.
 


Sonata has the longest model name in Hyundai. Ever since its launch 1985, Sonata has kept breaking the predecessor’s sales record without exception. Will the new 7th generation continue its proud tradition?  Yes and no from my 28 years of automotive experience. Yes, if it sells well. No, if it doesn’t.

Regards,
H.S.

L2W - PGH in Europe, DJ Oops, '90 Bride Shortage, & Cadet Vices

1. National
1) President Park Geun-hye visits Europe
Park Geun-hye left for Europe on Sunday, to attend the biennial Nuclear Security Summit Meeting in Hague on Mar 25-26, and to visit Germany afterwards. She plans to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss on how to have Kim Jong-un back to nuke talks, and to have meeting with Japanese PM Abe Shinjo with Barrack Obama in the middle. It would be Park’s first meting with Abe after her election win 15 months ago. She will have a summit meeting with Angela Merkel in Berlin, and is expected to make a key announcement over unification with North Korea in Dresden.
   


Park Geun-hye’s direct flight to Europe in Korean Air Force One can be compared to her father’s flight to West Germany to borrow money 50 years ago in 1964. South Korea being so poor, her father, Park Jung-hee, had to hop on a commercial flight from Tokyo to Bonn that had 8 stopovers like Hongkong and Bangkok, in a 28 hours flight to Berlin. Park Jung-hee never knew the money he borrowed from West Germany would turn out to be the money well spent that made his daughter’s comfy flight possible 50 years later.

2) A foot-in-the mouth joke costs a radio host’s job
Park Kyung-rim, a famous radio show host, had to resign after her joke over Korean civil defense exercise. Her radio show was delayed by 20 minutes because of the defense exercise broadcasting, and she joked “Who can give me compensation for the loss of 20 minutes of my show?” The homepage of her show got paralyzed by the criticism from the listeners who blamed Park for not realizing the fact South Korea is under constant threat from North Korea. South Korea has been holding civil defense exercise the 15th day of each month since 1972 in which all the vehicles have to pull over, and all the outdoor activities stop during the 20 minute exercise.

   

Ryan Garko, a former hitter from Cleveland Indians now playing for Samsung Lions, became a laughing stock during the exercise. When the exercise siren went off, Garko asked his Korean teammates rushing to dugout what is happening. His teammates said it was an air attack from North Korea, and Garko got panicky and called his wife in Daegu, home of Samsung Lions, to tell her escape. Knowing the truth afterwards, Garko suddenly began to swagger and vowed he would rush to Camp Walker, a U.S. military base in Daegu, and get an M-16 rifle to fight against the North Korean Army if was real.

2. Economy
1) Lack of brides for those born in 1990
Lack of spouse for men born in 1990 became real 24 years later. The year 1990 was when the ratio of baby boys was the highest with 116 boys for every 100 girls while normal rate is 103 to 107 boys. The reason stems from a superstition that girls born in the year of White Horse are stubborn and will face a tough life, and the year 1990 was the very year of White Horse. With ultrasound available at that time, there was high chance of more abortions in that year. The year 2002 was another horse year, but it was around the time the traditional preference for boys was on the wane, thus leaving 1990 as the year with the biggest imbalance due to superstition.

    

Just a little plug. My first son serving in South Sudan as a U.N. Peace Keeping Force was born in 1990. While a marriage can be his problem in the near future because of 1990, he is facing an immediate problem. He has completed junior in psychology at Washington University in St. Louis, and is looking for an internship to start after he retires from the army in June this year. He says it is a prerequisite these days to have an intern experience before graduation. If you happen to know someone or a company who can hire an intern, please let me or him know. (brian-_-yoon@hotmail.com)

2) Drinking, smoking and dating relaxed for cadets
The Korea Military Academy, Korean version of West Point, announced it will allow its cadets to drink, smoke and date outside the school, breaking the ban that has been in place from 1952. Under current rules, the cadets can not smoke at all, may drink only under the blessing of superiors, and can not engage in any sexual relationship even outside school. The new rules will allow the cadets to drink or smoke as long as they are not engaged in official duties or attending official events outside the school. They can also have sexual relationship outside the school unless it causes social and moral issues. The rules had to be relaxed after a recent court ruling that a cadet who got dismissed from the KMA in 2012 because he slept with his fiancée outside the school be allowed to return to school.

 

What would have happened to West Point established in 1802 if it had the same rules as KMA’s over drinking, smoking and dating? It would have closed in 1802.

3. Auto Industry
1) A Canadian bonus for Korean car makers
Korea and Canada reached terms for FTA after 8 years of negotiation. Canada will become Korea’s 12th FTA partner, and Korea Canada’s first East Asian FTA nation. As automobile accounts for 43% of Korea’s export to Canada, Korean car makers are expected to be the biggest winners as Canada will scrap its 6.1% duty within 2 years. A loser would be Korean farmers as they are to compete against Canadian beef with free duty around 2030. The FTA with Canada will go into effect early next year after ratification by lawmakers in both nations.
  
 Canada comes as both good and bad memories to Hyundai. Good memories as Hyundai got confident about U.S. market penetration after successful launch of its Pony in Canada in 1982. So successful that Pony became the most sold import model in the first year of launch, and Hyundai had no qualms about selling its Excel in the U.S. from 1986. Bad memories because its Bromont plant in Quebec had to be closed in 1993 only after 5 years of operation. As the Bromont plant was its first overseas plant, Hyundai had to choose the best of the best employees to work in the plant. While the plant had to be closed, the experiences gained there were essential for the successful operation of Hyundai and Kia’s overseas plants afterwards. Am I meaning to say I was the best of the best in Hyundai? Well, people thought so at that time, probably wrongly, though.

Regards,
H.S.

L2W - Doctor Strike, Coffee Beats Bars, and Emigration Low

1. National
1) Big change in mind with a political reformer 
Ahn Cheol-soo announced to form a new party with opposition Democratic Party, ditching his ambitions to form his own new party. A founder of Ahn Lab, Korean version of McAfee, Ahn Cheol-soo has been known as the savior to correct all the bad things in politics ever since he announced his bid for Seoul Mayor in Sep, 2011, for which he yielded candidacy to his best friend who got elected. He ran for presidency in 2012, but yielded the candidacy again to someone from DP who lost the election. His approval rating nearly three times higher than DP, Ahn was in the process of forming his own party with the slogan of “New Politics.” With recent drop in his popularity, and difficulties to attract influential politicians who would gather under his “New Politics” umbrella, however, Ahn is joining forces with DP that he has libeled as Old Politics to fight against the ruling Saenuri Party.
Ahn has been decorating himself to appear as a mystic angel, with all the beautiful words from his mouth that would exist only in utopia. Facing realities with money and people in forming his own party prior to gubernatorial election in June, Ahn probably has realized the real world is very different from his dream. A fan of Ahn, my wife also realized after his decision to partner with DP that Ahn drinks normal water, not pure water, and goes to toilet as often as we do.

2) Doctors on Strike 
This was the same headline I used 14 years ago when medicines had to be sold at pharmacy, not hospitals. They are striking again to protest the government’s plan to allow medical examination over the internet that can save patients with chronic diseases like high blood pressure and diabetes from travelling large distances. The Korea Medical Association claims it will put the health of patients at risk because it is too difficult for doctors to assess the patients accurately through the video on computer. The government called the strike illegal, and threatened to take actions that can put the strikers in prison for three years.



I applied, but failed to get an admission from a medical college after high school in 1980, ending up with engineering college at Hanyang University. Had I been accepted with the medical school, I might be one of the doctors on strike today. Compared to other nations, Korean doctors are not well paid under current national medical insurance system. My mother-in-law recently had a skin cancer surgery that took four hours of operation, and paid only 350,000 Won or U$333. This might be the same amount a flu patient would pay for a five minute talk with a doctor in the U.S.

2. Economy
1) Coffee shops winning over bars 
An analysis by Statistics Korea showed that the number of coffee and juice stores in Seoul has increased an average of 16.7% a years from 2008, while adult bars for men only, which include hostess bars and room salons, shrunk an average of 2.4%. Koreans couldn’t understand the idea of drinking coffee that costs as much as a meal when Starbucks opened its first store in Seoul in 1998, but quickly began to hangout more in coffee shops. It has now become a local culture to have a cup of coffee after meals somewhere else.

 

English speakers are to be careful when they offer someone a drink in Korean coffee shops as you might get a nice slap in the face if you say “Would you care for a sip?”  Sip sounds like derogatory ‘sexual intercourse’ in Korean, more like ‘f**k’ in English.  Not sure?  Try “Care for a sip?” with any Korean near you, and see what happens to your ear.

2) Korean emigrants drop to record low 
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the number of Korean emigrants last year dropped to 302 people, the lowest since 1962 when emigration numbers began to be gathered. In pursuit of American Dream, many Koreans moved out of Korea in the 60’s and 70’s, with peak in 1976 with 46,533 people. With the rise of Korean economy in the 80’s and the difficulties in living in foreign nations, however, the number of emigrants began to slow down. The U.S. is still the most favored destination as 239 of the 302 emigrants moved to the U.S.  Canada was 2nd most popular nation with 23 emigrants, followed by Australia with 18.

 

I was not an emigrant, but lived in Bromont near Montreal for five years while in Hyundai in the early 90’s. Would I have chosen to live in Canada forever if I was given a chance? Yes and no. Yes, because of the good social welfare system and beautiful landscape as wells as wide parking space. No, because of the damn snow that often turned me into a Yuna Kim on the road.

3. Auto Industry
1) Hyundai Steel stock price in dive  
Hyundai Steel, a sister company of Hyundai Motors, had to see its stock price drop by nearly 15%  in two weeks after the news it has agreed to give as much as 90,000 won per ton cost reduction to Hyundai and Kia. The stock analysts are forecasting Hyundai Steel can give up as much as 250 billion won in operating profit this year because of the cost reduction offer. While POSCO is also giving price reduction, Hyundai Steel is expected to get hit more as it relies on Hyundai Automotive Group for 24% of its sales (3.4 million ton) while POSCO’s steel sales to Hyundai is only 2.3% (800K ton) of its total sales. Hyundai Steel gave cost reduction to its Big Sister. What about those without blood relationship?

   

It can be necessary for auto suppliers to chip in some cost reduction for car makers so that they can sell more vehicles with price advantage, thus buying more from the suppliers in good cycle. Car makers would sell a lot more if they can also chip in, by reducing internal cost through productivity improvement with the union workers.

Regards,
H.S.

L2W - Flawless But, Reunions, & Frozen Records

1. National

1) Korean team wins 3 golds, ranking 13th in Sochi

Korea wrapped up Sochi Winter Olympics with 3 golds, 3 silvers and 2 bronze, ranking 13th, the worst since Salt Lake in 2002.  Korea could have ranked Top 10 had Victor Ahn, who won 3 golds and 1 bronze for Russia in short track events, had not chosen to become a Russian citizen in 2011. It could also have helped if Yuna Kim’s flawless performance in figure skating was not judged by those with Russian connection. With all the three golds won by female athletes, Korean male athletes better do much better in Pyeongchang in 2018. 

     

Yuna Kim is retiring after Sochi, and so is her rival Asada Mao of Japan. Both born in 1990, the two have dominated the figure skating for the past 8 years through competition. Asada Mao has been standing in medal stands so often with Yuna Kim a little higher stand that she has learned Korean national anthem by heart.

2) Family reunion resumed in 40 months

A group of 82 South Koreans met relatives from North Korea in North Korea’s Mr.Kunggangsan on Feb 20. It was the first such event after 40 months when inter Korea relationship began to sour. Park Woon-hyung, 93, met his daughter (68) and two sisters in North Korea the first time they got separated in 1951 during the Korean War. Kang Wan-goo, 81, met his older brother (86) in North Korea in 60 years. They lived near Seoul, and got separated when Kang joined the South Korean army, and his older brother was conscripted to North Korean army during the war.  Kim Younghwan, 89, met is his wife (86) in 60 years, but had to keep saying ‘sorry” as his wife in North Korea did not marry again, expecting they will get together someday, while he had a new wife in South Korea. 

   

The Korean War broke out in 1950 and ceased in 1953. The family who got separated during the war had thought DMZ will go away shortly and they will reunite soon, like my grand father whose younger sister fled to North Korea with her communist husband during the war. She would be about 106 years old now if she is still alive.

2. Economy

1) Frozen keeps breaking records

Disney animation “Frozen” has been viewed by 9.61 million Korean spectators since its release on Jan 16, almost one in five, and is expected to break 10 million this week. It has already broken records held by Titanic and Ironman 3 with 9 million, and is fast approaching toward the all time record of 13.6 million viewers with ‘Avatar.’  Korea now has become the biggest market for Frozen outside the U.S., with $73 million in ticket sales so far.  Experts say the causes of its success are its catchy music like “Let it go” and main character Elsa’s life that resembles President Park Geun-hey’s life as both lost their parents and got the kingdom or presidency back later. 

 

Frozen was the first foreign movie my wife and I went to a theater together since Avatar. My wife was very much impressed with the movie, enough to download “Let it go” in her cell phone. I also found business opportunity with it as Disney can market Frozen as a tool to help patients with insomnia, after removing high-pitched “Let it go” portion. 

2) More chickens consumed during the Olympics

It would be beers and potato chips for Americans to watch sports events, but it would be beers and chickens for Koreans. Sales of chickens have rebounded due to the Winter Olympics after serious drop by avian flu outbreak in Korea. In Lotte Mart, sales of cooked chicken rose 22% on-year between Feb 10, right after the opening of the Sochi Olympics, and last Sunday. The sales of chicken had dropped 19% from Feb 2 to Feb 8, which was just before Olympics, by contrast. 

 

A true story in 2010 when many Koreans were gulping down OB beer and devouring chicken well after mid night to watch Korean soccer team play in World Cup in South Africa. Fighting sleep, a lady began to whine why the hell people in South Africa have to play soccer at 2 o’clock in the morning. The problem was she wasn’t joking. 

3. Auto Industry

1) Hyundai to build its No.4 plant in China

Hyundai Beijing currently has three plants in Beijing with 1.05 million units a year capacity. It is about to build its No.4 plant with 300K a year capacity in Chongqing in Sichuan.  Hyundai chose Chongqing because of infrastructure in place for auto industry. Changan Motors and its JV with Ford have plants in Chongqing, producing 2 million vehicles a year, and GM is also building a new plant there. The total auto production in China was 15 million units last year, and is expected to grow 10% a year for the time being, thanks to the 1.3 billion people in motorization.

 

In other note, rumors have it that Hyundai is very serious about building its No.2 plant in Alabama and the first plant in Mexico. If wrong, my crystal ball must be made in Russia, with its quality performance inspected by the figure skating judges. 

Regards,

H.S.

L2W: The Big Leak, Hockey Citizens, & 'Comfort' Era Ending

1. National
1) A ‘comfort woman’ dies, only 55 known survivors left  
Hwang Geum-ja, former comfort woman during WWII, died of illnesses at the age of 90 on Jan 26. Born in Hamgyong Province in what is now North Korean territory, Hwang was sent to work as a comfort woman from 1940 at the age of 16.  Without a regular job, she made a living by collecting and selling recyclable bottles and papers, and government subsidy of 400,000 won ($370) a month.  Despite her being poor, she donated 100 million won she has saved in her lifetime to a scholarship fund. With her death, there are only 55 known comfort women left.
    
As the prostitution is the oldest job in the world, I asked my father born in 1935 what really happened. According to him, there was a push from the colonial government to find young women in the village to” work for the nation,” but those married were exempted. That was the reason my aunt, my father’s older sister, had to get married at the age of 15. With everyone trying to find a reason not to go, no woman in the village was sent to work as a comfort woman. To my father’s assessment, there was no ‘gun on the head’ or kidnapping type coercion, but the colonial government was involved to recruit young women to work for the soldiers.

2) Two Canadian hockey player become Korean citizens   
Michael Swift, 27, and Bryan Young, 28, were granted South Korean citizenship, which gives the two Canadians the opportunity to play in the national ice hockey team. The Ministry of Justice recognized them as “exceptional personnel,” approving their applications for naturalization to a special immigration law that allows foreign nationals with exceptional talents to hold dual citizenship. The Korean Olympic Committee suggested their naturalization in December to improve the national team’s chances of qualifying for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Korea. So far, 46 foreigners have obtained citizenship under the special naturalization process

  

Impressed with South Korea’s decision to naturalize foreigners to improve its Olympic team’s performance, Kim Jong-un might want to copy, prodding Dennis Rodman to play for North Korean basketball team in 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Monkey see, monkey do.

2. Economy
1) Personal information leak from credit card companies
Korean credit card companies are in total chaos as the prosecutors’ office found that an employee of the Korea Credit Bureau, a credit rating firm, illegally leaked 104 million pieces of cardholders’ personal and financial information to people marketing bank loans. The KCB employee carried the info via USB drives. The Finance Supervisory Service issued a warning to the public to be suspicious of any calls supposedly coming from financial companies, saying fraudsters might take advantage of the bad publicity about the leaks to cheat people, more like phishing. The three credit card companies directly hit were KB Card, NH Card and Lotte Card. As Koreans hold multiple credit cards, most of Koreans, including President Park and my wife, became the victims of the Big Leak.

 

My wife ran at the speed faster than Carl Lewis to a Lotte Card office to cancel the credit card at the news of the Big Leak last week. It was still only half the speed she ran at the news of Big Sale at the Gucci store in Lotte Department.

2) Korea to become #2 chip producer after the U.S.
According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Korea’s global semiconductor market share last year was 15.8%, up 1.6% compared to the previous year, with the total production of about $500 billion, thus becoming world’s #2 first time ever with Japan’s M/S dropping 3.6% to 13.9%. The U.S. was the top with 52.4%, with $166.45 billion.  Samsung and SK Hynics are the two giant Korean semiconductor producers. Intel was the world’s #1 chip maker with $49.1 billion sales, followed by Samsung with $32.3 billion. SK Hynics ranked 8th with $9.05 billion

   

 SK Hynics was originally Hyundai Electronic which was founded in 1983, and then went bankruptcy in the late 90’s during the Asian crisis. SK Group bought it from creditors in 2012 to diversify its business fields. What is my story with SK? Well, it was one of the three companies that decided to hire me in Dec, 1986; Hyundai, Hyosung, and SK. I kicked SK the same way I learned from Samsung when it kicked me out with internship application in Jul, 1986.

3. Auto Industry
1) GM Korea may benefit at the sacrifice of GM Australia
GM Korea may have good opportunity to export more to Australia when GM closes its plants in the country in 2017. “Korea is producing high quality cars. It will have a major role in our manufacturing set0-up in the region and there is a free trade agreement coming up between Australia and Korea,” said Stephan Jacoby, GM’s international operation chief, Detroit Motor Show. The FTA reached in December removes immediately the 5% tariff on Koran cars. In 2013, GM Korea shipped 41,000 vehicles and 21,000 units of complete knockdown (CKD) to Australia.  Jacoby’s comments came after GM’s new CEO, Mary Barra, said GM “remains very committed to the Korean market.”
   
The employees at GM Korea were let down recently when GM announced in Dec as much as 20% production reduction by 2016 as a result of GM’s decision to pull Chevrolet brand out of Europe. The young employees in GM Korea have started its own Jumpstart program from Aug, 2010, and many are hoping the exports to Australia supported by FTA do jumpstart the resurrection of GM Korea operations.

Regards,
H.S.