2009.07.31 – North Korea seized a South Korea fishing boat yesterday which had inadvertently ventured to the territorial waters of the North part of the peninsula. The 29-tons boat, named “800 Yeonanho”, had 4 people on board. The Ministry of Defense indicated that the boat left the Geojin port at 1:30pm on July 29th and have been intercepted at 6:27am on July 30th and carried to the Jangjeon port, near the border. Apparently, this intrusion in the North could be due to a malfunction of the satellite navigation system. South Korea called North Korea for immediate return of the boat, but the North said an investigation already began. The carrying of this boat came as a South Korean worker still remains detained for four months over allegations on the North regime while he was working in the joint complex of Kaesong.

2009.07.31 – Ssangyong managers and Union leaders met yesterday despite a tense background, while creditors indicated that the carmaker will be liquidated unless the factory is normalized by August 5th. According to both parts and unlike the previous talks, hopes for a peaceful agreement are growing days after days, manager and union leaders narrowing the differences on key points. Since the carmaker dismissed 36% of the employees, the group met great difficulties, economically with losses estimated at $243 million, and socially with violent conflicts between employees and police forces in the Pyeongtaek plant.

2009.07.31 – Destination: South Coast. The government wishes to make the South Coast one of the main touristic attraction places of the peninsula. This part of the peninsula is divided into around 10 main bays, from Mokpo (West) to Ulsan (East), offering sometimes idyllic sceneries. Investments will begin to be developed after having been delayed by a number of regulations. The size of piers will be stretched from 3,250m2 to 15,000m2, large enough to make able cruise ships anchor in major touristic ports like Pusan, Tongyeong, Yeosu and Mokpo. Docking stations for water sport equipment and submarines observatories will be built in addition of parks. Yachting market that has not yet emerged in Korea may know a “Boom” in the coming 5 years.

2009.07.31 – Imported cars mostly interested consumers in the thirties and forties during the first semester in South Korea. Volkswagen is the most appreciated foreign brand-mark among the foreign cars in Korea (14 128 imported cars sold during the first semester), due to its relatively inexpensive prices and fuel efficiency. Consumers in their thirties and forties, who represent the biggest demand of car and who have purchasing power, represented 57.8% of the consumers of foreign cars, aged above fifties represented 35.2% and less than thirty only 6.8%. Volkswagen owned 18.9% of the market, followed by Audi (12.2%), BMW (10.5%), Honda (9.7%) and Benz (8.8%). The Golf is the most demanded with 21.2%, followed by the Passat (16.9%) and the Tiguan (9.46%).

2009.07.31 – Briefly: Domino’s pizza launched yesterday an English version of its website (www.dominos.co.kr) for the 1 million non-korean-speaking people in South Korea; LG Electronics presented yesterday its New Chocolate Phone with 21:9 touchscreen for a better movie quality (launch in Europe in September and in South Korea); September 22nd, 2009 will a “free-car day” in Seoul to promote the use of public transport announced the Mayor Oh Se-Hoon; “Naked News” had to close after being launched one month ago because the channel has not enough money to pay the Korean anchor who had to present the program in underwear or bikini.

2009.07.30 – From seal to e-seal. South Korea plans to stop the use of the seal, called “ingam” in Korea, created in 1914 (under the Japanese colonization) and used by Koreans to approve official documents like ID, registering new houses, bank loans, business transaction, etc. (209 cases have been identified). Last year, the production of paperwork cost $375 million and 910 cases of forgery were reported. This year, e-certificates, e-signatures and other electronics identification means will supplant seals in 60% of public service works. The government wishes to replace seals by 2013. This objective has been proposed by the Presidential Commission for the National Competitiveness.

2009.07.30 – Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) reported that South Korea invested $8.9 billion in Research and Development Projects last year. 486 projects and 37,449 assignments have been made by 29 governmental agencies. First, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy spent $2.9 billion in R&D, followed by MEST with $2.8 billion and DAPA (Defense Acquisition Program Administration) with $1.15 billion. Investments in R&D have been made in priority in the Industry Production and Technology field (29.4%) and the Defense (14.3%), whereas the smaller part concerned Environment conservation (2.6%) and Preservation and Improvement of Health (9%). Governmental Research Institute spent the most (41.4%), followed by Universities (24.2%) and SMEs (10.7%).

2009.07.30 – Microblogging is trendy in South Korea. As everybody know all over the world, Twitter (USA) is the reference with its tweets (short messages with a 140 maximum letters), but userstory.net, locally developed, is going to launch its new microblogging service. Based on the same concept, Userstory will offer no-limit writing message. Other portals already opened in the same way as Twitter like Tocpic.com (which allows to write comments), Runpipe.com created by the co-founder of Cyworld Lee Dong-Hyung, and Itgling.com. KT and SK Telecom, telecom operators, logged in on Twitter (KT recently and SKT since May 2009). KT has 900 followers and SK T, “only” 800, as KT made a big buzz with the (upcoming?) launch of the IPhone in South Korea.

2009.07.30 – South Korea, one of the leading countries in Telecom and Internet, has the highest cell phone rates for voice calling among 15 countries (including 12 OECD members) with the same traffic. Korea ‘s average rate is $0.1443 for a voice call, up from the 15-countries average of $0.1024. In 2008, the 15 countries totalized more than 180 minutes of monthly average minutes used by subscribers. SK Telecom is the third operator, among leading operators in 10 countries (USA, UK, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore,…) to offer highest rate per minute. Both Korean operators (KT and SKT) do not believe this survey conducted by the KCA (Korea Consumer Agency) indicating that each country has different communication structures and rates systems, adding the it is not possible to compare Korean rates with other countries.

2009.07.30 – Briefly: Lee Cham (former Bernhard Quandt), first German to be naturalized in Korea, took the lead of the Korea National Tourism Organization (KNTO); Choi Han-Bit, 23 years-old Korean transsexual, has been qualified, and it is the first time, for the final stage of the “2009 Asia-Pacific Supermodel Contest”; Two Korean students have been found dead in Australia in a car submerged in a two meters deep waterway after they made a drinking party with other Korean students; The number of Korean who travelled abroad during the first semester decreased by 31.9% (4.47 million) compared to last year, the worst result since 10 years reported the KNTO.

2009.07.29 – The government and Cheong Wa Dae (Blue House) will conduct a survey on the public opinion regarding the setting up of the Summer Time from 2010. According to the study made by the Economic Research Institute of the Seoul National University, the country should be able to reap $136.2 billion in terms of annual economic benefits and could reduce its electric power consumption by 0.13 to 0.15% every year, saving $34.1 billion to $65.3 billion between April and September. This could participate actively to the “Green Growth” plan and the launch of the Presidential Committee on Green Growth. The government will finalize by October the implementation measures by adjusting flight schedule and electronics system for financial, administration and industry sectors. Until today, 90% of workers do not think it will force them to stay longer in the office. Among OECD members, only South Korea, Japan and Iceland are not applying Summer Time.

2009.07.29 – Kumho Asiana change its head. Park Sam-Koo, chairman of the 8th biggest Korean chaebol, steps down, taking responsibility for the failure in the group’s management. His brother, Park Chan-Koo, actual chairman of the chemical branch of the group, also stepped down. The third and fourth sons of the group’s founder wish that their stepping down will save Kumho Asiana from the liquidity crisis the group has been suffering of, which pushed the group to sell recently Daewoo Engineering and Construction bought three years before. Park Sam-Koo has been replaced by the vice-chairman of the group, Park Chan-Bup, and will remain as honorary chairman to support the group without any management involvement.

2009.07.29 – Korea Telecom (KT) launched yesterday, in cooperation with Skylife, a new hybrid service “Qook TV-Skylife” which combines IPTV (Internet television) and digital satellite broadcasting. This new product offers 170 channels through Skylife and 65,000 VOD (Video on Demand) through the services of Qook TV by KT for a premium package (21,600 KRW, three years subscription), a standard package (18,000 KRW) or an economy package (14,400 KRW). This kind of combination between two services already exists in Europe and in the USA, awaking a great interest from SK Telecom and LG Dacom for the local market. The cooperation with Skylife should not require any additional costs as the subscribers should only have to replace the set-top box.

2009.07.29 – The workers’ bill which caused massive layoffs in companies employing irregular workers is about to be reviewed by the government and officials of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP). The GNP is not going to engage in a two-years moratorium on irregular workers but plan to create a task force team to resolve problems caused by the bill. Until today, all the measures proposed and voted by the government have been rejected by the opposition and labor union. Thus, new measures made by the task force should be established in the coming months to improve the law.

2009.07.29 – Briefly: Seongnam Ilhwa has been eliminated of the Peace Cup organized in Spain after a 0-0 against FC Seville and a defeat 3-0 against Juventus FC; South Korea reported a high trade surplus for the first semester reaching $21.75 billion with its second 2009 high-record in June reaching $5.43 billion ($6.65 billion in March); Doosan group hired a new foreign executive, Charles W. Hawley, former executive of Pepsi, who will be in charge of the Human Resources; SK Telecom reported a net profit of $251 million during the second quarter, +4.6% compared to last year ($240 million).

2009.07.28 – First, the KOSPI breached last week the 1,500 points level, the first time in 10 month, then the GDP which knew its greatest growth during the second half (+2.3%), never seen since the end of 2003, today the Consumer sentiment index rose to 109 points, the high record since 7 years (114 points). Experts were already optimistic as the CSI was rising since March 2009. The Bank of Korea, which released this index, explained that the increase of stocks and housing prices and the improvement of economic indicators (Consumption and production) are lifting the consumer spirits. Financial bank Morgan Stanley reviewed its forecasts for the 2009 Korean economy, expecting a contraction of 0.5%, better than the -1.8% expected before.

2009.07.28 – Makgeolli is trendy in Korea but also abroad. This fermented rice alcohol with a milky brew (6 to 7% alcohol), first choice of the Korean farmers and manual workers until the 1970s, is taking part in the spirituous sector and the exports, with a high demand in Japan and USA. Exports rose by 13% in the first half reaching $2.13 million and 2,635 tons, the soju, traditional Korean alcohol, falling by 7% to $36.7 million and 50,696 tons. Japan is the biggest fan of makgeolli with 2,336 tons imported (89% of all the Korean exports), followed by USA (159 tons), China (57 tons) and Australia (20 tons), all these countries are the first destination of Korean people. For the soju, Japan is the first importer (81% of all Korean exports), followed by USA, China and Philippines.

2009.07.28 – Samsung Electronics plans to become a bigger player than Amazon and Sony in the e-book market by launching next year its first digital book. In partnership with Kyobo Bookstore, biggest bookstore in Korea, Samsung will produce the SNE-50K, a half-A4 paper touch-screen. The market is still not totally developed, but Samsung wants to play an important role in this sector dominated by foreign brand, and Amazon which launched its e-books series “Kindle” in 2007 and sold more than one million units in the world. The Barnes & Noble Company, first seller of book in the world, which could establish a partnership with Samsung Electronics, announced last week the launch of services for PCs, IPhone and other smart-phones, with 700,000 books volumes to read on screens, more than the double of Amazon. Sony continues to improve its products launched in 2006 and may plan to create new partnership with Google books.

2009.07.28 – Housing prices are rising along the metro line 9. This gold-color line, launched last week and set up by Veolia Transport (Seoul Line9 Operation), cuts the city from North-West to South-East. Gangseo-gu, which as considered as dull and far from Seoul center, can now enjoying this line crossing the North part of this district. Deungchon-dong and Gayang-dong can also enjoy a new role in Seoul, housing prices rose by 20% since January. People living in Gangnam, who only could join the West part of Seoul through the saturated line 2, can now easily go to Yeouido, Noryangjin and Seocho. For sure, the gold color was not a hazard.

2009.07.28 – Briefly: LG Electronics launched its new Whistle Phone with a simple design and easy applications for 400,000 won; President Lee Myung-bak announced during its speech on the radio that the Liberation Day (August 15th) will be the occasion to pardon 1.5 million people, focusing on small “crimes” committed by farmers, fishers, poor citizens, etc.; Seoul City wishes to develop the access to the top floors of highest building in the capital to allow tourists having a sky-view of the city; Korea and European Union meet today and tomorrow in Brussels to legalize the FTA text (grammar and typographic corrections).

2009.07.27 – The South Korean digital mobile broadcasting (DMB) can expect a better future in Europe. The European Union decided to cut off the 14% tariff which has been imposed until today and from 2007 on these products considered as ‘television’ and not as ‘handset’. Then, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics can already plan to develop their sales in this sector but also expect to be returned with $7.5 million that had been illegally paid during 2 years. The IT Agreement of the World Trade Organization classifies ‘handset’ as non-tariffs good, but some EU-members decided to categorize DMB as ‘television’.

2009.07.27 – North Korea opened its first “fast-food” named Samtaesong and sells its first “minced beef and bread” (no “hamburger” to avoid any US reference in the “dear leader” country). This restaurant opened as a joint-venture with a Singapore company which furnished the supplied equipment and staff training, and North Korea gave the staff and the food. The Samtaesong offers expensive dishes, as the “minced beef and bread” costs $1.70 (more than the half of the daily wage, according to South Korea which estimated the annual average income of $1,065). The restaurant also offers waffles and draft beer and will sell hot-dogs and croissants, with Korean names.

2009.07.27 – The new Copyrights law is worrying the bloggers. This law prohibits the use of any copyrighted file like pictures, videos, images, screenshots, music, etc. Many bloggers who had daily hundreds or thousands of visitors have resigned themselves to close their blogs (Naver, Egloos, etc.). The bloggers do not know what they can publish or not, since nothing had been clearly explained by the government, that has the right to prohibit any reproduction even before the author was able to complain. It created much confusion in this country where blogs have a great influence on the population. Obtaining some cents through Google Adsense with a blog which publishes a screenshot of a movie I would like to promote can justify a penalty? Bloggers already decided to export their blog to foreign platform such as facebook or blogspot.

2009.07.27 – The Korean GDP in the second quarter had the highest growth since the fourth quarter of 2003 (2.6%) with 2.3% between April and June, reported the Bank of Korea (BOK). Experts explain it through the aggressive stimulus measures which stimulated domestic demand and economy, but also through the Chinese demand that increased exports. Private spending gained 3.3%, the fastest growth since the 2002 first quarter’s 3.4%. Exports increased by 14.7% compared to first quarter due to China, first Korean exports destination. The BOK indicated that economy should contract by 1.6% this year and then recover with a +3.6% growth next year. In the same time, KOSPI breached the 1,500 point level this week, the first time since 10 months.

2009.07.27 – Briefly: The media bills which made a clash in the National Assembly is still discussed as it appears that many people voted for others; A part of the Uijeongbu Subway construction (Siemens Transportation Systems, France) collapsed killing 5 people including 2 Vietnamese; The Wine Phone by LG Electronics has been sold over 2 million in the local market since its launch in May 2007; Lee Keun-Ho will not go to PSG, but another Lee (Chun-Young) from FC Seoul will go to Europe, in Bolton (waiting for his working visa).

2009.07.24 – The World Trade Organization (WTO) published a report with the ranking of World importers and exporters. Korea became in 2008 the 10th world’s biggest importer with $435 billion (2.7% of world importation), taking the place of Netherlands now 11th. Regarding the exportations, Korea ranked 12th with an amount of $422 billion (2.6% of world exportation). Germany is still the biggest exporter with 9.1% of the world exportation ($1.47 trillion), followed by China, USA, Japan and Netherlands. USA are in the first place for importation (13.2% and $2.17 trillion) followed by Germany, China, Japan and France. Imports increased by 15% compared to 2007 and exports by 11%.

2009.07.24 – Veolia Transport (Seoul Line9 Operation) makes its project a reality. The ninth line of the Seoul Subway opens today to passengers. Represented by the gold color, this line composed with 25 stations is linking Gimpo Airport (North-West Seoul) to Shin Non-Hyeon (South-East Seoul), going along the South side of the Han River. The line 9 is the first to introduce an express subway in downtown which only stops in 9 stations. It will allow people living in Gangnam to access the Incheon International Airport in only one hour, through the AREX Train linking Gimpo to Incheon Airport. The subway will be extended to Jamsil (Sport Complex Station) by 2013 and Bangi-dong by 2015.

2009.07.24 – Evian Masters began yesterday in Evian-les-Bains in France and will close on Sunday, a new opportunity for the young Korean female “fleet” to shine. The objective will be to win for the first consecutive time a Master Championship, the last one has been won by Ji Eun-Hee (US Open). The Evian Masters is the fifth major competition in the world due to its prize ($487,500 and $3.25 million in total). Never a Korean female won the Evian Masters, Michelle Wie ranked 2nd in 2005 et 2006, and Jang Jeong lost during the play-offs in 2007. The greatest Golf player in the world (Lorena Ochoa, Cristie Kerr, Yani Tseng, Suzan Pettersen) will be gathered during this championship (live on SBS at 9pm).

2009.07.24 – Ministry of Land, Transports and Maritime affairs indicated that it spent $12.74 billion during the first half, to stimulate the regional economy and ease the economic recover in the country. This amount is 68.2% of the total 2009 budget given by the government to this Ministry, but higher than they expected for the January-June period, fixed at $12.14 billion. The constructions and improvements of roads, railroads, ports and water resources have been developed. Among the main projects, there is the Busan New Container Terminal but also many constructions in the railroads sector in Seoul (extension of some lines) and in the suburbs, and highway in the East of the peninsula.

2009.07.24 – Briefly: According to the magazine “e-Seoul Statistics”, the female population will be higher than the male one by 2029, the male population aged between 25 and 54 years old is today at 53.1% and will be under the half at 43.8% after twenty years; Kia Motors won the “Energy Winner Awards of the Year” by Consumers Korea with its LPG version of the compact car Morning; The chipmaker Qualcomm has been condemned by the Korea’s Fair trade Commission to pay $208.2 million because of abusing monopoly in the Korean market; A smuggling of South Korean dramas began in North Korea, the population does not hesitate to defy the laws to get records of Korean dramas, despite the danger.

2009.07.23 – Clash at the Korean National Assembly! What is the reason? The ruling GNP wishes to pass bills on the medias. These laws will allow, in the facts, non-financial firms to hold up to 10% of shares of the media, law considered by the Democratic Party (DP) as a way for major conservative dailies and large businesses to control the media market, but for the GNP, it is the opportunity to accelerate the development of the local media industry which falls behind global standards. This media bills, discussed for more than 8 months, was the object yesterday of a floor vote launched by the Assembly vice speaker, but the DP legislators did not accept this vote. Result: ropes, metal chains, tables, chairs and a sit-in in the hall to block the entry of the Chamber for GNP legislators. The media bills passed approved by 156 legislators, at least 148 out of 294 legislators had to vote for. After the fights, some had to be hospitalized for treatment.

2009.07.23 – Clashes in Pyeongtaek caused lots of damage and many injuries among strikers and policemen. About 2,000 policemen and Special Forces were deployed yesterday in the Ssangyong complex. The police used yesterday Taser Gun and liquid tear gas. During the afternoon, strikers of the automobile and steel industries joined a strike conducted by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions in Pyeongtaek downtown, to support the Ssangyong strikers but also resolve the disputes over temporary workers and media regulations.

2009.07.23 – Annual profits of the top10 companies in South Korea should jump by 65.4%, according to industry officials. The 10 chaebols are Samsung Electronics, Posco, Kepco, LG Electronics, Hyundai Motor, Hyundai Heavy Industries, SK Telecom, LG Display, Hyundai Mobis and Hynix. The average annual profit should be around $13.15 billion compared to $7.95 billion last year. Samsung Electronics should meet an increase of 13% to $4.95 billion and LG Electronics could triple this year its net profits (+320%) to reach $3.5 billion.

2009.07.23 – SK Telecom has been selected by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy to lead a consortium composed by SK C&C, Phychips and the Incheon International Airport, which will develop RFID technologies for mobile phones. Smart-phones should be developed and equipped with RFID reader chips for mobile RFID business and remote RFID readers. The government will invest $4 million in this project to launch the first concrete test in RFID. The tests will be made at Incheon Airport, for the air logistics businesses (air carriers, ground handlers, forwarders and deliverers) which need the RFID on air cargo.

2009.07.23 – Briefly: After LG, Samsung launches its watch phone, which will be launched next week in France, slimmer and wider than its competitor (11.98mm and 1.76-inch), half of the LG’s price but with a fewer high-end applications ($639); Hyundai and Kia announced the creation of “green plan” with $3.28 billion to develop by 2013 fuel-efficient vehicles and reduce carbon emissions at their plants; The first patient who asked the “right to die” one month ago, is still alive, raising her family’s hope but increasing the controversies about hospital’s use of like support; South Korea was watching the sky yesterday during the partial solar eclipse, total in East China and South-west Japan islands.

2009.07.22 – After a first try on Monday, the Korean police decided yesterday to approach the inflammable painting workshop in the Pyeongtaek plant of Ssangyong creating a battleground, between tear gas, nuts, bolts and Molotov cocktails. As the police tried to approach the workshop occupied by 600 strikers, three helicopters dropped 3,200 liters of liquid tear gas. Three policemen and one nonunionized employee have been injured. Today, the situation is the same, strikers staying inside their workshop and the police approaching slowly by taking position in strategic place in the complex. The future of Ssangyong, fifth carmaker in Korea, is getting dark.

2009.07.22 – Is the North Korea changing? Some signs indicate that North Korea has a new strategy. The proof could come from the North Korean delegation leaded by Pak Kun-Gwang, Ambassador and vice foreign minister-level official at Pyongyang’s foreign ministry, which came in the ASEAN Summit in Thailand and where they could meet an American delegation. At the same time, North Korea announced that there could be an event meeting (maybe during Chuseok) for families separated by the Korean War, according to the magazine Minjok 21.

2009.07.22 – It would have need only six months. Developed in January by Samsung Electronics, the 40-nano DRAM (premium semiconductor DDR3 applying a 40-nanometer process) is going to be mass-produced for the first time in the world. Such decision allows the company to continuously lead the global upscale semiconductor market. The 40-nano DRAM boasts productivity 60% higher than the 50-nano DRAM mass-produced since September 2008. These DRAMs allow the consumer to download a 2-hour DVD movie in respectively 0.18 and 0.22 seconds.

2009.07.22 – According to an OECD report, the “employment” ratio of South Korea is not good compared with other OECD members. Korea is ranking 22nd among 33 countries with a ratio of 63.8%. This ratio is the comparison between the number of employed people and the total population over 15 years old. The more the ratio is down, the more the number of people who are not participating in the economic activity is high (looking for a job or do not want to work). If the companies are still reluctant to hire people, the government made the “job creation” one of its growth engines to boost the domestic demand. End of June, Korea totalized 23.96 million employees for 49 million people in Korea, with an unemployment rate of 3.9% (960 000 people).

2009.07.22 – Briefly: LG Electronics will launch on July 28th a laptop which features a Levi’s design for a special edition limited to 2,500 units ($641); During the first 20 days of July, Korean Customs Services reported that Korea is still in trade surplus amounted to $94 million (-21.6% for exports and -33.5% for imports); The KOSPI is near the symbolic 1,500 mark after closing at 1,488.99 yesterday (+10.48 marks compared to Monday); The shopping portal 11st.co.kr, third portal in Korea owned by SK Telecom, will merge on August 15th with the cosmetic online store cherry.com (to be changed in beauty.11st.co.kr) and the online book store Morning 365 (to be changed in book.11st.co.kr).

2009.07.21 – Workers of Ssangyong carmaker are going to face the riot police. Locked in the painting workshop of Pyeongtaek plant (70km South of Seoul) since two months, blocking the production, about 1,000 workers who have been fired are occupying the plant to protest against the bankruptcy protection since February. Authorities cut the water and gas supply, and blocked the delivery of food. The wife of a worker committed suicide yesterday at her home. Police received the agreement of the court to enter and evict the striking workers who sent yesterday nuts and bolts on Court officials and creditors who tried to enter. Ssangyong sales dropped by 73.9% in the first half to 13 020 units, the strike representing a loss of $183.2 million.

2009.07.21 – Samsung Electronics plans to invest a lot to limit gas emissions. The Korean Group announced yesterday that it will spend $4.3 billion in the next five years to reduce gas emissions. $2.5 billion will be used on research and development on eco-friendly products and the remainder on the creation of “Green” facilities. This plan will respond to the “eco-management 2013 initiative” launched by the group which aims at reducing by 50% the gas emissions between 2008 and 2013. LG Electronics also plans to reduce by 15% the emissions between 2007 and 2012.

2009.07.21 – Convenience stores GS25 announced that they will begin from Thursday July 24th for one week to sell Peugeot 307 SW HDi and 407 HDi Sports with a 15% discount for $26,823 and $30282 (5-years warranty for 100,000km). In the same way, with the candies, sandwiches and drinks, the stores will sell home appliances such as LCD TV, washing machines and refrigerators, and scooters. All these products will be available in catalogues.

2009.07.21 – South Korea Trade Ministry indicated that South Korea and European Union will begin the legal editing process of their Free Trade Agreement by next week. The first round of this editing process will take place in Bruxelles between the 27th and the 29th of July, and will be concluded through a second round in Seoul on August 24th to 26th. This editing process will make legal the negotiated texts, and will allow correcting any grammatical errors and typos, to make easier the translation in 23 languages, added to Korean and English. Experts said that the Korea-EU FTA will be ratified before the Korea-USA FTA which has been concluded in June 2007.

2009.07.21 – Briefly: LG Electronics sold more than 5 million of its touch-screen mobile phone Cookie in the world and plans to pass the 10 million mark; Soccer player Lee Keun-Ho, who was planning to play for PSG, will stay its club Jubilo Itawa in Japan, where he signed for one more year; South Korea and two European organizations announced they will share information on technology standardization to make exporting products less complicated; KOSPI (Korea Composite Stock Price Index) is recovering at its level of pre-crisis through the good results of Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor.

2009.07.20 – Jack Lang embarrassed France during his visit in Seoul, bringing into Korean’s memories archives, some royal, “stolen”, according to him, in 1886 during a colonial mission directed by Napoleon III. Whereas he came, invited by the Korean Prime Minister, to give some advise for the Constitution reform plan, Jack Lang indicated that until now French governments never kept their promises and that he will discuss about this fact with President Nicolas Sarkozy, who will visit Korea in 2010.

2009.07.20 – Less and less in the media, but still increasing in the peninsula, the H1N1 virus infected near 1,000 people until now, 154 this weekend. Last case, 27 students in a school in Bucheon (Gyeongi province, 30km from Seoul) who did not go abroad. It confirms for the second time that the Virus can be transmitted between people in Korea. Yesterday, 11 children in an elementary school in Busan (South East of the peninsula) have been infected, without epidemiological connection.

2009.07.20 – Europe is more and more in the Korean tables. Korea Customs Services published a report indicating that 69% of pork imports and 50% of wine imports came from EU-members during the first half. France ranks 3rd for the pork with 5,439 tons and $17,4 million, following Austria and Belgium. Spain is, among EU-members, first for the exportations of wine to Korea in volume (1,909 tons and $2,9 million) but France is first in value (1,650 tons and $17,7 million).

2009.07.20 – LG Display, which announced last week an investment of $2.5 billion to expand its 8th generation facility, will hire 1,700 regular workers (1,200 technical staff and 500 university graduated). The LG Group subsidiary has, since the beginning of 2009, hired 3,500 workers. The LG Group announced at the same time that they will increase their investment plan for 2009. The amount will be increased by 9% from $8.9 to $9.7 billion, representing 17.6% of the 30 Korean conglomerated total investments this year.

2009.07.20 – Briefly: The last week rainy days killed 7 people who were living outside; Despite the risks, Seoul reduced workers in the Internet security centers by 80% in the last two years; The new bill on media is going to make the headlines in the newspaper in the coming days, as Park Geun-Hye, representative member of the ruling Party (GNP) who gathers 60 people in the 169 Assembly seats, said she will vote against the bill; Three international film festival are organized during the summer in Korea with the PiFan (Bucheon), the Chiffs (Chungmuro, Seoul) and the Jimff (Jecheon).

2009.07.16 – Government already spent the two-third of its annual budget to create job and stabilize economy, representing an amount of $133.6 billion (64.8% of the annual budget). The Ministry of Strategy and Finance indicated that the expenditures were higher than expected, equal to 60.2% of the $206.2 billion planed for 2009. Main efforts have been made on economic recovery after the international crisis and helping the most vulnerable part of the population through a budget of $41 billion, more than the $37 billion expected.

2009.07.16 – Following Hyundai, Kia launched yesterday its new hybrid model. The Kia Forte Hybrid LPi is now available on the Korean market. This new car is, as the Hyundai Avante LPi, equipped with an engine combining electricity and LPG. The Forte Hybrid is also equipped with an Eco-Drive system to maintain the vehicle in optimal efficiency. The Korean carmaker plans to sell 2,000 units in the second half and 5,000 next year. Three models are available: $16,000, $17,400 and $18,200.

2009.07.16 – It is the end of the slogans “Dynamic Korea” and “Korea Sparkling”. The Chairman of the Presidential Council for Nation Branding, Euh Yoon-Dae, wishes to launch a new slogan and replace the two slogans launched respectively in 2002 (World Cup) and 2007 (Korea National Tourism Organization). Despite the fact that the word “dynamic” has a positive image, Euh Yoon-Dae would prefer a slogan referring to the high technology power which symbolizes better South Korea. A foreign company will be consulted soon to decide a new slogan. M. Euh thinks “Miarculous Korea” could be one suggestion.

2009.07.16 – The LG Display Group, world’s n.2 on the LCD panels market, announced yesterday that it decided to invest $2.5 billion to expand its 8th generation plan, investment compulsory to answer an increasing worldwide demand. The Korean LCD market should swing to profit in the second quarter. The group plans that the LCD market would increase by 15% in 2010 with more and more outperforming customers (LG Electronics and Visio). The new expanded plant should be able to release monthly 60,000 units, representing 10 to 15% of the total production, and should double its capacity to 120,000 units by 2011.

2009.07.16 – Briefly: Former South Korea President and Peace Nobel Price Kim Dae-Jung has been diagnosed with pneumonia and been transported to the intensive care unit of the Severance Hospital in Seoul to prevent any complications as he is not in critical condition; Recent cyber-attacks in South Korea could have come from Britain, according to a Vietnamese Computer security firm; Researchers are finalizing the preparation for the launch of the first Korean space rocket Naro on July 30th, between 4:30pm and 6:30pm; The G20 summit could be held in Seoul next year, a decision which will be validated during the next G20 in Pittsburg, USA.

2009.07.15 – Near the half of the population (44.4%) are showing the need to revise the Constitution, according to a survey conducted by Herald Media and KM Research. 26% think that there is no need to change anything and 29.3% have no opinion. Among the people who say a revision is needed, 24% prefer the option with two four-year presidential term, 19% favor a single five-year presidential term and 17% want the current presidential power to be transferred into a parliamentary cabinet system. 13% indicate that it would be better to decrease the President power and increase the Prime Minister administrative control.

2009.07.15 – Since the law on temporary workers has been confirmed last month, South Korea counts an average of 333 irregular workers fired daily. This law makes compulsory for companies to hire workers in short-term contract for more than two years. This law, which created a big opposition between the ruling party and the opposition one, did not make the effect desired by the government, pushing mass firing in companies. According to a survey conducted among 518,000 businesses with 5 workers or more, 72.5% concerned by the law have been fired (4,325 workers) and only 27.5% had their contract revised with better pay and welfare.

2009.07.15 – If most of experts are glad of the conclusion of the Free Trade Agreement between South Korea and European Union, the Korean media begin to release articles on the positive and negative impact of this agreement. The farmers, as we could have notice since few months, will be the first impacted by this FTA. The Ministry of agriculture measured the negative impact around $180 million of loss for this sector in the next 15 years. Actions will be conducted by the end of the year to establish a counter-plan. For the government, only the case of the belly pork (samgyeopsal) will lower domestic revenues. For the beef case, EU should have to negotiate as USA did.

2009.07.15 – South Korea, member of the ITER consortium with the European Union, the USA, China, India, Japan and Russia, won three projects through its Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) for an amount of $573,000, announced the Ministry of education, sciences and technology. The KAERI will analyze the tritium contained in radioactive waste materials created by the nuclear fusion in the reactor, to develop tools to move tritium and to explore new methods to enable a remote treatment of radioactive waster.

2009.07.15 – Briefly: 30% of college students in South Korea said that they will have an esthetic surgery during the summer holidays, according to a survey conducted on 921 male and female students; SK Telecom and KT get into the Kazakhstan telecommunication market, SK wishing to control NEO and KT working on governmental education and network systems; With the increase of bicycle in Seoul, number of accidents also increased, from 7,922 (8,291 death) in 2006 to 10,848 (11,425 death) last year (+37% accidents and +38% death); Hyundai Elevator begin to export its high speed elevators (300 meters per minute) with the 10 first going to Venezuela.

2009.07.14 – Korean President Lee Myung-Bak and Sweden Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt jointly announced the conclusion of the Free Trade Agreement talks yesterday during a Press Conference in Sweden. In the facts, talks are officially concluded, but the sign of a partial agreement will be two months later. Pittsburg will be the ideal place as it will welcome the G20 in September. Signing the FTA during the G20 would be a strong call to other countries in terms of Free Trade and would allow developing new FTAs with other countries. Once the agreement is signed, three to four months are necessary to translate the texts in 23 languages for the 27 EU Members.

2009.07.14 – French former minister of Culture and National Education Jack Lang will visit Seoul on Thursday July the 16th to attend a seminar for the change of Korea’s constitution. M. Han Seung-Soo, Korea’s Prime Minister, who recently preside the OECD in Paris, will welcome M. Lang for this seminar with Korean parliament and different regimes. Jack Lang, on the demand of President Nicolas Sarkozy, attended the commission which revised the French Constitution, revision adopted by the Parliament in July 2008.

2009.07.14 – When you say « South Korea » to foreigners, the first world they will associate is “Technology” according to a survey conducted by KOTRA between 2006 and 2008 on 4.214 adults in 25 countries. This word is in first position, followed respectively by Korean food, dramas, people, economic growth, War, North Korea nuclear, movies, entertainers, Olympic and World Cup. Foreigners have information about Korea through Internet, taking the place of TV News.

2009.07.14 – Samsung Electronics, leader on LCD TV market in USA and Europe, is now leader in the Southeast Asian market. According to the GfK research Institute, Samsung is leader during the five first months of 2009 in 6 over 9 countries of the ASEAN: 36% for Vietnam, 38% for Philippines, 36% for Thailand, 22% for Malaysia, 28% for Indonesia and 27.8% for Singapore. In Vietnam, market shares of the Korean group are increasing continuously from 33% in January to 44% in May, while sales of TV over 40-inches get a 56.6% increase.

2009.07.14 – Briefly: Speculation on Kim Jong-Il health are rising after new pictures showing him enfeebled have been released; The young Ji Eun-Hee won the trophy of the US Women’s Open Gold Championship in USA; The trade surplus reached a record in June totalizing $7.27 billion, the higher amount since 1952 (exports dropped by 12.4% to $32.63 billion and imports decreased by 32.9% to $25.36 billion); Carmaker Hyundai will launch in 2011 the successor of Tiburon renamed Veloster, a two-doors sports car with a 1.6l engine and 140 horsepower; A new picture of Kim Jong-Un, heir of Kim Jong-Il, has been published in Japanese newspaper.

2009.07.13 – European Union and South Korea are very close to finalizing negotiations for the Free Trade Agreement launched in 2007. An announcement should be made today, following the meeting between President Lee and Sweden Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, confirming significant advance in negotiations during the last week. An unidentified ranking Korean official, well informed of the negotiation, indicated that the “FTA is signed in the fact”, only few “procedural issues” are slowing the final steps (validation of all the EU members). The Korea Times announced today that the FTA will take effect by 2010.

2009.07.13 – While President Lee Myung-Bak ends his trip to Europe by a three-day visit to Sweden, the Korea Communications Commission Chairman and the Ericsson Chief Executive met to discuss about the Group’s investments in Korea in ICT sector. The Ericsson group announced that it will inject $1.5 billion in the next five years in Green technologies and LTE (Long term evolution, the 4th mobile generation) in South Korea.

2009.07.13 – The Korean operator KT launched during a meeting with Chief executive Lee Suk-Chae and 127 heads of department the new management philosophy under the mantra “Olleh KT”. The word “Olleh”, which means “Hello” written backwards, symbolizes the future-oriented operations as a new growth engine for the group. Each letter of “Olleh” already has a meaning: “o” for Oustanding performances, “L” for Leading IT, “L” for Liberal Culture, “E” for Esteemed company and “H” for Happy consumers.

2009.07.13 – The Korean economy will switch to positive growth in the second half of 2009 according to the Bank of Korea’s forecasts, from -3.4% in H1 to +0.2% in H2. The GDP should face in 2009 a shrink of -1.6% compared to 2008, releasing a revised economic outlook. Private consumption should grow by +0.3% (-3% in H1), facility investments from -20.9% to -9.1%, construction investment from +1.9% to +2.5% and good exports from -9.2% to +3.7%. The Institute of International Trade conducted by the KITA indicates that exports should reach $356 billion this year, making Korea the world’s ninth-biggest exporter (the surplus should reach $29 billion).

2009.07.13 – Briefly: While Seoul announced last week that Apple should recall defective iPod Nano in Korea, the group denied this information, fueling confusion among consumers; Car sales grew by 19% in May reaching a record $1.89 billion; The Korean Police is working hard on the three cyber attacks’s waves which infected many government Website; France won two times against South Korea this weekend (3-0 and 3-1) for the 5th and 6th match of the Volleyball World League, France ranking second in the Poule B and Korea ranking 4th and last of the Group.

2009.07.09 – South Korea and USA have been cyber-attacked on Tuesday July 7th on about 20 governmental websites (Cheong Wa Dae, Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs in Korea, White House, US Secret Services and Department of State) and research portal such as Naver. The national spy agency identified that North Korea made the attack through the virus “Distributed Denial of Services”. Piracy remains benign, only used to increase the traffic until saturation.

2009.07.09 – Korean companies are continuing to invest in Middle-Eastern markets. Daelin Industrial Co., SK Engineering and Construction Co. and Samsung Engineering Co. signed a contract with the Saudi Arabian company SATORP (Saudi Aramco Total Refining and Petrochemical Co.), a joint-venture between the French group Total and the states-run company Saudi Aramco. Daelim won a contract of $818 million for a plant to collect sulfur and acid gas, Samsung will build two plants for $1.6 billion and SK will build a plant to supply water and electricity to refineries for $420 million.

2009.07.09 – Hyundai launched yesterday its first hybrid electric car, the Avante LPi Hybrid, during a ceremony organized in the Garden of the Morning Calm in Gapyeong (Gyeonggi-do). The vehicle, which needed 43 months and an investment of $196.2 million to develop, is the first on the market to use a Lithium-ion polymer battery. This battery represents 10% of the car price, will allow to make 17.8km per liter and will only emit 99g of carbon dioxide. The price is between 22.21 ($17 500) and 23.24 ($18 280) million won after reduction of tax rates for hybrid car. Sales objectives are 7,500 units this year and the double next year (no exports plan).

2009.07.09 – European carmakers are getting angry against the Free Trade Agreement between European Union and South Korea. They qualified as “inacceptable” the fact that such agreement could be signed between both parts which would open the doors to imports of low-cost cars from Asia. The clause reporting that Korean manufacturers could be integrally reimbursed of duties paid for parts purchased in China, if these parts are used in vehicles for the European market, is not satisfying carmakers association such as ACEA. The EU defends the FTA précising that 1.6 billion euro should be saved from exports’ tariffs, saving 2,000 euro on each vehicle costing 25,000 euro.

2009.07.09 – Briefly: The young Kim Joo-Ri (21) became yesterday at Sejong Art Center the new Miss Korea 2009; Player Lee Keun-Ho, which was recently announced to be transferred to PSG, is worrying after the Paris’ club asked his agent to wait a little bit more, indicating at the same time that the transfers should be closed soon for the French team; LG named a fifth foreigners as vice-president of the group, Bradley A. Gambill, chief of the strategy office (the French-Swiss Didier Chenneveau is also vice-president and executive chief of the supply chain); Seoul lost 5 ranks and drop to the 51st place among the most expensive life cost cities in 2008, Tokyo taking the first place, followed by Osaka and Moscou, which lost its first rank.

2009.07.08 – President Lee Myung-Bak, accompanied by his wife, arrived yesterday in Poland for a 6-day tour in Europe. In Poland, President Lee will focus on economic ties, and then he will go to Roma to meet Pope Benedict XVI and will attend a G8 summit in L’Aquila with 28 countries to discuss climate change, trade and food security. He will finish his visit in Sweden, which began its six-month presidency, to talk about the FTA negotiations.

2009.07.08 – South Korea ranks 4th in the world nanotechnology market. Sector initiated in 2001, Korea’s level represents three-quarters (75%) of the USA. The Korean market is following Japan (88%) and Germany (79.4%) and excelling the United Kingdom (67.5%), China (58.8%) and France (57.5%). The government objective is to enter the Top3 World Nano Market by investing more on this strategic market.

2009.07.08 – Korea is developing its own Operating System (OS). The company T-Max Soft launched its own OS “T-Max Window 9” together with an Office suite “Tmax Office” and a Web Browser “Tmax Scoutor”, available from November. More than 10,000 people have worked on this project. Taking in account the MS Window owns 99% of the market, T-Max Soft indicated that its OS will have some similar functions and will develop new one. This system will cost 25% to 50% less then MS Window, between $79 and $117, for a highly stable service capable to drive programs used on Linux and UNIX.

2009.07.08 – The number of registered cars exceed 17 million in Korea which counts 48 million people. With only 10 million units in 1997, the number of cars reached a new record high with 17,033,715 vehicles, representing less than 3 people per car, almost one car per household. For the past one year, number of registered cars increased by 332,000 units, 27,674 per months representing 922 per day.

2009.07.08 – Briefly: IMF review its forecasts for Korea regarding the economic growth, changing from -4% to -3%; EBay, which acquired Auction and Gmarket, seemed to take the monopole of the online shopping in Korea, but Naver, which represent 70% of all search queries, announced that it will launch an online shopping portal by the end of this month; Income received from “Jeonse” lease (system allowing to not pay monthly lease) by multi-home owners will be taxed; GM Daewoo announced that it will begin to produce hydride cars as this market will explode in the upcoming months.

2009.07.07 – The World Bank published the “2008 GDP rankings of major economies”. South Korea ranks 15th losing 4 places since 2003. With a total GDP of $929 billion, South Korea has been over passed by emerging economy (India, Russia, Brazil and Australia). This ranking is still dominated by USA ($14.24 trillion), Japan (4.99), China (3.86, Germany (3.65) and France (2.85).

2009.07.07 – President Lee Myung-Bak has decided to realize what he promised during his 2007 Presidential campaign with a donation of $26.17 million. This donation is the most important ever made by a President in Korea and will be used to create a foundation for scholarship and low income brackets. The fund will be named “Lee and Kim Foundation” (Lee’s wife names Kim Yoon-Ok).

2009.07.07 – Chairman of SK Group, Chey Tae-Won, CEO of SK Telecom, Jung Man-Won, and vice-president of Samsung Electronics, Lee Jae-Yong (heir of Samsung Group former chairman Lee Kun-Hee), met on June 30th in the Samsung plant of Suwon. Chairman Chey showed a great interest in the Samsung Electronics Long Term Evolution (LTE), the fourth generation (4G) mobile telecommunications system and the development of new technologies. Experts see the beginning of collaboration between the first manufacturer Samsung Electronics and the first local telecom services company SK Telecom, this meeting entering the plan of SK Telecom regarding the launch of both 4G technologies (LTE and Wibro) at the same time.

2009.07.07 – Samsung chaebol saw a great rebound in its operation profits during the second quarter this year with a total of $2.05 billion, despite the slowdown of the global economy. Experts have been surprised whereas they knew that Samsung will publish strong rebound in Q2. Samsung Group spokesman said that the rebound is strongly linked to LCD and semiconductors businesses, sales of LCD TV in China and USA boomed during this period.

2009.07.07 – Briefly: To make Korea entering the Top7 of “green economies power” by 2020, the government wiil invest $79 billion in the next 5 years in the new green technologies; Miniskirt is fashionable in the Seoul streets, but not in the offices as 74% of the employees are feeling upset with their co-workers’ attire (56% are cited micro-miniskirts, 8 to 10cm above the knees); The young gold player Yi Eun-Jung won her first LPGA trophy during the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic; North Korea launched its first beer TV advertising, the Taedonggang.

2009.07.06 – North Korea continues to raise the tension. Like in July 2006, seven missiles have been fired on the Independence Day, late Saturday, act condemned by South Korea and Japan. The North has proved with these tests that they were ready to counter any act from the United Nations, improving by the way the accuracy of their missiles (five out of the seven hitting the target 450km far away). A rumor says that an ICBM could be launched in the coming days.

2009.07.06 – Health spending in South Korea accounted for 6.8% of 2007 GDP, 2.1 points below the OECD average, the report of the World Organization shown. Number of doctors has the fastest growth between 1990 and 2007, more than doubling. Meanwhile, Korea’s life expectancy also had the fastest growth among OECD countries with +27 years between 1960 and 2007 reaching an average of 79.4 years-old, higher than the global average of 79 years-old.

2009.07.06 – The Central Bank (BOK) will not change its interest rate in July, as the economy is not showing concrete recovery signs, said economists. The BOK made 6 consecutive cuts between October 2008 and February 2009 totaling 3.25 points decrease to 2%. The BOK forecasted that the economy will contract by 2.4% this year, the worst performance in 11 years, due to low exports and weak domestic demand.

2009.07.06 – South Korea is becoming one of the most important players on the construction global market with companies increasing disproportionately projects in Middle-Eastern and Africa. Experts say that Middle Eastern is going to know a second Boom after the 70s’ one. The construction business could become the new Korea’s pillar, overcoming the shipbuilding business, due to the skyrocketing oil prices and the Middle Eastern infrastructure expansion.

2009.07.06 – Briefly: Youtube became the first sharing-video portal in South Korea since it came in late 2008 with 42.79% market shares; The Korea National Tourism Office try to attract Muslims and introduce among agents and guides the Muslim culture and food; Despite the bad situation of Ssangyong Motor, the car market is getting better with an increase of 45% in June compared to June 2008 (+78.6% for Kia, +54.6% for Hyundai, +32.3% for Renault Samsung, -17.6% for GM Daewoo and -89.6% for Ssangyong); UN general-secretary Ban Ki-Moon said he was very concerned by the attitude of North Korea which continues to threaten the international community.

2009.07.03 – North Korea launched four test-missiles yesterday on the East coast, few hours after the end of the discussions, which had no conclusion, in Kaesong with South Korea’s Officials. Four ground-to-ship missiles have been successively launched at 5:20pm, 6pm, 7:50pm and 9:20pm in a base near the city of Wonsan.

2009.07.03 – Foreign direct investments increased by 2.1% in the first half of 2009 with $4.6 billion, an increase due to the big project realized in the second quarter. However, excluding Japan, FDI from all the main countries decreased. Japanese FDI increased by 82% while FDI American and European respectively dropped by 12.8% and 16.2%. Japanese FDI were numerous in manufacturing with $1.1 billion (+151% compared to 2008). The strong yen and the strategy of attracting Japanese FDI are the reason of this increase.

2009.07.03 – The government announced yesterday that it will jointly launch a $15.7 billion private equity fund with state-run banks and institutional investors to increase facility investments. Ministry of Strategy and Finance called the government to increase the tax deduction rates for OECD countries which invest in Korea to develop R&D and the 17 new growth engines.

2009.07.03 – Following the agreement signed by South Korea and the European Union last May, both parts will begin this month to increase their cooperation on anticompetitive activities. This agreement has been concluded to increase bilateral cooperation in investigating and punishing international cartels and activities deemed to be hampering fair market competition.

2009.07.03 – Briefly: Samsung Electronics launched yesterday the mobile phone SCH-W760 equipped with an infrared camera for making video call in the dark; South Korea lost 2 places in the FIFA World Best Team Ranking and is now ranking 48th with 634 points; Seoul city launched its plan of Green Growth and Low Carbon with an investment of $35 billion by 2030 to make Seoul the “greenest” city in the world; The first Hybrid car by Hyundai will be launched next Wednesday, the Avante LPi, first car in the world combining electric and LPG engines.

2009.07.02 – The new worker’s bill makes the headlines in the Korean newspaper since last week, making the debate between the ruling GNP (Grand National Party) and the Democratic Party. This bill, applied yesterday, obliged companies to transfer the status of irregular workers to regular after two years of full employment, considered by the DP as a sources of mass dismissal and confirmed yesterday by many dismissals in Korea’s companies. The discussions are continuing to progress between parties.

2009.07.02 – Trade surplus reached a record in June with $7.44 billion, passing over the last record in April of $5.8 billion. Government officials have been surprised by the exports’ data. The surplus reached a “small” 1.56 billion from June 1st to 20th and boomed in the last 10 days with 5.87 billion. The shipbuilding and the LCD and PDP displays are the main factors of the export’s booming.

2009.07.02 – As it could be expected regarding the statistics since the beginning of 2009, the total amount of 855 000 jobless benefits reached a record high during the first half of $1.67 billion. An increase of 52.2% compared to the same period last year (for 256 000 jobless). These benefits are available for people who have lost their job involuntarily after having worked more then 180 days in the last 180 months.

2009.07.02 – Catherine Ashton, European Union trade commissioner, said that she was optimistic for a soon finalization of the Free Trade Agreement with South Korea, negotiations focusing only on tax return and rule of origin. This remark is kind of encouraging, as Mrs. Ashton never talked like that in public about the FTA. Both parts met during the OECD summit in Paris last June 26th. A declaration should be made by Lee Myung-Bak during his visit to Europe in July.

2009.07.02 – Briefly: Number of private aircraft increased with a total of 455 units end of June (213 for passengers and cargo, 134 for special purposes and 108 for business) ; The North Korea ship Kang Nam turned around, while it seems to go to Myanmar; Hyundai Mobis, specialized on car parts, announced an investments plan of $936 million until 2015 on R&D; Jang Sung-Won, research fellow at SERI, explained that “Sniffing ads would become a reality in about a decade together with a host of other innovations for TV”.

2009.07.01 – Government, labor union and business organizations agreed yesterday to increase the minimum wage by 2.75% to 4,400 won ($3.23) per hour, corresponding to a daily wage (based on 8 hours of work) of 32,880 won. This agreement has been the object of many meetings (almost 13) since June 12th to negotiate the variation of the minimum wage regarding the consumer prices and the economy growth this year. 2.75% is the second lowest increase since the crisis of 1998 with an increase of 2.7%.

2009.07.01 – Samsung mobile phone’s sales are ranking first for the fifth consecutively year in France. Samsung Electronics is increasing the gap with Nokia Corp. with 31.6% of market shares against 22.1%. The gap between companies’ market shares is increasing since January with 7%, then February with 7.4%, March with 6.8% and April with 7.6% finishing with a 9.5% in May. The Finland Group, still ranking first in the global market, has to react as the Korean Group is taking market shares in the main countries.

2009.07.01 – The Korean economy (consumption and investments) shows sign of recovery. Investments dropped in may to 13.1% and sales of consumer goods, boosted by sales of car and fuel, increased by 5.1% compared to April and 1.7% compared to last year. Industrial production dropped by 9% in May compared to 2008, or 7.8% considering the total working days, but is still growing for the fifth consecutive month with 1.6%.

2009.07.01 – The whisky brand mark Imperial, launched by Pernod Ricard Korea, has 15 years-old. Franck Lapeyre, President of PR Korea, announced the launching of a unique and limited edition of a whisky bottle 15-years-old Imperial. This brand mark is the leader on the Korean market since 15 year, product created specially for the Korean customers and sold as many as 183 million bottles since 1994. Whereas its main rival Diageo increased their price, PR Korea’s first objective is to adapt with the consumer sentiment.

2009.07.01 – Briefly: The increase of “open sex club” in Gangnam make debate, as no law can forbidden this kind of place; 10% of mobile users subscribers switched their carries in the first half of 2009 in Korea, due to the merge of KT and KTF according to experts; The New SM3 by Renault Samsung Motor is now available in Korea with a price around 11.1 million won ($8,700) and 14.3 million won; Samsung Electronics launched a new mobile phone equipped with the AM-OLED technology, giving better picture quality and less energy consumption ($704).