Korean pavilion completed in Shanghai

Korean pavilion completed in Shanghai
Construction of a joint exhibition pavilion for Korean exporters in Shanghai has been completed, a top executive said yesterday in Seoul.

“The construction of the joint exhibition pavilion has been completed and will start its operations from April 20. The pavilion will officially open on May 1,” Oh Young-ho, vice chairman of the Korea International Trade Association, told reporters yesterday.


The upcoming World Expo 2010 offers a chance for Korean companies to showcase their technological advancement and enhance their corporate image for the 70 million visitors expected to attend.


“It will build a foundation for Korean companies to take a step toward Chinese customers and also to strengthen economic ties between Korea and China,” Oh said.


Last year, Korea’s 12 leading exporters broke ground on a joint exhibition pavilion for the expo, in an effort to expand their presence in China. A group of 12 companies, including Samsung Electronics, Kumho Asiana, Shinsegae, POSCO, Hyundai Motors and Korea Electric Power Corp. has participated in the construction of the joint exhibition facility on the 3,000-square-meter property in the Chinese city’s Puxi region. Hyosung, Doosan, LG, STX, Lotte and SK Telecom have also taken part in the project.


Korean businesses have invested about 30 billion won ($27 million) for the construction and operation of the joint exhibition pavilion while KITA, an influential business lobbying group, took charge of overall coordination. The joint pavilion will visualize the future city driven by green technology.


“The pavilion ... will give them a chance to promote their social contribution activities and also visualize green cities of tomorrow pursued by Korean firms,” the vice chairman said.


Businesses will showcase their strategies for making city life better by using renewable energy, smart grid technology and intellectual transportation systems in the future, he added.


The economic growth of China is closely related to the future of the Korean economy. Korea’s trade volume with China may top $200 billion in 2013, according to a recent report. China has been Korea’s largest trading partner since 2004. Exports to China by the 12 companies alone account for 47 percent of their total sales, according to KITA.

Hyundai Heavy, LG may join $1 billion U.S. solar project

Hyundai Heavy, LG may join $1 billion U.S. solar project

Matinee Energy Inc., a U.S. based renewable energy company, said it invited Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. and LG Electronics Inc. to become partners in a $1 billion solar project.



Matinee signed a preliminary agreement with the Korean companies, the solar power projects developer said in a statement on Sunday, without saying where the plant would be built.


Hyundai and LG earlier said they were named preferred bidders for a solar-power order worth $1 billion from Matinee Energy. The order is to build 240 megawatts of capacity, Kim Kwang Kook, a spokesman for Hyundai Heavy, and Lee Jin-se, a spokesman for LG Electronics, said separately by phone.


Hyundai and LG are the latest Korean companies to announce plans for overseas renewable energy markets in a bid to diversify their revenue sources. Samsung C&T Corp., the nation’s second-largest construction company, and ENCO Utility Services of the U.S. plan to build solar-power plants in California. In January, Samsung announced a $6.7 billion wind and solar power project with state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. in Ontario.

Korean economy to grow 5.2%: ADB

Korean economy to grow 5.2%: ADB
Asian Development Bank said yesterday that Korea’s economy will grow 5.2 percent in 2010, as corporate investment and private consumption pick up and exports remain strong.



The Manila-based institution’s projection is more optimistic than that the Korean government’s forecast for 5 percent growth. The Bank of Korea, however, raised its growth outlook to 5.2 percent earlier this month.


Consumer prices will grow around 3 percent year-on-year in 2010 and then will rise to 4.6 percent in 2011, the ADB forecast.


Korea’s economy, the fourth largest in Asia, managed to grow 0.2 percent in 2009, thanks to aggressive stimulus measures and record-low interest rates, while many advanced economies slipped into a recession

U.S. not ready to discuss trade issues in KORUS FTA

U.S. not ready to discuss trade issues in KORUS FTA

The United States is not yet ready to discuss key issues with South Korea that need to be addressed before the two countries ratify their free trade agreement (FTA), a senior U.S. trade official said Monday, according to Yonhap news agency.


The bilateral KORUS FTA was signed in 2007, but still awaits ratification from the legislatures of both countries.

"What we are doing in the United States is a real reviewing of the free trade agreement and looking at areas we have concerns expressed," Wendy Cutler, assistant U.S. trade representative for Japan, Korea and APEC Affairs, told Yonhap News Agency.

"One of the key areas we have concerns expressed with the free trade agreement is the automotive sector," she said.

The imbalance in auto trade and restricted shipments of U.S. beef are key hurdles to the early ratification of the free trade accord, signed in 2007.

Some U.S. officials have said in public they want to address those issues in side agreements to avoid a possible revision of the text of the deal.

Korea to invest W20b in undersea robots

Korea to invest W20b in undersea robots

The government will invest 20 billion won ($18 million) into developing robots for marine exploration until 2015, the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs said yesterday.

The deep sea robot will have advanced sonar equipment and multi-jointed legs. It will be capable of walking at up to 50 centimeters per second and swimming at 30 centimeters per second.

The announcement came after a recent troubled search of a sunken naval ship and its missing crew.

The project will be conducted in two stages until 2015, and the organization that will carry out the project will be selected during May, the ministry said.

In the first stage, scheduled to be conducted from this year until 2012, 9 billion won will be injected into developing a robot capable of operating at depths of up to 200 meters, the ministry said.

The robot developed in the first stage of the project will move by means of multi-jointed legs on the seabed to overcome the fast tidal currents prevalent in Korea’s coastal waters, the ministry said.

It will also be fitted with advanced sonar equipment to allow it to operate in murky waters.

The ministry said that the robot developed for shallow sea operations is scheduled to be deployed in a range of activities such as monitoring underwater environmental conditions, exploring and salvaging sunken ships, in 2013.

The second stage of the project, which will take place from 2013 to 2015, will see an investment of 11 billion won for developing robots for operating at depths of up to 6,000 meters.

Once complete, the deep sea robot will be used to explore underwater volcanoes, undersea hydrothermal vents and other underwater features that are difficult to explore with existing equipment, the ministry said.

According to the ministry’s projections, the local market for such robots between 2016 and 2020 will grow to be worth 150 billion won including maintenance and operation.