Korean stocks to outperform Asian peers: Barclays

Korean stocks will outperform Asian equities in the second half as the region’s cheapest stock market and worst-performing currency attract more investors, according to Barclays Wealth. The won may also rebound.

The MSCI Korea Index is trading at less than 9 times estimated earnings for the next 12 months, and the valuation is more than one standard deviation below its five-year average, according to Barclays Wealth. 

The won is also "much more inexpensive" than Asian peers, said Manpreet Gill, Singapore-based Asia strategist at the Barclays Wealth, the Barclays Plc unit that had $229 billion in client assets as of 2009.

 

REACHING OUT — BC Card Co. said Wednesday that it has completed construction of the BC Card House, a vocational training center for the mentally disabled on Geoje Island, South Gyeongsang Province. BC Card

Korea’s economy ranked 15th in the world

The Korean economy was the world’s 15th largest in 2009 for the second year, the World Bank said Wednesday. 

Nominal gross domestic product, the broadest measure of a country’s overall economic output, of Korea neared $832.5 billion last year, down from $929.1 billion in 2008, the World Bank report said. 

The U.S. economy was still by far the richest with a GDP of $14.26 trillion. China came third with $4.91 trillion but its fast-growing economy is expected to soon surpass Japan, currently No. 2 with $5.07 trillion. 

Suicide fifth main cause of female deaths

Suicide was one of the leading causes of death for women in 2008, with 18.7 deaths for every 100,000 women, a government report said Thursday.

A report by the Finance Ministry and Statistics Korea showed cancer, which caused 101.9 deaths for every group of 100,000, as the leading cause of death followed by cerebrovascular disorders and heart diseases, which were responsible for 58.3 and 43.6 deaths each. 

A total of 18.7 out of every 100,000 women comitted suicide making it the fifth biggest killer after diabetes, which was responsible for 20.5 deaths per 100,000 women.

Deaths from various illness-related causes accounted for more than half of all deaths but suicide was a bigger cause than high blood pressure-related diseases or car accidents which accounted for 12.7 and 7.7 deaths per 100,000 respectively. 

FM consoles Japanese ambassador over attack

Japanese Ambassador Toshinori Shigeie managed to avoid a piece of cement thrown at him during a speech in Seoul Wednesday, but his interpreter was injured.

Mayumi Horie, third secretary of the Japanese Embassy, was hurt and didn't come in today, one of the Korean staff members at the embassy told The Korea Times over the phone Thursday. She sustained light injuries. 

Police sought an arrest warrant for the offender, Kim Ki-jong. 

The incident occurred when Shigeie was giving a speech during the Korea-Japan Future Forum held at the Korea Press Center in central Seoul.

According to YTN, a 24-hour cable news channel, Kim, a member of an advocacy group for Dokdo Islets in the East Sea, walked up to the ambassador and threw a piece of cement at him.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Yu Myung-hwan phoned Wednesday night to apologize to the ambassador, a ministry source said. 

The embassy did not have any initial reaction. 

"As of now, we are now trying to gather all the information possible to learn what really happened," Shinichi Yano of the Japanese public information and cultural center told The Korea Times.

In response, the authorities tightened security near the embassy.

'Olle,' 'hanok' among top tour picks

The Olle trail in Jeju Island, one of the recipients of the Korea Tourism Award / Korea Times file

The Jeju "Olle" trail walking paths, Jeonju Hanok (traditional Korean house) village, and eight other top tourist sites and figures won Korea Tourism Awards (KTA), Thursday, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Sports said.

The Olle trails in Jeju Island are a big hit ― more than 250,000 people have visited the walking courses bringing in 19 billion won. Opened in September 2007, there are now 20 Olle routes spanning 329 kilometers on the island. Olle is the old Jeju dialect word for narrow paths inaccessible by cars.

"Olle give people a chance to walk, feel and enjoy the island," a Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) official said. "They also present a new paradigm for tourism by relying on visitors to protect the environment and clean up after them."

The KTO and culture ministry jointly organized the awards for the first time this year. To select the winners, they conducted online polls, with 14,127 participating in the voting over three months until mid-June.

Another Android offering: Motorola

Another Android offering: Motorola, one of the world’s leading handset vendors,
 released a new device powered by the Google-backed Android operating system through SK Telecom, 
Korea’s biggest mobile-phone carrier. The MOTO QRTY, the localized version of Motorola’s XT702 smartphone, 
runs on the Android 2.1 operating system, and has a full QWERTY keyboard and a wealth of applications from Google. 

Russian car-washing girl with hourglass figure knocks men out

Russian car-washing girl with hourglass figure knocks men out

A few photos of a Russian car-washing girl came out on the Internet Tuesday, drawing "steamy" attention among netizens. The long-legged busty girl with an hourglass figure certainly catches the eye, especially from men. The photos have been seen by an enormous number of people, and compared to cell phone shots of Paraguayan, Larissa Riquelme. Nothing is known about who she is and why she took pictures like this, arousing more curiosity. The photos can be viewed at various portal websites as our "kind" Russian netizens have blogged them on the sites.

Lack of innovation hurts Naver’s search grip

With the increasing popularity of smartphones, such as the Apple iPhone, the Web is increasingly moving toward mobile users, and Internet companies are scrambling to rethink their business models and adapt to their changing attitudes and consumption behavior. The latter’s response to Naver, the country’s most popular website and leading search engine, has so far been underwhelming. / Korea Times

By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff reporter

Naver (www.naver.com) has dominated the Korean search market like a fat kid does a cookie jar. However, as the website's presence is taking an abrupt dip, it's worth questioning whether the seeds of defeat were sown at the height of success, as the obsession toward prolonging old business models appears to have made Naver predictable and boring.

Perhaps, Naver could blame Apple for exposing its lost ability to innovate. 

Since its belated Korean debut in November last year, the iPhone, Apple's do-it-all smartphone, has obviously been on a run in the gadget market, singlehandedly igniting what had been a muted mobile Internet explosion. 

Students forging ties overseas

A group of students gathered at a gate of Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul on Wednesday. What made them stand out, besides their uniform purple shirts, were their youthful and eager faces. 

The students, some of the brightest minds from the United States and Korea, listened intently as Lee Bae-yong, president of Ewha Womans University, explained the history of the palace built shortly after the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) was founded.

The palace tour was part of a collaborative study abroad program between Ewha Womans University and Harvard University.

“I don’t think there is any program like this,” said Kim Eun-mee, professor at the Ewha Womans University Graduate School of International Studies. Kim and Carter Eckert, professor of Korean history at Harvard University, sat down in 2003 and talked about a new course that they both had in mind.

Ewha Womans University president Lee Bae-yong explains the history of Gyeongbok Palace to students in Seoul on Wednesday. Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald

‘U.S. unlikely to impose more sanctions on N.K.’

Washington, despite its support and sympathy for South Korea in the wake of the Cheonan incident, is unlikely to levy additional sanctions on North Korea, a leading expert said.

“The U.S. has done as much it can so far, so it seems unlikely to see an increase of sanctions,” said Abraham Kim, vice president of the Korea Economic Institute based in Washington, D.C. 

The institute is a leading, non-profit organization dedicated to U.S.-Korea issues. 

From this point on, the Cheonan situation will mainly hinge on China’s actions, he added. “The U.S. cannot step forward unless China comes forward.” 

Abraham Kim

Seoul is awaiting an official response from the U.N. Security Council after it referred the sinking of the Cheonan in June.

Samsung chief’s brother sued over child

Lee Maeng-hee, the older brother of Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee, has been embroiled in a lawsuit over an alleged illegitimate child he conceived with an actress in the 1960s. The mother of the boy, now in his 40s, wants compensation for expenses incurred from raising the child on her own, according to news reports. 

Lee Maeng-hee in 2008 file photo. (Sisa Focus)

The Seoul Central District Court said Thursday a woman, identified only by her surname Park, filed a 480 million won ($396,464) lawsuit against Lee Maeng-hee, claiming that she had to raise Lee’s son by herself from his birth to adulthood. An exact year has not been reported. 

Official emblem for G20 Seoul Summit unveiled

The Presidential Committee for the G20 Seoul Summit unveiled the event’s official symbol Thursday. 

Chosen through a nationwide contest, the symbol incorporates two images. A red and blue Chung-sa-cho-rong traditional Korean lantern covers light representing the sunrise over the East Sea. 

“This official symbol represents Korea’s commitment to furthering the work of the G20 and helping to guide the world economy beyond the financial crisis,” said Sakong Il, chairman of the Presidential Committee for the G20 Summit. 

SaKong Il (second from right), chairman of the Presidential Committee for the G20 Seoul Summit, and the winning applicants clap as the summit’s official emblem is unveiled in Seoul on Thursday. Yonhap News

Hyundai’s feud with banks intensifie

Hyundai Group on Thursday refused to budge in an intensifying feud with its creditor banks, even as the lenders terminated the provision of new funds to the group. 

From 9 a.m. Thursday, 13 Korean banks, led by Korea Exchange Bank, stopped extending fresh loans to Hyundai Merchant Marine Co. and other Hyundai units, upping the pressure on the group to accept their request for corporate restructuring. 

“There is no change in our stance,” the group said. 

On Tuesday, the conglomerate issued a statement, saying it will not sign the pact with the banks to go under the banks-led balance sheet enhancement program. It said it will pay back all the loans to KEB and change its main bank. 

The group, which owns the nation’s biggest sea bulk carrier Hyundai Merchant and Hyundai Asan Corp., was picked by local creditors in May as one of nine financially distressed conglomerates to improve their financial health.

 

A woman walks past the logo of Hyundai Group outside the group’s head office in Seoul, Thursday. Kim Myung-sub/The Korea Herald

Samsung heir to meet Apple, Google CEOs: report

The heir apparent of Samsung Group is scheduled to meet Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Google CEO Eric Schmidt during the annual Allen & Company media conference in Sun Valley, California, on July 6-10, a local report said Thursday. 

A Samsung Group spokesperson said Lee Jae-yong, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Samsung Electronics, the flagship Samsung unit, plans to attend the annual gathering of technology and media moguls, but said he has no knowledge of whether the 43 year old plans to have one-on-one meetings with the chief executives of Apple and Google. 

Lee Jae-yong, chief operating officer of Samsung Electronics

“Lee has participated in the event every year since 2005,” the spokesperson Kenneth Hong said.

U.S., China agree at UN to condemn attack on South Korean ship

The U.S. and China have agreed on a statement condemning the attack on a South Korean warship that doesn’t accuse North Korea of complicity. The text was given today to the United Nations Security Council for adoption.

“The Security Council condemns the attack which led to the sinking of the Cheonan,” the draft statement says. The text “takes note” of North Korea’s denial of involvement in the March 26 incident.

(AP-Yonhap)

A multinational investigation reported on June 14 that a North Korean-made torpedo caused the sinking, killing 46 sailors. The draft statement says that “in view of the findings” of the panel, the Security Council “expresses its deep concern.”

Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, said the statement was a “very clear and appropriate response.” She said adoption of the statement would “send a unified message that the Security Council condemns the attack.”