Hyundai Development aims to be leading global developer

Korean construction companies are striving to expand their global business and diversify project portfolios, as a priority of their growth strategies. 　

Hyundai Development Company, the country’s leading developer in housing, civil works and urban development, is venturing into new sectors such as plant construction, renewable energy and resources development.　

The contractor has launched its new business plan, Vision 2016, with the catchphrase “Takeoff and Growth through Change and Innovation.” It seeks to drive “organized growth” by intensifying its presence overseas while differentiating customer value.　

Established in 1976, Hyundai Development has implemented multiple major civil works throughout the country. 　

Its business sphere ranges from the construction of roads, highways, bridges, railways, subways, harbors, power plants to environmental plants, playing important roles in projects such as construction of national expressways including Gyeongbu, Jungbu and Seoul Circular.

 

POSCO to help patriots, families

POSCO on Sunday introduced a set of support programs to help national patriots, including independence fighters, and their families. 

The program is open to those who currently require government support to meet living expenses and those in the low income groups. 

As part of the program, POSCO Microcredit Bank will offer up to 50 million won ($42,000) loans at 4.5 percent interest for starting a business to those who meet the requirements.

The steelmaker will also give preferential treatment when they seek employment at one of POSCO’s four social enterprises.

The four POSCO affiliated social enterprises currently employee about 480 people, and plan to hire an additional 240 people by 2012.

In addition, the company said that it will offer a range of services including nursing, home repair and bathing services to the elderly among those eligible for the program. 

Beer, chicken sales enjoy World Cup bonanza

Korean World Cup fans were frustrated on Thursday when their national team was crushed by Argentina 4-1. For Lee Sang-soon, however, it was one of the most exciting nights in years with his beer bar packed with people and delivery orders piling up. 

KT to get iPhone 4 pre-orders

KT, the exclusive distributor of Apple’s iPhone, said Sunday it will accept pre-orders for the new iPhone 4 starting Wednesday ahead of its launch here in September.




The country’s No. 2 mobile carrier said it will begin taking applications at its website (http://www.phonestore.co.kr) and its 2,900 shops nationwide.

“KT is planning to release the new iPhone 4, which has a completely different look, next month,” said Pyo Hyun-myung, president of mobile business group at KT.

The company, however, did not give an exact release date of the new model.

Earlier this month, the new iPhone 4 received the Korean government’s approval required for its domestic release.

KT to get iPhone 4 pre-orders

KT, the exclusive distributor of Apple’s iPhone, said Sunday it will accept pre-orders for the new iPhone 4 starting Wednesday ahead of its launch here in September.



The country’s No. 2 mobile carrier said it will begin taking applications at its website (http://www.phonestore.co.kr) and its 2,900 shops nationwide.

“KT is planning to release the new iPhone 4, which has a completely different look, next month,” said Pyo Hyun-myung, president of mobile business group at KT.

The company, however, did not give an exact release date of the new model.

Earlier this month, the new iPhone 4 received the Korean government’s approval required for its domestic release.

‘Concept Korea II’ to debut in N.Y. Fashion Week

All eyes will be on three up and coming Korean fashion designers for some two hours of the 2011 S/S New York Fashion Week which runs from Sept. 9 to 16. 

Kwak Hyun-joo, designer of Pucca by Kwak Hyun Joo, “Resurrection” designer Lee Joo-young, and designer Lee Jean-youn of Lee Jean Youn will showcase their 2011 S/S collections under the name “Concept Korea Ⅱ” at Lincoln Center at 7 p.m. Sept. 9. Co-hosted by the Culture Ministry and Daegu Metropolitan City Government and co-organized by Korea Creative Content Agency and Korea Research Institute for Fashion Industry to help Korean fashion designers crack into the highly competitive global fashion market, the “Concept Korea” project was initiated last February. 

While “Concept Korea I” featured six Korean designers at a showroom away from the main New York Fashion Week stages, “Concept Korea Ⅱ” is on the official Fashion Week schedule and is expected to fill 1,000 seats. 

In addition to the three designers who will show in September under the category of “New Talent,” five more established designers ― Doho, designer of the brand Doho; Lee Sang-bong, designer of Lie Sang Bong Paris; Jeong Hyuk-seo and Bae Seung-yeon, designers of Steve J & Yoni P and Choi Bum-suk, creative director of General Idea ― will participate in the second part of the “Concept Korea II” project, grouped as “The Talent,” in February.

“The Talent” team will showcase their collections at a Business Showroom, separate from the Fashion Week stages. 

Mercedes, BMW, Audi rely on China for luxury car sales as Germany slows

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, the world’s largest luxury carmaker, Volkswagen AG’s Audi unit and Daimler AG are countering sales at home by selling more cars in China even as industry-wide demand cools in the world’s largest auto market.

Audi sold 53 percent more cars in China in July compared with a year earlier, while Daimler, the world’s second-largest luxury-car maker, tripled sales of its Mercedes-Benz brand to 14,500 vehicles and BMW raised is deliveries 82 percent to 13,852, the companies said this month. Sales of Audi and Mercedes fell in Germany for the month, while BMW sales increased 4 percent.

Demand for upscale cars in China may outstrip the overall car market during 2010 as a growing number of wealthy Chinese boosts sales. Research group J.D. Power & Associates estimates sales of luxury vehicles in the nation will rise at almost double the industry pace of 20 percent to 530,000 units this year and reach 1.1 million by 2015.

“Limited competition, very strong growth and a willingness to spend money. That combination is just explosive,” said Michael Dunne, president of automotive research firm Dunne & Co. Rich Chinese are “declaring their success to their friends, family and colleagues with what kind of car they are driving,” he said.

Sales in China are helping the German automakers increase profit even as car sales rose just 0.6 percent in Europe during the first six months of the years, their most important region by deliveries.

Vehicle registrations in Germany fell 30 percent in July, according to figures from the Federal Motor Vehicle Office in Flensburg.

Volkswagen reported the biggest quarterly profit in two years on July 29 in part because of demand in China for Audi models.

Conglomerates compete over energy market

Three of Korea’s largest family-owned conglomerates are entering a heated competition over the lucrative petroleum market with Hyundai Heavy Industries’ recent takeover of the nation’s No. 4 refiner.

Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world’s largest shipbuilder, regained control of Hyundai Oilbank last week after Abu Dhabi’s state-run International Petroleum Investment Co. accepted the International Chamber of Commerce’s ruling that confirmed its right to acquire an additional 70 percent share.

Samsung Total Petrochemicals Co., backed by Korea’s largest conglomerate Samsung Group, is expanding its refinery business, posing a challenge to the current dominance of SK Energy, which belongs to the country’s third-largest conglomerate, SK Group. 

Hyundai Heavy Industries’ biggest shareholder is Rep. Chung Mong-joon of Grand National Party who is Hyundai Motor Group chairman Chung Mong-koo’s younger brother. 

Hyundai Heavy Industries sold controlling stakes in the refiner to IPIC in 1999 after suffering liquidity problems during the Asian financial crisis. 

Following the acquisition of Hyundai Oilbank, Hyundai Heavy Industries will move up a step to seventh place in conglomerate rankings by asset value. 

Hyundai Heavy Industries enters a market led by the country’s largest refiner SK Energy. In addition to SK Energy, SK Group also counts SK Gas, which holds the largest share of the liquefied petroleum gas market, among its subsidiaries.

While SK Group has a firm hold on the local energy market, Samsung Total is picking up pace.

In May, the company completed the largest single LPG storage facility and began importing the fuel from the Middle East. In addition, the company is planning a 160 billion won investment for related facilities as part of its plans to raise the proportion of its revenues raised from the area to 30 percent by 2015.

Teenage suicide increases 50%

The number of teenage suicides increased by nearly 50 percent from a year earlier to exceed 200 last year, with many of the reasons unknown. 

A total of 202 elementary, middle and high school students committed suicide in 2009, Rep. Kim Choon-jin of the Democratic Party said Sunday in his analysis report to the parliamentary education committee. 

The figure is a 47 percent increase from 137 in the previous year. After slight fluctuations in recent years, the number of teenage suicide cases surpassed 200 for the first time. 

High school students accounted for the greatest number of teen suicides, with 140 of the total. Middle school students and elementary school students made up 28 percent and 3 percent, respectively. 

Korean teens take future into own hands

Bright-minded youths gathered in Seoul on Saturday to rock the foundation of Korean education and make it their own.

During the TEDxYouthSeoul at the Victoria Theater in Everland Resort, participating teenagers showed that there is something above and beyond the simplicity of good grades and high scores.

The event opened with a powerful clip of Adora Svitak, child prodigy and short story writer since shw was 7, talking about what adults can learn from children.

Following that idea, several high school sophomores from Korean International School created the first ever TEDxYouth event in Korea. It is the first ever TEDxYouth event organized by youth.

Fifteen speakers, some of the most ambitious teens in Korea, gave a wide variety of speeches. One advocated multiracial awareness through the Pearl Buck Student Association and another asked the Korean youth to “find their color” through her Unique-ify project.

TEDxYouthSeoul gave off an aura of creativity, individuality and uniqueness. These are words not usually synonymous with Korean education.

“I think that this side of education that values diverse experiences is going to be a big factor in Korean education,” said Kwon Min-ae, organizer and founder of TEDxYouthSeoul.

“Colleges are already changing their trends, not only are they accepting just scores but they are also looking for other extracurricular activities,” said Kwon.

Police chief nominee under fire for Roh slur

Jo Hyun-oh, the nominee for the position of National Police Agency chief, is under fire for a series of controversial remarks, one of which involved the suicide of the late former President Roh Moo-hyun.

“President Roh committed suicide the day after his borrowed-name bank account was found,” he was quoted by a broadcaster Friday as saying in a speech to police officers early this year.

Roh, who served as the nation’s president in 2003-2008, jumped off a cliff in his hometown last May during an ongoing investigation over a bribery scandal involving him, his family members and close acquaintances.

The remarks by Jo, the current chief of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, triggered a fierce response from liberal opposition parties, despite his urgent apologies.

“Jo inappropriately insulted the tragic death of the former president and should offer his official apology,” said Jeon Hyun-hee, spokesperson of the main opposition Democratic Party on Saturday.

The DP also urged President Lee Myung-bak to take back Jo’s nomination and vowed to boycott the parliamentary hearing on the NPA chief nominee on Aug. 23.

G-Dragon dating top Japanese model

K-pop idol G-Dragon is going out with Japanese fashion model Kiko Mizuhara, Japanese media reported on Saturday.

The 21-year-old G-Dragon (real name Kwon Ji-yong), a member of the music group Big Bang, is dating Mizuhara, who is now the exclusive model for the Japanese fashion magazine “ViVi,” Sankei Sports said, citing multiple sources.

Lee proposes 'unification tax'

President Lee Myun-bak on Sunday proposed detailed measures to prepare for the financial burden and changes that would take place should the two Koreas be reunited, the first time for the conservative leader to officially mention the longstanding national goal since the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship in March. 

In his speech marking the day Korea freed itself from Japan’s 1910-45 brutal colonial rule, Lee proposed a “three-stage plan” to reunify with North Korea, and a “unification tax system” to fund the expenses for and after the unification. 

“We long for the common prosperity and peace of both the South and the North, which will lead to reunification, and that this is the right way to achieve the genuine liberation of the nation,” Lee said in a nationally televised speech to commemorate the 65th national Liberation Day. “Today inter-Korean relations demand a new paradigm. The two of us need to overcome the current state of division and proceed with the goal of peaceful reunification.”

Lee’s comments came less than five months after the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan, which took the lives of 46 young South Korean sailors. 

Despite strong denials by Pyongyang, South Korea concluded, with a team of international experts, that the communist country is responsible for the deadly incident. North Korea also fired more than 100 artillery shells into the waters near its sea border with the South earlier this week, expressing anger toward Seoul’s naval drills and upping tensions across the divided peninsula. 

Ancient gate restored to former glory

The newly restored Gwanghwamun, the main and largest gate of Gyeongbok Palace, was unveiled Sunday in commemoration of the 65th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan’s colonial rule. 

The country’s famous historical landmark was revealed to the public on Liberation Day after four years of painstaking work to restore the gate to its 19th century form. Its name panel, which had been in the center of dispute between those who supported a Hangeul version and supporters of the original Chinese character panel, was also revealed. The new name panel is a replica of the original name panel written in 1867.

First built in 1395, Gwanghwamun was repeatedly destroyed and then restored throughout the history. After Korea-Japan annexation treaty in 1910, the Japanese government deconstructed the gate to make space for the Japanese Governor General Building in 1926. The gate was then moved to eastern corner of the Gyeongbok Palace.

The Korean War once again completely destroyed the gate, leaving its stone base in disrepair. The latest restoration project, which started in 2006, was set to restore the gate to its original form of the Gojong era, correcting the renovation carried out using concrete in 1963. The restoration by the Park Chung-hee administration improperly positioned the gate, 3.75 degrees tilted away from the center of the palace. The newly restored gate is now properly located.