Site crashes as iPhone fans make 130,000 pre-orders

KT Corp., the exclusive provider of the iPhone in Korea, said Wednesday that the number of people who made pre-orders for Apple’s iPhone 4 surpassed 130,000 in the first 13 hours of registration.

The number of people applying for the new model sharply increased from 40,000 as of 8:55 a.m. to over 60,000 as of 9:45 a.m., KT officials said. It then reached 100,000 people as of 1 p.m., and 130,000 as of 7 p.m. 　

The country’s No. 2 mobile carrier started taking in applications at its website and its 2,900 shops nationwide beginning at 6 a.m.

The exact date of launch, which is only known as sometime in September, has yet to be specified.

“We will make utmost efforts for the launch and delivery of the new model,” Pyo Hyun-myung, president of the mobile business group at KT, said on his micro-blogging site Twitter.

1st Yeo Woo Rak Festival opening at the National Theater of Korea!

Yeo Woo Rak stands for “여기 우리 음악이 있다,” meaning “Here is Our [Korean] Music!’ The festival features music played on traditional Korean musical instruments and will be held from Sep. 2nd (Thu) to 11th (Sat) 2010 at the KB Haneul Youth Theater, one of the branches of the National Theater.

Festivities kick off with ‘Gongmyoung’ a renowned Korean band, who will present a lively recreation of traditional Korean music using a variety of bamboo, wind, and percussion instruments such as the Janggu (traditional drum). ‘NoreumMachi’ will also take the stage, performing ‘Samulnori’ with Jing, Janggu and Kawaenggwari, introducing the audience to a new type of Korean traditional music.

Other presenters include the Janggu ensemble ‘Sonagi Project’ and the group ‘Dulsori,’ who will present ‘World Beat Binari,’ a performance that is continually gaining acclaim for its catchy beats and tunes. 

Key phrases for the G20 Summit revealed

The key phrases for the G20 Financial Summit meeting have been disclosed. The Presidential Committee for the G20 Seoul Summit explained that the new phrase “Shared Growth Beyond Crisis” reflects the main theme of the G20 Summit, which aims to establish a framework for strong, sustainable balanced growth worldwide.

The agenda for the G20 Summit was classified into eight categories: ▲ global economy ▲cooperative framework for balanced growth ▲reform of the international financial regulatory system ▲modernization of international financial institutions and the global financial safety net ▲development ▲trade and investment ▲energy and anti-corruption ▲ business summit.

The government has already held a high level working group meeting in Seoul on July 19 and 20, followed by the Sherpa meeting from July 20 to22. The high-level meeting, attended by some 100 representatives from member nations and global institutions, discussed specifying the existing agendas and decided on the future directions for talks.

The Sherpa meeting, which is a closed-door event, was attended by another 100 deputy representatives and aides from member nations and relevant institutions to review the general direction for the G20 agenda. The name of the meeting is derived from the Sherpas of the Himalayas, guides and porters for those who seek to scale the mountains.

The Presidential Committee will continue to hold preparatory meetings related to finance, budget, energy, and development, and seek the advice of other countries to coordinate before the official meeting. 

MB’s arm-twisting makes firms 'modest'

Arguably, ``the world’s first’’ and ``the largest ever’’ would be the two most frequently-used terms in the press releases of Samsung Electronics, the world’s foremost producer of memory chips and flat-panel displays. 

The Suwon-based company may have wanted to use the term once again while releasing its second-quarter performance, which was the best in its history at 37.9 trillion won in sales and 5 trillion won in operating profits. 

For some reason, however, the country’s No. 1 corporation did not sell the achievement to journalists as it did not produce the facts in a press release, which was presented late last month. 

Robert Yi, Vice President and head of the firm’s investor relations team, also kept a low-key attitude while talking to the media. 

``With intensified competition throughout the digital media and mobile industries going forward, it may become a challenge to maintain current profitability levels,’’ Yi said. 

``However, we will continue to focus on introducing differentiated products and widening our technology leadership in components to meet these difficult market conditions.’’

Things are similar with other flagship companies of Asia’s fourth-largest economy.

Both Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors, the two iconic subsidiaries of the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group, racked up record-breaking quarterly performances over the April-June period. 

Hyundai Motor marketed approximately 457,000 vehicles over the three month to record 9.6 trillion won in sales and 1.4 trillion won in net income as its models gained popularity. 

Kia Motors chalked up 5.8 trillion won in turnover to net 558 billion won in profits, up by 23.3 percent and 60.7 percent from the corresponding period of last year, respectively, by selling about 350,000 vehicles worldwide. 

'Grandson of Samsung founder commits suicide'

Lee Jae-chan, a grandson of the late Lee Byung-chul, founder of the Samsung Group, was found dead in front of the entrance of an apartment building in Ichon-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Wednesday morning, police said.

An employee at the management office of an apartment complex there told police that the 46-year-old is presumed to have jumped from a window of the apartment building.

Lee Jae-chan is a son of Lee Chang-hee, the late president of magnetic tape supplier Saehan Media who is the second son of the Samsung founder. Lee Chang-hee died of blood cancer in 1991. 

Police said they suspect he committed suicide by jumping from his apartment. No suicide note has been found yet. 

Lee Jae-chan, former CEO of Saehan Construction, an affiliate of Saehan Group, has not had a job since 2000 when he resigned after a merger, according to reports.

Separated from his family, he lived alone in his apartment for the past five years, the reports said.

4 New Foreign Airlines to Service Incheon

Four new foreign airlines will begin servicing Incheon International Airport within the year.

The Transport Ministry says that state-run Air India resumed servicing the Incheon-Hong Kong-Delhi route on August second and that AirAsia X will also operate flights between Incheon and Kuala Lumpur starting in November. 

The United Arab Emirates' state-run Etihad Airways and Thailand's low-budget Orient Thai Airlines will also operate flights to and from Incheon within the year. 

By 2011, 70 foreign airlines from 50 countries will be servicing Incheon International Airport. Both figures surpass those of Japan's Narita International Airport and Singapore’s Changi International Airport.

Lee Visits UFG Drill Control Room

President Lee Myung-bak visited Wednesday the control room for the ongoing Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG) military exercises between South Korea and the United States.

While there, Lee was briefed on the status of the drills, and he held a video conference with military leaders at the site.

Lee stressed that the UFG drills are meant to serve as a deterrent to war and to maintain peace on the Korean Peninsula. He said that South Korea-U.S. cooperation will serve as a stepping stone to those ends.

He asked the military to always be on alert and prepared.

Lee added that military leaders of a divided nation must maintain a different posture than those of nations that are not. 

He called on the leaders of the military and of society to do their utmost to put the public at ease.

'China Pumps up Investments in S.Korean Bonds'

Bloomberg news agency says China has more than doubled its investment in South Korean government bonds this year. 

The report says Chinese investors had 3.99 trillion won (3.4 billion dollars) worth of South Korean national bonds in the year's first half, which is up 111 percent year-on-year.

Bloomberg said that China is in the process of diversifying its foreign investment portfolio and that South Korean bonds account for one-tenth of China's total foreign exchange reserves at some two-point-four trillion dollars.

Joint Yellow Sea Drills with US to Come in Early Sep.

The Defense Ministry says South Korea and the U.S. will hold joint antisubmarine drills in the Yellow Sea early next month and that related working-level talks are under way. 

A ministry official says that the details of the exercises, including the scale of participation, remain undetermined but that fundamentally the drills aim to enhance antisub warfare tactics. 

The official said the participation of the USS George Washington aircraft carrier appears unlikely as such a move is seen as unfit for the nature of antisub drills. 

During defense and foreign ministerial talks last month, Seoul and Washington agreed to hold joint drills in the East and Yellow seas over the next few months. A four-day East Sea drill, code-named "Invincible Spirit," was held from July 25th.

Cost of unification looms

President Lee Myung-bak’s proposal for a unification tax on Sunday prompted many South Koreans to think about a very disturbing aspect of the longed-for reunification with North Korea -- the astronomical cost of integrating two societies that have grown poles apart. 

Separated for more than 60 years now with extremely limited cross-border exchanges, South and North Koreas have huge disparities in income, living standards and many other fields. 

According to the South Korean central bank, North Korea’s economy is now about 38 times smaller than South Korea’s and 18 times smaller on a per-capita basis. 

In South Korea, out of every 1,000 newborn babies less than five die during the first year, but in the North 51 die. South Koreans live more than 15 years longerthan their Northern neighbors. The South’s life expectancy stands at 78.7, compared to 63.8 for the North. 

[Korea- Japan 100 Years On] Korean electronics firms overtake Japan rivals

But parts and materials companies still lag behind Japanese counterparts

Korean companies, once copy-cat electronics manufacturers, quickly overtook their Japanese rivals in such markets as TVs, handsets, displays and chips in the 1990s. 

Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics have made aggressive investments and speedy decisions under the leadership of chiefs at family-owned conglomerates.

During the latest economic downturn, they further widened their lead over Japanese competitors, benefited from the weak Korean won and the strong yen.

The persisting strength of the yen is a boon to Korean electronics giants which see increasing challenges from Japanese companies Sony, Panasonic andSharp, which returned to profit in the second quarter. 

Korean companies seek to further cement their positions in their strongholds, while taking the lead in emerging technologies such as electric car batteries and organic displays.

Korean firms make nearly 50 percent of memory chips and displays sold worldwide, while they are the No. 1 and No. 2 TV makers and No. 2 and No. 3 handset vendors. 

Samsung Electronics, Korea’s top electronics firm, reported its record-high operating profit of 5.01 trillion won ($4.22 billion) in the second quarter, while its Japanese peer Sony posted a second-quarter profit of 67 billion yen ($779 million) during the April to June period. 

Samsung sold around 8 million units of LCD TVs in the second quarter, while third-ranked Sony shipped 5.1 million units of LCD TVs during the period. 

However, Sony narrowed the gap with Korea’s LG Electronics, which displaced the Japanese firm as the world’s No. 2 TV maker last year. LG sold 5.13 million units of LCD TVs. 

Japan’s Sharp and Panasonic ranked fourth and fifth with 2.6 million units and 2.5 million units, respectively.

In the handset market, Korean vendors increased shipments, while Sony Ericsson, Sony’s mobile phone joint venture with Ericsson, suffered a slump in shipments.

Credit card firms in marketing war

Korean credit card issuers are entering a new marketing war to grab a bigger share of domestic consumption, stirring concerns about their bottom line. 

New entries to the scene are heating up competition, prompting card issuers to come up with more generous deals ranging from interest-free installment options to up to 50 percent discounts on card purchases. 

Financial companies are conducting major management changes including spin-offs of their card units, to cope with tightened government supervision. 

“Separating credit card arms from banks would be an option to increase their profit as slimmer management can give faster orders,” Hwang Seok-kyu, an analyst at Kyobo Securities told The Korea Herald. 

“The independence would also free credit card firms from conservative capitalrequirement rules at banks, which card issuers cannot shoulder if they push ahead with aggressive marketing activities,” Hwang said. 

KB Financial Group is rearranging the governance of its affiliates under its new chairman Euk Yoon-dae. The group said on July 30 that it will spin off KB Card, the credit card arm of its affiliate Kookmin Bank, into a separate company by February 2011. 

Hana Financial Group spun off the Hana SK Card last November and launched new marketing activities in partnerships with various SK Group affiliates. Woori Financial Group CEO Lee Pal-seung said earlier this year that its card unit may be spun off in the latter part of this year. 

“These groups may expect the spin-off to enhance sales as independent governance would give heavier responsibilities to management,” Hwang added. 

Hana SK Card recently came up with a new deal for new customers, offering up to three months of interest-free installment payments for card purchases made at all of its affiliates. Unlike conventional deals, which offer interest-free installment options by industries only, such as on gas, movies or department stores, the Hana-SK CJ Titanium Card removed the restriction on the offer. 

“Hana SK has been very aggressive to make up for the lagging performance behind its peers over the first two quarters this year,” a person familiar with the company said. The spin-off of Hana Financial earned 918.7 billion won for the first half of this year, a 6.3 percent decline from a year ago, according to the Financial Supervisory Commission. 

Philanthropy thriving at Shinhan Bank foundation

Shinhan Bank’s efforts to widen its socially responsible activities have been fast increasing across environmental, educational and cultural fields.

Since it became the country’s first bank to file a Corporate Social Responsibilityreport -- or CSR report – in 2006, it has been pursuing diverse forms of philanthropic work such as offering scholarships for kids in need, launching forestry protection programs, preserving cultural historic assets and offering business classes for North Korean defectors and kids. 

“We’re committed to return our earnings to the society by reaching out to the community and to emerging markets across Asia. The Shinhan Bank volunteerteam allows us to work strategically whenever needs arise in the community,” a Shinhan official said.

Such diverse efforts stand out from recent research reports saying that practices of major Korean companies finds strong reporting on environmental issues but reveals a relatively poor understanding of social issues. 

The Emerging Markets Disclosure Project, a task force under the U.S.’ Social Investment Forum, in May found that some listed companies in the financial sectorstill do not publish CSR reports and that reporting on human rights is mostly ignored.

“Over the years, while we have found some Korean companies responsive to global investor concerns on sustainability issues including those we have engaged with directly, most avoid direct engagement with shareholders on these issues,“ said Lauren Compere, Managing Director, Boston Common Asset Managementand co-chair of the EMDP.

Among Korean firms who reported, environmental issues were covered in depth. At Shinhan, the effort is much larger especially with its long-term investment in education and cultural asset protection.

Hanwha aims higher on back of overseas success

Hanwha Engineering and Construction this year expects to secure some 4.6 trillion won ($3.9 billion) of construction orders on the back of a robust overseas presence cultivated by the firm’s steady efforts to become globally competitive. 

The firm has been showing an annual 18 percent growth in sales since 2007 on the back of its wide expertise and specialized techniques. 

By 2012, the company hopes to have achieved 5.5 trillion won worth of construction orders and also increase its proportion of overseas orders to 30 percent of its total and raise enough to eventually join the club of the world’s top 100 construction companies. 

To achieve these ambitious new management goals, Hanwha is seeking to foremostly make even bigger inroads in the overseas markets, while at the same time diversifying and sophisticating its operations. 

Hanwha currently touts a huge presence in key regions abroad. 

For instance, the firm has already nabbed a number of weighty projects in the Middle East, but it said it will continue its efforts to target the region’s oil money.

The U.S. and Southeast Asia, meanwhile, are countries where Hanwha will be seeking to gain more footage, the firm said. 

The company also hopes to diversify its operations.

Its plant-building business was expected to branch out to put more emphasis on gas and refinery-related facilities. The firm already has some experience in the area of housing development, as shown in successful projects in areas in the U.S., such as Chicago and New York. 

Further in Chicago, Hanwha has signed up with Magellan, the city’s largest real estate developer, to develop a retail center called Village Market in the area. 

The firm is currently undergoing projects in Honolulu, Hawaii as well.

Hanwha’s record in overseas markets does not stop there.

One of its most significant projects was a $75 billion contract it signed last year with a Saudi electricity firm for building a steam turbine generator. 

Construction is expected to be completed by 2012, Hanwha said. 

Another notable project was with SEPGO, a Jordan-based national electricity firm for building a gas turbine generator. Valued at nearly $2 billion, the contract was signed also last year and is facing completion next year.

Hanwha Engineering and Construction chief executive Kim Hyunchung (left) shakes hands with Marafiq CEO Thamer Al-Sharhan after signing a contract for a power plant at a hotel in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, on July 28.

Korea, EU may sign FTA next month

South Korea and the European Union are expected to formally sign a free trade agreement as early as next month, Trade Ministry officials said Wednesday.

An “EU foreign ministers’ meeting is scheduled for the 10th of next month, and we expect that they will discuss delegating signing the Korea-EU FTA at the meeting,” Deputy Minister of Trade Ahn Ho-young said. “After that, a formal signing will be held at an appropriate time.” 

The official added the agreement could take effect tentatively within the year.

The process of readying the trade pact for formal signing on Korea’s part will be completed once it receives the president’s approval. The Cabinet approved the accrued on Monday. 

Full implementation requires approval from the EU council as well as the individual EU member nations’ legislatures. 

Negotiations for the pact began in May 2007, and an accord was reached in September last year.

The two sides had at first planned on formalizing the pact in April but procedural matters, including translating the pact accurately into all 23 of the EU’s official languages, have been causing delays in the schedule.

If approved, the trade pact with Korea will be the EU’s first free trade agreement with an Asian nation.

The EU is one of the most important trade and investment partner for Korea, with trade volume coming in second after China in 2008. In terms of investment, the EU was Korea’s largest foreign investor in that year. 

More Iranian firms on U.S. sanctions list

Three Iranian firms operating in South Korea were found to have already been on a U.S. blacklist crossing out companies seen to be aiding Iran’s illegal development of nuclear weapons programs. 

The three were Bank Mellat, CISCO Shipping Company and Iran Petrochemical Commercial Company, officials close to the matter said. 

Bank Mellat’s Seoul branch has been on the list since October 2007, while CISCO was designated in September of 2008, and Iran Petrochemical since June this year. 

Among the trio, the bank may be on the brink of shut-down as South Korea is increasingly pressured to fully support U.S. sanctions against Iran.

Sources have said that the bank was found to have engaged in “obscure” transactions during a regular checkup on the bank recently conducted by financialauthorities here. 

There were two other Iranian companies operating in South Korea that were on the list of entities facing Washington’s wrath, but the fate of Mellat appeared to be the trickiest issue as the bank handles most of the financial transactions for South Korean companies doing business in Iran.

Closing it down could be a symbolic yet emphatic gesture, those close to the matter said, and also may help Washington persuade China to follow South Korea’s example. 

It also would mean, however, that South Korea may be at risk of losing its lucrative business with Iran, not to mention its market for acquiring oil. 

There are procedural issues to consider as well, financial officials said, as the obscure transactions must be of a severely significant level, or else the bank’s financial health should be in jeopardy in order for the government to justify a shut-down.

Officials so far have said they are considering their options.

“Relations with both the U.S. and Iran are important to us,” said one Foreign Ministry official.

South Korea has a strong alliance with the U.S., but it also has a multi-billion dollar trade business with Iran.