G20 to seek accord on currency rate

President Lee Myung-bak said Wednesday that the G20 leaders will seek to agree on a set of guidelines to end currency conflicts and reduce trade imbalances at the Seoul summit next week.

Lee said he expects the Group of 20 nations to take “a step forward” from the deals reached last month by their finance ministers in Gyeongju, to pursue market-determined exchange rate systems, and set “indicative guidelines” to assess whether current account imbalances were excessive.

“How to make the guidelines will be discussed at the (Seoul) summit,” Lee told about 160 domestic and foreign journalists during a rare press conference.

“I believe that even the U.S., China and European nations, which are in dispute over exchange rates, will be able to take a step forward and reach a compromise through discussions.”

Lee also said that the G20 nations will try to reach an agreement on 100 action plans to assist developing nations at the Seoul summit, adding that North Korea could also be a beneficiary as long as it opens up to the world.

Music, heart and Seoul in cocktails

Two G20 signature cocktails based on Korean drinks will be served to more than 3,500 journalists during the Nov. 11-12 G20 Seoul summit.

The soju-based “Seoul Symphony” and makgeolli-based “Heart and Seoul” were chosen as the best cocktails by the cultural leaders from abroad attending C20, a gathering of cultural leaders from G20 countries, held in September.

Choi Jung-wha, president of the Corea Image Communication Institute, which organized the C20 meeting, said the CICI received approval from the G20 Summit Preparation Committee to present the two cocktails to journalists during the two-day Seoul summit.

“Just like ‘Singapore Sling’ became an iconic cocktail for Singapore, we hope that ‘Seoul Symphony’ and ‘Heart and Seoul’ can promote Seoul during the G20 summit,” Choi told reporters.

 

LG Uplus forms tie-up with Facebook

LG Uplus and global social networking giant Facebook signed an agreement Wednesday to cooperate further on developing mobile services, aiming to strengthen communication for customers.

In a press conference in downtown Seoul, LG Uplus said it will offer customers its smartphone and feature phone subscribers the use of the Facebook mobile application for free until April next year.

“We will enable our customers to use the social networking service without having them spend any of their data distributed accordingly to the monthly payment plan for the following six months,” said Kim Cheol-soo, executive vice president of convergence project team at LG Uplus. 

New Audi A8 hits local market

Audi Korea launched the new Audi A8 on the local market Wednesday. 

The latest A8, which is 7.5 centimeters longer and 5.5 centimeters wider with 4.8 centimeter longer wheelbase, is fitted with 4.2-liter direct injection engine that puts out 371 brake horsepower, and manages 8.3 kilometers per liter of fuel. 

The new A8 comes with a larger center display, 7 inches, memory seats for both front and back seats.

New Audi A8

The vehicle is also fitted with full LED headlights, the company said. 

The company also plans to fix a specially designed G20 emblem to A8 vehicles used by the visiting dignitaries during the summit, and donate 1 million won ($900) for every A8 vehicle used during the event sold. 

The A8 4.2 FSI Quattro is priced at 140 million won, and the A8 FSI Quattro RSE is priced at 157 million won on the local market.

Hyundai revives Accent after 11 years

On Tuesday, Hyundai Motor Co. unveiled the subcompact Accent on the local market. Developed under the project name RB, the vehicle brings back the name Accent after an 11-year hiatus.

The previous Accent was launched in 1994, and more than 410,000 units of the vehicle were sold on the local market until it was discontinued in 1999.

The Accent is available with a choice of a 1.4-liter MPI engine that puts out 108 brake horsepower and a 1.6-liter GDI engine that generates 140 brake horsepower.

The 1.4 version will be available with a 5-speed manual transmission or a 4-speed automatic transmission.

With the manual transmission, the vehicle manages 18 kilometers per liter, while the automatic version manages 16.1 kilometers per liter.

Lee sees peer pressure enforcing G20 deal

President Lee Myung-bak is counting on “peer pressure” to enforce any currency deal made among the leaders of the Group of 20 nations this week.

Lee said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition on Saturday that any deal to be reached at the Nov. 11-12 G20 summit in Seoul would not be enforceable in the way trade decisions were enforced by the World Trade Organization.

“There aren’t any legal obligations,” he was quoted as saying.

But the months of discussion among G20 countries would produce “a peer-pressure kind of effect on these countries” that violated the deal, he told the newspaper.

“There is a common understanding that if we do not work among ourselves, we fear we will return to protectionist measures.”

‘G20 will be a lever for enhancing global development’

The countries of the G20, through their coordinated actions and resolute response, have been successful in addressing the international financial and economic crisis that began in 2008. Now it is time for the G20 to shift from crisis mode and work with vision and determination to consolidate itself as the essential institution of the new global economic governance system. A strengthened G20 will allow us to aid the frail and uneven recovery, with its accompanying persistent unemployment and market instability. It can also become a vital forum for building the solid foundations needed to achieve high rates of long-term global growth and dynamic economic development.

The G20, as a broad forum that includes developed and developing countries from all regions of the world, represents an opportunity to foster the level of international coordination needed in an increasingly complex and interconnected global economy.

Current global problems demand creative and innovative solutions. The G20 summit in Seoul, the first to be hosted by an emerging economy, constitutes an excellent occasion to reaffirm the G20’s willingness to build toward these goals.

As a first step, leaders should work together to strengthen the G20 and enhance ownership among all its members by including a greater variety of topics on the agenda. So far, the G20 has focused only on the economic crisis for understandable reasons. However, starting in Seoul, we must ensure that the talks better reflect the concerns and priorities of all members.

The G20 should also redouble its efforts to create positive links with other countries and international organizations. The G20 must not be perceived as a negotiating forum that looks to impose its decisions on the rest of the world. Rather, it should consolidate itself as a constructive player on the global scene, capable of proposing general policy principles and facilitating agreements in wider multilateral forums.

Korea Exchange advances into overseas markets

The Korea Exchange is accelerating its advance into overseas markets, aiming to become a global premier exchange by 2015.

The bourse’s globalization program mainly focuses on providing its advanced information technology and securities market infrastructure to developing countries. 

It is also enhancing cooperation with foreign exchanges to help Korean firms enter overseas markets more easily.

In its first major achievement, the KRX won a contract for Bursa Malaysia’s bond trading and inspection system earlier in May 2006. 

Most recently it signed a contract worth 25 billion won ($22.53 million) to build the next-generation IT system for the Vietnamese security market in October 2009. The KRX and Vietnamese officials are currently negotiating the details.

The KRX also signed an agreement with the Finance Ministry in Cambodia to establish an exchange there and jointly run it in March last year.

G20 is legitimate, effective response to global challenges

Following is Turkish Amb. to Korea Erdogan Iscan’s contribution to “The G20 Seoul Summit 2010: Shared Growth Beyond Crisis.” Ed.

The international system is in transition and the global challenges are evolving. There have been compelling reasons to create a new mechanism to cope with the changing circumstances and the newly emerging problems. The G7, or the G8, did not have the required representative structure, thus lacked political legitimacy. Consequently, it could not deliver effective responsiveness to the crises. The inclusion of the powerful economies was needed. The G20 member countries represent around 90 percent of the global GDP; 80 percent of the world trade; two thirds of the world population. Its economic weight and broad membership gives it a high degree of legitimacy and influence over the management of the global economy. Meanwhile, the G8 will remain as a body to deal with certain international political and security questions. On the other hand, the fundamental international and regional organizations, such as the UN, the WTO, the OECD, will continue to play their central roles in setting the long-term goals and taking steps to create and improve norms that regulate international relations.

The emergence of the G20 is timely and its proven capability to become the premier forum with a view to addressing the global challenges is an important asset for the international community. The G20 is expected to play a continuing role in ensuring the global economic recovery as it has proven that it can respond effectively to crises. Despite the fact that relative stability has been achieved and economic activity is recovering, it would be premature to conclude that the global crisis is over. The difficulties of the financial markets have not been fully eliminated, the unemployment problem persists and the need to fight protectionism continues. We also need to finalize the restructuring of the international financial architecture.

Galaxy Tab is it only for men?

Galaxy Tab (Yonhap News)

Samsung’s tagline for promoting its mini portable PC, the Galaxy Tab, was that it “fits inside a man’s suit pocket.” 

Size matters, after all, since hardware-wise, Samsung’s edge over Apple’s iPad is that the Tab is smaller and lighter. 

Perhaps because it was so stuck on this issue, Samsung’s press event for unveiling the new PCs last week was a male-run show.

Three young men were featured in the promotional musical Samsung aired. One was a photographer, another an office worker and the third was employed at a game company. 

For some reason, no women were involved, despite Samsung’s second-favorite tagline, that the Tab is small enough for a woman’s purse.

As the plot unfolds, the three men reminisce about the “girl who got away,” and how she would still be around if they had mobile PCs back in their day. 

One actress doubled and tripled as the ex-girlfriends, but her role was limited to either pestering her boyfriend for help on coursework or leaving her boyfriend because he works too much. 

Samsung officials said it had not intended to alienate women.

“We wanted to stress that the Tab fits inside the suit pocket, and if a woman is carrying it, it could look a bit bigger than we intended,” one official explained.

But the show’s finale seemed to clinch Samsung’s idea of the target consumer.

Out of more than a dozen celebrities or other famous people who complimented the Galaxy Tab, just two were women despite the growing number of females on the local corporate scene. 

The men ranged from respected scholars and race car drivers to CEOs and journalists, while the two women were a singer and a gamer. 

The one-sided performance aside, both Samsung officials and industry watchers expect Samsung to sell up to 1 million Galaxy Tabs by the end of this year.

The Tab is powered by the 2.2 Android operation system, making it capable of supporting Adobe Flash and giving it broad access to applications. 

The PC also has two cameras a rear-facing 3.2-megapixel camera and a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera.

Up to seven hours of video playback will be possible.

The Galaxy Tab is expected to hit stores today, priced at around 300,000 won ($270) for consumers purchasing with SK Telecom, the official carrier for the Tab

His majesty? Gambia president may become king

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Gambia's president once claimed to have developed a cure for AIDS that involved an herbal body rub and bananas. His administration rounded up nearly 1,000 people last year in a witch hunt. And now he may soon have a new title in this tiny West African nation: His majesty.

Tribal chieftains are touring the country to rally support for President Yahya Jammeh's coronation.

"The president has brought development to the country, and for that he deserves to be crowned King of The Gambia," said Junkung Camara, chief of the western region of Foni Brefet. "This is the only way the Gambian people can express our gratitude to a leader who has done a lot for his country."

Korea hints at compromise on automobiles for U.S. FTA

Seoul officials signaled their willingness to consider the U.S.’s call for easing environmental regulations on automobiles during their last-minute talks on a free trade agreement. 

“The U.S. side has shown much interest in our car safety, fuel economy, greenhouse gases and other regulations. They showed concerns that such regulations may be acting as a barrier to U.S. cars’ share in the Korean market standing at about 1 percent,” Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon told reporters after his talks with U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk in Seoul. 

“Such regulations are part of responding to the global issue of climate change, so the task is to strike a balance between executing policies and preventing (the regulations) posing too strict a market barrier.”

He declined to elaborate further, saying that as the negotiations are ongoing the situation remains flexible. 

Trade, finance, economy and environment ministers held an emergency session at night after the Korea-U.S. talks, signaling that there may have been important progress. 

The top trade officials met to resolve differences over automotive and beef issues that have blocked the ratification of a landmark bilateral free trade agreement between the two countries.

During their two-day meeting Kim and Kirk will review the results of recent negotiations between their deputies. 

Concerning beef imports, Kim said that while the U.S. has shown interest in the subject, Korea is maintaining the stance that the issue is separate from the free trade agreement and that related negotiations have not been conducted. The U.S. has been calling for Korea to lift the ban on U.S. beef products produced from animals older than 30 months old, enforced as a safeguard against mad cow disease.

Kim added that further information will be provided following Tuesday’s round of talks. 

Kim and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk are continuing negotiations began by Deputy Minister for Trade Choi Seok-young and Wendy Cutler, assistant U.S. trade representative for Korea, Japan and APEC Affairs, that began on Thursday. The talks continued over the weekend, giving rise to speculation that Korea was willing to make concessions on automotive issues.

According to reports, the two sides are said to have agreed to put a cap on tax refunds on automobile parts produced in a third country that are imported to the U.S. and used in Korean-brand vehicles built in the U.S.

Korea is also said to have decided to accept U.S. demands for easing fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions regulations, and is now negotiating standards for making such concessions.

The Korean Trade Ministry, however, said that the working level talks did not result in any agreement over such details and that the issues will be discussed during the ministerial talks. 

The Korea-U.S. FTA has been floating for more than three years having failed to receive parliamentary approval from both sides. The pact regained momentum in June when President Barack Obama ordered Kirk to work with his Korean counterparts to smooth out unresolved issues with the aim of concluding them by mid-November so he can present the deal to Congress early next year.

With the Republicans claiming victory in U.S. congressional elections, the push to finalize the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement stands to gain significant momentum in winning approval from U.S. lawmakers.

In addition, the timing of the talks could also work in favor of those hoping to close the issue.

The final push comes at a time when President Barack Obama is giving trade issues increasing attention, while previously reluctant Japan appears to be warming to the Trans-Pacific Partnership – a U.S.-led tree trade deal.

By Choi Hee-suk (cheesuk@heraldm.com)

KOR US FTA TAL KS — The Korean delegation led by Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon (left photo) faces the U.S. delegation led by Trade Representative Ron Kirk (right photo) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Seoul on Monday. (Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald)

G20 officials begin talks on summit statement

Finance officials from the Group of 20 have launched tough negotiations Monday in Seoul to finalize a joint statement to be issued by their leaders this week. 

Korea, the chair of the fifth G20 summit, handed out the draft to each member last week, said a key official of the Presidential Committee for the G20 Summit. 

The communiqu will be announced Friday at the close of the two-day summit. 

“Via e-mail, each country has replied with comments to the draft we’ve sent,” the official said. “Korea has just collected their revised proposal and vice finance ministers started to review each member’s position at the (Monday’s) close-door meeting.”

He said the draft covers all agendas, including the most contentious of issue of currency policy. “Their comments on the draft concern details.”

The draft has been drawn based on prior consultations among working-level officials of the chair country and the other members, he said.