Hyundai ads mocking BBC ‘Top Gear’

Hyundai Motor Co., showed off two advertisements poking fun at the BBC2 program "Top Gear" as they feature a wildebeest, a tortoise and hamster mimicking Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond.
In commercial appears The Stag which Top Gear originally calls The Stig as the program’s top "tame racing driver."

 

Many regards Hyundai’s latest advert as the revenge for BBC’s describing Hyundai car as "Your slightly embarrassing Korean uncle. You know him - he's the one who's not quite as good at anything as most of your other relatives ... " 

The name of the advert "Top Deer," which reminds the program "Top Gear," introducesSUV ix35 (Tucson ix).

 

The videos have attracted more than 150,000 viewers on YouTube.

Wage talks make little progress

Labor and management are laboring to set the minimum wage for next year, an important indicator in deciding the average wage level across industries. 

During the fifth meeting of the Minimum Wage Council on Friday, both parties offered their compromise proposals, first in a series of meetings over the past three months. 

Management, which has insisted on freezing this year’s minimum hourly wage of 4,110 won ($3.47), offered to increase 8 won, while labor groups proposed 5,110 won, 70 won lower than their previous demand.

“Labor and management have just taken the first step toward compromise. Due to the still huge difference in their proposals, however, it seems difficult to reach an agreement that will satisfy both of them,” said a council member. 

With the deadline for the talks due on June 29, the Minimum Wage Council, consisting of representatives from labor, management and the government, will hold two more meetings on Friday and Monday.

Civic group members call for an increase of the minimum wage in Seoul on Tuesday. Yonhap News

Korea faces inflation risk: Fitch economist

A senior economist of Fitch Ratings raised concerns Tuesday that Korea may face the risk of price inflation as the country is recovering fast through stimulus measures.

Brian Coulton, head of the company’s global economics, said accommodative measures taken by emerging economies could be over-stimulating the market.

“Emerging markets, for the past year or two, introduced aggressive stimulus measures. But outside Russia and Eastern Europe, the financial crisis was less severe and concerns for inflation could emerge,” Coulton told reporters.

“If you have that aggressive monetary policy easing when your economy doesn’t slow so much, then obviously the risk turns in the other direction.”

Brian Coulton

Fitch’s sovereign rating of Korea currently stands at A plus, its fifth highest investment grade. The rating is a level below the AA minus it gave just before the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis. 

Fitch will send a delegation to Seoul next week for an annual meeting with the country’s policymakers, the Finance Ministry said. 

Analyst James McCormack is expected to have talks with officials from the Finance Ministry, Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Bank of Korea next Tuesday.

Chang Hea-kyu, director of the company’s Korean arm overseeing banks, said the recent tightening of foreign banks’ usage of currency derivatives is likely to bring minimal benefit to the market. 

Seoul hopes G20 will support action on N.K.

South Korea’s diplomatic knack will be put to test once again at the G20 summit this weekend in Toronto as the U.N. Security Council discusses whether to uphold Seoul’s accusation that Pyongyang torpedoed its naval ship.

Eyes are focused on the G8 summit, a political council that includes four of the five permanent members of the UNSC -- the U.S., Britain, France and Russia -- which is expected to deal with the Cheonan’s sinking.

Canada, as this year’s president of the G8, has reportedly circulated among the G8 nations a draft joint statement that calls North Korea to account in mid-June and is trying to get their approval. A consensus among Seoul, Washington and Tokyo has spurred such moves by Ottawa, diplomatic sources say.

Assembly panel rejects revised Sejong City plan

A parliamentary committee Tuesday voted down President Lee Myung-bak’s revision aimed at killing a former government-led project to relocate part of the government out of Seoul, thwarting the conservative leader’s determination to further pursue growth-focused policies in the latter-half of his term. 

A long-standing cross-party pledge sought by the administration of Roh Moo-hyun in 2005, the so-called “Sejong City” project was envisioned to develop a second administrative town in the long-underdeveloped Chungcheong region. 

The purported city, named after the creator of the Korean alphabet, is widely popular among residents of the province as well as progressive political forces who support balanced regional development.

Shortly after taking office two years ago, Lee, a former CEO and strong believer of the market economy, created a revised plan to build instead a corporate-oriented city in the region, creating a voter backlash that led to the ruling party’s crushing defeat in the June 2 local elections.

(Yonhap)

Japan beats Denmark 3-1 to advance

Japan beat Denmark 3-1 to advance to the round of 16 at the World Cup, while the Netherlands defeated Cameroon 2-1 to finish atop Group E. 

Keisuke Honda, Yasuhito Endo and Shinji Okazaki scored for Japan in Rustenburg, South Africa. Robin van Persie and Klaas Jan Huntelaar had the Netherlands goals in Cape Town. 

Japan's Keisuke Honda celebrates after scoring during the World Cup group E soccer match between Denmark and Japan at Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg, South Africa, Thursday (AP)

Korea to curb foreign currency loans

The Bank of Korea will restrict banks from giving foreign currency loans to local companies for domestic use from July 1, as part of efforts to protect the local market from big swings in foreign exchange rates.

The plan is part of a set of regulations aimed at reducing Korea’s dependence on short-term foreign borrowings which exposes the market to volatility in times of crisis. 

“We expect to lower short-term foreign debt and reduce local companies’ exposure to currency risks,” the BOK said in the statement. 

New rules allow banks to roll over foreign currency loans to local companies only if those firms can’t raise funds overseas. Foreign currency loans increased $2.19 billion between January and April this year to $22.53 billion, the central bank said.

Foreign exchange analysts say the move is related to China’s recent decision to ease the yuan’s peg against the U.S. dollar which may push the won to appreciate accordingly.

Bank of Korea Governor Kim Choong-soo (second from right) meets financial experts in Seoul on Wednesday. Yonhap News