Credit card company Shinhan Card said Tuesday it plans to sell a 14.9 percent stake of BC Card to the country’s No. 2 mobile carrier KT Corp.
The share sale plan, confirmed by a Shinhan official, is based on the condition that Woori Bank successfully completes a transfer of 20 percent of BC Card to KT – a deal currently in the works.
KT is to become the largest shareholder of BC Card if it manages to seal both deals, and it plans to use the card firms’ communication networks to expand its mobile transaction business on smartphones.
“Shinhan plans to transfer its BC stake to KT once Woori completes its sale to the telecom operator,” said a Shinhan Financial Group official. Shinhan acquired its BC stake when the company merged with Chohung Bank back in 2006.
“Shinhan doesn’t necessarily have to hold on to BC because we already have our own credit-card business.” Despite BC’s disappointing earnings results for the second quarter, with a net loss of 48.9 billion won, its payment network is expected to boost KT’s expansion into the telecom-credit card convergence business in a bid to overtake SK Telecom Co., its rival.
The largest shareholder of BC Card currently is Bogo Fund with a 30.68 percent stake.
“The final amount of shares to be sold and sale price have yet to be determined,” the Shinhan Financial official said.
Shinhan’s plan on the sale of BC Card stake follows Woori’s announcement on the plans to sell a 20 percent stake out of its total 27.65 percent interest in BC Card to KT by the end of this year.
“Transfer of Woori’s share will be sealed at the board meeting soon. As for the deal with Shinhan, the decision to sale isn’t yet finalized although we have strong interest in management of BC,” a KT official said.
“KT will consider buying more of BC interest held by other 11 banks in the country. The deal with Woori is likely to be done by the year-end,” he said.
2010년 8월 11일 수요일
[Korea-Japan 100 years on ]Bilateral economic ties: achievements and challenges
Dotted by luxury shops and department stores, Myeong-dong is the most popular hangout for Japanese tourists in Seoul.
Streets are lined with signboards in Japanese. Clerks hail shoppers in the language. At department stores, high-tech products from Korea and Japan compete for shoppers’ attention.
The shopping area of Seoul is a snapshot of the economic relations between the two neighbors, closely intertwined but fiercely competitive.
A hundred years ago, Korea, then an impoverished, agricultural society, became a colony of Japan, Asia’s first country to embrace Western modernism. Korea was liberated in 1945 as the result of Japan’s defeat in World War II. Relations were virtually severed for two decades until they restored diplomatic ties in 1965.
Despite historical fissures, economic ties grew exponentially thanks to geographical and cultural closeness, as well as mutually complementary industrial structures.
Bilateral trade surged to $71.1 billion last year from a paltry $220 million in 1965. Korea is now Japan’s third-largest trading partner and Japan is Korea’s second largest.
Their economic ties since 1965 can be divided into three periods, characterized by rapid expansion of industrial and economic exchanges (1965-1980), deepening trade imbalances (1981-1993) and comparative stagnation in ties (1994-now), according to Lee Bu-hyung of the Hyundai Research Institute.
Streets are lined with signboards in Japanese. Clerks hail shoppers in the language. At department stores, high-tech products from Korea and Japan compete for shoppers’ attention.
The shopping area of Seoul is a snapshot of the economic relations between the two neighbors, closely intertwined but fiercely competitive.
A hundred years ago, Korea, then an impoverished, agricultural society, became a colony of Japan, Asia’s first country to embrace Western modernism. Korea was liberated in 1945 as the result of Japan’s defeat in World War II. Relations were virtually severed for two decades until they restored diplomatic ties in 1965.
Despite historical fissures, economic ties grew exponentially thanks to geographical and cultural closeness, as well as mutually complementary industrial structures.
Bilateral trade surged to $71.1 billion last year from a paltry $220 million in 1965. Korea is now Japan’s third-largest trading partner and Japan is Korea’s second largest.
Their economic ties since 1965 can be divided into three periods, characterized by rapid expansion of industrial and economic exchanges (1965-1980), deepening trade imbalances (1981-1993) and comparative stagnation in ties (1994-now), according to Lee Bu-hyung of the Hyundai Research Institute.
Google in battle over privacy protection
Google’s high-flying Street View service faces tough scrutiny over privacy violation here.
Police raided its Korean branch office Tuesday and will look into information stored in seized computer hard disks to figure out what kind of personal information was gathered while Google prepared to launch its Street View program here.
Claiming that Google violated the country’s law on protection of telecommunication privacy, Google officials will be summoned after examining the data, said police authorities.
Many reports said Google may have had access to unencrypted e-mail, video downloads and any digital information passing through wireless routes in multiple locations.
“The police did not ask for any data or information from Google before paying us the very first surprise visit on Tuesday,” an official representing Google Korea told The Korea Herald a day after the raid on Wednesday. “We’re planning to fully cooperate with the police.”
The process, however, is not expected to pick up speed as Google Korea has already pointed out the data involving the controversial program is currently available at the company’s headquarters in California.
It now remains to be seen whether local police authorities will make further moves to have Google turn over data from the company’s overseas headquarters.
The Street View program features real-time photos of searched locations, allowing users to zoom, rotate and pan through street level photos of cities around the world, according to Google.
The images of cities in Korea were being collected since October until Google acknowledged months afterwards that it had “accidentally” picked up private information while filming streets with its camera-equipped cars.
What what was controversial was that Google got its hands on sensitive private information from the unencrypted wireless networks which were a part of the filming process.
The event, however, is not the first time that Google Korea has come contact with local government officials.
The global giant has been working with the state telecom and media regulator Korea Communications Commission since May.
The two sides were most recently discussing how the KCC could have access to the contents of Google’s gathered data.
“The two options were online sharing of the data and possibly visiting the California-based headquarters,” according to a KCC official.
The police, however, said it will continue with the investigation even if KCC and Google settle the matter.
Google has been experiencing difficulties with its Street View program in many countries, including Germany, Italy, Canada and Australia as they have claimed government-level inquiries must be conducted for possible breaches of data security laws.
On Tuesday, Google announced that it would launch the Street View program by this year in 20 cities in Germany, putting an end to the privacy row there.
But Germans will be able make a request to block out their homes on Street View ahead of the launch.
Police raided its Korean branch office Tuesday and will look into information stored in seized computer hard disks to figure out what kind of personal information was gathered while Google prepared to launch its Street View program here.
Claiming that Google violated the country’s law on protection of telecommunication privacy, Google officials will be summoned after examining the data, said police authorities.
Many reports said Google may have had access to unencrypted e-mail, video downloads and any digital information passing through wireless routes in multiple locations.
“The police did not ask for any data or information from Google before paying us the very first surprise visit on Tuesday,” an official representing Google Korea told The Korea Herald a day after the raid on Wednesday. “We’re planning to fully cooperate with the police.”
The process, however, is not expected to pick up speed as Google Korea has already pointed out the data involving the controversial program is currently available at the company’s headquarters in California.
It now remains to be seen whether local police authorities will make further moves to have Google turn over data from the company’s overseas headquarters.
The Street View program features real-time photos of searched locations, allowing users to zoom, rotate and pan through street level photos of cities around the world, according to Google.
The images of cities in Korea were being collected since October until Google acknowledged months afterwards that it had “accidentally” picked up private information while filming streets with its camera-equipped cars.
What what was controversial was that Google got its hands on sensitive private information from the unencrypted wireless networks which were a part of the filming process.
The event, however, is not the first time that Google Korea has come contact with local government officials.
The global giant has been working with the state telecom and media regulator Korea Communications Commission since May.
The two sides were most recently discussing how the KCC could have access to the contents of Google’s gathered data.
“The two options were online sharing of the data and possibly visiting the California-based headquarters,” according to a KCC official.
The police, however, said it will continue with the investigation even if KCC and Google settle the matter.
Google has been experiencing difficulties with its Street View program in many countries, including Germany, Italy, Canada and Australia as they have claimed government-level inquiries must be conducted for possible breaches of data security laws.
On Tuesday, Google announced that it would launch the Street View program by this year in 20 cities in Germany, putting an end to the privacy row there.
But Germans will be able make a request to block out their homes on Street View ahead of the launch.
Lee Soo-man is richest stock investor among entertainers
Lee Soo-man, chairman of top talent agency and record label SM Entertainment, firmly holds the title of the Korean entertainment scene’s richest stock investor, with his stock wealth amounting to more than 60 billion won ($51 million), datashowed Wednesday.
According to chaebul.com, an online financial information provider, the former singer’s stockholding is valued at 61.7 billion won as of Aug. 10, increasing more than 200 percent this year.
According to chaebul.com, an online financial information provider, the former singer’s stockholding is valued at 61.7 billion won as of Aug. 10, increasing more than 200 percent this year.
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Agency sues “Elf Girl” for going AWOL
An entertainment agency in Korea said it has filed a lawsuit against Han Jang-hee, also known as “Elf Girl,” for her absence-without-leave just before the 2010 World Cup in June when the company needed her most.
MC Entertainment is seeking 500 million won ($430,000) in compensation for Han’s “unfair” termination of activities as a member of a female duo Foxy, and for the fabrication of her “Elf Girl” photo without notifying the agency, company officials said.
N.K. power elite ready for successor
While its military keeps South Korea on alert by firing coastal artillery, North Korea’s power elite is taking steps to make official the status of Kim Jong-un as the country’s next Dear Leader.
The dynastical succession from his father Kim Jong-il comes with a number of formalities and propaganda as the reclusive nation is technically run by the Workers’ Party.
The Workers’ Party is expected to put 26-year-old Jong-un and his supporters on key posts at the upcoming meeting of its top representatives in early September.
Having been chosen as Kim Jong-il’s successor early last year, Jong-un began to take part in the country’s domestic and international policies in the second half of 2009.
The young heir began running the country’s secret police agency, which oversees and therefore controls the country’s power elite, according to Cheong Seong-chang, senior fellow of the inter-Korean relations studies program at Sejong Institute.
“As the successor, Jong-un was given extralegal authority as the country’s No. 2 in command of the Workers’ Party and the military last year,” Cheong said.
“From the summer of 2009, all official reports made to Kim Jong-il went through Jong-un.”
Cheong predicted that the Workers’ Party representatives will appoint to the party’s key positions Jong-un and others who will help him tighten his grip on the country’s military and the whole society.
The North said it will convene a meeting of party representatives to elect members of the party’s “supreme leadership,” which means the party’s Central Committee.
“One of the posts Jong-un could assume is the organizational secretary of the party’s Central Committee, who wields the greatest power on the committee,” Cheong said.
The dynastical succession from his father Kim Jong-il comes with a number of formalities and propaganda as the reclusive nation is technically run by the Workers’ Party.
The Workers’ Party is expected to put 26-year-old Jong-un and his supporters on key posts at the upcoming meeting of its top representatives in early September.
Having been chosen as Kim Jong-il’s successor early last year, Jong-un began to take part in the country’s domestic and international policies in the second half of 2009.
The young heir began running the country’s secret police agency, which oversees and therefore controls the country’s power elite, according to Cheong Seong-chang, senior fellow of the inter-Korean relations studies program at Sejong Institute.
“As the successor, Jong-un was given extralegal authority as the country’s No. 2 in command of the Workers’ Party and the military last year,” Cheong said.
“From the summer of 2009, all official reports made to Kim Jong-il went through Jong-un.”
Cheong predicted that the Workers’ Party representatives will appoint to the party’s key positions Jong-un and others who will help him tighten his grip on the country’s military and the whole society.
The North said it will convene a meeting of party representatives to elect members of the party’s “supreme leadership,” which means the party’s Central Committee.
“One of the posts Jong-un could assume is the organizational secretary of the party’s Central Committee, who wields the greatest power on the committee,” Cheong said.
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| Jang Song-thaek Kim Young-choon O Kuk-ryol |
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| Woo Dong-cheuk Joo Sang-song Kim Jong-gak |
Records show annexation treaty invalid
Historical documents showed that the treaty that put Korea under Japan’s colonial rule 100 years ago was invalid under international law as the Korean king didn’t use the state seal to proclaim it.
The original copy of the Korean proclamation of the annexation treaty on Aug. 29, 1910, contained only King Sunjong’s privy seal, which was used solely for administrative approvals, and didn’t have the state seal of Korea.
The Japanese edict of the same treaty, however, was stamped with the state seal and had the signature of Emperor Meiji, who signed it with his personal name, Mutsuhito, according to the document.
This discrepancy challenges the Japanese assertion that the annexation took effect legally with the approval of King Sunjong.
The original copy of the Korean proclamation of the annexation treaty on Aug. 29, 1910, contained only King Sunjong’s privy seal, which was used solely for administrative approvals, and didn’t have the state seal of Korea.
The Japanese edict of the same treaty, however, was stamped with the state seal and had the signature of Emperor Meiji, who signed it with his personal name, Mutsuhito, according to the document.
This discrepancy challenges the Japanese assertion that the annexation took effect legally with the approval of King Sunjong.
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