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.

China stalling on Samsung, LG

China, already flooded with foreign investments and keen on technology transfers, is stalling on requests by Samsung Electronics and LG Display to build LCD factories. 

The mood in both companies has been dampened by the delay, likely causing disruptions in their business plans.

Beijing’s approval was expected by April but has been delayed.

According to representatives of both firms, Beijing didn’t explain the delay. For LG, a trip by the company’s CEO together with reporters was scheduled for August but has been put on hold. 

Industry sources speculate that China is trying to protect its own manufacturers, while trying to favor Taiwanese firms after the two were brought closer through an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA).

Taiwanese manufacturers compete with the two Korean firms in LCDs that are used in virtually all mobile gadgets. 

LG jacks up smartphone sales target to 6 mil.

LG Electronics is aiming to sell 6 million smartphones this year, a senior executive exclusively said Tuesday, asking not to be indentified.

The detailed sales target came at a time when LG was in "critical phase" to boost its smartphone presence. 

Even if it meets this target, it would account for only 30 percent of Samsung Electronics' sales. 

Some industry experts believe that the LG goal is ambitious, considering its late start. LG has all but been excluded from the Apple-Samsung smartphone competition, which dragged down its outlook. 

LG has decided to reduce its bloated mobile phone lineup by half to around 70 from last year's 145. 

It plans to release 20 sets of smartphones this year with 15 models being Android phones.

He said that 4.2 million phones will be Android-based, while 1.8 million will use Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system, the executive said. 

"We can't exactly predict the market. But one thing clear is LG is heavily betting on Google’s Android operating system. The number of Android phones will be more than earlier expected," an LG spokesman said.

'SKT-KT competition to hurt mobile industry'

Moody's Investors Service expects a more industry-wide negative impact from the fierce competition between SK Telecom and KT. 

"Competition among Korean telecom companies is not likely to abate any time soon, and this trend has obvious credit negative ramifications as the carriers speed up capex spending to meet the huge demand for high-speed data services," said Laura Acres, a Moody's vice president, in a recent report.

The senior credit officer added an ever-rising spiral of capital expenditure and marketing costs to retain customers have obvious negative implications for profitability and cash-flow.

Cindy Kang, a spokesman for SK Telecom, declined to comment about the report, Wednesday. Rhee In-won, a senior spokesman at KT, said the report was ``nothing special.’’

In detail, KT has announced that it will invest 5.1 trillion won or $4.3 billion on fixed-line and wireless networks until the end of 2014 to enjoy what the company claims is the "first-mover" advantage in the rapidly-growing local wireless sector.

SK Telecom, which lags in terms of the number of Wi-Fi zones compared to its biggest domestic rival, is also planning to step up the efforts for an early adaptation of the next-generation telecom technology called long-term evolution or LTE.

Although the telecom regulator designated a marketing cap ― no more than 22 percent of the total revenue ― to soothe fiercer competition, the top three local carriers including LG Uplus have failed to meet the guideline.