Conglomerates compete over energy market

Three of Korea’s largest family-owned conglomerates are entering a heated competition over the lucrative petroleum market with Hyundai Heavy Industries’ recent takeover of the nation’s No. 4 refiner.

Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world’s largest shipbuilder, regained control of Hyundai Oilbank last week after Abu Dhabi’s state-run International Petroleum Investment Co. accepted the International Chamber of Commerce’s ruling that confirmed its right to acquire an additional 70 percent share.

Samsung Total Petrochemicals Co., backed by Korea’s largest conglomerate Samsung Group, is expanding its refinery business, posing a challenge to the current dominance of SK Energy, which belongs to the country’s third-largest conglomerate, SK Group. 

Hyundai Heavy Industries’ biggest shareholder is Rep. Chung Mong-joon of Grand National Party who is Hyundai Motor Group chairman Chung Mong-koo’s younger brother. 

Hyundai Heavy Industries sold controlling stakes in the refiner to IPIC in 1999 after suffering liquidity problems during the Asian financial crisis. 

Following the acquisition of Hyundai Oilbank, Hyundai Heavy Industries will move up a step to seventh place in conglomerate rankings by asset value. 

Hyundai Heavy Industries enters a market led by the country’s largest refiner SK Energy. In addition to SK Energy, SK Group also counts SK Gas, which holds the largest share of the liquefied petroleum gas market, among its subsidiaries.

While SK Group has a firm hold on the local energy market, Samsung Total is picking up pace.

In May, the company completed the largest single LPG storage facility and began importing the fuel from the Middle East. In addition, the company is planning a 160 billion won investment for related facilities as part of its plans to raise the proportion of its revenues raised from the area to 30 percent by 2015.

Teenage suicide increases 50%

The number of teenage suicides increased by nearly 50 percent from a year earlier to exceed 200 last year, with many of the reasons unknown. 

A total of 202 elementary, middle and high school students committed suicide in 2009, Rep. Kim Choon-jin of the Democratic Party said Sunday in his analysis report to the parliamentary education committee. 

The figure is a 47 percent increase from 137 in the previous year. After slight fluctuations in recent years, the number of teenage suicide cases surpassed 200 for the first time. 

High school students accounted for the greatest number of teen suicides, with 140 of the total. Middle school students and elementary school students made up 28 percent and 3 percent, respectively. 

Korean teens take future into own hands

Bright-minded youths gathered in Seoul on Saturday to rock the foundation of Korean education and make it their own.

During the TEDxYouthSeoul at the Victoria Theater in Everland Resort, participating teenagers showed that there is something above and beyond the simplicity of good grades and high scores.

The event opened with a powerful clip of Adora Svitak, child prodigy and short story writer since shw was 7, talking about what adults can learn from children.

Following that idea, several high school sophomores from Korean International School created the first ever TEDxYouth event in Korea. It is the first ever TEDxYouth event organized by youth.

Fifteen speakers, some of the most ambitious teens in Korea, gave a wide variety of speeches. One advocated multiracial awareness through the Pearl Buck Student Association and another asked the Korean youth to “find their color” through her Unique-ify project.

TEDxYouthSeoul gave off an aura of creativity, individuality and uniqueness. These are words not usually synonymous with Korean education.

“I think that this side of education that values diverse experiences is going to be a big factor in Korean education,” said Kwon Min-ae, organizer and founder of TEDxYouthSeoul.

“Colleges are already changing their trends, not only are they accepting just scores but they are also looking for other extracurricular activities,” said Kwon.

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.