Both BA and KAL get multi-million fines, while equally guilty sneaks Virgin and Lufthansa escape punishment. Whatever, I’ll still fly Virgin in preference to BA whenever I can. Links: British Airways and Korean Air Lines fined by regulators for price-fixing, International Herald Tribune, 1 August 2007. Also covered by Reuters. [Read More]
Category: Business & economy (page 11)
London & South East to coordinate Korea campaign
A press release issued yesterday: Think London and South East England Development Agency join forces in promoting London and South East in Korea July 18, 2007 Think London, the foreign direct investment agency for London, and SEEDA, the South East England Development Agency, announced the establishment of their joint representative office based at KOTRA in … [Read More]
Round-up of recent business stories
Some recent stories I don’t want to lose. Mercer’s annual cost of living survey for expats has recently been published. Seoul, last year’s number 2, has been pushed to number 3 by London. Moscow stays top of the list. Tokyo is fourth. Korea is also slipping in the GDP rankings. Bank of Korea data shows … [Read More]
KORUS links
The show’s not over yet on the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement, but while there’s a lull in the proceedings I’m taking the opportunity to post a few links which I’ll update as necessary. 1. The text of the draft agreement The full text – an index of all the pdf documents which make up the … [Read More]
Hanwha and Kim Seung-youn links
A lazy post to bring together some of the Hanwha coverage. Interestingly, not many of the bloggers seem to have shown much interest in the story, as far as I can see. (South Korean police officers carry the seizures after searching at home of Hanwha Group Chairman and CEO Kim Seung-youn in Seoul, South Korea, … [Read More]
JPMorgan Partners the next Lone Star?
That’s the question posed by the Chosun Ilbo last week. The investment partnership formed to acquire a 73% stake of Mando, the Korean car parts maker, was ordered by the National Tax Service to pay $16 million in back taxes on dividends. JPMorgan Partners had a two-thirds share in this partnership. While the investment in … [Read More]
A suggested answer to Samsung’s profit woes
Samsung recently reported lower than anticipated profits for the first quarter of 2007. “While operating profit came in slightly below market consensus, this shortfall was limited to weaker than expected performance in the semiconductor business,” said Lee Keonhyok of Samsung’s investor relations department in a telephone conference call. “While not making any excuses, it’s fair … [Read More]
KORUS FTA to benefit some UK law firms?
The surprise milestone reached on 2 April, with what appears to be provisional agreement on the US Free Trade Agreement, could also benefit law firms operating in the UK, but the dust is still settling. As became clear last year, no progress was going to be made on opening up the Korean legal market until … [Read More]
Jumong a bright spot in media industry gloom
The Chosun recently reported a gloomy picture of the earnings of the Korean film industry. As Jon Pais speculated over at Twitch in November last year, Even if production costs stabilized, as the number of films increases, decreased profitability is inevitable. But production costs are soaring and don’t show any signs of slowing down. In … [Read More]
Money where the mouth is
Is South Korea the only country in which there are regular press articles which highlight the amount of profits that foreigners make from the Korean market – the implication being that only Koreans should be allowed to make a profit? A recent Chosun article summarised the 2006 Central Bank investment statistics. Six months ago KBS … [Read More]
Seoul lags as an international financial hub
The Corporation of London has just launched a new index: the Global Financial Centres Index. It’s a way of ranking various cities that aspire to being recognised as international financial services centres. It was launched in Cannes last week at MIPIM, the international property industry boondoggle. The occasion provided the opportunity to update the City’s … [Read More]
Cosmetic surgery to get tax breaks
As if there wasn’t enough plastic surgery in Korea already, the Government has just made it tax deductible. According to the Chosun Ilbo: The costs of plastic surgery, cosmetic tooth reshaping, corrective laser eye surgery, and “boyak”, or traditional Korean health supplements, will be eligible for income deductions in the year-end tax adjustment from this … [Read More]
Bugger Seoul, I’m off to Paris
Another recent article in the JoongAng Daily reports on the Korean long-hours culture. I experienced this first-hand during my recent trip to Seoul. I thought I’d call in at the office, and maybe encourage my colleagues out for a beer or two. I was due to turn up at around 6pm, but because I spent … [Read More]
Event report: Korea Business Reception at London City Hall
By Peter Corbishley On Monday 15th January the glitterati of the Anglo-Korean business worlds were invited to network by Ambassador Cho and Mike Backhouse of Standard Chartered under the auspices of Ken Livingstone and Think London. Over 250 companies accepted invitations to an event originally scheduled to be part of Think Korea 2006, as the … [Read More]
The London Korean Links Awards 2006
In the year-end spirit of reviewing the highlights and lowlights of 2006, here are the winners of the first LKL Awards – a personal and unscientific selection. The awards are in the following categories: Man of the Year Woman of the Year Best cultural promotion: Briton in Korea Best cultural promotion: Korean in Britain Best … [Read More]
Graham Norton sits on the best of Korean design
Congratulations to Korean-born Jackie and Lloyd Choi of Jackie Choi London for winning one of the Mayor of Hackney’s annual Business Awards 2006. The awards are designed to “celebrate entrepreneurs with business acumen and innovative ideas that generate jobs throughout the borough”. The awards were presented on 14 November, and the Choi sisters won in … [Read More]