The Korea Times

Korea wins $1 bil. Indonesian deal

By Oh Young-jin Korea has won a $1.12 billion deal to supply three submarines to Indonesia, officials of the Defense Ministry and Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering said Tuesday. “This is a contract that may lead to more orders from Indonesia and Malaysia,” said an official from the shipbuilder, which will fulfill the order, declining to comment on eventual sales in the region. The agreement is the single biggest arms sales deal by a Korean firm and marks the first export of submarines. It is composed of three 1,400-ton class diesel-powered submarines, each 61.3 meters from stern to bow to be manned by a crew of 40. They are capable of launching torpedoes and other guided weaponry through eight tubes. Delivery is to be completed by 2018, Daewoo and ministry officials said. Daewoo officials said that the submarines to be delivered to Indonesia will be Korea’s original model. In 1988 Korea received building technologies for a 1,200-ton class German submarine. Daewoo officials said that submarine builders from France, Germany and Russia also competed for the

Dec 20, 2011By Oh Young-jin

Economy

Yoon Seok-keum and#8212; sales king

By Oh Young-jin When I exchanged business cards with Woongjin Group Chairman Yoon Seok-keum as part of a routine before an interview, I thought that he had mistakenly given me two. As he introduced himself to the other members of our team, I glanced at Yoon’s name card in my palm and found it was folded. The front cover as usual bore his name and position in Korean and the back had them in English, while Page 2 listed his 6-point “love” pledges for customers, community, company, change, challenge and work, and the third contained the names of 15 subsidiaries. Woongjin is one of top 30 conglomerates that has its roots in publishing, has been thriving on water purifier rentals and now encompasses construction, energy and country clubs, among its other businesses. It is not the size of its business but the person at the top, Yoon, that captures salaried men’s imagination. Nearly 40 years ago, Yoon had his humble beginnings as a salesman for Encyclopedia Britannica, not dreaming that he would end up the owner of a big conglomerate with a wide ranging portfolio.

Dec 11, 2011By Oh Young-jin

Companies

Bank of Korea cuts 2012 growth forecast to 3.7%

By Oh Young-jin The Bank of Korea (BOK) cut its economic growth forecast for next year to 3.7 percent from its earlier projection of 4.6 percent, Friday. The central bank also revised down its growth estimate for this year to 3.8 percent from its earlier estimate of 4.3 percent in July. The downward adjustments in growth rates reflect that the European debt crisis coupled with the U.S. economic slump will likely hobble the global economy, hurting Korean exports, its growth engine, the BOK said, adding that growth will be restored to 4.2 percent in 2013. The central bank said inflation would ease to 3.3 percent in 2012 from 4 percent this year, citing easing raw materials costs. “The downward revision comes as export growth will likely slow amid the worsening of the eurozone debt problems, and weakening consumer and investment confidence,” a central bank official said. BOK’s downward adjustments follow those by private and state think tanks and international organizations. Their consensus is that Korea’s growth will be brought to below 4 percent. On Thursday, the

Dec 9, 2011By Oh Young-jin

Companies

Koo and#8212; CEO with sheer determination

By Oh Young-jin Even before the interview began, standing protocols were bypassed twice. First, LS Industrial Systems (LSIS) CEO Koo Ja-kyun waited outside a cafeteria on the second floor of the company’s headquarters in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province. Then, Koo, a former business administration professor at Korea University, took us to the executive dining room. Interestingly enough, he showed little awkwardness as if this was well practiced. When having lunch at a six-person table, this sense of informality was only one of the hallmarks the 53-year-old CEO had and he used it to his advantage. By the time the first spoonfuls were lifted from bowls of rice, no ice was left to break between the interviewee and interviewers with their discussions jumping from one subject to another. It was not LSIS’ business plan but his can-do spirit that became the subject of the conversation. He started scuba diving in a class where some students were half his age and included a former member of the Navy’s underwater demolition team (UDT). But he finished the course at the top of t

Dec 6, 2011By Oh Young-jin

Companies

Hana CEO accused of reneging on Lone Star battle

The union of the Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) has attacked Hana Financial for conspiring to help Lone Star, the Texas–based private equity fund, siphon off the nation’s wealth. In a statement issued Wednesday, the union, which opposes the sale of KEB to Hana by Lone Star, said Hana failed to lower the price it will pay for the controlling stake in KEB from Lone Star as required in its price drop, thereby causing the outflow of precious national wealth overseas. Hana used the media to float the wrong figures in order to check public reaction. The union’s statement comes with a growing number of reports that Hana and Lone Star are close to a deal. A Hana official said that the two sides are engaged in the final rounds of negotiations but declined to say how they narrowed their differences in price. Some sources say that Hana would be lucky to see a 650 won or 5 percent reduction from 13,390 won per share, the price that the two sides agreed on. But they said it amounted to no discount whatsoever, considering the dividends of 1,510 won per share made on their origin

Nov 30, 2011By Oh Young-jin

Economy

Preventing an economic ice age

By Oh Young-jin Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Governor Kwon Hyouk-se has proved to be a passionate speaker. During a recent interview at his office in Yeouido, the 55-year-old bureaucrat spoke past the designated time and went through a wide range of complex issues he is responsible for. Kwon’s aides say that the FSS chief talks to news media without much preparation. After all, he has been working as a regulator in one form or another throughout much of his adult life. More surprising than his passionate speech was the candor with which he spoke. One such occasion arose during the one-and-half-hour interview when he briefly mentioned the “coming of (an economic) ice age.” Obviously, he didn’t speak of it like an ill-fated Cassandra who nobody would listen to but from the perspective of a regulator. In other words, he appeared to say it not because he sees it coming but out of a deep sense of duty to have the nation prepared for a worst-case scenario. “An ice age is coming,” he said after observing goings-on from Europe to the United States. “It may last t

Nov 27, 2011By Oh Young-jin

Companies

SK plays ’bootstrap’ role for underpriviled

Chairman Chey Tae-won leads social enterprise movement SK Group aims to return part of its profits to society in an extensive corporate social responsibility (CSR) program. Chairman Chey Tae-won stressed the integral part corporations should play in fulfilling their social responsibility in terms of helping put underprivileged countries on a sustained growth path during the G20 Business Summit in Cannes, France, earlier this month. Chey said during a roundtable discussion, “Bringing underdeveloped countries on the path of growth for a sustainable period of time is a challenge the world should collectively take. “It is imperative that foreign corporations that advance into those areas should help set up and maintain ‘social companies’ that provide employment opportunities and act as bootstraps for them to be economically independent.” Chey pointed out that social firms are usually not profit-oriented so it would be hard for them to function for a long period of time, a problem to which a solution could be offered by pertinent governments through a variety of inducements.

Nov 21, 2011By Oh Young-jin

Companies

Lone Star to lower KEB price

US fund to talk to other potential buyers By Oh Young-jin Lone Star will look for an alternative buyer while continuing to talk to Hana Financial even after the two’s exclusive contract for negotiations expires at the end of November, a source close to the Dallas-based private equity fund said Sunday. The source also said that John Grayken, Lone Star CEO, would be willing to sell for a lower price than the one agreed on in the existing contract. “Lone Star may look for a buyer other than Hana after November and may be willing to accept a discounted offer,” the source said on condition of anonymity, adding that “only Graken knows” whether or not the discount amounts to 1,000 won or more per share. The government, meanwhile, is strongly hoping for the completion of the deal by the end of the year, other unnamed sources said. This is the first time that Lone Star has confirmed its stance on a discount and an alternative buyer since last week when the regulator paved the way for its exit out of Korea, although speculation has been rife. The Financial Services Commi

Nov 20, 2011By Oh Young-jin

Companies

FSC chief on bus tour for SMEs

Kim Seok-dong, chairman of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), is taking a two-day bus tour to take a first-hand look at difficulties facing the nation’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) today, according to officials. Kim’s itinerary includes stops at a start-up incubator in North Chungcheong Province; a science-technology complex in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province; a technology park in Busan and an industrial complex in Daegu. Kim’s tour is organized to survey people working on the frontlines of Korea Inc. and have them reflect what is being worked on as a comprehensive package to financially boost the sagging SME sector. According to sources, Kim is leading a government effort to overhaul the existing policies aimed at helping small firms, seeing them as a key source of new employment to help ease the severe youth jobless rate. Although they didn’t elaborate about the content, it is strongly speculated that incentives such as the provision of immunity for those who fail on a start-up fund is included with devices aimed at preventing abuses. Joining Kim

Nov 20, 2011By Oh Young-jin

Companies

Woori to sue Citibank, Merrill Lynch

By Oh Young-jin Woori Bank is planning to file lawsuits against three foreign banks seeking up to $300 million in damages, a bank official said Wednesday. “The total amount will fall between $200 million and $300 million,” the official said. The three banks are Citibank, Merrill Lynch and the Royal Bank of Scotland, he said. A source said that Woori is also considering filing criminal complaints for fraud against those who caused the bank $1.5 billion in losses. “These banks provided false information in selling derivatives starting in 2005,” the bank official said, claiming that the credit ratings they gave were incorrect. According to sources, the decision was during a board of directors’ meeting last month to sue and file criminal complaints against the three banks in a U.S. federal court in New York. They said that the lawsuits will be filed within this year at the earliest. “They call it an ‘incomplete’ sale,” a bank official said. “In other words, the banks duped us into believing that collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) and other derivatives were

Nov 16, 2011By Oh Young-jin

Oh Young-jin

Read more

Korea wins $1 bil. Indonesian deal

Yoon Seok-keum and#8212; sales king

Bank of Korea cuts 2012 growth forecast to 3.7%

Koo and#8212; CEO with sheer determination

Hana CEO accused of reneging on Lone Star battle

Preventing an economic ice age

SK plays ’bootstrap’ role for underpriviled

Lone Star to lower KEB price

FSC chief on bus tour for SMEs

Woori to sue Citibank, Merrill Lynch

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