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Kim Jae-kyoung

Korea Times Business Planning Reporter

I’m currently managing director of Content and Business Planning at The Korea Times. Before I took the current position in early 2024, I served as managing editor in charge of both paper and online for over three and a half years. In 2015-2018, I worked as Singapore correspondent covering ASEAN nations.

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Companies

Korea’s GDP growth slows to 0.7%

By Kim Jae-kyoung The economy has shown clear signs of slowdown, with the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) growing at the slowest pace in one and a half years in the third quarter due to the waning effect of economic stimulus and weak manufacturing sector. The Bank of Korea (BOK) reported Thursday that the GDP growth slowed to 0.7 percent in the third quarter from a quarter ago, compared to the previous quarter’s 1.4 percent expansion. The GDP grew 2.1 percent in the first quarter. On a year-on-year basis, the economy expanded 4.4 percent between July and September, compared to the second quarter’s 7.2 percent growth. “The economic growth has been slowing since the first quarter, but this mainly resulted from a sharp expansion in the first half. The economic growth was led by private spending and investment, and the self-sustaining recovery by the private sector remains firm,” BOK senior economist Jung Yung-taek, said at a press conference. “In the fourth quarter, the Korean economy is expected to log positive quarterly growth, and for the full year, it could pull

Dec 2, 2010By Kim Jae-kyoung
Companies

Real penalty should be imposed on NK

By Kim Jae-kyoung A noted North Korea expert said that South Korea and its allies, including the United States, should seek effective ways to penalize North Korea in a bid to prevent future provocations. In an email interview with The Korea Times, Marcus Noland, senior research fellow for the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said that the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island and killing of civilians indicates a very dangerous escalation of North Korean belligerency. “It is probably driven by the North’s succession process as much as anything else. The good news is for that reason that it might be self-limiting, while the bad news is that if the developments are not driven primarily by foreign policy goals, there is probably little that we can do to resolve it,” he said. “I think that it is important that some real penalty be imposed on North Korea in order to help them calibrate the costs of future provocations. If not, it is practically an invitation for potentially catastrophic miscalculation in which some future provocation sets off an explosive escalation,” he

Nov 29, 2010By Kim Jae-kyoung
Companies

Moodys, S&P to maintain Koreas sovereign rating

By Kim Jae-kyoung Global credit rating agencies Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s (S&P) said Wednesday that they will not change their sovereign ratings on South Korea despite the rising tension in the Korean Peninsula triggered by North Korea’s military attack. The reactions came one day after North Korea fired dozens of coastal artillery shells on Yeonpyeong Island in the West Sea, spawning fears that the North’s brinkmanship will heighten geopolitical risks in the region. In an email interview with The Korea Times, Moody’s Senior Vice President Tom Byrne said that it has no plan to downgrade its rating or outlook on South Korea, citing strong fundamentals and the country’s robust ties with the U.S. “The most recent provocative actions by North Korea underscore what we perceive as the heightened uncertainty from North Korea as it undergoes a transition in leadership,” Byrne said, adding that the agency highlighted such concerns in its earlier report released in July. “At the same time, we consider that the materialization of geopolitical event risk, a

Nov 24, 2010By Kim Jae-kyoung
Companies

Hana, Lone Star to ink KEB deal today

By Kim Jae-kyoung Hana Financial Group said Wednesday that it will sign a share purchase agreement with Lone Star Funds today to take over a controlling 51.02 percent stake in Korea Exchange Bank (KEB). The group said that its board approved the plan to acquire the nation’s fifth largest lender, which will make Hana the third largest banking group in the country, edging out Shinhan Financial Group. “The negotiations have been finalized. What’s left is only the signing process,” Hana Chairman Kim Seung-yu told reporters at Incheon International Airport Wednesday before flying to London. Kim will sign an official sale agreement with Lone Star Funds Chairman John Grayken in London at: 11:00 am (local time) to finalize the Korean won-based transaction. “The takeover price is finalized but I cannot make a comment on that at this moment due to a confidentiality agreement with Lone Star,” he added. Through public disclosure, the group said that the takeover price is expected to be somewhere between 4.65 trillion won and 4.75 trillion won, meaning that Hana will pay around 14

Nov 24, 2010By Kim Jae-kyoung
Companies

Hana Financial to buy KEB for W4.7 trillion

By Kim Jae-kyoung Hana Financial Group said Tuesday it has decided to take over a controlling 51.02 percent stake in Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) from Lone Star Funds for around 4.7 trillion won. The group said it will hold a board meeting to finalize the takeover of the nation’s fifth-largest lender this morning and Chairman Kim Seung-yu will hold a press conference in the afternoon ahead of a public disclosure. Hana Chairman Kim plans to fly to the U.S. to sign the sale and share purchase agreement with John Grayken, chairman of Lone Star, Thursday after the board approves of the transaction. Hana plans to apply for a regulatory approval for the deal, including its funding plan, the same day. "We have finalized most of the acquisition process. I will announce every detail regarding the KEB deal, including our funding plan, tomorrow,” Hana Kim told reporters. The group said that the takeover price is expected to be somewhere between 4.6 trillion won and 4.8 trillion won, which is within the current market value plus a 10 percent premium on managerial rights. Regardin

Nov 23, 2010By Kim Jae-kyoung
Companies

LINA Korea appoints CEO

By Kim Jae-kyoung LINA Korea, the Korean arm of U.S. insurance giant CIGNA, said Monday that it has appointed Benjamin Hong as its new CEO. Hong was previously CEO of Sun Life Financial Korea. Sun Life is a Canadian life insurer. Prior to serving at Sun Life, he was vice president of MetLife in charge of their global agent channel, except for the U.S. market. He also worked for Prudential Life for 15 years. Hong graduated from Baruch College in New York with a major in business administration. He also completed a master’s degree from the same school.

Nov 23, 2010By Kim Jae-kyoung
Companies

Tax may knock Lone Star’s exit plan from Korea

By Kim Jae-kyoung Lone Star Funds Chairman John Grayken may be popping champagne over the sale of its stake of Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) to Hana Financial Group as it has paved the way for the fund to exit the Korean market. The sale is also expected to relieve mounting pressure from investors on Grayken to step down. Hana Financial said Tuesday that it will hold a board meeting to finalize the takeover of the nation’s fifth-largest lender Wednesday morning and Chairman Kim Seung-yu will call a press conference in the afternoon ahead of public disclosure. Even if the two parties sign an official sales agreement, Lone Star is facing a bumpy road ahead as there are a number of issues that could stand in the way of the Dallas-based fund’s exit plan. The biggest hurdle is taxation. There is a wide perspective gap between Lone Star and the National Tax Service (NTS) on the taxation of capital gains from the sale of KEB. Unless either of the two steps back, chances are that the fund will face another legal battle. The nation’s tax agency has claimed that Lone Star should pa

Nov 23, 2010By Kim Jae-kyoung
Companies

Can Hana handle wrath of KEB union?

Resistance from unionists could provide speed bump for Hana’s takeover attempt By Kim Jae-kyoung The labor union of Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) has stepped up protests against Hana Financial Group’s takeover attempt, claiming that it could lead to another “winner’s curse” similar to the one Kumho Asiana Group suffered due to the acquisition of Daewoo Engineering & Construction. On Monday, the union and 100 KEB employees held a rally at the headquarters of the Financial Services Commission (FSC) to adopt a resolution calling for an explanation on suspicions associated with the KEB deal. They also staged one-man protests at the National Assembly and Hana’s main office. In a press release Monday, the union said that the financial regulator should not turn a blind eye to Hana’s move to acquire KEB in an improper way, saying that it is trying to favor Hana. “In order to pay Lone Star the five trillion won price tag for its controlling 51-percent stake, Hana needs to borrow an additional three trillion won. KEB and Hana Bank will eventually have to shoulder the debt burden,” i

Nov 22, 2010By Kim Jae-kyoung
Companies

It is time to erect barriers against capital flows

By Kim Jae-kyoung The government’s move to control capital flows is a step in the right direction to stabilize the local financial market and economy, according to a global economist from Natixis, one of the major banks in France. In an email interview with The Korea Times, Luca Silipo, chief economist for Asia-Pacific at Natixis, pointed out that excessive capital inflows are the real risk for Asian countries, including Korea, citing overvaluation of currencies and rising inflation. “The first wave of capital inflows during 2008-2009 was beneficial to Asian countries, which at that time had quite weak currencies and nonexistant inflation. So the increase of domestic liquidity that the capital inflows were creating domestically was relatively without risk in terms of excessive currency appreciation and inflationary pressure,“ he said. “The situation today is quite different, with a general overvaluation of currencies in Asia and very clear inflationary pressures almost anywhere in Asia. It is high time that Asian countries erect some barriers against these destabilizing f

Nov 19, 2010By Kim Jae-kyoung
Companies

SK Telecom under tax audit

By Kim Jae-kyoung SK Telecom and other affiliates of SK Group are undergoing tax audits. SK officials said that it was part of a regular audit, adding that the last one was conducted in 2006. Big firms undergo regular audits about every five years. The National Tax Service (NTS) said Thursday that it sent its regular audit team to the headquarters of the mobile phone carrier Tuesday and has since been conducting an examination of accounts. It is also carrying out an audit on SK Telesys, a supplier for SK Telecom, and two other of its subcontractors. “We are examining SK Telecom as part of our regular audit. We have sent tax officials from the First Audit Division in charge of regular audits,” a ranking NTS official said, asking not to be named. “Officials from the First Division is leading the ongoing audit but we may send officials from the Fourth Audit Division in charge of special audits in the case the first division team uncovers anything irregular,” he added, hinting that officials from the fourth division could also contribute. Market watchers specula

Nov 18, 2010By Kim Jae-kyoung
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