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Kang Seung-woo

Korea Times Business Reporter

Kang Seung-woo is the Business Desk editor at The Korea Times. Prior to this position, he covered politics, national affairs, finance and sports.

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Companies

Kookmin punished for violating board rules

By Kang Seung-woo Kookmin Bank was penalized for violating rules governing its board of directors and received a penalty from the financial authorities, a lawmaker said Sunday. Rep. Lee Seong-nam of the main opposition Democratic Party said that the lender called the outside director recommendation committee and selected its outsider directors without reporting to the board in September 2009. According to its board regulations, the appointment of outside directors is subject to approval by the board meeting. The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), which conducted an inspection of the nation’s largest lender by assets from Jan. 14 to Feb. 10, found the violation and issued a warning in August. “It is questionable whether outside directors selected improperly are able to monitor their management properly,” Lee said. Lee also said that Kookmin offended the rule regarding the compensation of outside directors. The bank paid them travel expenses worth 33 million won ($29,700) between 2007 and 2009. The lender’s outside director is one of the most lucrative position

Oct 17, 2010By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Shinhan’s big three pressed to resign

By Kang Seung-woo Shinhan Financial Group’ s top three executives are expected to face a forced exit from the group’s management, after its Korean-Japanese shareholders agreed to dismiss them for the recent internal feud and legal disputes. A total of 130 shareholders, including the group’s four outside directors, held a meeting in Osaka, Thursday and reached an agreement to sack all three and select new management as soon as possible to put the group back on track. “The three chief executives should resign, bearing responsibility for the damage caused by a series of scandals involving them,” they said in a statement. Group Chairman Ra Eung-chan is expected to receive a heavy penalty for violating the Real Name Financial Transaction Law, while President Shin Sang-hoon has been suspended from his duties for alleged embezzlement and breach of trust. Shinhan Bank CEO Lee Baek-soon is also involved in a legal dispute for defamation. Meanwhile, Shin will be summoned next week by the prosecution. The Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office said Thursday that it will question t

Oct 14, 2010By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Samsung, SK, LG turn blind eye to the disabled

By Kang Seung-woo Local business groups, including Samsung, SK and LG, have pledged to seek ways to support the underprivileged, but their words turned out to be little more than slogans, with most of them reluctant to hire the handicapped, a lawmaker said Wednesday. Rep. Shin Young-soo of the governing Grand National Party (GNP) announced the 2009 employment statistics of the handicapped in Korea’s top 30 companies and their subsidiaries. According to the figures, 12 major business groups offered few job opportunities for the physically-challenged last year, with each company’s hiring rate falling short of 1 percent. The 12 companies include GS Group, Hyundai Engineering and Construction, Shinsegae and the aforementioned Samsung, SK and LG. The average rate for the top 30 groups stood at 1.51 percent. In addition, the hiring rate of those who are severely challenged in the cited firms tallied just 0.16 percent. He said that just six corporations ― Hyundai Motor, POSCO, Hyundai Heavy Industries, KT, Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering and GM Daewoo ― met a ru

Oct 13, 2010By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

1 in 3 workers suspect themselves to be alcoholic

By Kang Seung-woo Park Hyun-wook has recently begun to spend more time at a pub before going home. Although the 31-year-old salesman who works for a local pharmaceutical company is not a heavy drinker, he often turns to alcohol whenever he is stressed out at work. Like him, a large number of salaried workers depend on alcohol, an online job market information provider said. In a survey of 684 office workers, Incruit found that 27.3 percent of the respondents tend to drink alcohol to unwind, with men accounting for 32.1 percent and women for 22.3 percent. “Even though I do not drink a lot every time, I often visit a pub near my home,” Park said. “I see many women around me who often go drinking too.” According to the study, 35.2 percent drink once or twice a week, but 6.1 percent drink alcohol three or four times a week. “I usually drink twice a week and sometimes three times, but there are also some who drink a lot on weekdays,” he said. Office workers say they drink mainly due to stress from their jobs. “When I am stressed, I go have a drink. Sometim

Oct 13, 2010By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

College restructuring key to boosting youth employment

By Kang Seung-woo Restructuring local universities is one of the top priorities the government should focus on in order to tackle worsening youth employment, a local business lobby said Tuesday. According to a report issued by the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), a lot of uncompetitive colleges in Korea produce a surplus of highly-educated individuals and it is difficult for them to find jobs in the tightening labor market. It said that university restructuring should be conducted to cope with the imbalance between reducing jobs available and increasing job seekers. A government report earlier said only about 55 percent of some 540,000 people who graduated from college between August 2009 and February this year found jobs. Along with the restructuring, increasing decent jobs and offering employment-footed education are other options in efforts to bring down the jobless rate, the FKI said. Young job seekers create an ongoing headache for the government. According to the OECD, Korea’s youth unemployment rate was at 9.8 percent in 2009, 6.9 percent less compar

Oct 12, 2010By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Is Hana CEO leaving after merger?

By Kang Seung-woo Younger chief executives should lead financial institutions, a local finance group chairman said Monday. “Nomura Holdings does not appoint a CEO who is over 60 years old, and Citigroup sets an age limit of 65 and lets CEOs in their early 50s or 40s head the group. As for General Electric, it always appoints 40-something chief executives,” Hana Financial Group Chairman Kim Seung-yu told reporters during the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington. “Global banks usually sign a one-year contract with their CEOs, when they are 65 or over.” The 67-year-old Kim’s remark came after Woori Bank CEO Lee Chong-hwi’s hinted at his own reappointment. Lee, the 61-year-old CEO of the nation’s second-largest bank, said Woori Bank should take a leading role when Hana financial holding company merges with Woori Financial Group and he expressed his desire to stay at the helm. KB Financial Group and Hana have been seen as top candidates to take over state-run Woori Financial Group, when the government makes efforts to retrieve public fu

Oct 11, 2010By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Funding ability key factor in HEC sale

By Kang Seung-woo The chief of the Korea Finance Corporation (KoFC) said that funding ability and vision are as important as the sales price in choosing a buyer for Hyundai Engineering & Construction (HEC). KoFC is the largest shareholder of HEC with an 11.12 percent stake. “Although the sales price is a prime factor, we will take a close look at the buyer’s funding capability and management vision as well,” KoFC President Ryu Jae-han said in a press conference in Washington last week during his visit to the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “At this moment, neither of the two potential bidders ― Hyundai Group and Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group ― are in a leading position in the bidding race for HEC,” he added. KoFC was spun off from the Korea Development Bank (KDB) last October as the first step of the state-run lender toward privatization and assumed the public-financing functions of the KDB. Ryu, former head of the Korea Housing Financial Corporation, said Hyundai Group’s emotional advertisements will not affect the sales process. “Frankly speak

Oct 11, 2010By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Banks under fire for overseas losses

By Kang Seung-woo Major financial groups and banks have been under fire for soaring losses from investment abroad, raising questions over whether the poor outcome of their global expansion was due to just bad timing or wrong strategy? Local banks have claimed that they were the right investment at the wrong time but market experts point out that they should take more cautious and strategic approach when going global. The issue re-emerged after lawmakers recently criticized local financial firms for overseas losses at the parliamentary inspection. Rep. Bae Young-shik of the governing Grand National Party (GNP) said that Woori Financial Group’s acquisition of Hanmi Financial Corporation (HAFC) has incurred huge losses due to wrong valuation of the company. Woori, the nation’s second-largest financial group has recently been authorized to acquire stocks of HAFC by the California Department of Financial Institutions (DFI). HAFC is the holding firm for Hanmi Bank, the largest Korean-American bank headquarters in Los Angeles. According to Bae, Woori became the largest h

Oct 8, 2010By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Shinhan Financial faces management vacuum

Ra Eung-chan expected to face suspension By Kang Seung-woo Shinhan Financial Group is facing a possible management vacuum as its Chairman Ra Eung-chan is likely to face severe disciplinary action from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) for violating financial transaction rules. The FSS said Friday that it has decided to impose severe punitive measures against Ra for violating the Real Name Financial Transaction Law. It will hold a disciplinary committee meeting on Nov. 4 to finalize the penalties. The regulator’s toughest actions include dismissal, suspension from duty and a disciplinary warning. A person who is sanctioned by any of the three measures is banned from holding an executive post at a financial company for three to five years. Given that the violation of the real name law is considered a serious offense, chances are that he will be suspended from duty at the very least. The 71-year-old has been under investigation for allegedly wiring 5 billion won ($4.45 million) to now-jailed businessman Park Yeon-cha in April 2007 through several bank accounts ope

Oct 8, 2010By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

POSCO restarts operation of renewed blast furnace

By Kang Seung-woo POSCO said Friday that it has resumed the operation of a blast furnace after refurbishment had improved its annual production capacity to 5.3 million tons. The world’s No. 3 steel maker shut down the furnace in July for maintenance work. Previous annual production was 3 million tons. According to POSCO, the blast furnace in Pohang, a port city about 370 kilometers southeast of Seoul, is the biggest in Korea and the fourth-largest in the world behind China’s Shagang Group’s furnace and Japan’s Nippon Steel Cooperation’s two furnaces. It also said that its daily production capacity is over 14,500 tons, equivalent to manufacturing 14,500 vehicles, and the production is at the top level of the industry. POSCO Chairman Chung Joon-yang said the furnace will contribute to POSCO gaining better competitiveness in the global steel market by implementing advanced technologies. The firm is expected to have an annual production capacity of 41 million tons this year after completion of maintenance and expansion projects. Meanwhile, the steel maker is set to

Oct 8, 2010By Kang Seung-woo
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