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Lee Baek-soon, left, CEO of Shinhan Bank, shakes ...

Expressways Accelerate Economic Development

By Andrei Lankov It would not be much of an overstatement to say that in the 1960s Korea had no roads. Yes, some unpaved roads did exist and were even quite suitable for oxcarts or old decommissioned military jeeps ― in good weather, at least. In the cities, the roads began to be paved around 1920, and the first country road was paved in 1932, but as late as 1960 almost all roads in the countryside were still dirt tracks. That year, only 3.7 percent of all Korean roads were paved ― the actual figure was higher since many countryside tracks were included in the statistics. By 1969, the figure had increased to a still unimpressive 6.6 percent. Even for 1st grade national roads which handled the most important traffic, the share of paved roads in 1969 was merely 30 percent. Things began to change in the 1960s when South Korea acquired new leadership, through President Park Chung-hee (1961-1979), who was both an iron-fisted leader and a sincere believer in economic growth. In December 1964, Park visited West Germany. He was especially impressed by two things there: the s

GM Daewoo in Soul Searching for New, Better Business Model

By Kim Hyun-cheol Staff Reporter Like many other carmakers, GM Daewoo had an equally daunting time last year amid the prevailing worldwide financial crisis. Its annual vehicle sales at home and abroad totaled 1.54 million, down 19.3 percent from the previous year, with more than 60 percent coming from exports of completely knocked down (CKD) products. It sold 114,846 vehicles at home and shipped 463,912 vehicles abroad, with contractions of 1.4 percent and 39.4 percent, respectively. Overall uncertainty in the global economy hit the whole automobile industry here with instable exchange rates and surging prices of raw materials, GM Daewoo said. However, the Korean unit of the U.S. giant General Motors added that it is set to turn the time of peril into a new opportunity of growth through responding to the situation with prompt and proactive measures. To reach its current goals, ``change'' is the key word to lead its management throughout this year. It will be reflected in major projects on the go. As a recovery appears underway in both markets on both home turf and in

Renault Samsung Preparing for Leap Forward in 2010

By Kim Hyun-cheol Staff Reporter Renault Samsung might aptly be referred to as a winner in the domestic auto industry. In spite of a sluggish market both at home and abroad, the Korean unit of the Renault-Nissan alliance continued its surplus streak to eight consecutive years by selling a total of 189,811 vehicles last year. It sold a record-high 133,630 vehicles in the local market, up 31 percent from the previous year, with its market share reaching 10.8 percent at 3.7 trillion won ($3.3 billion). Mainly due to the successful launch of the latest edition of the SM3 compact sedan, the company ranked third in sales among the global network of Renault-Nissan, following France and Germany. Such an impressive performance proves the maker has established itself as a true contender, even as the youngest Korean player, with a history of less than a decade, Renault Samsung says. The hopeful prospects equally apply this year with another new model, a facelift edition of the SM5 sedan, launched this past January. Earlier this week, Renault Samsung announced that it will

Global Crisis Enables Hyundai-Kia to Grow Bigger

Korea’s Largest Automaker Now Provides Premium Vehicles Around World By Kim Hyun-cheol Staff Reporter Denying lingering skeptics, the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group has recorded another successful year in the global auto industry. In 2009, they combined to account for 7.7 percent in global market share, with Hyundai breaking the 5-percent mark for the first time. Hyundai and Kia together sold 4.7 million vehicles overseas, up 11 percent from the previous year. Buoyed by this remarkable growth, the No. 1 South Korean maker set an ambitious goal of 5.4 million vehicles in overall global sales and a share of 8.4 percent of the international market this year. For this end, the auto giant plans to invest 10.5 trillion won ($9.4 billion), up 12 percent from a year earlier. This is the biggest budget ever earmarked, with 4.6 trillion won on research and development and 5.9 trillion won on upgrading facilities. Such an expansion in investment is expected to contribute greatly to the national economy by creating more jobs. The business group plans to hire some 5,000 new workers

Emerging Countries Will Dominate International Markets

Paradigm Shift Continues at Home and Abroad This is the ninth in a 12-part series of ``The Korea Times - the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Joint Project'' designed to identify new realities in the post-crisis world and provide winning strategies for leading Korean firms in 11 key industries. In cooperation with BCG, The Korea Times will look into a wide variety of issues both in the global economy and major industries. - ED. By Kim Tae-gyu Staff Reporter Over the past century, the United States has been the world's foremost car market by any measure. But China nudged past America last year in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. The fast growth of emerging countries such as China, India, Brazil and Russia, which are collectively dubbed BRIC countries, is expected to continue in the international automotive landscape. Their polar opposites are most of the developed economies such as the U.S., Japan and European nations where the sales of vehicles are stagnant after the markets have hit their saturation points. ``The BRIC countries will rack up double-dig

Post-Crisis Car Industry Pivots Round BRIC Nations

Electric Car Ready to Return to Automotive Landscape By Yoon Kyung-eun Key issues in the automotive industry in the aftermath of the economic crisis are localization in the BRIC markets ― Brazil, Russia, India and China ― and the possible comeback of the electric car. For auto companies, surviving the downturn it is critical to formulate a winning cross-BRIC strategy and include electric vehicles as an integral part of their portfolios. Localization in BRIC Markets While the economic crisis plunged many of the world's automotive markets into free fall, markets in the BRIC countries were generally less affected and now offer prospects for exceptional growth. Whereas auto sales in most developed markets will grow only moderately from the end of 2009 through 2014, at an average rate of some 2 percent per year, sales in the BRIC countries are expected to grow at rates ranging from 3 to 15 percent per year, to end up accounting for some 30 percent of the global auto market in 2014. Although the BRIC countries offer advantageous conditions for conducting research and develop

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Moon Seung-chan, center, head of Korea Exchange ...

Models demonstrate the Ballantine’s 36 Years ...