Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Round-up of important news from major Korean dailies and from international media today
The Korea Post (http://www.koreapost.com/)
Ending GSOMIA may send wrong security message: USFK chief
The looming termination of the military information-sharing pact between South Korea and Japan, if realized, could send the wrong message that the U.S. and its two Asian allies are not strong enough to ensure security in the region, U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) Commander Gen. Robert Abrams said. The General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) is set to expire on Nov. 23, following South Korea's decision in August to terminate it after Japan imposed export curbs on Seoul in a row over wartime forced labor.
Shinsegae Q3 net shoots up 37 pct on department store, duty free businesses
Shinsegae Inc., a major South Korean retailer, said Tuesday that its third-quarter net profit surged 37 percent from a year earlier on the back of stellar performances from its department store and duty-free units. Net profit came to 52.1 billion won (US$ 44.7 million) on a consolidated basis during the July-September period, compared with 38 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.
KOGAS Q3 net losses narrow on increased sales from Myanmar
South Korea's state-run Korea Gas Corp. said Tuesday its net losses narrowed in the third quarter from a year earlier on increased sales from its gas field in Myanmar. Net losses for the three months ending in September narrowed to 216.7 billion won (US$186 million) from 283 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a statement.
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KBS (http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/news/)
S. Korea Adds 419,000 Jobs in October
South Korea added more than 300-thousand jobs for the third consecutive month last month. According to the data by Statistics Korea on Wednesday, the number of employed people reached 27-point-five million in October, up 419-thousand from a year ago. The number of added jobs posted over 300-thousand for three straight months, although it did not reach the 452-thousand mark posted in August.
N. Korean, US Officials Held Meeting at Nonproliferation Conference
Officials from North Korea and the United States reportedly had a meeting at a recent nuclear nonproliferation conference in Moscow. The Voice of America(VOA) made the revelation in a report on Wednesday quoting Thomas Countryman who served as acting undersecretary for arms control and international security at the U.S. State Department.
S. Korea, Japan to Hold Annual Intelligence Exchange Meeting
South Korea and Japan will reportedly hold an annual intelligence sharing meeting despite strained relations over trade and historical disputes. The Unification Ministry said Tuesday that four officials, including the head of the ministry's Intelligence and Analysis Bureau, will visit Japan for three days in late November to hold the meeting with counterparts from the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
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Yonhap (http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr)
Korea's jobless rate hits 6-year low in October, over 400,000 jobs created
South Korea's jobless rate hit a six-year low in October, and job additions came to 419,000 from a year earlier, data showed Wednesday. The unemployment rate fell 0.5 percentage point on-year to 3 percent in October, also marking the lowest level for any October since 2013. The number of employed people reached 27.5 million in October, a rise of 419,000 from the same month in 2018, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.
Trump again cites questionable numbers related to Korea trade deal
U.S. President Donald Trump again cited questionable numbers on Tuesday as he touted his administration's renegotiated free trade agreement with South Korea. Trump told the Economic Club of New York that the revised FTA, which took effect early this year, doubled the number of American cars that can be sold in South Korea under U.S. standards and extended American tariffs on Korean pickup trucks by another 20 years to 2041.
Moon views Busan summit with ASEAN as midterm review of New Southern Policy
President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday emphasized the significance of two upcoming summits with Southeast Asian nations in Busan for his administration's signature New Southern Policy, as he had a weekly Cabinet meeting at the venue in the southern port city. He pointed out that the ASEAN-Republic of Korea Commemorative Summit, slated for Nov. 25-26, will be the biggest multilateral summit to be held in South Korea under his government.
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The Korea Herald (http://www.koreaherald.com)
Korea's jobless rate hits 6-year low in October, over 400,000 jobs created
South Korea's jobless rate hit a six-year low in October, and job additions came to 419,000 from a year earlier, data showed Wednesday. The unemployment rate fell 0.5 percentage point on-year to 3 percent in October, also marking the lowest level for any October since 2013. The number of employed people reached 27.5 million in October, a rise of 419,000 from the same month in 2018, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.
Hong Kong clashes rage on university campus and business district
Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters fought intense battles with riot police on a university campus and paralysed the city's upmarket business district Tuesday, extending one of the most violent stretches of unrest seen in more than five months of political chaos. The confrontations followed a particularly brutal day on Monday, when police shot a protester and a man was set on fire, prompting calls from western powers for compromise but further fury in China against any challenge to its rule.
Trump again cites questionable numbers related to Korea trade deal
US President Donald Trump again cited questionable numbers on Tuesday as he touted his administration's renegotiated free trade agreement with South Korea. Trump told the Economic Club of New York that the revised FTA, which took effect early this year, doubled the number of American cars that can be sold in South Korea under US standards and extended American tariffs on Korean pickup trucks by another 20 years to 2041.
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The Korea Times (http://www.koreatimes.co.kr)
Korea's 4.5-generation fighter KF-X targets Southeast Asian market
SACHEON, South Gyeongsang Province ― A joint fighter jet development project between South Korea and Indonesia, widely known as the KF-X or Korean Fighter eXperimental aircraft project, has a great potential in the Southeast Asian market with its low price. The KF-X fighter jet is a 4.5-generation fighter jet whose "stealth" technologies fall behind those of fifth-generation fighters like the U.S.' F-35s or F-22s. The KF-X, however, has a great price advantage with 65 percent of its parts localized.
Seoul, Tokyo defense chiefs to meet over GSOMIA
South Korea and Japanese defense chiefs plan to meet next week in Bangkok, Thailand, as part of the countries' last-ditch efforts whether to renew an intel-sharing pact between Seoul and Tokyo ahead of the agreement's official termination, Nov. 22.
Korea emerges as major real estate investor in Asia
Korea has been emerging as major real estate investors in the Asia-Pacific with the country ranking top in alternative real estate investment in the region among members of other Asian nations as of September, data showed Tuesday. This is due to a mixture of government regulations to crack down on property speculation amid falling interest rates.
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Chosun Ilbo (http://english.chosun.com)
Suspicions Grow Over Deportation of N.Korean 'Killers'
The bizarre saga of two alleged North Korean mass murderers and their cloak-and-dagger deportation is starting to develop into a major scandal. The government secretly repatriated the two men on Nov. 7 after they were found adrift in South Korean waters on a squid fishing boat and told investigators that they had slaughtered the captain and 15 other crewmembers.
U.S. Demands 'Reimbursement' for Defense Costs
Washington has demanded a "reimbursement" of expenses for Korea's defense in talks about sharing the costs for the upkeep of the U.S. Forces Korea. The demand envisions Seoul paying Washington back for extra military resources it deploys for Korea's defense. The U.S. is demanding a total of US$5 billion a year, including these additional costs, a five-fold increase from this year's $1 billion. Korean negotiators demurred, saying the new proposal lies outside that the framework of the Special Measures Agreement governing the deployment of the USFK.
Japan Claims Korea Agreed Not to Use the Term 'Sex Slaves'
The Japanese Foreign Ministry in a startling claim says Korea agreed not to use the term "sex slaves" for women forced into military brothels for the Japanese in World War II. In its Diplomatic Bluebook 2019 published Monday, the ministry writes the term should not be used to label the victims because the expression "contradicts the facts." "This point was confirmed with [Korea] on the occasion of the Japan-[Korea] Agreement in December 2015 and the expression 'sex slaves' is not used in the agreement," the document adds.
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HanKyoReh Shinmun (http://english.hani.co.kr)
The reasons behind Washington’s push for GSOMIA
The US is applying intense pressure on South Korea to extend its General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) with Japan, which is set to end at midnight on Nov. 23. Following visiting US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs David Stilwell’s message stressing GSOMIA’s importance in a meeting last week with South Korean government officials, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper is expected to push forcefully for a GSOMIA extension when he visits Seoul this week to attend a South Korea-US Security Consultative Meeting (SMC) on Nov. 15.
Seoul court to proceed with comfort woman case against Japan
A damages lawsuit that 21 comfort women victims and surviving family members filed against the Japanese government in the Seoul Central District Court back in December 2016 is finally set to begin nearly three years later, with oral arguments scheduled for Nov. 13. Now that the key historical issues like forced labor and the comfort women are being dealt with in the courts, the outcome of the lawsuit is likely to have a major impact on South Korea-Japan relations.
Horticulture professor breeds new white rose and names it in honor of comfort women
“We’re assigning names to flowers and dedicating them to events and people that our society needs to remember.” Han Tae-ho, a professor of horticulture and bioengineering at Chonnam National University, recently dedicated a new variety of rose titled “Sonyeo” (“Girl”) to the “comfort women” drafted as sexual slaves to the Japanese military.
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The Dong-A Ilbo (http://english.donga.com/)
U.S. pushes S. Korea to increase its share of defense costs
Following last week’s visit by four senior U.S. State Department officials, including David Stilwell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, which was intended to put pressure on South Korea to sharply increase its share of defense cost and to rethink its decision to scrap a military intelligence-sharing pact with Japan, top-level U.S. officials, including Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley are scheduled to visit South Korea on Wednesday.
Next-gen K5 transformed into dynamic sedan with sporty design
Kia Motors revealed on Tuesday the exterior design of its third-generation K5 to be launched in December. Bold design that is instantly memorable is featured under the concept of “the evolution dynamics” to realize the strong impression and presence of the model.
Chinese media report that military troops will be deployed if necessary
In the middle of the shocking news that Hong Kong police fired aimed shots at unarmed protesters, the entire city fell into chaos due to the collisions between protesters obstructing public transportation and the police suppressing them. Chinese state-run media, meanwhile, raised the necessity of deploying Chinese troops once again. While the U.S. Department of State expressed concerns on Monday over the worsening situation in Hong Kong through a statement by its spokesperson, the Hong Kong government has reconfirmed its touch crackdown policy.
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The KyungHyang Shinmun (http://english.khan.co.kr/)
One Month to 1-Year Anniversary of Kim Yong-gyun: Power Plants Refuse to Budge
The one-year anniversary of the death of Kim Yong-gyun (24), an employee of a subcontractor--a.k.a. non-regular worker--who died after being caught in a conveyor belt while working alone at the Taean Thermal Power Plant in December 2018, is just a month away, but power plants have made little progress in implementing the recommendations by a special investigation committee on labor safety at coal-fired power plants (a.k.a. Kim Yong-gyun special committee), which was established after the death of Kim.
Strong Legislation for a "Working Parliament" Worth Promoting
The expression, a "working parliament bill" sounds like an oxymoron. It makes you wonder how much lawmakers, who should be representing the voters, fooled around for the nation to force them "to work" by law. Reportedly, the Democratic Party of Korea is promoting reforms in the National Assembly including regulations on penalties imposed on lawmakers if they are absent from meetings without a legitimate cause, expense cuts and disadvantages given to political parties when they disturb parliamentary sessions, the automatic holding of plenary sessions and standing committees, and the strengthening of the Special Ethics Committee.
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Maeil Business News Korea ( http://www.pulsenews.co.kr/)
HDC-Mirae Asset consortium named preferred bidder of Asiana Airlines
The consortium of Hyundai Development Co. (HDC) and Mirae Asset Daewoo has been named the preferred bidder of Korea’s No. 2 full-service carrier Asiana Airlines Inc. after handing in the highest bid of 2.5 trillion won ($2.1 billion). The HDC team’s win over its rival Aekyung-Stone Bridge consortium became final after the board of the airliner’s parent Kumho Industrial Co. approved the decision Tuesday. The deal has passed the transportation ministry’s preliminary eligibility review.
GS Caltex partners with global oil majors in new exchange for ADNOC’s Murban crude
South Korea’s leading oil refiner GS Caltex Corp. will join global energy majors as a founding member of a new exchange that International Exchange Inc. (ICE) aims to launch next year in Abu Dhabi to list Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.’s (ADNOC) Murban crude oil futures.
Sale of Asiana likely to spur M&A in low-cost carrier industry in Korea
The sale of full-service carrier Asiana Airlines Inc. is expected to spur M&A wave across the overcrowded passenger aviation market in Korea. Korean Air Lines could feel threatened after its sole full-service rival Asiana becomes refueled under cash-strong new owner Hyundai Development and Mirae Asset Daewoo.
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