-Caveat Lector-
>From KoreanTimes
Foreign Investment in November Hits Almost Record High
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12/06(ÀÏ) 15:00
Foreign direct investment in Korea virtually set a record in November,
boosted by the gradual restoration of foreign confidence and the
government's continuing efforts to court foreign investment, the Ministry
of Finance and Economy (MOFE) announced yesterday.
November's foreign investment stood at $1.378 billion in 117 projects, up
1,414 percent from $91 million during the same month last year. The
November figure was also up 54 percent compared with $894 million in
October this year.
The November investment was the second largest monthly high following
$1.565 billion in April last year, but was virtually the record high
because only half of the number filed in April last year was actually
invested.
A group of Korean-American business persons filed with the MOFE a plan to
invest up to $750 million for a tourism project on the resort island of
Cheju-do in April last year, but the investment has not yet been realized.
``We expect foreign investment in Korea to continue on an upward spiral,
especially in electronics, information and telecommunication,
petrochemicals, finance and tourism, with substantial progress in corporate
restructuring,'' said Moon Jae-woo, director of the foreign investment
division at the MOFE.
In the nine months leading up to November, foreign investment rose 16.4
percent to $6.909 billion from a year earlier. Until April, foreign
investment remained in the doldrums as foreign confidence in the
crisis-stricke
Korean economy sank. But, the investment began picking up in May, buoyed by
the implementation of far-reaching restructuring measures and the revamping
of the country's foreign investment regime.
Major foreign investments filed in November included a $400 million project
to build a joint-venture paper company, German Degussa's equity
participation in Korea Carbon Black worth $170 million and Motorola's
investment of $50 million in Appeal Telecom.
By region, investments from Europe and Japan increased sharply in the
Jan.-Nov. period while those from the United States fell. Investments from
Japan totaled $483 million in the 11-month period, up 94 percent from a
year ago, and those from the European Union rose 35.5 percent to $2.78
billion. But, investment from the U.S. dropped 24 percent to $1.856
billion.
The MOFE said investments through equity purchases of local companies have
increased sharply since the beginning of this year. In the first nine
months, foreign investment through equity purchases amounted to $1.11
billion, accounting for 16.1 percent of total investments. Foreign
investments which were made in the form of mergers and acquisitions in the
first 11 months accounted for half of total investments.
Foreign direct investments include equity purchases by foreigners of local
companies on the over-the-counter market and creation of independent or
joint-venture companies.
Since taking office in late February, President Kim Dae-jung has been
aggressively prodding his economic aides to come up with effective measures
to stimulate foreign investment in Korea. Under Kim's prodding, the
government has dismantled restrictions on foreign hostile takeovers of
local companies and revamped the country's foreign investment regime. A new
foreign investment law went into effect in mid-November.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Korea's Int'l Credit Rating Seen to Be Improving Fast
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12/06(ÀÏ) 15:09
<><> "Won" = "wahn" <><>
Korea's overall credit rating in the international financial market is
expected to improve quickly, particularly after Moody's Investors Service
assigned won-denominated government bonds a Baa1 rating.
``The rating reflects Korea's prior record of balanced budgets and takes
into account fiscal costs of restructuring the financial system and
providing a large fiscal stimulus to the economy this year and next,''
Moody's said.
The rating, which is three stages higher than the country's
dollar-denominated bonds, immediately gave the government and businesses
hope that their sovereign debt rating will be upgraded as well.
Analysts said the rating is certain to attract more foreign investors to
Korean government bonds and is clearly indicative of the fact that
international views on Korea's financial stability are improving.
Moody's, generally seen as a conservative organization, said Korea's
restructuring program is designed to boost the public sector and to reduce
the domestic and external debt to about 59 percent of GDP by next year.
``The rating level is appropriate for the foreseeable political situation
on the Korean peninsula,'' Moody's said, raising hopes here that Korea's
sovereign debt rating will be restored to investment grade.
The won-denominated bond rating, issued for the first time, was ``boosting
expectations for the upward revision of the sovereign debt rating,'' SG
Securities vice president Stephen Woo said.
Woo stated that some foreign investors were already being tempted by South
Korean assets amid increasing optimism about future ratings upgrades by not
only Moody's, but also other leading organizations such as Standard &
Poor's.
What is positive, another market analyst said, is that this is the first
time since the financial crisis of late last year that Moody's has given
Korea an upgrade in its conservative ratings.
There have been many positive developments in the Korean financial market
that presumably brought about the upgrade in rating, among them the rapid
increase in foreign reserves to over $50 billion.
At the same time, foreign investments reached a record high of $1,378
million last month, bringing the total for the first 11 months of this year
to 6,990 million, up 16.4 percent over the same period last year.
Encouraged by the positive developments, the composite stock index shot
through the 490-point mark on Saturday. Traders said there is every
indication that the index will recover to 600 points by early next year.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mastery of Chinese Highly Valued
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12/07(¿ù) 16:25
<><> NOTE: Korean newspapers are printed in a combination of Korean &
Chinese. Consequently, Koreans must learn both alphabets/character
systems. Koreans students have to learn a combination of about 2000
different symbols {1-Chinese to 2-Korean per unit} in both systems during
their school years.<><>
By Yang Sung-jin
Staff Reporter
Fluency in foreign languages carries advantages in many areas of society,
the job sector for one. Not only can mastery over a non-native tongue help
secure a job, but, once employed, can help one get promoted. For these
reasons, proficiency in foreign languages is being increasingly encouraged.
The current bestsellers list reflects this trend as a book detailing how
its author mastered English is featured prominently.
During the Choson Kingdom such a mastery of languages was also highly
valued. The Choson government's official interpreters, or ``yok-kwans,''
received much recognition for fostering friendly diplomatic ties, primarily
with powerful China.
But according to an article dated 1548, perceptions of the yok-kwans were
not always favorable. When King Myongjong invited an interpreter to take
part in a lecture hosted by the king, court officials promptly expressed
their displeasure.
``Although the role of interpreters is important for diplomacy, we cannot
sit together with yok-kwans since their background is lowly and dirty.
Besides, there is no precedent for such a practice,'' officials protested.
The social structure of the Choson Kingdom, which honored the class system
from the very beginning, cultivated such discrimination against yok-kwans.
Yet there were some yok-kwans who surmounted the social obstacles and won
the recognition of kings.
Won Min-saeng is a case in point. His name first appears in an article
dated 1418: ``Won Min-saeng had a excellent personality. He was wise and
glib, speaking fine Chinese. The king always asked Won to interpret
dialogues with Chinese diplomats. Ming China's emperor also loved Won and
gave gold and silk goods to him as presents on several occasions.''
In contrast, there is the case of a yok-kwan who invited trouble to
himself: ``Lim Kun-rae was put to death by dismemberment on the street. His
father was Chinese and honored as one of the founding members of Choson.
But Lim was greedy and mean and got rich by accompanying the mission to
China and engaging in trade. He also was an incurable sycophant.''
There WAS a Royal Road
In the reign of King Sejong, Lee Pyon was a pre-eminent yok-kwan. In an
article dated 1429, Minister of Rites Sin Sang informed the king about Lee:
``Nothing is more important than correct interpretation in diplomacy. But
many of the students at the Sayokwon (a government agency of foreign
language education) are incompetent in delivering the gist of the message
correctly, which often results in humiliation and embarrassment. But Lee
Pyon never stopped studying Chinese, even after he passed the state
examination.''
Lee was indeed eager to learn Chinese. An article of 1434 explains the
process by which Lee excelled in Chinese: ``Lee was originally slow in
learning and he passed the state exam past the age of 30. Then he started
studying Chinese with greater enthusiasm, determined to succeed in the
field. Lee read Chinese texts, often sitting up all night, and searched all
over the place to find a fluent Chinese speaker to correct his
pronunciation. He always spoke in Chinese even at his house and the
principle was applied in talking with his friends. Finally, he mastered
Chinese.''
Another legendary Chinese interpreter was Lee Chang-shin. His understanding
of Chinese and fluency in interpretation was so great that even Chinese
diplomats did not spare praise for Lee's linguistic genius.
On March 17 of 1488, King Songjong endowed Lee with a horse as a present,
saying that ``only Lee Chang-shin can do a proper job for interpretation of
Chinese when we welcome Chinese diplomatic delegates. From now on,
encourage younger officials to learn Chinese.''
In 1492, the king offered Lee a drink for conducting flawless
interpretation and showing great hospitality to Chinese diplomats. In 1503,
King Yonsangun expressed his high regard for Lee, ``There is only one
person, Lee Chang-shin, who truly knows how to speak Chinese.''
In 1499, Lee was ordered to select and train Chinese-speaking officials to
learn the ceremonial procedures necessary to serve the Chinese mission to
Choson. A historiographer commented, ``Lee Chang-shin's family declined due
to his reckless and vicious wife. But he was approved by the court largely
because of his excellence in speaking Chinese and writing diplomatic
letters.''
Knowledge of Language Is Power
Officials who contributed to the creation of Hangul, the Korean alphabet,
were also fluent in Chinese. Shin Suk-ju and Song Sam-mun fell into this
category because they, as scholars, were frequently sent to China to learn
up-to-date linguistics on orders from King Sejong.
A brief biography of Shin Suk-ju in 1475 states, ``He primarily worked for
the Ministry of Rites and regarded diplomacy as his true vocation. Shin,
fluent in Hangul and Chinese, also translated a Chinese text titled
`Hongmuchongun' into Hangul, which paved the way for Chinese study.''
Choson yok-kwans' role was not limited to interpretations in the court.
They frequently went to China and Japan as Choson diplomatic delegates and
in the process introduced foreign cultures to Choson.
In May of 1404, King Taejong sent 10,000 head of cattle to Ming China on 10
different occasions and yok-kwans were involved with the large-scale
offering.
In 1406, 84 Chinese refugees drifted ashore on Choson territory and
yok-kwan Choe Yun was asked to lead them back to China.
In 1541, Prime Minister Yun Eun-bo briefed the king on the yok-kwans:
``These days, we are asking yok-kwans to buy Chinese books when they visit
China. But they are returning with no books, citing the difficulties. The
main reason for this is that China strictly bans the trade of books.''
Yun suggested sending a specially chosen yok-kwan to China for the sole
purpose of buying advanced Chinese books for Choson scholars and the court.
An article dated 1717 shed light on the extracurricular missions of
yok-kwans, saying that King Sukjong gave a handsome prize to a yok-kwan who
obtained a Chinese emperor's calligraphy work. Unfortunately, there is no
document detailing exactly how the yok-kwan secured the precious item.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Joint ROK, US Military Exercise Due in Texas
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12/06(ÀÏ) 15:26
A large ROK Army contingent headed by a four-star general will conduct a
joint exercise with a U.S. corps in Fort Hood, Texas on Dec. 10-21 in order
to enhance their combined war readiness for any major inter-Korean
conflict.
According to officials at the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC)
yesterday, deputy CFC commander Gen. Chung Yong-moo left for Fort Hood on
Saturday along with 14 CFC senior staff members and personnel from the 3rd
ROK Army to participate in the joint Warfighter Exercise.
Fort Hood, Texas is the headquarters of 3rd U.S. Corps, which would be
among the first U.S. ground units to be dispatched to Korea in time of
conflict. Because it would be put under 3rd ROK Army command under these
circumstances, smooth coordination between the two units is seen as pivotal
to deterring and, if necessary, overcoming North Korean aggression,
according to CFC officials.
``Through the Warfighter Exercise, we can train with the 3rd U.S. Corps to
honour inter-operability, which ranges from reception and staging to onward
deployment and integration with the first troops who would hit the ground
in Korea if war broke out,'' a senior CFC official said.
``Furthermore, Gen. Chung, who concurrently serves as head of the Ground
Component Command (GCC) under the CFC combined posture, will be given a
chance to inspect and command 3rd U.S. Corps in a practice battle,'' he
said, adding that the joint operation is one of many features which makes
the CFC format a precious field test.
The CFC format has never been tested in a real war situation. The GCC,
which is the key component of the CFC, in particular, is managed with a
skeleton crew in peacetime, causing some military experts to worry about
how effectively it would work in wartime.
Reports have it that in February of last year, a CFC/3rd ROK Army
contingent of 285 personnel visited Texas and conducted a joint command
post exercise (CPX) with 3rd U.S. Corps, the first-ever large scale joint
drill between the two countries on the U.S. mainland. It is said that the
Warfighter Exercise is conducted in accordance with a scenario outlined in
the two countries' war plan, codenamed ``5027,'' so as to provide a wartime
situation as close to reality as possible.
In 1993, a group of 40 ROK Army senior brass participated as observers
during a field exercise conducted by 1st U.S. Corps based in Seattle,
reports said.
3rd U.S. Corps is one of the strongest U.S. ground units and its members
have been designated as reinforcements to Korea in time of conflict since
the U.S. finalized its ``Win-Win'' policy several years ago. The policy
calls for its military to be prepared to fight and win two major regional
wars, say in the Middle East and Korea, at the same time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
A<>E<>R
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes
but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust
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