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News from Korea
(ne umišljam si da će ovo netko detaljno čitati, ali barem da vidite naslove koji kruže o Koreji)
Women Tops in World Cup Qualifier Pool
South Korean women’s field hockey team maintained its unbeaten run Tuesday in the Samsung World Cup Qualifier in Rome by routing the United States 3-0 in Pool B final match. Korea, which already secured a place in World Cup competition by beating New Zealand 5-3 on Monday, went 4-0-1 to finish in first in the group league. The United States took the second with 3-1-1. Korea will meet Japan, runner-up in Pool A, in a semifinal Thursday. In the tournament where 12 countries competed in two groups, top four teams qualified for the World Cup tournament scheduled for September in Madrid. England (5-0-0) and Japan (4-1-0) are the Pool B winners. The other ticket goes to the winner of the 5th – 8th place playoffs later in the week.
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New ambassador of Kazkahstan to Korea assigned
Dulat Bakishev has been assigned new ambassador of Kazakhstan to Korea. Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of Kazakhstan, has signed a corresponding order today, May 3. "With this Dulat Khangereevich Bakishev is assigned Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Kazakhstan to Korea," - the order says. Mr. Bakishev has replaced Ambassador Darkhan Berdaliyev, who has been relieved of his duties by a presidential order in relation with a transfer to another job.
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Wie battles the men in Korea
Teenager Michelle Wie will take another shot at proving she can cut it in men's golf on Thursday when she tees off in the SK Telecom Open. Wie is tightlipped on her prospects of making the cut in South Korea, her eighth attempt to do so at a men's tournament, saying only that she wanted to learn "a lot" from others. "I really wish to play well and if I manage to give it my best and at the same time try to have fun, I think I will be satisfied," the 16-year old high school student said. Wie played in the US PGA Tour's Sony Open at her home of Hawaii in January, and is scheduled to start in two more PGA Tour events - the John Deere Classic in July and the 84 Lumber Classic in September. No woman has made the cut on the US PGA Tour since Babe Zaharias in 1945. Wie last visited South Korea, the country of her parent's birth, in 2003 to contest the LPGA's CJ Nine Bridges Classic, where she finished last in the field as a 14-year-old amateur. "If I can play well, that's fine. But even if I don't play well, that's still OK," she said in perfect Korean.
Wie will tee off against over 150 men on Thursday at the Sky 72 Golf Club near Incheon on the outskirts of Seoul. Her biggest rival is defending champion and three-time US PGA winner, K.J. Choi, who claimed a five-stroke victory over Fred Couples last year. "Winning is my goal here," Choi said of his chances this week. Wie's latest appearance in the South Korea, which desperately tries to claim her as its own, has seen her flaunt her Korean ancestry like never before, including only speaking in Korean.
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China and Korea lead way into AFC Champions League quarters
SINGAPORE: Chinese and Korean sides gatecrashed the AFC Champions League quarter-finals Wednesday but Japan’s campaign collapsed with Gamba Osaka and Tokyo Verdy sent packing. Shanghai Shenhua, the Chinese Super League runners up, became the first club to join defending champions Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia in the final eight with a last gasp 4-2 victory away to Vietnam’s Dong Tam in Group G. The topsy turvey encounter looked to be heading for a 2-2 draw when Li Chengming struck twice at the death to send the Chinese outfit in the knockout stages for the first time. They were joined in the business end of the tournament by South Korean side Ulsan who overcame Tokyo Verdy 1-0 in Group F thanks to a blistering free-kick on the stroke of half-time by Korean international Lee Chun-soo. It was a miserable night for Japan with J.League leaders Gamba Osaka also sent packing, managing only a 1-1 draw at home to Chonbuk Motors of South Korea that made it impossible for them to progress.
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North Korea loses $20m each week it avoids talks
North Korea loses at least 20-million dolars each week it stays away from multilateral talks aimed at ending its nuclear weapons drive, a top United States negotiator said on Tuesday. North Korea stood to gain that amount of money in energy aid alone in return for abandoning its nuclear weapons under an agreement reached by the negotiating parties, said Christopher Hill, the Assistant Secretary of State who headed the US team to the stalled six-nation talks. "So for every four weeks they delay, they lose $80-million, and you can do the math from here," Hill said when commenting on North Korea's boycott of the talks since November last year.
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South Koreans Indifferent to Skyrocketing Oil Prices
Dubai crude oil prices reached a record high in Asian trade Tuesday, hitting $68.33 per barrel, as mounting tension over Iran's nuclear tension with the West amid a forecast of falling fuel stocks in the United States fueled speculative interests. Although the cash price of Dubai crude broke past $68 per barrel Tuesday, renewing the previous historic high of $67.48 on April 24, the Korean government remains impervious to criticisms warning about the impact of recent oil price hikes. Dubai crude is the benchmark crude that sets the prices of other Middle East oil on which Korea depends for more than 80 percent of its crude imports. Despite spiking oil prices, the Ministry of Finance and Economy (MOFE) is reiterating that high oil prices and a strengthening won will not dampen its hopes to achieve a 5 percent annual economic growth target this year.
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S. Korean Police Storm U.S. Base Protest
Thousands of police armed with batons stormed an abandoned school in South Korea on Thursday to evict activists who were protesting plans to expand a U.S. military base, sparking clashes that resulted in dozens of injuries. About 3,000 police battled with hundreds of local residents and anti-U.S. protesters in the village of Pyeongtaek, about 40 miles south of Seoul, where they had occupied the school building overnight to protest the expansion plans. Some 7,000 police stood nearby. Some of the protesters were seen bleeding from the head. Police said the clash left at least 65 injured on both sides.
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Korea to Unveil Unmanned Explorer Sub
Korea is the fourth country to develop an unmanned submarine that can probe up to 6,000 meters underwater, and is now actively pursuing exploration activities. The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF) announced on Tuesday that it will hold a launching ceremony of the unmanned submarine “Haemirae” attended by Vice Minister Kang Moo-hyun and about a hundred others at the South Sea Institute of the Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute (KORDI) in Jangmok-myeon, Geoje City, Gyeongnam Province. The MMAF and KORDI have spent 12 billion won since 2001 on the submarine and have finished developing and testing Haemirae and the launching mechanism, “Haenubi.”
Korea is the fourth country with the technology to manufacture submarine probes that can reach 6,000 meters underwater, after the U.S., Japan, and France. Haemirae, which weighs 3,700 kilograms, uses six electromotion-propellers to move backwards and forwards, left and right, and up and down at 1.0 to 1.5 knots (1 knot equals 1,852 meters per hour). The Ultra-Short Baseline (USBL) attached to the submarine allows it to locate objects with about five-meter accuracy, and its two oil hydraulic robot arms let it collect samples underwater. The ministry is planning underwater probes in the deep oceans of the Pacific Ocean and areas near Dokdo from the second half of this year.
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North Korea is world's most censored country
North Korea tops the world's 10 most censored countries, which include three former Soviet republics, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Tuesday. 'Communist North Korea is the world's deepest information void,' CPJ said in a report released at UN headquarters on the eve of the annual World Press Freedom Day. 'There is not a single independent journalist, and all radio and television receivers in the country are sold locked to government- specified frequencies,' CPJ said. North Korea is followed in the list by Myanmar (Burma), Turkmenistan, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Eritrea, Cuba, Uzbekistan, Syria and Belarus. 'People in these countries are virtually isolated from the rest of the world by authoritarian rulers who muzzle the media and keep a chokehold on information through restrictive laws, fear, and intimidation,' said Ann Cooper, CPJ executive director.
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South Korea to win Pyrrhic victory over foreign funds
A nationalist backlash against tax-free windfall profits made by foreign investment funds in South Korea has put multibillion-dollar deals on hold and may stymie investment in Asia's fourth-biggest economy. Mounting resentment has boiled over into raids, indictments and a raft of new tax laws and the onslaught could intensify in the run-up to the presidential election in December 2007. International investors are getting concerned about the tax and regulatory environment in Korea. In the long run, this may not be good for long-term direct investment in Korea," said Vincent Chan, managing director for North Asia at venture capital firm JAFCO Asia, which has an office in South Korea. South Korea used to be a happy hunting ground for foreign buyout funds such as Newbridge Capital, Lone Star and the Carlyle Group, which snapped up distressed assets at fire-sale prices in the wake of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.
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North Korea Ranks 14th on List of Failed States
North Korea has been ranked 14th on a list of “failed states” compiled by the U.S. global policy journal Foreign Policy together with the Fund for Peace. The two gave countries number grades in areas like government authority, legitimacy, public peace and basic public services. In the results published Monday, Sudan topped the list for being in the middle of a civil war. It was followed by the similarly afflicted Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Iraq and Zimbabwe. Among the 148 countries, 11 in the top 20 were African nations.
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Korea Men's Team Reach Final in Table Tennis
Korea's national men's table tennis team reached the finals at the world championship in Germany after beating Hong Kong 3:0. They now face ping pong powerhouse China for the championship title. The Korean men's team has taken third place several times, but this is the first time they have reached the final since Korea first played at the 1956 Tokyo world championships. The Korean team led by the 1988 Seoul Olympics men's singles gold medalist Yoo Nam-kyu beat Hong Kong with outstanding performances by Oh Sang-eun, Ryu Seung-min and Lee Jung-woo. (dodatak: Izgubili su u finalu 3:0 protiv Kine)
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Korea's Exports Rise 12.7% in April
Exports grew by double-digits for the third straight month in April, coming in at 12.7 percent above a year before. High demand for auto parts, general machinery and ships contributed to the climb. Exports reached $25.77 billion last month but the amount was down from around $27 billion in March, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said. Imports rose 14 percent to $24.23 billion, due in part to gains in crude oil prices, resulting in a trade surplus of $1.55 billion. South Korean exports of refined oil products and autos surged in April despite the steady appreciation of the Korean won versus the dollar. The won has risen about 6 percent this year.
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Korea Ranks First in Urbanization
South Korea is one of the most rapidly urbanized countries in the world a report has showed. Citing a United Nations (UN) report, the National Statistical Office (NSO) said that 80.8 percent of the Korean population was living in cities at the end of last year, up from 56.9 percent at the end of 1980. Korea’s level of urbanization in 2005 was on par with 80.8 percent of the United States, but the process of urbanization was much slower in the U.S.
"Rapid urbanization of Korea is aggravating the economic polarization in the country and deterring balanced economic growth among provinces," an official from the statistical office said. U.S. people living in urban areas rose at a much slower pace over the last 25 years, growing from 73.7 percent in 1980, significantly higher than the percentage of urbanized Koreans at that date. Only Oman and the Philippines showed faster urbanization than Korea among Asian countries, the NSO said. The percentage of the population living in urban areas spiked to 78.6 percent in 2005 from 31.5 percent in 1980 and that of the Philippines climbed to 62.6 percent from 37.5 percent.
The proportion of the population living in large urban areas in China rose to 40.5 percent last year from 19.6 percent 25 years earlier, and that of Japan rose to 65.7 percent from 59.6 percent. The percentage of urban population in Hong Kong reached 100 percent, Singapore 100 percent, Macao 98.9 percent, Kuwait 96.4 percent, Bahrain 90.2 percent, Qatar 92.3 percent, Israel 91.7 percent, Saudi Arabia 88.5 percent and United Arab Emirates 85.5 percent. However, countries that were more highly urbanized than Korea as of the end of 2005 were either small city states with limited territory or Middle Eastern countries with terrain inadequate for suitable housing.
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South Korea to conduct survey off Takeshima
The South Korean government is planning to conduct a maritime survey in July in the waters around the Takeshima islets, known as Dokdo in South Korea, including areas within Japan's exclusive economic zone, sources said. According to the sources, the survey will be conducted by the South Korean National Oceanographic Research Institute between July 3 and 17. Researchers will observe the ocean conditions, including the current, tides and salinity.
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Mild Earthquakes Occur Off Korea's Southeast Coast
A series of four mild earthquakes shook the area off the southeast coast of the Korean Peninsula from Friday night to Saturday morning, the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said. Their magnitudes ranged between 2.5 and 3.5 on the Richter scale, the weather agency said. The latest quake occurred around 11 a.m., 58 kilometers south of Uljin, North Kyongsang Province, with a magnitude of 3.5. A magnitude 3.0 quake was reported in the same area shortly before midnight, the KMA said.
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N.Korea: U.S. Conducted 160 Spy Flights
North Korea claimed Saturday that the United States conducted about 160 spy flights against the communist state this month. In particular, the U.S. flew dozens of reconnaissance aircraft for anti-North Korea espionage between April 21-24 when the two Koreas held high-level talks in Pyongyang, KCNA said. Some 29,500 U.S. troops are based in South Korea , which remains technically at war with the North.
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Iran-Exports-South Korea
Over 3,000 LAB from 'Bisotun' petrochemical complex have been exported to South Korea since the beginning of the current Iranian year (March 21), the National Petrochemical Company announced here Saturday. LAB which is used as raw material in making detergents is produced with 93 percent purity, it said adding that in addition to meeting the domestic demand, it is exported to several foreign countries.
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South Korea Arrests Chairman of Hyundai
The chairman of Hyundai Motor Co., an icon of the South Korean economic miracle, was arrested Friday for allegedly creating a political slush fund and trying to evade inheritance taxes. The sight of Chung Mong-koo, square-jawed titan of the ruling establishment, being led off to jail sent a shock wave through the country. Although there have been past campaigns to clean up South Korea's chaebol, as conglomerates are known here, rarely has anyone so prominent been arrested in such a public spectacle.
Seoul District Court Judge Lee Jong-seok said Friday that the court had granted prosecutors' arrest request because of the risk that Chung, 68, could tamper with the investigation. "The suspect is denying most of the charges and it is feared he could destroy evidence," the judge said in a statement issued by the court. Under South Korean law, Chung can be held for 20 days while the court decides whether to issue a formal indictment.
Hyundai is the world's seventh-largest car manufacturer and until recently looked to be on track to pass Volkswagen and DaimlerChrysler to become No. 5. But the investigation has twice forced the postponement of groundbreaking at a $1.2-billion Kia Motors plant in West Point, Ga. Kia is a subsidiary of Hyundai. The investigation has also delayed construction of a factory in the Czech Republic that was to become Hyundai's first European plant.
The shock factor in the case comes from the fact that a man as powerful as Chung could be arrested; the actual allegations are fairly pedestrian by the standards of South Korean big business. Chung is accused of creating a slush fund of more than $100 million used to influence the 2002 presidential election and political campaigns. He is also alleged to have embezzled hundreds of millions more by setting up an elaborate system of shell companies to avoid taxes while bequeathing his holdings to his son, Chung Eui-sun. Prosecutors say charges are also likely for the younger Chung, the head of Kia, although he has not been taken into custody.
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N. Korea said in Tokyo it will shift energy policy to nuclear power
North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan said at an academic conference held in mid-April in Tokyo that Pyongyang will shift its basic energy policy from coal and hydroelectric power generation to nuclear energy, conference sources said Saturday.
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Google fails to make inroads in S. Korea
Google Inc. has seeped into many aspects of online life across the globe, but the Internet search engine has failed so far to make any notable inroads in one of the world's most-wired countries: South Korea. Users here are some of the most Internet-savvy in the world, with millions of people running their own blogs and taking advantage of omnipresent broadband hookups and Wi-Fi hotspots. South Koreans would seem like natural Google users, but the leading search engine is merely a bit player. Google referred only about 17 percent of unique visitors to other sites in March, according to the Web analytics company WebSideStory. Another research company, KoreanClick, found that Google's Korean site referred only about 10.8 percent of unique visitors in February.
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Korea Times Builds Link With Youth
The Korea Times, the nation’s leading English daily, on Friday launched a team of global student reporters to help young students enhance English writing skills in the era of globalization. Seven student reporters attending local universities were named as the first global student reporters at a ceremony in the newspaper’s headquarters in central Seoul. The global student reporters’ program is sponsored by KTF, one of the nation’s three major mobile phone carriers. Park Moo-jong, president and publisher of The Korea Times, awarded a article-carved prize and a 3.75-gram gold to each student in honorarium.
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Roll Over, Aibo: Meet S.Korea's Robot Dog
Roll over, Aibo, there's a new robot dog in town. A South Korean company is stepping into to the gap left by Sony's decision to end production of its mechanized canine Aibo with a new robot hound that can recognize spoken commands and act as a watchdog with a camera built into its snout. DasaTech, based in Bucheon in eastern Seoul, said it plans to put its robot -- named the "Genibo" for "genius robot" -- on the market next year for an as-yet-unspecified price, according to company official Cho Soo-hyun.
The Genibo, which stands a foot tall and weighs 3.3 pounds, understands 100 commands, including "sit," "roll over" and "wag tail." The company says it can navigate around obstacles by itself. Japan's Sony Corp. said earlier this year it was killing off the Aibo robot project to cut costs. It had sold some 150,000 Aibos since they debuted in 1999 and sparked a strong following among fans -- some of whom owned whole packs of the machines that retailed for about $2,000. Aibo also could recognize voices and the face of its owner.
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Animax Korea Slated for April 29 Launch
Animax Korea, a joint venture between Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) and Korean satellite TV platform SkyLife, will launch on April 29. The 24-hour animation network will be carried exclusively on SkyLife’s DTH platform, which has a subscriber base of about 1.9 million. Its programming will be targeted to teens and young adults, with highlights to include God (?) Save Our King!, Monkey Typhoon, The Count of Monte Cristo, Otogi Zoshi, The Adventures of Tweeny Witches and Galaxy Angels.
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N., S. Korea agree to seek settlement of 'missing people'
North and South Korea have agreed to try to settle the issue of those people missing during and after the 1950-1953 Korean War, according to a statement issued at the end of the 18th ministerial talks in Pyongyang on Monday. "The South and the North agreed to cooperate to actually settle the issue of those people whose whereabouts remain unknown during the war period or after the war," the statement said. The agreement on "missing people" is an oblique reference to as many as 485 South Koreans allegedly abducted to the North, and more than 500 war prisoners from the Korean conflict. North Korea has never admitted to kidnapping any South Korean, claiming South Koreans have defected voluntarily, and has steadfastly denied the existence of any South Korean prisoner of war.
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TV phones surge ahead in Korea
TV-enabled mobile phones are already taking a 14.5 per cent share of the market for new phones in South Korea, despite being on sale for only one year, according to a local research firm. A total of 189,000 mobile phones with Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) reception capabilities were sold in the country in March, Korea IT News reported today, citing data from the Seoul-based Atlas Research Group. ws
Post je objavljen 04.05.2006. u 15:10 sati.