News
The G20 Meeting will be held in Korea in November 2010. This will be the biggest ever international diplomatic event in the nation’s 5,000-year history. This month’s issue contains a story about Korea’s hosting of the G20 Meeting next year as well as expected agendas for the meeting.
A sharp drop in the won-dollar exchange rate is threatening to prevent the Korean economy from showing signs of recovery. The Korean won per dollar dropped below 1,200 won for two months, frightening Korea’s exports which act as a buttress for the Korean economy. Therefore, BusinessKorea looks into the reality of the foreign exchange rate and its outlook.
In addition, due to the U.S.’s low interest rate policies, a dollar carry trade is booming. We report on the start of a dollar carry era and the end of the yen carry era.
Jung Un-chan, formerly the President of Seoul National University, has been named Prime Minister and six minister positions in the Ministry of Knowledge and Economy, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Labor, Ministry of National Defense and Ministry of Gender Equality & Family have been replaced. We look at the policy styles of these new cabinet members.
From Oct. 6-7, the 64th IMF General Meeting will be held in Istanbul, Turkey. Movers and shakers from the global financial industry will take part in the meeting. Strategy and Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun and other Korean representatives will participate. The meeting is expected to deal with the current and future global financial industry. BusinessKorea interviewed Minister Yoon as part of this month’s cover story which includes Korea’s main agendas and strategies.
From October 13 through 16, the Korea Green Energy Show will present products of green technologies emphasized by the Lee Myung-bak administration at the COEX center in Seoul. We take a moment to introduce our readers to some of the exhibits at the show. We have also included stories on the 2009 Seoul Design Olympiad and the HKTDC Hong Kong Electronics Fair (Autumn Edition) 2009.
With a rapid economic recovery occurring, the operating ratio of the manufacturing industry is returning to a level similar to that before the global economic crisis. LCD panels are in short supply while the semiconductor, automobile and steel sectors are showing signs of a recovery. We look at the operating ratio of the manufacturing industry and the plant industry which is growing as a future growth engine for Korea.
Furthermore, we report on the business activities of various major Korean companies, including LG Display, SK Construction and Engineering, Daelim Industrial, Doosan Heavy Industries and Engineering and HanmiParsons. We also investigate the management styles of Lee Ji-song, Korea Land-Housing Corp. and Kim Joong-kyum, president of Hyundai Construction and Engineering.
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