Korea ( South & North ) 01 (May 08 - Nov 10)

[winston]

SKorea bank tips 4.6 percent growth for 2010

South Korea's central bank Friday raised its growth outlook for 2010 to 4.6 percent as Asia's fourth-largest economy recovers strongly from the global downturn. The Bank of Korea also upgraded its forecast to 0.2 percent growth this year compared to an earlier projection of a 1.6 percent contraction.

The bank had previously forecast growth of 3.6 percent next year. "Private consumption is forecast to stage a sustained recovery," it said in a statement, adding corporate investment in facilities would grow rapidly.

The bank's revised outlook came a day after the government said gross domestic product (GDP) would grow five percent next year. The bank said private consumption would grow 3.6 percent in 2010, faster than this year's projected 0.3 percent rise.

A series of economic numbers has fuelled optimism that South Korea is quickly pulling out of the global downturn. The economy grew 3.2 percent in the third quarter from the previous three months, the fastest quarterly expansion in more than seven years, thanks to improving domestic demand and brisk exports.

The International Monetary Fund, in its latest estimate this week, raised its forecast to 0.25 percent GDP growth this year, up from October's projection of a 1.0 percent decline. For 2010 it predicted an expansion of 4.5 percent, up from the previous 3.6 forecast.

But President Lee Myung-Bak Thursday cautioned against complacency, noting the export-driven economy is vulnerable to the outside world.

http://sg.biz.yahoo.com/091211/1/4s6wg.html

[winston]

The Ultimate Way to Make Everyone Equal By Dr. Steve Sjuggerud

Twelve citizens were recently executed by the government in North Korea...

They were protesting against a new government regulation that would have made everyone "more equal."

North Korea had asked everyone to turn in all their money. The government was creating new bills, lopping two zeros off the old bills. But it was the final part that drove citizens crazy...

The North Korean government said it would only give out a maximum of $40 worth of new money per citizen. That would effectively wipe out the savings of everyone in the nation.

The goal of this new regulation was to "clamp down on a growing free-market economy and reassert the government's control."

After the announcement, riots started in the markets. They ultimately led to the 12 executions.

This week, the government backtracked... a bit. It has raised the limit you can get to about $200.

The government also just announced citizens can eventually deposit all of their old bills in North Korean government banks... provided they can legitimately explain how they got them.

But if you live in North Korea, you don't typically put your money into banks because of two very real fears:
1) that government investigations into your dealings could lead to arrest and
2) that the banks will lock you out of or confiscate your deposits (as has happened in the past).

North Korea didn't have to end up here. North and South Korea started from the same point a half-century ago.

South Korea became a free-market economy. It opened itself to trade and investment. And it went from nothing to the 13th largest economy in the world today.

North Korea is a government-controlled economy. The people are repressed and dirt poor. The North Korean government used its power to make everyone equal – it made them all equally dirt poor.

If in your dreams you believe giving the government power is the best way to improve things... and if you believe a government with a goal of making everyone equal is doing noble work... then think long and hard about North Korea.

The lesson is obvious... freedom and markets create wealth, not the government.

Source: Daily Wealth

[kennynah]

If in your dreams you believe giving the government power is the best way to improve things... and if you believe a government with a goal of making everyone equal is doing noble work... then think long and hard about North Korea.

this is a lesson, we all had better take serious heed....

you would think that 50 years ago, north koreans would imagine they would be where they are today? no...they probably believed in every word their government told them..and that landed them to where they are today.... who is to be blamed? the government? NO... i say, the very people who gave the current dictatorship power ... remember this...no one can have power unless it is given.... the people are the ones with power, always... until you give it away foolishly...and usually with drastic consequences....just like the 75% of the people no longer has power on the political leadership outcome.... this is yet another lesson....power given away, can be permanently taken away....

i don't ever want us to be even remotely similar to north korea 50 years from now.... i urge you think for our next generation...

if you think for a moment that the north koreans 50 years ago are less intelligent as human beings as we are now... this is pure hubris... arrogance....and ignorance...

[winston]

South Korea’s Kospi index may rise as much as 20 percent in the first half as exporters benefit from recovering demand in developed nations, Mirae Asset Securities Co. said today.

“Next year, you can expect demand from advanced economies, led by the U.S. and European Union, to be a catalyst for exporters such as technology companies,” Sean SY Hwang, head of Korea equity research at Mirae, the country’s biggest seller of mutual funds, said in an interview in Seoul.

Source: Bloomberg

[winston]

Bank Of Korea Hints At Rate Hike In 2010

(RTTNews) - South Korea's central bank will adjust the pace of its accomodative monetary policy in 2010, the Bank of Korea Governor Lee Seong-tae said in his New Year message.

"For the time being, the central bank plans to manage the policy rate in a way that will help boost the economic recovery," Yonhap News Agency quoted Lee. He did not reveal the timing of the first rate hike.

He said there is a need to underpin growth momentum of the private sector by maintaining the accommodative stance. "But we must also be careful of the problems that a long-standing accommodative policy could bring upon the economy," Lee added.

The South Korean central bank maintained its base rate at a record low of 2% for the 10th straight month in December after cutting it by a total of 3.25 percentage points between October 2008 and February in a bid to shore-up the economy.

The nation's economy expanded 3.2% year-on-year in the third quarter. The central bank expects the economy to grow 0.2% in 2009 before expanding by 4.6% in 2010. Meanwhile, the government sees 5% growth next year.

Moreover, Lee said he expects inflationary pressure to increase in the second half of next year. The central bank's inflation target for 2010 to 2012 is fixed in the 2% to 4% range.

Earlier on Thursday, official data showed that South Korea's inflation climbed to 2.8% in December from 2.4% recorded in November.

by RTT Staff Writer

http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1168687

[winston]

Change always starts with nice words


NKorea calls for end of hostile relations with US

North Korea calls for end of hostile relations with US in New Year's message

KWANG-TAE KIM
AP News

Dec 31, 2009 22:42 EST

North Korea called for an end of hostile relations with the United States and renewed its commitment to a nuclear-free Korean peninsula in a New Year's message Friday.

Communist North Korea has long demanded that Washington end hostility toward the regime, and said it developed nuclear weapons to deter a U.S. attack. Washington has repeatedly said it has no intention of invading the country.

The latest commitment brightened the prospect that Pyongyang may rejoin the stalled international talks aimed at ending its nuclear weapons programs in exchange for aid and other concessions. Washington has sought to coax Pyongyang to return to the talks, which also include South Korea, China, Russia and Japan.

The North has often said it is keen to replace an armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War with a peace treaty, and forge diplomatic relations with the U.S. as a way to win security guarantees — demands Washington says should be linked to Pyongyang's verifiable denuclearization.

"The fundamental task for ensuring peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in the rest of Asia is to put an end to the hostile relationship" between North Korea and the U.S., the North said in an editorial carried by the official Korean Central News Agency and in major newspapers.

North Korea's traditional New Year's Day statement, examined annually for clues to the regime's policies for the coming year, also said the North is committed to establishing "a lasting peace system on the Korean peninsula and make it nuclear-free through dialogue and negotiations."

The U.S. and North Korea agreed on the need to resume the negotiations during a trip to Pyongyang by President Barack Obama's special envoy in early December, but North Korea did not make a firm commitment on when it would rejoin the talks.

North Korea quit the disarmament talks last year in anger over international criticism of a long-range rocket launch, which was denounced as a test of its missile technology. The regime then conducted a nuclear test and test-fired a series of ballistic missiles.

Friday's editorial also stressed the need to improve the people's standard of living by accelerating the development of light industry and agriculture while calling for efforts to gain access to more foreign markets, and undertake foreign trade.

"When the people's living standards are decisively improved ... the gate to a prosperous nation (will) be opened," the English-language editorial quoted leader Kim Jong Il as saying.

The North recently redenominated its currency, the won, to curb runaway inflation and reassert control over its economy, and reportedly has also banned the use of foreign currency as of Jan. 1.

South Korea has voiced concerns that the currency revamp could trigger instability in North Korea that may pose a threat to the South.

The New Year's message also appealed to North Korea's 1.1 million-strong military to remain alert and ready to thwart any surprise attack by the enemy, while calling on its people to unite around leader Kim.

The lengthy message also said Pyongyang remains committed to improving its relations with South Korea, urging the South to refrain from taking actions that may aggravate tension.

The two Koreas are still technically at war and their relations soured badly after conservative South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office in early 2008 with a tough policy on the North, with their navies engaging in a brief but bloody skirmish in November.

Pyongyang has set 2012 — the centenary of late North Korea's founder Kim Il Sung's birth — as a goal for building a "great, prosperous and powerful country."

The impoverished country has relied on foreign aid to feed its 24 million population after natural disasters and mismanagement devastated its economy in the mid-1990s.

The regime introduced economic reforms in 2002, including street and farmers' markets. But the government backtracked in 2006 after the reforms failed to revive the economy and resulted in an influx of foreign goods.

Source: AP News

[winston]

NKorea calls for peace treaty talks with US

NKorea calls for peace talks with US, end to sanctions as conditions to resume nuclear talks

North Korea has called for peace talks with the United States and an end to sanctions as a condition for resuming multilateral negotiations aimed at its denuclearization.

The North's Foreign Ministry said in a statement Monday that the resumption of the six-party nuclear talks depend on improving relations with the United States, and called for a peace treaty.

The statement, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, said in order to build confidence between North Korea and the U.S., "it is essential to conclude a peace treaty for terminating the state of war, a root cause of the hostile relations."

The 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

Source: AP News

[winston]

S.Koreans now prefer daughters over sons: survey

A longstanding preference among South Koreans for sons rather than daughters is changing amid new social trends, according to a survey cited by experts Wednesday.

Researchers asked couples expecting a child whether they wanted a daughter or a son. Some 38 percent of expectant mothers said they wanted a daughter, 31 percent wanted a son and the rest had no preference.

Among fathers-to-be, 37 percent wanted a daughter and 29 percent a son while the remainder had no preference.

Researchers surveyed 2,078 households before the mothers gave birth from April to July 2008.

They said it marked the first time in South Korea, formerly a strongly patriarchal society, that a preference for baby girls over boys was confirmed in a nationwide survey.

"Sons' roles as a means to continue family bloodlines and to support ageing parents are considered less and less valuable," Lee Jeong-Rim, a researcher with the Korea Institute of Childcare and Education, told AFP.

She said there was a growing trend for old people to rely on previously unavailable social safety networks rather than moving in with a son.

"Many parents prefer a baby girl to a baby boy as they believe a daughter will bring them greater happiness and family unity than a son," said Lee, who led the 2008 survey.

Other statistics also reflect the declining preference for baby boys.

The ratio of baby boys to girls peaked at 116.5 to 100 in 1990, apparently indicating that female foetuses were aborted.

The ratio has since been falling steadily to 106.4 boys for every 100 girls in 2008, which falls within the international average of 103-107.

Source: AFP Asian Edition

[winston]

Would do their revenue come from ?


NKorea's Kim calls for stronger army amid tension

NKorea's Kim calls for stronger army after his country threatens to wage war against SKorea

HYUNG-JIN KIM
AP News


North Korean leader Kim Jong Il said his country must bolster its armed forces, state media reported Sunday, two days after his regime warned it would launch a war against South Korea if necessary.

Kim's all-powerful National Defense Commission had threatened Friday to initiate a sacred "retaliatory battle" against the South in anger over its reported contingency plan to cope with potential unrest in the communist country. The commission also warned it could break off all dialogue and negotiations with the South.

On Sunday, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said Kim had inspected a joint army, navy and air force drill that demonstrated the country's "merciless striking power" against anyone trying to infringe on its territory.

Kim expressed his satisfaction with the drill and assigned the military tasks to develop it into "the invincible revolutionary armed forces," according to the KCNA report.

The report did not say when or where the joint drill took place.

Kim routinely visits military units and inspects their training to bolster his "songun," or "military-first," policy that rewards the 1.2 million-member armed forces — the backbone of his authoritarian rule of the country's 24 million people. He often calls for a stronger military during the visits.

The report of his latest inspection, however, came two days after his defense commission issued a rare statement strongly protesting the South's alleged contingency plan, which it says is aimed at toppling Kim's regime.

The commission said "a sacred nationwide retaliatory battle to blow up the stronghold of the South Korean authorities," including the presidential office, would begin once the plan was completed and put into practice. It also said the country would push for Seoul's expulsion in any negotiations on peace on the Korean peninsula if the South didn't apologize for the plan.

The warning came as a surprise since the North recently offered conciliatory gestures to the South, including a proposal Thursday to discuss resuming stalled joint tour programs.

Seoul expressed regret over the North's threat, which it said was driven by unconfirmed media reports.

South Korea has reportedly drawn up a military operations plan with the United States to cope with possible emergencies in North Korea. South Korea's Defense Ministry has consistently declined to comment about the existence of such a plan.

North Korea occasionally issues statements that include threats to destroy South Korea. Authorities in Seoul monitor them carefully but usually take them in stride.

South Korea's Defense Ministry said the North had held annual winter military training but had no information on Kim's latest military inspection. A ministry official said there had been no suspicious activities by the North's military in recent days.

Another South Korean government official downplayed the significance of the North's latest joint drill, saying it appeared to be part of routine training. The official said it was the first time the North's media had reported Kim's inspection of a joint drill of the three armed services.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.

The two Koreas remain technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

Source: AP News

[kennynah]

China is a communistic state, so is N Korea... Chinese not that bad under communist ideology... N Korea cannot make it... how come?

i say, it is that dictator... remove him ...