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Web-only Exclusives November 30, 2000 From Our Correspondent: Hirohito and the War A conversation with biographer Herbert Bix From Our Correspondent: A Rough Road Ahead Bad news for the Philippines - and some others From Our Correspondent: Making Enemies Indonesia needs friends. So why is it picking fights? |
Week of August 9, 1996
South Korean automaker KIA Motors will build cars in the Baltic Sea enclave of Kaliningrad. The deal, signed July 30, will create 50,000 jobs and inject over $1 billion into Russia's economy. The move also allows KIA to sell its cars at local prices.A weekend of heavy rains devastated both sides of the Korean border. More than 70 people were killed July 28 when landslides flattened military barracks along the DMZ. Over 30,000 South Koreans are homeless and some of the North's best farmland has been destroyed.
A scandal is tainting four major arms suppliers: Hyundai, Daewoo, Ssangyong and Tongmyung. State prosecutors claim 17 military officials were bribed by the chaebols to buy weapons at inflated prices. Illegal profits may total some $47 million.
Week of August 2, 1996
A permanent peace on the Korean peninsula is one small step closer. After four months of silence, Beijing has finally agreed to join Washington and Seoul in proposed four-way talks. Pyongyang remains a holdout, but it may soon follow China's lead.Week of July 26, 1996
Aviation Aero International Asia - made up of two Airbus Industrie partners and an Italian group - and Singapore Technologies Aerospace have won the contract to build 100-seat passenger planes in China. The deal may also help boost Airbus sales. Excluded was South Korea, which had originally been involved in talks with Beijing to make the jets. That arrangement was called off over disagreements on the production site.Week of July 5, 1996
A third ex-president has been ordered to testify in a trial of former presidents Chun Doo Hwan and Roh Tae Woo in Seoul. Choi Kyu Ha, 76, who was president at the time of the 1979 coup that put Chun in power, will be a prosecution witness. Up to now, Choi has refused to cooperate with prosecutors.Week of June 28, 1996
PLANE GROUNDED
An ambitious plan by China and South Korea to build a passenger plane is dead. An adviser to South Korean President Kim Young Sam said talks on the $1.2 billion scheme had collapsed because of China's insistence that it have the lion's share of the project. Sources said South Korea would look for other partners to build the 100-seater.
STAYING AWAY
Maybe the numbers will pick up by the World Cup in 2002. But for now, Japanese tourism in South Korea is down 4.7% over last year. The sliding yen and rising prices in South Korea are partly responsible, but angry anti-Japanese demonstrations during the dispute over the Tokdo/Takeshima islands clearly played a part in the decline.Week of June 21, 1996
CYBER-DMZ
Even though it is not clear that anyone in North Korea can get online, South Korea warns it will prosecute any of its citizens that make contact with anyone north of the DMZ via the Internet. If Pyongyang is getting its message on the web, it is a well kept secret. The few web sites with any North Korean content are all apparently privately posted.
WHERE DID IT GO?
Seoul says North Korea did not use the $130 million it received in crop insurance payments in January to buy food. Pyongyang is not saying what, if anything, it spent the money on. Just before South Korea made its accusations, the U.N. launched a $43.6 million appeal for emergency aid to meet continuing food shortages due to flooding.Week of June 14, 1996
KICKING AROUND A TOUGH CALL
Maybe the Fédération Internationale de Football Association did not make the wisest decision. Maybe FIFA's plan to have Japan and South Korea co-host the 2002 World Cup soccer championship was sheer political compromise. But the day after the announcement, the Blue House leaked a story to the Seoul Shinmun saying it is considering a World Cup Treaty with Japan, modeled on the 1963 Elysee Treaty between France and Germany that put an end to the enmity of WW II. If that is the outcome of FIFA's decision, it might have made a truly Olympian decision. "Where will the championship game be played?" was the first response to the announcement. Let the negotiations begin.
WATCHDOGS BITTEN
Paik Won Ku, the chief of Seoul's Security Supervisory Board, the watchdog for the South Korea Stock Exchange is under arrest, as is Han Taik Soo, treasury director at the Ministry of Finance and Economy. Both are accused of accepting bribes to help unqualified firms get their stocks listed on the exchange.Week of June 7, 1996
PILOT'S REVELATIONS
What was the most important information revealed by North Korean pilot Lee Chol Su when he flew his MiG-19 into South Korea? That the North's airforce is aging and grossly under-equipped? That there are menacing moves along the DMZ? Or the fact that Seoul's air-raid warning system completely failed to inhibit his incursion into South Korean airspace?Week of May 31, 1996
BACK TO THE STREETS
Three normally fractious South Korean opposition parties jointly called for a public rally to protest the ruling New Korea Party's political maneuvering. They are refusing to negotiate the formation of the new parliament, scheduled set to open in June. The NKP managed to secure its one-seat legislative majority by enticing 11 non-NKP members to join its camp.Week of May 24, 1996
OECD OPENS DOORS
"The government recognizes that its current liberalization plan falls short of the level achieved by advanced countries," South Korea's Ministry of Finance and Planning says. So, in order to gain admission into the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, it is opening 28 more business sectors to direct foreign investment by Jan. 1, 1997.Kwangju: May 27, 1980
After holding off a 3.30 am tank and helicopter assault for three hours, 300 student rebels holed up in the provincial government building in the heart of Kwangju gave in to government forces, ending 10 days of armed rebellion. The student-led uprising played on the regional population's anger at the neglect it suffered from the central government. The students had seized the moment by riding the nationwide swell of discontent that followed the extension of martial law declared by Lt.-Gen. Chun Doo Hwan. The official death toll was 170, but residents claim that many more people died during the rebellion. Chun, who went on to become president, and his colleague Maj.-Gen. Roh Tae Woo, who succeeded him in the presidency, are now on trial in Seoul charged with mutiny, treason and graft.Week of May 17, 1996
UNIFICATION PRIORITY
The man picked to head South Korea's ruling New Korea Party is an expert on North Korean affairs. Lee Hong Koo twice headed Seoul's Unification Ministry. When he named Lee to the post, President Kim Young Sam said: "No matter what changes may arise on the Korean peninsula, we must be ready and capable of linking these to unification.". . . STILL U.S. HOPE
The U.S. says it is encouraged by North Korea's response, and will give Pyongyang the details it's asking for. Presidents Kim Young Sam and Bill Clinton made the proposal when Clinton visited Seoul on April 16. Until now, North Korea has insisted on direct talks with the U.S. to resolve the situation on the peninsula. So far, Beijing has not made a commitment to the plan.Week of May 10, 1996
SEIZING THE TIME
South Korea's application for membership in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is threatened by criticism of the country's strict labor laws. Labor organizers are demanding the release of jailed union leaders before the laws are revised. Workers are threatening a full-scale strike if the government refuses to meet their demands.Week of May 3, 1996
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE
Ex-South Korean president Chun Doo Hwan, on trial for sedition and corruption, rebutted charges that he took control of the country in a premeditated 1980 takeover plot, partly codenamed Operation K. "The situation required someone to come out to save the nation," said Chun, adding his actions were necessary to pre-empt a North Korean threat.Week of April 19, 1996
FOREIGN WHEELS
As the world's fifth-largest car manufacturer, South Korea has been under pressure to open its domestic market to outsiders. Since it reduced tariffs on imports from 10% to 8% in January and abolished a 15% tax on luxury vehicles foreign car sales rose 68.5% from a year earlier. It's still a niche market; as you'd expect, Mercedes-Benz is leading the way.Week of April 12, 1996
BEHIND DOORS
Japan and North Korea held closed talks in China in March, trying to break the deadlock in establishing normal relations, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun. The talks had stalled in Nov. 1992. To assuage South Korean fears of the possibility of closer ties, a Tokyo delegation will travel to Seoul soon; an earlier meeting was cancelled in February.Week of April 5, 1996
SOUTH KOREA: ON A ROLL
With its per capita GNP topping $10,000 for the first time last year, South Korea got a big pat on the back when the International Monetary Fund named it 1995's "most exemplary" economy for attaining high growth 9.5% and stability. Malaysia had a better growth rate 9.6%, but South Korea's total savings to GDP was a massive 35.5%, the highest in the world. Seoul's pace of economic growth will accelerate: as of April 1, South Koreans are free to invest in foreign stocks and bonds, certificates of deposit and commercial paper. At the same time, limits on corporate and personal investment in foreign securities will be scrapped completely. Investors will no longer be restricted to 13 stock markets; they will be free to invest anywhere in the world. The changes come as the country prepares to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development later this year.Week of March 29, 1996
THE WINNERS ARE . . .
Samsung Group won the corporate profit sweepstakes in South Korea last year. The chaebol's 11 divisions posted profits of $3.43 billion, a 141% surge from the previous year. Sales were up 31%. Runners-up were Daewoo, with an 11% profit increase and Hyundai, which posted a 6.5% profit fall, despite sales rising 22%.Week of March 22, 1996
RINGSIDE IN SOUTH KOREA
Seoul's English-language Korea Herald mused about the coming of spring in a mid-week editorial, but the idyllic journalistic moment was not reflected in the mutiny and massacre trial of former presidents Chun Doo Hwan and Roh Tae Woo going on across town. A display of the rage some Koreans harbor against the two men erupted in court. Three of Chun's sons attacked a screaming protester, Kang Min Jo, the 54-year-old father of a student who was clubbed to death during a 1991 street demonstration. Kang was part of a loud group calling for the execution of Chun and Roh. Ticket scalpers are getting up to $640 for the limited number of seats available inside the courtroom. They are scarce -- many of them have been allocated to the two former presidents' relatives.SICKER, BUT LIVELIER
The percentage of South Koreans suffering from chronic disease rose to 29.9% last year from 20.5% in 1992. The Korean Institute of Health and Welfare blames increased smoking and drinking. Only 6.2% of South Koreans get the minimum necessary exercise, 20 minutes twice a week. But the average life span is now 73 years compared to 63 in 1970.Week of March 15, 1996
PHONE BUZZ
Competitors in and outside South Korea are lining up for June's allocation of 30 licenses to operate communications services in the country's $10 billion industry. Licenses for personal phones, IDD and domestic services as well as wireless data transmission will be doled out. By 1998, foreign companies will be able to compete more freely in the market.Week of March 8, 1996
AMNESTY FOR SOME
Two days before former president Chun Doo Hwan went to trial charged with wholesale corruption, South Korean President Kim Young Sam pardoned 24 people. The amnesty included a former police chief involved in a slot machine scandal, a corporate executive convicted of bribery and an opposition leader accused of violating security laws.Week of March 1, 1996
REGIONAL DISSONANCE
Ironically, the 1994 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea was written to encourage countries with rival territorial claims to resolve them. Instead, in the case of South Korea and Japan, and possibly China (see Island Hopping I,II and III) it has spotlighted the potential for disruption. It is unlikely any of the countries will wage war over their competing claims, but the friction generated can slow prog-ress toward closer regional cooperation. And while all ASEAN nations have signed the treaty, few have ratified it. The Japanese cabinet's decision to send the treaty to the Diet for approval set off the current Tokdo-Takeshima dispute.ISLAND HOPPING-I
Hours after the Japanese cabinet voted to accept the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea treaty that extends Japanese sovereignty to a 200-nautical-mile limit, South Korea's foreign ministry announced plans to claim its own 200-mile zone. The move made it clear that the Koreans will not cede their claim to Tokdo, the Lonely Islands.ISLAND HOPPING-II
Japan calls them Takeshima (the Bam-boo Islands). When it an-nounced the treaty's approval, the government said it was ready to negotiate the fate of the islands and other maritime disputes. It might also have a problem with China over the Senkaku Islands. The issue there is oil and a theoretical line dividing Chinese and Japanese jurisdiction.Week of Feburary 16, 1996
HEAVILY FINED
Samsung America Inc., claiming it acted without the knowledge of its South Korean parent company, has joined Korean Air Lines and Hyundai's U.S. subsidiary in admitting to illegally donating funds to the campaign of Korean-born U.S. congressman Jay Kim. In all, the three corporations paid $1 million in fines in the case.Week of Feburary 9, 1996
KOREA'S FOOD AID IMPASSE
With the International Federation of Red Cross Societies warning that 500,000 North Koreans are dependent on food handouts, South Korea's carefully orchestrated plan to control the aid moving into the north is coming under pressure. So far, Seoul has managed to convince major donors like Japan and the U.S. to stifle their response. But China, which enjoys close ties with Seoul and Pyongyang, has decided to send several hundred thousand tons of food aid to the north. The move is a necessity: more North Koreans are crossing the porous border into China as food shortages grow. But for now, the south continues to demand political concessions and a lowering of North Korean rhetoric before it agrees to send, or sanction, any more assistance.DEADLY BUILDINGS
Still reeling from a series of construction disasters in the past few years, South Koreans were shocked to learn that only 2% of all the high-rise buildings currently under construction meet government standards. An official report says 14% of the buildings going up are categorically unsafe and require major rebuilding.Week of Feburary 2, 1996
NEW BROOM
He is not bald, nor does he pose with his arms firmly across his chest, but Lee Hoi Chang is being billed as the "Mr. Clean" who will reform South Korea's political system. At the behest of President Kim Young Sam, Lee joined his New Korea Party to fight corruption. Lee had resigned as Kim's premier in 1994 because he disagreed with his political style.Week of January 26, 1996
LIMIT IGNORED
The new South Korean policy seems to be to ignore its own $5-$6 million limit on investments in North Korea. This month, the National Unification Board, which has to approve such deals, allowed Hanil Synthetic Fibre Industrial Co. to add $4 million to an earlier $5.8 million direct investment. So far, six companies have been allowed to do business with the North.Week of January 19, 1996
KIM YOUNG SAM HOLDS BACK
Having forgone the traditional presidential New Year's press conference, President Kim Young Sam made a televised address to South Koreans instead. He guardedly admitted to accepting improper (he did not use the word "illegal") help from supporters before he was elected in 1992, but supplied no details. "No politician, including myself, could have avoided such wrong practices as these," he told the national audience, but denied that he had accepted any money "with strings attached." His two predecessors, Roh Tae Woo and Chun Doo Hwan, are still in custody while investigations continue into the slush funds they accumulated during their tenure. Prosecutors now put the total amassed by both men at $1.3 billion. Chun is also being held for his role in the 1979 military coup which brought him to power and set the stage for Roh's election to the presidency. In his New Year's speech, Kim also apologized to people in the city of Kwangju for the government's brutal put-down of the 1980 uprising there in reaction to Chun's takeover.HARD LANDING
South Korea's hopes for a soft landing after years of high economic growth might be dimming. Real GDP growth in 1995 rose nearly 9.3%. For 1996, the government is looking for a 7.0% to 7.5% rate, a goal many investors find wishful thinking. The good news? Despite last year's growth, inflation remained relatively low, around 4.7%.Week of January 12, 1996
IRON COMPETITION
South Korea's leading chaebol, Hyundai, is going ahead with plans to build a giant steel plant, according to its new chairman Chung Mong Koo. With 45 of its subsidiary companies in heavy industry, Hyundai needs a local supplier other than government-owned Pohang Steel. Chung says, "The country must have at least two big steel plants to compete globally."Week of January 5, 1996
MR. KIM, MRS. KIM
According to a new South Korean law approved by the Supreme Court, Korean couples with the same last name who can prove they were living together before Dec.1995 can get married this year. Conservative Confucian scholars oppose the liberalization, saying such intra-clan marriages are incestuous, even if the parties are not closely related by blood.News from South Korea in 1995
