Korea Times Feb. 22, 2007 By Kim Yon-seStaff ReporterA group of lawmakers and policymakers are moving to legislate a law aimed at placing restrictions on foreign investment in some key industries. The move is aimed at blocking takeover attempts in the weapons, energy and steel sectors and other high technology areas that have some comparative advantages.The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE) is reviewing the bill in consideration of national security concerns. Last year, Rep. Lee Sang-kyeong of the governing Uri Party came up with the bill, representing a group of lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties. Lee stressed the need for legislation modeled after versions in other countries including the U.S. Exon-Florio Act in which foreign direct investment must undergo prior screening by the Committee on Foreign Investment. The purpose of the scrutiny is intended to determine whether a foreign firm’s acquisition of a U.S. firm threatens
Continue readingAuthor: Sean Hayes
Sean Hayes is the first non-Korean employed as a foreign attorney by the Korean Court System (Constitutional Court of Korea) and one of the first non-Koreans to be a full-time regular member of a Korean law faculty. He is rated a Top Attorney by numerous legal rating agencies and is known for his street-smart advice, candor and aggressive & non-conflicted advocacy. Sean has been quoted by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, CNN, Money Today, US Today, The Korea Times, The Korea Herald, France 24, Asia Legal Business and other leading news sources.
FTC plans a monopoly investigation of 3 portals
JoongAng Ilbo Feb. 21, 2007 As early as next month, the Fair Trade Commission will begin investigating whether three major Internet portals, Daum, Naver and Nate, are a monopoly.“We will form a task force team and begin a direct-authority investigation on the Internet portal companies,” said Lee Dong-gyu, secretary general of the Fair Trade Commission. The watchdog agency said it feels the influence of the top portals is growing rapidly in the market.The concern is that they are using their dominant position to overcharge content providers, such as a company that writes horoscopes.On a radio talk show yesterday on the Buddhist Broadcasting System, Mr. Lee said the Fair Trade Commission hurried up its plans to start researching the Internet portals because it considered the issue to be timely. In the case of Naver, Daum and Nate, the three portals took more than 80 percent of all sales, mostly from advertising,
Continue readingJudge Urges Chief Justice to Resign
Donga Ilbo Feb. 21, 2007 A presiding judge called for an explanation from Supreme Court chief justice Lee Yong-hoon, questioning his morality. He blames the chief justice for distrust in legal community, most recently proven in crossbow attack on a senior high-court judge. Jung Young-jin, presiding judge at the Seoul Central District Court, posted a paper on the court’s local area network (LAN) titled, “Urge the Chief Justice to Explain His Course of Action with respect to the Crossbow Attack.” In the paper, he said, “His unscrupulous behavior including tax evasion while he was a lawyer led to the current distrust of the legal circle.” He in effect called for his voluntary resignation, saying that, “Unless the allegation is cleared, he should make a decision on his position. Even though he may be cleared, his position will seriously burden people in legal community and general public alike unless the charges
Continue readingRules to Change for Entertainment Spending
Chosun Ilbo Feb. 21, 2007The existing government regulation that requires a receipt for corporate entertainment spending exceeding 50,000 won will be tightened. Entertainment spending which will require a receipt will be lowered to 30,000 won in 2008 and 10,000 won in 2009. In response, businesses are expressing their anger against the government’s measure, saying it will increase the tax burden and add more work for them. They also argued that the government’s excessive intervention may lead to contraction of business activities. The government which held a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday at the Central Government Complex passed the revised corporate tax laws to tighten existing regulations on entertainment spending. At the moment, companies only have to submit receipts for entertainment expenses exceeding 50,000 won to the tax authorities to make them recognized as business expenses. Tax authorities treat entertainment expenses of 50,000 won or less as business expenses without requiring a
Continue readingTen Petrochemical Companies Fined For Price Fixing
Chosun Ilbo Editorial Feb 21, 2007 Price Fixing Is a Serious Crime. The Fair Trade Commission has fined 10 petrochemical companies W105.1 billion (US$1=W939) for price rigging between 1994 and 2005. The firms including SK Corp., LG Chemicals and Samsung Petrochemicals were found to have held monthly executive meetings to set standard sales prices and “monitored” each other to make sure nobody undercut them. The FTC estimates the price-fixing cost consumers an estimated W1.56 trillion due to steady increases in prices of vinyl and plastic products. Price fixing is a serious offense that shakes the very foundations of a free market economy. Companies no longer strive to make better yet more affordable products and consumers end up with the short end of the stick. That’s why the United States, Europe and other advanced countries treat price-fixing as a serious crime. In 1999, an international price-fixing scheme involving vitamins was discovered.
Continue readingCourt rules against ‘Lolita’ defense in pedophilia case
Korea Herald Feb. 20, 2007 Court rules against ‘Lolita’ defense in pedophilia case The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a mental illness involving sexual obsession with children cannot be an excuse for lessened punishment for sexual violence against children.The top court returned a molestation case to an appellant court for a retrial. The appellant court had reduced a life sentence imprisonment penalty to 15 years after recognizing the offender had so-called Lolita syndrome, or sexual attraction to prepubescent children. The 39-year-old defendant, identified as Lee, was accused of raping 12 elementary school girls and stealing their money and other articles between February 2005 and January of last year.A lower court handed down a life imprisonment to Lee, but a High Court excused him for having the syndrome, more commonly known as pedophilia. “But a disease itself is not a mental and physical disorder that could be an excuse to lessen
Continue readingFirst foreign listing likely delayed to June
Korea Herald Feb. 21, 2007 First foreign listing likely delayed to June The listing of the local stock exchange’s first foreign company will likely be in June at the earliest, the Korea Exchange said yesterday. Huafeng Textile International Group, which is already listed in Hong Kong, filed an application in December for a secondary floatation on Korea’s main bourse. Lee Young-tak, chairman and CEO of Korea Exchange, said in January that he expected the firm to be listed as early as March.“The application is still under review. Any decision will likely be made late next month,” said an official at the KRX. Given that the listing process usually takes two to three months, the much-anticipated debut of a foreign firm on the local stock market is likely in June at the earliest, KRX officials said.Huafeng Textile is a middle-sized fabric processor based in Shishi city in China’s Fujian province, with
Continue readingJU Group chief gets 12 years in jail
Korea Herald Feb. 21, 2007 JU Group chief gets 12 years in jail A Seoul lower court yesterday sentenced the chairman of JU Group, the nation’s biggest multilevel marketing firm, to 12 years in prison for fraud and embezzlement.Joo Soo-do, 51, was arrested last July on charges of deceiving over 110,000 people in a fraud case of 1.8 trillion won ($1.9 billion), instructing them to illegally pay a total of 130 billion won to JU Group’s affiliates and misappropriating 28.4 billion won of company funds.Between 2003 and 2005, he also allegedly ordered his staffers to manipulate the computer transaction system to provide higher returns for certain influential people or their families, who joined the firm as sale agents. Joo pleaded not guilty on all accusations. “It was inevitable to impose a severe punishment against the defendant as he exerted an evil influence on society,” Judge Choi Gyu-hong ruled. “Not only
Continue readingNorth Korea Enacts Law Against Money Laundering;Intelligence Agency Says Pyongyang Has Highly Enriched Uranium Program
Korea Times Feb 21, 2007 North Korea Enacts Law Against Money LaunderingIntelligence Agency Says Pyongyang Has Highly Enriched Uranium Program By Park Song-wuStaff Reporter The National Intelligence Service (NIS) on Tuesday confirmed that North Korea recently enacted a law that prohibits money laundering. The standing committee of the North’s Supreme People’s Assembly adopted the legislation last October to ban financial transactions involving illegal earnings, the agency said in a press release. The enactment apparently aimed at settling the U.S. financial sanctions on a bank in Macau that was blacklisted by Washington in September 2005 for its suspicious role in helping the North conduct illicit financial activities, it said. Under the latest six-party agreement, reached on Feb. 13, the United States is to resolve financial sanctions within 30 days on North Korean assets worth $24 million that have been frozen in the Macau bank. The NIS also confirmed that the North
Continue readingGo for 2-Term Presidency
Appeared in Korea Times on 01-31-2007 Dear Prof. Sean Hayes: An issue that has suddenly been proposed by President Roh Moohyun is the amendment of the Constitution to give the future president a four-year one-time renewable term and also to align the presidential election with the National Assembly elections. Currently, the president has a five-year non-renewable term and the presidential election is not held on the same date as the National Assembly elections, since Assemblypersons have four-year terms. Is Roh’s proposal worth trying? Proud Korean citizen Dear Proud: The system of two four-year renewable terms was proposed to lessen the cost of elections by aligning the dates of elections; to keep government policy consistent by allowing presidents the possibility of an eight-year term; to help eliminate the present system’s lameduck year; and for a variety of other reasons. Whether it is a good idea or not may depend on your
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