Well said...

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Interview: Minister of Foreign Affairs & Trade, Mr. Yu Myung-hwan

In an exclusive interview, Minister of Foreign Affairs & Trade Mr. Yu Myung-hwan spoke on the foreign policy orientation of the present government and the plans for the future.Excerpts:

>In today's increasingly globalizing world, new threats such as global financial crisis, terrorism, climate change, proliferation of WMD, pandemic diseases, etc. are emerging in addition to existing traditional security threats. As the new challenges have impact on every corner of the world, they present a clear need for the international community to work together in more cooperative and coordinated manners.
As a responsible shareholder in the international community, Korea's place in the changing environment calls for active role in addressing global common challenges. Korea, as one of emerging economies full of dynamics and equipped with democratic system, is poised to participate more actively and furnish greater contribution in global affairs.
>Against this backdrop, Korea envisions an open, dynamic and advanced "Global Korea" in the 21st century that would actively engage and cooperate with the international community and contribute to enhancing peace and co-prosperity of the world, transcending the boundaries of the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia.
>For the year 2010, the Korean government has set the following key foreign policy tasks in order to make rapid strides toward bringing into reality its vision of "Global Korea"
>Korea will continue to broaden the horizon of its diplomatic relations beyond Asia. President Lee will make visits to the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Europe this year, following the "New Asia Initiative" which was adopted and actively implemented last year. In particular, the President will work toward establishing a "Strategic Partnership" with the EU upon the conclusion of the Korea-EU FTA and the Korea-EU Framework Agreement before the end of this year. The President has also actively engaged in global governance dialogues by attending the WEF Forum in Davos and the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington D.C, and in the same context will attend the upcoming Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore and the G20 Summit in Canada next month.
>The Fifth G20 Summit in Seoul will pave the way for institutionalizing the G20 Summit as a truly premier forum for international economic cooperation. The successful hosting of this Summit will provide a good opportunity to  reaffirm Korea’s place and role as a responsible shareholder in tackling and resolving important issues of the international community. To this end, the Presidential Committee for the G20 Summit is working closely with relevant government ministries and agencies to best prepare for the upcoming event in November.
>Korea will strive to increase its contribution to international development cooperation as a new OECD DAC member state. Furthermore, Korea will contribute to enhancing international efforts for peace-building and reconstruction of failed states through its expanded participation in UN PKO missions and operation of such PRT missions as in Afghanistan.
>Within this context, priorities will still be given to seeking substantial progress in resolving the North Korean nuclear issue, maintaining peace and stability within the Korean peninsula, consolidating strategic relations with neighboring countries, providing support to create new engines of growth and strengthening future-oriented diplomatic capabilities and infrastructure to cope with the rapidly changing diplomatic environment of the 21st century.
>In response to the rapid proliferation of FTAs throughout the world, Korea has been actively pursuing its ambitious FTA policy since the conclusion of the first FTA in 2003 with Chile, and concluded high-level FTAs with major economies such as United States and the European Union(EU). As of June 2010, Korea has implemented five FTAs with sixteen nations, namely, Chile, Singapore, EFTA, ASEAN and India. In particular, the Korea-India CEPA(Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement), Korea’s first FTA with a BRICs country, entered into force on January 1
Korea is currently negotiating FTAs with eight trading partners: Australia, Peru, Colombia, Turkey, GCC, New Zealand, Canada and Mexico. Prior to launching official negotiations, Korea is also conducting preliminary talks or joint research projects with prospective partners, including China, Japan, MERCOSUR, Israel, Russia and Viet Nam. In particular, Korea, China and Japan started this May a joint feasibility study on a possible trilateral FTA.
This year, Korea is making great efforts to complete the on-going FTA negotiations, especially those with Australia, Peru, Colombia and Turkey. Korea aims to increase the share of the preferential trade with FTA partners up to 50% of its total trade in the near future, and by doing so, to become the East Asia hub in the global FTA network.
>The world economy, which suffered the worst global economic crisis since the Great Depression in the 1930s, has overcome the crisis through active international cooperation through the G20.
The recovery has been faster than expected and the G20, which was launched in response to the economic crisis, is now seeking a new role. The G20 Seoul Summit will be held in this transition phase and has the opportunity to expand its role from that of crisis response to that of the management of the post-crisis global economy, solidifying its legitimacy as the premier forum for international economic cooperation.
For this purpose, the Seoul Summit will promote sustainable and balanced growth of the world economy, faithfully executing the G20’s goal of an international financial system that can prevent a recurrence of a crisis and strive for balanced economic growth that includes developing and emerging economies.
In this process, Korea is strengthening its cooperation with G20 countries and will also closely cooperate with non-G20 countries through outreach activities. It is expected that this will be an opportunity for Korea to expand its contribution, with the concerted efforts of the international community, to address global issues.
>The EU is now Korea's most significant partner in the economic field, as our second largest partner in trade volume and number one in investment. The Korea-EU trade volume accounts for 11.5% of Korea's total trade in 2009 and the EU investment into Korea during the same period accounts for 46% of the total inflow of investment into Korea.
In order to upgrade the Korea-EU relations to a Strategic Partnership, Korea and the EU agreed to conclude the "Framework Agreement" and the "FTA" on the occasion of the Korea-EU Summit in May last year.Now that the Framework Agreement has been signed, I look forward to the formal signing and entry into force of the Korea-EU FTA in the near future.
Moreover, the Korea-EU FTA will also serve as an important demonstration of the commitment on the part of Korea and the EU to trade liberalization,standing against protectionism in these times of global economic difficulties.And yet if Korea and the EU really are to forge a strategic partnership, in the true sense of the word, the European business community has a crucial role to play, particularly since we live in a time in which the economic and trade relations between countries are assuming ever increasing importance.In this respect, I hope for your continued interest and support for the Framework Agreement to take effect as well as for the FTA's formal signing and entry into force. These will indeed be valuable steps towards developing the Korea-EU relations into a genuine strategic partnership, not just in name but in reality.

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Too yellow for your own good!

Check out this letter sent by the US Passport Center....they found this East Asian too yellow!!! What next, Indian's are too brown and the Africans too black?

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Tech support...

Location of people who think they can solve a tech problem, and location of people who can!

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Interview: Mr. Lee Dong-dae, Head, Shinhan IB Group

Incorporated on September 1, 2001, Shinhan Financial Group(SFG) was the first privately established financial holding company in Korea. Since inception SFG has developed and introduced a wide range of financial products and services in Korea, and aims to deliver
comprehensive financial solutions to clients through a convenient one-portal network.
SFG currently has 11 subsidiaries offering a wide range of financial products and services, including retail banking, corporate banking, private banking, credit card, asset management, brokerage and insurance services. SFG currently serves approximately 16.1 million active
customers through approximately 17,900 employees at more than 1,390 network branches.
SFG has experienced substantial growth through several mergers and acquisitions. Most notably, the acquisition of Chohung Bank in Sept. 2003 and LG Card in March 2007 have enabled us to build up a nationwide network of branches and a broad customer base.
In addition, SFG has significantly expanded its non-banking business capacity and achieved a balanced business portfolio.In 2009, the group posted a net income of 1.3 trillion won, leading the industry for the second year in a row.
Strategically integrating the extensive competencies of Shinhan Bank in the commercial IB business and Shinhan Investment in the traditional IB business, Shinhan Financial Groups IB Division provides customized IB services catering to the diverse financial needs of corporate customers.
With 47 networks in 14 countries Shinhan IB Group has established global recognition and competence. Shinhan IB group aspires to leverage this and broaden its borders from domestic IB market to the world.
I interviewed Mr. Lee Dong-dae, Executive Vice President, Head of Investment Banking. Excerpts:

The group has shown strong growth in both the quality and range of its services since 1997, when the investment banking market in Korea was barely developed, through initiating new areas of business such as SOC financing, M&A, and ABS and continuing to expand its business.
Thanks to these efforts, Shinhan IB Group provides the best financial services to meet the diverse needs of its clients and is strengthening its position as a leader in the domestic investment banking market by providing professional IB financial services ranging from M&A financing, Ship/ Aircraft financing, Corporate Capex financing, Real Estate Financing, Infrastructure Financing, International PF, Asset Securitization, and Equity Investments
In particular, the Hong Kong IB center was established in 2006 as a part of the group?s global strategy and has provided financial advisory and arrangement services to Korean clients expanding overseas and it has successfully entered the Asian financial markets by jointly providing IB services to Chinese and Southeast Asian clients with other global investment banks.
Furthermore, Shinhan IB has looked beyond its traditional DCM business to identify and discover new sources of revenue and growth such as integrated M&A and Real Estate financial services jointly with other members of the Shinhan Financial Group, establishing infrastructure related funds, devising mezzanine products and mezzanine investments, and devising and providing integrated financial products through inter-department coordination.
“With its extensive Investment Banking experience and capabilities, Shinhan aims to lead value creation for its clients through providing advanced IB services to its clients and to strengthen its global competencies among its departments to strive further in becoming a leading Global Investment Bank.”
Speaking about the various departments of the group, he noted that the IB Business Dept. is responsible B Business Department is responsible for general planning and marketing activities of the IB Group as well as managing and assessing the bank The department is also responsible for financial advisory and arrangement for structured finance, product planning and development, and IB product marketing and large scale syndication support for institutional investors.
The Investment Banking Dept. is responsible for Syndicated Loans including M&A Financing, Capex Financing, Shipping / Aircraft Financing to meet the diverse needs of its clients. The department is also responsible for domestic and foreign direct / indirect equity / mezzanine investments.
The Project Finance Dept. provides a complete service for Project Finance including Real Estate Finance, International PF, Real Estate Funds with abundant project execution experience and knowledgeable professionals.
The HK IB center provides corporate finance advisory and investment advisory services, bond issuance services, and structured financing services for domestic and international clients utilizing the Shinhan global network to meet diverse and complex client needs.
Mr. Lee noted that the IB Group set its strategic goal for 2010 as 斗aying the foundation to become the No. IB player.In line with this goal, it has devised the following four missions;
Expanding deal sourcing and enhancing mediation role
While diversifying deal sourcing products and channels, it will mount a pre-emptive marketing campaign on selected target customers in the IB business sector. Also, the group will proactively expand pre-sales activities tailored to customer needs. It will centralize and expand the syndication business to build strategic partnerships with various institutional investors, and develop various market networks.
Maximizing profits
The group will actively reinforce our capability to develop new revenue sources by pursuing new business areas both domestic and overseas, such as SOC projects in emerging markets and overseas plant and crossborder acquisition financing. In doing so, the group will fully utilize the resources and infrastructure of the Hong Kong IB Center in order to establish a global business model and provide diverse financial solutions. At the same time, it will maximize the profitability of conventional business areas by increasing our deal arrangements in cash-generating businesses, such as M&A, real estate and structured financing.
Establishing an innovative risk management system
The group will build up a systematic preemptive risk management system by completing a checklist for new IB deals and complying with guidelines. Moreover, it will diversify the risk management capacity through organic collaboration with the middle and back offices and systematically monitor markets, industries and corporations as well as providing preemptive responses to risk factors.
Building up the strongest IB infrastructure
The group will maximize our human resources competences through customized training programs, and career road maps for competence development, as well as foster junior IB players. In addition, it will build up research capacity through cooperation with other subsidiaries of the group, including Shinhan FSB Research Institute.
Mr. Lee noted that the most significant trend in real estate market these days is that there are fewer transactions due to the short demand. This implies that real estate market is now facing an adjustment phase. However, it may cause such a burden to the economy if the price drops sharply, so the government should come out with an idea to ease the drop in prices.
As for the office market in Korea, he observed that the t he vacancy rate of Seoul City was 4.9%, which is 0.4% lower than the previous quarter. This implies that the office market is showing signs of recovery.
However, the vacancy rate of GBD (Gangnam Business District) hit 12.1%. Also, office supplies at Yongsan, SangAm, PanGyo and Bundang area are expected to increase the vacancy rate.
In the future, he observed that the mid-sized real estate and the leasable real estate will be profitable due to tax benefits and the profit expectations.
Giving his forecast on the real estate market, he said that in the residential sector, since the government keeps supplying Bogumjari apartments, it is expected that the residential market prices will fall. In the office space, even though the leasing market has still not recovered, the price of office building is still expensive due to the short supply.

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