The future is here: Electric cars Korea’s EV market heats up as new players rush in

Global carmakers are piling into the nation’s nascent electric car market, indicating the advent of the truly “electric age” as the concept of electric mobility quickly catches on with Korean car buffs.

There are so far three full-electric models competing in the market ― the Kia Ray EV, Renault Samsung Motors’ SM3 Z.E. and GM Korea’s Chevrolet Spark EV. Their combined sales were a mere 715 cars last year.

This year, more fashionable models armed with better performance, longer driving ranges and lower prices are ready to hit the market.

(Graphic by Nam Kyung-don)

Industry watchers now predict EV sales could double to some 1,500 vehicles in the coming months.

The BMW i3, as well as the success story of sexier vehicles like the Tesla Model S, is expected to help persuade Korean consumers that green driving can be stylish and luxurious.

“The BMW i3 is a brand-new model developed as an electric car from the beginning,” said Kim Hyo-joon, BMW Korea’s chief executive. “The car is still a BMW that never compromises on performance.”

Volkswagen e-Golf

BMW i3

While Hyundai Motor, the nation’s largest carmaker, is focusing on the development of hydrogen-powered vehicles, its affiliate Kia Motors has been pouring resources into full-electric cars to defend Korea’s pride in the EV market.

Following the 2011 debut of the Ray EV, the carmaker has recently unveiled the electric version of its top-selling Soul compact, which offers better range and performance. Along with a slew of new technologies, the carmaker has added a virtual engine sound system for pedestrian safety.

Japan’s Nissan also plans to launch its Leaf compact ― the best-selling EV model in the world ― in the coming weeks in Korea. Other carmakers like Volkswagen, Mia Electric and Tesla are also considering introducing their electric models in the market as early as next year.

Nissan Leaf

Tesla Model S

Mia Electric’s Mia minibus

“As there are no big differences in their performance and prices, industry watchers say, marketing will play a key role in spurring EV sales,” said Kang Dong-wan, a researcher at Korea Automotive Research Institute.

Government subsidies are also crucial to attracting carmakers into the market. Companies are betting big especially on Jejudo Island, which offers a combined 23 million won ($21,000) per EV purchase in rebates ― the highest-level of government support globally.

Along with the generous cash benefits, the island also boasts a wide network of 497 charging stations, which means one charging station every 3.72 square meters. The 190-kilometer road around the island is also within what most electric vehicles can manage on a single charge.

“This all makes the island a perfect combination for a test-bed for electric vehicles,” said Kim Dae-whan, organizing committee chairman of the International Electric Vehicle Expo, the first of its kind globally, which kicks off Saturday on Jejudo Island.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)

• [Weekender] Jejudo an emerging test bed for future cars
• [Weekender] World’s first EV expo kicks off on Jejudo
• [Weekender] Renault Samsung’s SM3 Z.E. leads market
• [Weekender] Kia Soul defends Korea’s pride in EV market

Ukraine reports Russian 'invasion' on eve of Crimea vote

Ukraine accused Russia on Saturday of invading a region bordering Crimea and vowed to use "all necessary measures" to repel an attack that came on the eve of the Black Sea peninsula's breakaway vote.

The invasion reported by the Ukrainian foreign ministry was small in scale and concerned a region that lies just off the northeast coast of Crimea called the Arabat Spit.

The dramatic escalation of the most serious East-West crisis since the Cold War set a tense stage for Sunday's referendum on Crimea's secession from Ukraine in favor of Kremlin rule -- a vote denounced by both the international community and Kiev.

The predominantly Russian-speaking region of two million people was overrun by Kremlin-backed troops days after the February 22 fall in Kiev of a Moscow-backed regime and the rise of nationalist leaders who favor closer ties with the West.

President Vladimir Putin has defended Moscow's decision to flex its military muscle arguing that ethnic Russians in Ukraine needed "protection" from violent ultranationalists -- even though Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told US Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday that Moscow had no plans "to invade the southeast region of Ukraine."

But the Ukrainian foreign ministry said 80 Russian military personnel had seized a village on the Arabat Spit called Strilkove with the support of four military helicopters and three armored personnel carriers.

The ministry in a statement demanded that "the Russian side immediately withdraw its military forces from the territory of Ukraine."

"Ukraine reserves the right to use all necessary measures to stop the military invasion by Russia."

Footage released on YouTube that claims to have been shot near Strilkove showed two attack helicopters circling at low altitudes around a highway that cuts through empty fields.

There was no immediate response to Kiev's invasion announcement from Moscow, but Washington's UN ambassador Samantha Power called any new Russian troop movement in south Ukraine an "outrageous escalation".

The peninsula's pro-Kremlin administration later released a statement saying Strilkove had been "taken under the control of self-defense forces of Crimea.” They were to protect a natural gas pumping station that had allegedly come under attack from a group of Ukrainian nationalists.


- Russia isolated at UN –

Ukraine's report of an invasion came on the second successive day of bloodshed that has killed three people in the heavily Russified southeast of the culturally-splintered nation of 46 million.

The latest deadly violence flared on Friday evening in Kharkiv when a Russian activist and a passerby died in a gunfight between a group of Ukrainian nationalists and a Kremlin supporter in the eastern industrial city.

That incident and another death in the Russian-speaking city of Donetsk on Thursday prompted Russia -- its forces already conducting snap drills on Ukraine's doorstep -- to report "receiving many requests to protect peaceful citizens" in the neighboring country.

"These requests will be considered," the Russian foreign ministry said.

Yet the seizure of Crimea and ominous threats against the rest of Ukraine left Russia staring in the face of international isolation when it was abandoned by key geopolitical ally China at a crucial UN Security Council vote on the crisis in New York.

Russia was alone in vetoing a US-drafted Security Council resolution reaffirming that the Crimean referendum "can have no validity" and that Ukraine must remain a sovereign state.

"Russia, isolated, alone and wrong, blocked the resolution's passage," Power said. "This is a sad and remarkable moment."

The measure was backed by 13 of the Security Council's 15 members and saw China abstain -- a massive blow that could shake the Kremlin's confidence in the face of its deteriorating relations with the West.

Kiev said "Russia has isolated itself not only at the UN Security Council, but also from the rest of the world."


- 'No common vision' –
The rugged diamond-shaped Crimean peninsula that has been home to tsarist and Kremlin navies since the 18th century is widely expected to vote in favour of Kremlin rule after its lawmakers declared independence from Kiev earlier this month.

The Crimean referendum comes in direct response to three months of deadly protests that toppled Ukraine's pro-Kremlin president and brought to power a new European leaning team in Kiev that threatens to shatter Putin's dream of rebuilding a post-Soviet empire.

Kiev has denounced the Crimean vote as illegal but is also warily watching as separatist sentiments spread through other southeastern regions with centuries-old cultural and trade links to Russia.

Moscow continues to back Sunday's ballot despite seeing talks of a free travel agreement with Europe it had long sought suspended and facing a painful round of punitive sanctions against top officials that Washington and EU nations are set to unveil on Monday.

The worst standoff between Moscow and the West since the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall found no solution when Kerry and Lavrov locked horns in six hours of talks in London about Crimea, which that ended in a handshake and an agreement that the two sides still remained far apart.

"We have no common vision of the situation," Lavrov grimly told reporters.

A US diplomat said Kerry found himself at check-mate when Lavrov "made it clear that President (Vladimir) Putin is not prepared to make any decision regarding Ukraine until after the referendum on Sunday."

That timing is far too late for US officials who accuse Crimea's separatist leaders and their Kremlin backers of holding the vote at "gunpoint".

The European Union is set to debate travel bans and asset freezes on Monday against Russian officials held responsible for threatening Ukraine's territorial integrity.

Germany's Bild daily cited Western diplomats as saying that the Russians on the joint US-EU travel ban list will include Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Ivanov along with other top Putin advisers. (AFP)

Chinese man put under arrest for forging evidence in alleged espionage case

(photo: 123rf)

A Chinese man was formally detained Saturday pending trial on charges of forging Chinese immigration records to help Seoul's main spy agency frame a North Korean defector for espionage, court officials said. 

The 61-year-old ethnic Korean with Chinese nationality, only identified by his surname Kim, is suspected of forging immigration records purporting to be the defector's and handing them over to the National Intelligence Service (NIS) last year.

The Seoul Central District Court on Saturday approved the prosecutors' request for an arrest warrant for the Chinese man after holding a hearing, the officials said. 

After putting Kim under arrest from a Seoul hospital where he was recovering from a suicide attempt, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office had earlier asked the court to issue the warrant to further question him. 

The case involving Yoo Woo-seong, a 34-year-old defector who worked for the Seoul city government, began when prosecutors charged him with carrying out espionage for Pyongyang's spy agency. 

After a local district court acquitted Yoo of espionage charges in August 2013, allegations have risen that the NIS had obtained or produced the fake immigration records and handed them over to the prosecution. (Yonhap)

Opposition coalition initiates official groundwork for new party

The main opposition Democratic Party and maverick lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo on Sunday began formal groundwork for a new coalition party to be launched later this month to challenge the ruling camp in the upcoming local elections and ultimately in the next presidential race.

Some 330 members each from the DP and Ahn's party-in-the-making "New Political Vision Party" convened for the first official meeting to discuss guidelines for the party's launch scheduled for March 26.

DP leader Kim Han-gil and entrepreneur-turned-politician Ahn were elected co-chairmen of a preparatory committee that serves as the control tower in launching the fledgling new party that was announced just two weeks ago.

The new party's name in Korean roughly translates as "New Political Vision Democratic Party." Ocean blue was adopted as its official color, staying with the bluish hues used by both sides.

"The new party name literally means mutual respect and equal coalition by the two sides. The name also contains public calls for 'new politics,' and the DP's history and tradition," spokesmen of the preparatory committee said.

The name was selected from suggestions received through a public campaign and approved by the two sides, the spokesmen said.

The two sides agreed to form a new party on March 2, a surprise move that upended the political landscape ahead of nationwide local elections on June 4, seen as a confidence vote on the incumbent Park Geun-hye administration that marked its one-year anniversary late last month. (Yonhap)