To gain market share, Samsung planning sleek new mobile phones

The Samsung Galaxy S6?

Steps being taken to overcome Samsung’s difficulties in the mobile phone market from late last year

In a bid to gain ground in the mobile market this year, Samsung Electronics intends to release a premium mobile phone with special features, as well a slim mid-range phone.

“We will increase our lead in the market by equipping our premium smartphones with special functions and our mid-range smartphones with a slim design and an AMOLED display,” Samsung said in a seminar for investors held on Jan. 29.

The company added that, in the first quarter of the year, it would release the Galaxy A5 and A3 - which are already available in India - on the global market.

Samsung plans to preview the Galaxy S6 - a new product designed to vie with Apple’s iPhone 6 - at the Mobile World Congress (MWC), which will be taking place in Spain in March. It will release the phone to the public in the same month.

Special features on the phone are likely to include wireless charging, fingerprint recognition, and a dual curved display.

Samsung Electronics seems to be betting that its technological prowess will lead it to victory in the premium mobile phone market.

In addition, Samsung is planning to supply its Galaxy A5 and A3, which are in the 300,000-400,000 won (US$270-$360) price range, to other countries than India in order to increase its market share.

In the fourth quarter of 2014, Samsung Electronics recorded sales of around 74.5 million units, around the same as Apple, according to Strategy Analytics, an American market research firm.

The two strategies are aimed at overcoming difficulties that Samsung Electronics faced in the smartphone market last year.

On Jan. 29, the company announced that its operating profits increased by 5.29 trillion won (US$4.81 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2014. This was 30.24% up from the previous quarter, but represented a 36.37% decline (8.31 trillion won) year on year. The company posted 52.73 trillion won in sales, which was also 9.83% lower than the previous year.

Samsung Electronics blamed its sluggish performance on stiffening competition in the smartphone market. Samsung’s IM (IT and mobile) division, which is responsible for mobile phones, posted 1.96 trillion won in operating profits, only 35.8% of the figures for the same period the year before (5.47 trillion won).

The company managed to prevent a steep drop in performance by boosting operating profits in its semiconductor division by 2.7 trillion won.

　

By Lee Jeong-hun, staff reporter

　

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

President Park facing a crisis of leadership, and low approval

Nearing two years in office, exceptionally low approval is remarkable due to lack of external crisis

President Park Geun-hye is facing a crisis. Before even reaching the second anniversary of her inauguration as president, her approval rating has plummeted to the 20% range. It looks like Park will find it even harder to run the country as her administration enters its third year.

An approval rating in the 20% range is news enough, but the true severity of the problem becomes clear when considered in the light of recent trends.

According to a poll by Gallup Korea, Park’s approval rating is at its worst since she took office, hitting new lows for three weeks in a row.

In a poll that ran in the first week of January, Park’s approval rating was at 40%; in just three weeks, this plunged by 11 percentage points. During the same period, the percentage of people who think that Park is dong a bad job also jumped from 51% to 63%.

As recently as the first week of November, polls showed positive assessments edging out negative assessments, 46% to 42%. But since allegations broke at the end of November that Chung Yoon-hoi had been interfering in the business of state, Park’s approval rating has continued to slide, losing 17 percentage points in the two months since then.

The upshot is that Park’s plunging approval rate is not a passing fad, but rather a lasting trend.

More evidence of how bad the crisis is the fact that the slump in Park’s approval rating is not being caused by a major disaster or some other external factor but rather because of internal factors, which is to say, her leadership.

When asked why they thought Park was doing a bad job as president, most respondents cited lack of communication, openness, and transparency (16%) and tax reforms and tax increases (16%). Other reasons cited were poor appointments (14%) and lack of follow-through or change of heart on campaign promises (9%).

While Park did organize a New Year’s press conference, she apparently failed to live up to the public’s expectation for her communication skills. Her decision to retain Blue House Chief of Staff Kim Ki-choon and the “Blue House triumvirate” of her three secretaries - even while replacing the Prime Minister - left a stain on her appointment record.

Alongside these factors, the uproar about changes to the tax code appears to have accelerated the slide of her approval rating.

To be sure, it is normal for presidents who were popular in the first part of their administration to see their approval ratings slip during their third year in office.

A graph showing public opinion polls on President Park Geun-hye’s performance. The gray line shows respondents who say she’s doing a poor job, and the red line shows respondents who say she’s doing a good job. The polls were conducted in the first, second and third weeks of Dec. 2014, and the first, second, third and fourth weeks of January. The text boxes show events that took place at those times that affected Park’s approval rating.

But Park’s approval rating two years into her term does not look good when compared to the approval ratings of previous presidents at this point. During the first quarter of his third year in office, Kim Young-sam’s average approval rating was 37%, Kim Dae-jung’s (1998-2003) was 49%, Roh Moo-hyun’s (2003-2008) was 33%, and Lee Myung-bak’s (2008-2013) was 44%.

Of course, if Park takes the second anniversary of her inauguration as an opportunity to radically change how she runs the government, her approval rating could rebound.

“President Park’s approval rating appears to have dropped as pent-up frustration came to the surface all at once. I think this is not just a temporary development, but rather a major collapse. Since her support base is not very resilient, Park is in fact very close to losing her momentum for running the government,” said Han Gwi-yeong, analyst at the Hankyoreh Institute for Social Policy.

“The fact that President Park’s approval rate dropped in such a short time without any major external factor indicates the accumulated disappointment about her attitude and her ability. Unless she fundamentally changes her leadership approach by espousing new values, she will be unable to pull up her approval rating very much,” said Kim Chun-seok, the director in charge of public opinion polling for Hankook Research.

By Im Seok-kyu, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

유신헌법 피해자들 “과거사 역주행.. 대법원장 탄핵해야”

▲ 자료사진 ⓒ 연합뉴스TV

유신헌법 긴급조치 피해자모임은 27일 오전 국회 정론관에서 기자회견을 열어 "과거사 사건에 대해 퇴행적 판결을 이끈 양승태 대법원장의 탄핵을 촉구한다"고 밝혔다.

이 단체는 "최근 법원은 유신헌법 긴급조치 피해자인 새정치민주연합 설훈 의원과 문인간첩단 사건 피해자에 대해 국가 배상 책임을 인정하지 않았다"면서 "이러한 퇴행적 판결은 지난 2011년 양승태 대법원장 취임 이후 일어나고 있다"고 주장했다.

이어 "유신헌법과 긴급조치에 대한 위헌 판결은 과거의 상처를 씻고 공동체 화합을 이루기 위한 시민과 정부의 사회적 합의"라며 "하지만 양 대법원장 임기 동안 사법부의 판결은 일관되게 공동체의 기초와 합의를 파괴하는 쪽으로 퇴행하고 있다"고 덧붙였다.

* 이 기사는 인터넷 뉴스 신문고(http://www.shinmoongo.net/sub_read.html?uid=72264)에도 함께 게재 되었습니다.

Homeplus tops foreign donations in Korea Intel, Heineken, OB, Fendi donated nothing for whole year

Homeplus Co. was the largest donor to charity among foreign businesses operating in Korea in 2012 for the second consecutive year, according to an online corporate research firm on Monday.

Data from Korea CXO Institute showed that Homeplus, a discount chain run by U.K.-based Tesco, donated 5.53 billion won ($5.26 million) in 2012 and 6.32 billion won in 2011 to charity, topping the research firm’s list of 50 companies with over 30 billion won in annual sales.

These 50 foreign firms belong to various sectors including tobacco, liquor, luxury goods, retail and foods, automobiles, electronics, pharmaceuticals and financial services. 

The researcher’s report only takes into account the donations that appear on the firms’ audit statements, and excludes charity donations by individuals. 

IBM Korea, the local branch the U.S.-based tech manufacturer, and Novartis Korea, the local unit of the Swiss pharmaceutical firm, ranked second and third on the list, setting aside 2.51 billion won and 2.40 billion won, respectively. 

BMW Group Korea and Bayer Korea, the local units of the German automaker and pharmaceutical firm, respectively, followed with 1.95 billion won and 1.79 billion won.

BMW Group Korea boosted its charity donations the most on-year, from 322 million won in 2011 to 1.95 billion won in 2012. 

Meanwhile, GM Korea, the local unit of U.S.-based General Motors, cut its donations the most, from 4.86 billion won in 2011 to 1.24 billion won in 2012, largely due to heavy operating losses. 

At the bottom of the donor list were Oriental Brewery Co, Intel Korea, Heineken Korea and Fendi Korea.

Oriental Brewery Co., whose major shareholders are U.S.-based private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and pan-Asian PEF Affinity Equity Partners, gave no charitable donations. 

Fendi Korea, the local operation of the Italian fashion house, donated nothing for the second consecutive year. 

The local employees of foreign companies said they felt pressured in asking the headquarters for local charity funds or social contribution expenses on the yearly budget proposals.

“Every year we try to convince the head office into assigning a higher budget to local social contribution activities and charity funds,” said a spokesperson of a foreign manufacturer.

“It is an extremely difficult task and all we can do is to cross our fingers and hope that they will understand the business environment here,” she added. 

By Chung Joo-won (joowonc@heraldcorp.com)

선거무효소송을 고발한 국민을 구속해서 입을 막아버리고 대법원은 6개월내에 판결해야 함에도 23개월동안 심리조차 하지 않는 대법원은 직무유기하고있다. 무엇이 두려워 침묵하는가?

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투표만이 아니라 개표도 좀 신경을 쓰시죠!!!

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투표를 하면 뭐 합니까???

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대법원 행정처장은 그네에게 명을 받은 것이 없나보다.

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강동원의원[대선무효소송지연국회질타,12월29일 투표소수개표입법발의]

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18대 대선은 사전,사후 개표조작 선거였다!

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투표함 열기 전에 개표방송 했다.

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http://cafe.daum.net/votejustice

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투표소에서 수개표 실현운동본부

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온전한 세월호

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인양과 실종자 수습

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및 진상규명 촉구를 위한 도보행진

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http://bbs1.agora.media.daum.net/gaia/do/debate/read?articleId=3163736&bbsId=D115&pageIndex=1

1. 행진일정 및 경로

○ 1월26일(월) 안산-수원(10시출발)

○ 1월27일(화) 수원-오산

○ 1월28일(수) 오산-평택

○ 1월29일(목) 평택-천안

○ 1월30일(금) 천안-세종(대전)

○ 1월31일(토) 대전

○ 2월1일(일) 대전-계룡(논산)

○ 2월2일(월) 논산

○ 2월3일(화) 논산-익산

○ 2월4일(수) 익산-전주

○ 2월5일(목) 전주

○ 2월6일(금) 전주-정읍

○ 2월7일(토) 정읍-담양

○ 2월8일(일) 담양-광주(300일 전야문화제)

○ 2월9일(월) 광주-나주

○ 2월10일(화) 나주-무안

○ 2월11일(수) 무안-전남도청

○ 2월12일(목) 전남도청-해남

○ 2월13일(금) 해남-진도

○ 2월14일(토) 팽목항 문화제

3. 시민참가자 신청방법

메일접수 : 416walking@gmail.com

기입내용 : 성명, 연락처, 참가자명수, 행진참가 지역 및 기간

(예 : 광주 2월9일-2월14일 5박6일, 단, 전기간은 전기간으로 표기)

숙식문제 : 시민참가자는 자체 해결하는 것을 기본으로 함. 상세안내는 지역별 책임자 문의

준비물 : 세면도구, 우의, 침낭

4. 후원

국민은행 014101-04-155232 성상영(세월호도보행진)

2. 지역별 연락처

경기권

안산 : 010-9089-7856

수원 : 010-2699-0817

오산 : 010-4199-4964

평택 : 010-4335-4723

대전충남권

천안 : 010-3405-2865

세종 : 010-4772-5979

대전 : 010-3447-2050

논산 : 010-5436-2605

전북권

익산 : 010-7294-9617

전주 : 010-3655-5943

정읍 : 010-9465-7817

광주전남권

전남 : 010-5014-8866

담양 : 010-9836-0127

광주 : 010-7379-2289

나주 : 010-8667-4908

무안 : 010-9220-3154

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.'탈북이들도 누리는 언론자유와 표현의 자유를 누리지 못하 는 아고리언은 어찌 할 꺼나?

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[세월호] 구속중이신 다스우이사님 면회, 탄원서 부탁하셨습니다 [68]

진모 (wls****)

http://bbs1.agora.media.daum.net/gaia/do/debate/read?articleId=3158843&bbsId=D115&pageIndex=6

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그제, 1월 15일 오후 2시 30분에 서울구치소에서 다스우이사님을 면회하였습니다

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우이사님 면회하러 일부러 서울 올라간 것은 아니었구요,

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15일엔 저의 글 "<경악할 진실>조타실로 진입하는 해경, 그리고 그 시각"과 관련

서울중앙지방법원에서 해경123정 명예훼손에 대한 1차 재판이 있었습니다.

저의 재판은 오전 11시 20분이라 재판 끝나고 오후에 우이사님을 면회하였습니다.

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해경이 세월호를 맹골수로로 끌어 당겨 뒤집었다.

해경은 박근혜의 지시로 국민기만의 방송을 하였다.

신정훈, 강원식은 국정원 직원이다라는 글을 쓰셨다는 이유로

구속되신 다스우이사(woocjet)님, 석방촉구청원 서명 부탁드립니다.

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먼저 다스우이사(woocjet)님께서 공개해도 된다고 하신 수형번호와 성함 알려드립니다.

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서울구치소 수형번호 4416번, 성명 우 한 석

혹시 시간 되시는 님들 다스우이사님 면회 가 주시면 정말 감사하겠구요,

그리고 우편 주소는

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주소 : 경기도 군포우체국 사서함 20호

(우편번호 435-050) 번호: 4416 이름: 우 한 석

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택배는 책이나 개봉 안 된 칫솔 등이 가능하다고 하구요,

우리 님들의 관심과 응원이 절대적으로 필요합니다.

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십시일반 천원씩이라도 보내 주셔서 다스우이사님 잊지 않고 있다고

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함께 하고 있다고, 힘내시라고 응원해 주시면 정말 감사하겠습니다.

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영치금 입금은행

(우리은행) 270-590521-18-308 우한석

입니다.

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http://bbs3.agora.media.daum.net/gaia/do/petition/read?bbsId=P001&articleId=160673

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6691,6594, 6529,6490,6401, 6355,6318,

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