Korean makers beat Japanese rivals in global TV market Korean makers beat Japanese rivals in global TV market

A recent research said Wednesday that Korean TV makers sold more units of flat-screen televisions sets compared to its Japanese rivals for the first time globally.

According to market research firm DisplaySearch, Korea recorded 34 percent in market share in terms of total TV units sold globally in the final quarter of last year, while Japan’s market share reached 31 percent.

The Korean TV makers ― Samsung and LG Electronics ― have been beating its Japanese rivals in global quarterly sales volume of flat-screen TVs for four consecutive quarters since 2011, but last quarter was the first to outperform its rival in total units sold across the world.

Chinese TV manufacturers also took away 20 percent of the market share in total flat-screen TV units sold globally, followed by Europe, the United States and Taiwan with 4 percent, 3 percent and 1 percent, respectively.

In terms of yearly sales, Japan took up a larger stake of 35 percent than Korea’s 33 percent in total units of flat-screen TV sold globally.

However, the Korean TV makers took away 45 percent in the number of flat-screen 3-D TVs sold in 2011, while Japan’s and China’s market share in the same category both stayed at a mere 25 percent.

“With the smart 3-D TVs at a growing streak, the Korean TV makers, which have gained competitiveness in the field, are expected to show better performance in sales,” said an industry source. “Considering that the Japanese TV makers have been behind in catching up with the new trend and products and due to their restructuring projects, the Korean firms are aiming to widen the gap with its rivals.”

Vietnamese man and North Korean sweetheart reunited in 30 years of love

Vietnamese man and North Korean sweetheart reunited in 30 years of love

The love story between a North Korean woman and a Vietnamese man was aired on Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day, on BBC, attracting sympathy from across the world. They became united beyond the border in 30 years of love and now are living their old age life in Hanoi. Their story dates back to 1971, when Vietnamese man Pham Ngoc Canh met Ri Yong-hui. Canh, a then young chemistry student, traveled to North Korea to study and fell instantly in love with the woman he glimpsed through the door of a laboratory in Hamheung, South Hamggyeong Province, BBC reported. “My first thought was that I wished she would become my wife,” he recalled, according to the British TV. He left North Korea in 1973 and wrote to her in Korean for the next 30 years. With the North Korean regime opposed to contact with foreigners, it was left with Canh to lobby for unification. At one stage, he took 40 love letters spanning 20 years to the North Korean Embassy to appeal for help. As a translator for sports teams, he visited the North several times. He was told that Ri, who worked at a fertilizer factory, had married or died. Bu the refused to believe that he lost his sweetheart. Her last letter came in 1992, when she reminded him that although they had aged, their love was forever young. In 2001, Canh made a final effort when he heard that a Vietnamese political delegation was to visit Pyongyang. He wrote to Vietnamese president and foreign minister. Within months, he received the reply he had been waiting for for 30 years―permission from the North Korean authorities to marry Ri. Their wedding in Hanoi in 2002 was attended by some 700 guests. Many wept when they heard how the long-distance love affairs finally reached this happy ending. Now in their 60s, Canh and his wife live in a modest flat in Hanoi and they can be seen riding his motorcycle around the city… or walking hand in hand, BBC reported. “My feelings have remained the same, unchanged,” Canh was quoted as saying.

Scientists find new anti-cancer agent

Korean scientists have discovered a new anti-cancer agent that may offer a new and safe way to treat cancer without the side effects of anti-cancer drugs, as the substance already exists in human bodies, the science ministry said Monday.

A team led by Prof. Kim Sung-hoon of Seoul National University has confirmed anti-cancer activities of Glycyl-tRNA synthetase (GRS), an enzyme that was previously only known to interact with other bodily substances to create protein, according to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

The team, however, has found that when a cancer cell is detected, the human immune system generates GRS, which in turn attacks the cancer cell.

A laboratory test has also confirmed cancer cells in mice with an injection of refined and amplified dose of GRS gradually perished while those in a controlled or untreated group continued to grow.

"Such a discovery ... suggests there may be a new, different side of the immune system that we are currently unaware of," Kim was quoted as saying.

The discovery, he added, also suggests possible treatment of cancer with bodily substances that are free of adverse reactions from drugs. (Yonhap) 

Korea qualifies for London Olympics men's football

Korea qualifies for London Olympics men's football

MUSCAT, Oman (Yonhap) -- Korea clinched a berth in men's football at the London Olympics here Wednesday, blanking home side Oman 3-0 in the penultimate regional qualification contest. At Al Seeb Sports Stadium in the Omanese capital, winger Nam Tae-hee scored seconds into the match, and his teammates added a pair of second-half goals to send Korea to its seventh straight Olympics. The victory gave Korea a four-point cushion over Oman at the top of Group A with one game left for both nations. Korea is tops with 11 points on three wins and two draws. Moments after the kick-off, Nam struck the loose ball from the penalty spot past goalkeeper Mahnad Al Zaabi, after Oman failed to clear Kim Min-woo's pass attempt. This was Nam's first start for the Olympic squad. He has scored four goals in seven games so far this season with Lekhwiya SC, his first in the Qatar Stars League, following a disappointing two-year stint with Valenciennes FC in Ligue 1, the first-division French league. In the 67th minute, Kim Hyun-sung doubled Korea's lead. The 186-centimeter forward slipped behind Oman's defense to head in Park Jong-woo's long free kick. Substitute Baek Sung-dong made it 3-0 four minutes later. Kim Bo-kyung stole an Oman clearing attempt and threaded a pass past two defenders for the charging Baek. The diving Al Zaabi got only a piece of the low shot. Most of the near-sellout crowd filed out of the stadium after the third Korean goal. Some remaining fans then started throwing water bottles and debris toward the pitch, delaying the match for nearly 10 minutes. With Korea in complete control on the offensive end, Oman didn't test the Korean defense much. Eid Mohammed launched a hard strike from the top of the box in the 24th, but keeper Lee Bum-young punched out Oman's best scoring chance. This was Korea's first road victory in this qualification round. It had earlier drawn Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Korea is set to host Qatar in the last qualification game next month. Only the top seeds from three groups in the final round punch their tickets to London. Three No. 2 teams will enter a playoff, with the winner going on to face Senegal for the final chance to qualify for this year's Olympics. Korea will be making its ninth Olympic appearance. It has never won a football medal and has gone past the first round only twice. Olympic football teams are for players under 23 years old. But participants are each allowed to pick up to three players over that limit, known as "wild cards."

Singers to test ‘hallyu’ power beyond Asia Singers to test ‘hallyu’ power beyond Asia

K-pop artists are looking for opportunities to enter markets outside Asia as competition in the market stiffens.

Decreasing album sales due to the popularity of music download and video-sharing sites and the arrival of international pop stars to perform in Asia are leading K-pop stars to look further afield.

“They are trying to make money to cover losses from their album sales,” an official at CJ E&M said.

2PM (CJ E&M)

“K-pop artists are competing with world stars in the Asian market. So we need to target markets outside of Asia as well,” she added.

BIGBANG, a popular boyband in Korea, will travel around the globe to meet their fans starting at the Olympic Gymnastics Hall in Seoul March 2-5. BIGBANG is then set to take their tour to Asia, North and South America, and Europe, performing in 25 cities in 16 countries.

“The tour is presented by Live Nation, one of the leading entertainment companies in the world, and the shows are expected to be spectacular in terms of production size and creative direction,” YG Entertainment said in a statement on Tuesday. It will be the first world tour for an Asian artist that Live Nation will have produced and promoted, it added.

Internationally renowned director, Laurieann Gibson, has joined the tour as the creative director. Laurieann recently directed Lady Gaga’s “The Monster Ball Tour,” and also worked with other stellar artists such as Shakira, Janet Jackson, Beyonc and Katy Perry, YG said.

Big Bang (YG Entertainment)

BEAST (Cube Entertainment)

Boyband BEAST is currently on a world tour. A total of 21 concerts in 14 countries including the United Kingdom, Spain, the United States and Canada are scheduled for the rest of the year. The boy band kicked off its tour in Berlin on Sunday, drawing attention from German media, its agency Cube Entertainment said.

T-ara, one of the country’s leading girl groups, also holds their first performance in the United States in April. The group will put on a show with singers and groups that belong to the same entertainment agency, Core Contents Media, in San Francisco and L.A., according to the agency.

Super Junior and 2PM kicked off their world tour last year. Titled “Super Junior World Tour: Super Show 4,” the 10-member group, which performed in Osaka in December and in Taipai two weeks ago, plans to hold concerts in Singapore on Feb. 18-19. Schedules have yet to be confirmed, but they are to visit cities in Europe and South America as well, according to reports.

Starting in September last year, 2PM performed for fans in Taiwan, Jakarta and Singapore. The boy band continues its Asian tour titled “2PM Hands Up Asia Tour Concert” in Bangkok on Feb. 18, Nanjing on Feb. 25 and to Hong Kong on March 10.

About 27,000 tickets for 2PM concerts to be held in the three Asian cities are already sold out. Ticket prices about 100,000 won, almost the same as those charged for concerts held in Korea.

Swizz Beatz paints K-pop's rosy future in world market Swizz Beatz paints K-pop's rosy future in world market Swizz Beatz paints K-pop's rosy future in world market

Swizz Beatz, a renowned American rapper-producer, said on Monday K-pop is leading a trend for new music and that he wants to play a leading role in introducing Asia to the West through Korean music.

(Yonhap News)

"What I found in Korean pop music is a new expression. The world is open for new things and I think right now K-pop in Korea is leading in that area. I'd like to be the one to introduce that to the West," the musician said during a news conference in Seoul.

The musician, also husband of the famous U.S. singer Alicia Keys, is in Seoul to sign a partnership agreement between his company named after him and O & Media, a South Korean entertainment company.

The agreement calls for the two companies' partnership in helping U.S. pop artists advance to the Asian market and new K-pop artists to the U.S. market, according to the local entertainment agency. The two sides also plan to produce joint albums of leading musicians of both countries, it said.

"My idea to bridge the world together with music starting in Asia and going to the West is something that is new, untapped and leading to the future of bringing the worlds together. And this partnership is the beginning in making a history," Beatz said.

He said K-pop represented by such leading groups and singers as Kara, Big Bang, 2NE1 and Boa has already had many successes in Asia but can appeal to the world with help from the partnership.

Swizz Beatz, whose real name is Kasseem Dean, has produced pop albums for top celebrities, including Madonna, Britney Spears, Eminem, U2, Lady Gaga and Jay Z.

The musician is also known for expanding his business to other industries such as film and art.

"I think the more we come together, the more that everybody as a musical voice can be heard because music, whether it's in hard times or good times, is always the No. 1 answer," he stressed

Two can play

Two can play

Hyundai Motor has been seeing increasing international demand for its new passenger cars like Genesis, above. Samsung Electronics, which has a dual strength in parts and finished products as a technology industry giant, has been enjoying stronger sales in mobile Internet products like smartphones and tablets. / Korea Times file Samsung-Hyundai gap closing amid reshaping of chaebol hierarchy By Kim Tae-gyu Fierce two-way competition tends to lead to better results for both players involved and that is case with Korea’s two major conglomerates of Samsung and Hyundai. Over the past decade, the former has seemingly prevailed to win the half-century rivalry but the latter recently revved up its engine to substantially cut the gap in bottom lines. Local consultancy FnGuide said Sunday that Hyundai Motor Group’s eight listed companies chalked up a total of 16.98 trillion won in net income last year, up 9.5 percent from a year earlier. In comparison, the net profit of Samsung Group’s 12 listed subsidiaries declined 17.8 percent during the same period to 17.36 trillion won. As a result, the difference in profitability between the two chaebol shrank from 5.63 trillion won in 2010 to merely 384.6 billion won last year, the smallest after Hyundai Motor Group spun-off from the Hyundai empire in 2001. ``The net income of Samsung Electronics plunged 14.9 percent last year and that of Samsung’s other main units like Samsung SDI and Samsung Heavy Industries also headed down,’’ a Seoul analyst said. ``By contrast, almost all Hyundai Motor Group firms saw their performances improve in tandem with the growing market share of Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors on the global scene.’’ The two companies combined to top 6.5 million vehicles in international sales last year to become one of the world’s top five automakers together with such behemoths as Volkswagen, GM and Toyota. The duo are striving to boost the figure to more than 7 million sales this year despite gloomy projections that the global automotive market will contract due to the lingering economic downturn. ``In terms of overall turnover and market capitalization, Samsung still maintains a comfortable cushion against Hyundai Motor. However, Hyundai has clearly caught up to threaten the decade-long Samsung dominance,’’ the analyst said. Long-time rivalry The competition between Samsung and Hyundai to top the podium in the domestic industrial hierarchy dates back decades and initially, Samsung reigned throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Late Samsung founder Lee Byung-chull advanced into segments to meet the necessaties of life including sugar, textiles and wheat flour to flourish during hard times in the aftermath of the Korean War (1950-53). The group faced jitters because of saccharin smuggling midway through 1966 but managed to keep its firm grip on pole position afterwards. Back then, Hyundai was hardly seen on the radar screen. Yet, things changed in favor of Hyundai in the 1970s when the country shifted its focus from light to heavy and chemical industries, where Hyundai was relatively strong. The construction boom in the Middle East helped Hyundai, through leader Hyundai Engineering & Construction (E&C), rake in oil money in the 1970s. Hyundai took over top place in the late 1970s and stayed there for the next two decades. But the conglomerate’s fortunes started waning when its late founder Chung Ju-yung lost the presidential election in 1992, which resulted in checks from the next administration. In the meantime, Samsung cranked up investments in semiconductors in the late 1980s despite large losses in the preceding years and in 1993, its new head Lee Kun-hee came up with the strategy of putting quality first. The third son of late Lee Byung-chull, who died in 1987, made mistakes like ill-fated investment in the automotive business, which the group eventually sold off after experiencing huge financial damage. Yet, rising profits from the semiconductor division and success in other high-tech areas catapulted the Seoul-based corporation to the top spot with the advent of the new millennium. Ups and downs in new millennium With Samsung faring well, Hyundai seemed to suffer a perfect storm with a confluence of several events drastically aggravating the situation. In early 2000, Chung chose his fifth son Mung-hun as his successor to head the Hyundai Group including Hyundai E&C while entrusting only the automotive industry to his second son Mong-koo. His sixth son Mong-joon assumed Hyundai Heavy Industries. The eldest son died in a car accident in 1982. But the father-to-sons power transfer was not peaceful and things got worse after his death in early 2001, the year when Hyundai lost its managerial rights on debt-stricken Hyundai E&C to creditors via a debt-equity swap scheme. Two years after the back-to-back bad news, new group Chairman Mong-hun jumped to his death from his office in downtown Seoul when police were investigating a slush fund involving its North Korean businesses. But Hyundai Motor Group kept its head up and revitalized the animal spirits, said to be ingrained in the corporate DNA of Hyundai. In 2001, Hyundai and Kia combined to roll out 2.46 million cars but the figure jumped to more than 6.5 million last year. Its ranking among local conglomerates also soared from fifth place in the early 2000s to second in the mid- and late-2000s to trail just run-away leader Samsung. In line with the fast upsurge of the automotive group, it now poses a serious threat to the seemingly invincible prowess of Samsung. Hyundai Motor Group acquired Hyundai E&C last year, the mother firm of the Hyundai empire, to claim the authority as a genuine successor of the late Chung although shipping-oriented Hyundai Group argues that it is the bona fide heir. Currently, Hyundai Group is headed by Chairwoman Hyun Jung-eun, the widow of the late Mong-hun.

Korea to hold live-fire drills despite NK threat

Korea to hold live-fire drills despite NK threat

South Korea is set to hold live-fire drills near its western border islands Monday, despite North Korea's threat of retaliation. Military officials said the "routine" drills will be the second of their kind this year and will involve self-propelled howitzers, Vulcans, mortars and Cobra attack helicopters. They will take place in waters near Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong islands, located just south of the tense Yellow Sea border with North Korea. They're designed to help the military maintain its combat readiness in the Yellow Sea. Marine Corps units in the area will notify island residents to evacuate into safe zones before the drills begin, officials added. Military officials said they notified North Korea of the scheduled drills through its representatives at the truce village of Panmumjom on Sunday. But hours after the notification, the North's military vowed to "promptly make merciless retaliatory strikes" if the South violates its territorial waters, saying the drills amounted to a "premeditated military provocation." North Korea shelled Yeonpyeong Island in November 2010, killing two Marines and two civilians in the first North Korean attack on South Korean territory since the 1950-53 Korean War. In Sunday's warning, the North said the South "should not forget the lesson" from the Yeonpyeong bombing. A South Korean official said weather permitting, the drills are expected to last for about two hours Monday morning. "We're keeping a close eye on the North Korean military," the official said. "If North Korea provokes us, we will strike back and exercise our right to self-defense." (Yonhap)

Park questioned over vote-buying scandal Park questioned over vote-buying scandal

Prosecutors investigating the ruling party’s vote-buying scandal questioned National Assembly Speaker Park Hee-tae at his official residence on Sunday.

Park, who announced that he would step down on Feb. 13, is at the center of the alleged cash-for-votes scheme operated during the party’s leadership election in 2008, which he won.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office’s investigation team arrived at Park’s residence at 9:25 a.m.

The team is focusing on whether Park gave instructions or had information regarding the attempted bribery of Rep. Koh Seung-duk of the Saenuri Party, previously the Grand National Party, before the party chairmanship vote on July 3, 2008.

Investigators arrive at National Assembly Speaker Park Hee-tae’s residence in Seoul on Sunday to question him on his suspected role in a vote-buying scheme during his campaign for the 2008 ruling party election to pick its chairman. (Ahn Hoon/The Korea Herald)

Koh has alleged that he was given 3 million won ($2,660), which he turned down, and Park’s name card days before the election, by a man who the prosecution found to have worked for Park’s campaign at that time.

The investigators also questioned Park about his involvement in the bribery of lesser officials of the party.

Since Koh disclosed that there was an attempt to buy his support for Park in early January, investigations revealed a wider vote-buying scheme that led back to former presidential secretary Kim Hyo-jae.

An Byung-yong, head of a district chapter of the party, was allegedly instructed by Kim to hand over 20 million won to five members of district councils with instructions to bribe 30 party officials.

Investigations have shown that the money An distributed was obtained from Kim’s office when he was serving as head of the situation room at Park’s campaign for ruling party chairmanship.

In addition to the factors concerning the vote-buying scheme, the prosecutors are seeking to find out whether or not Park gave his campaign aides access to a loan account for 150 million won taken out under his name. The investigators will also seek answers regarding how Park spent the lawyer’s fee he received from Ramid Group before the party leadership election.

Park is the first National Assembly speaker questioned over allegations of bribery while in office since Kim Soo-han in 1997.

At the time, Kim was questioned by prosecutors over allegations that he received 50 million won from the Hanbo Group chairman. Kim was also questioned at his residence.