There are unconfirmed reports that five Chinese doctors traveled to Pyongyang and have been treating Kim Jong-il for three weeks. Last year, German doctors reportedly performed heart surgery on Kim, who is diabetic.
If you like tattoos, or Margaret Cho, or both, you’ll probably find this video at Needled.com of interest.
China (not North Korea) has decided to allow Chinese tour groups to visit North Korea. North Korea tour agencies will also be allowed to open offices in the north-eastern city of Shenyang (China).
I am sure there will be no back shooting of Chinese going on either . . .
Excellent article in today’s Economist about not only KDB’s desire to buy Lehman, but also in Korea’s bigger desire to be a global financial player.
Per the article:
KDB, like other Korean banks, dreams of turning itself into a force in global banking. Lehman may be that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy into the big league. It is cheap. It does not appear to have suffered large client and counterpart defections. And unlike Bear Stearns, its erstwhile rival, it can access liquidity at the Federal Reserve’s discount window. If Lehman survives, it could be a profitable — and strategic — investment.
But the whole idea is also a big gamble… KDB’s potential allies in South Korea have expressed little interest in the deal, fearing huge additional write-downs when Lehman reports its third-quarter earnings this month.
Despite the risks, it appears KDB is pressing hard to get a deal done. Much of this is probably driven by the fact that KDB’s head (official title “Governor”) is Min Euoo-sung, the former CEO of Lehman’s Korea branch, who has expressly indicated his desire to turn KDB into a global investment bank through aggressive mergers & acquisitions. The Financial Times has a good write-up on Min here.
However, one of the biggest dampers to this deal is that Korean financial regulators are not too enthusiastic and would only support a deal if KDB found a “consortium” of other banks to invest along with it. In other words, the regulators are telling KDB not to use tax payer money to buy Lehman. According to Reuters, Korean’s other large banks, Shinhan and Woori, don’t appear to be interested, since they already have significant losses from securities backed by U.S. subprime mortgages. According to the Financial Times, Korea’s Military Mutual Aid Association, a military pension fund, has stepped forward (unsolicited) to provide capital for the deal. Ironically, the MMAA has been called a “protector” of South Korean companies against “foreign predators.”
Lastly, there are difficulties coming from the Lehman side as well. Lehman’s head, Dick Fuld, wants a premium price. The last indication appears to be talks are in the range of $5.3 billion for just a 25% stake. To give you some order of magnitude, if you sold all of Lehman’s stock (i.e. its market capitalization) that would only be $10.6 billion. With prices like that, it’s a tough swallow, especially for a business that’s losing billions this year and with a lot of worthless mortgage backed assets. Keep in mind, once you lift the curtain to its balance sheet, Lehman’s losses could be even greater.
Given the complex dynamics, this is going to be a tough deal to get done, if it ever gets done at all. Apparently, the Chinese and the British are looming in the shadows…
Edward Rothstein contributed an interesting article on how after one-hundred and forty-four years since the end of the American Civil War, debate and misunderstanding still surrounds the causes of this bloody conflict. Mr. Rothstein notes that:
when a statue of Lincoln was donated (2003) for display outside the Civil War Visitor Center of the National Park Service, in downtown Richmond, immediate protests erupted — not over its maudlin character, but over the very idea of honoring an oppressor. The dedication ceremony was buzzed by a plane trailing a banner proclaiming, Sic semper tyrannis, which is not only Virginia’s motto (meaning “Thus, always, to tyrants”), but also what John Wilkes Booth is said to have called out while assassinating Lincoln.
Rothstein further writes that:
. . . the Museum of the Confederacy and the American Civil War Center - argue that the war should be seen, at least in part, from the perspective of the losing side, and that such understanding need not be completely derailed by the moral outrage of slavery . . . Both institutions also inadvertently provide lessons on the limits of relativism. Yes, the Confederacy is a part of American history that needs to be better understood, and slavery and race should not be the only windows through which it is viewed, but another kind of judgment is also needed here. Much depends on whether we view the Civil War as the apocalyptic end of a roseate past or the bloody beginning of a promising future and that is what contemporary controversies over the Civil War are all about.
Compare this to how the current historical view of modern Korea is still shaped by the ideologies of the time and how a national divide persists by force of arms, to this very day. Perhaps the current difficulties that Koreans have in attaining a dispassionate view of their history is not so uncommon a fault, considering the stir still found in some quarters over the American Civil War.
It is notable, however, that the vaguely similar protest of General MacArthur’s statue in Inchon (2005) was not so much an act of disgruntled citizens upset over the disregard for the thoughts and sentiments of the period, but rather was yet another mean little battle fought in a still unresolved war.
The US State Department NOW says North Korea isn’t putting Yongbyon back into operation, but simply moving equipment around the site.
OK, I don’t find this story completely uninteresting — the role reversal between Seoul and Washington is rather new, I guess.
Squeezing melons for a worthy cause:
It is a recent Sunday afternoon inside the offices of adult video broadcaster Paradise TV. Two enthusiastic female voices can be heard counting from behind a pair of covered booths: “Ichi, ni, san, shi, go!”
The entry flap of one booth is labeled with the kanji character pronounced ushiro (behind) and colored pink, the other is yellow and marked oppai (breast). Outside is a line of five men, each of whom is eagerly awaiting his turn to grab (with both hands) the bare buttocks and breasts of two adult video (AV) actresses five times for 1,000 yen - with all the proceeds being used for research to prevent the spread of the HIV virus and AIDS.
Yes, but since Akira Fubuki retired, would it really be worth the grope?
(HT to Japundit)
Three years ago Sony was a heap. Negative cash flow, no new products, stagnant sales and a new PlayStation that was facing delay after frustrating delay. Morale was low at the former consumer electronics giant and arch nemesis Samsung had passed it in both sales, profitability and moxie.
What a difference three years made. In Tuesday’s International Herald Tribune, under the helm of their British CEO, Howard Stringer, Sony is back in the game and ready for round 2 with Samsung.
Fight!
South Korea has confirmed that North Korea has begun restoring the Yongbyon nuclear facility.
This after reports in the US and Japanese media.
A food processor in Namyangju has been busted for labeling the beef used in its packaged yukgaejang and galbitang as Korean or Australian when it was really from the United States or New Zealand.
The company produced 4,000 bags of the stuff, 1,000 of which was sold to restaurants in the Gimpo and Goyang areas.
If you have money to invest, Sungwon has opened an English-language blog on personal finance in Korea.
Check it out.
Britain’s Virgin Media has named the Wonder Girls as a girl group to watch:
Richard Branson’s media group said on its website, “Where Japan have J-pop, Korea have K-pop, and these five young ladies are leading exponents of the genre. Attempts to expand into China and a recent tour of America hint at plans for international breakthrough.”
They must have liked the Slim Panda commercial.
I’m sure Metro has something to say about this.
Despite having an apparent expert in the field as head of state, police are cracking down on the massage parlors of Jangan-dong, leading to a backlash from local pimps — one of whom killed himself in protest.
The chief of Dongdaemun Police Station is standing his ground:
Despite the backlash, Lee Jung-goo, chief of the Dongdaemun Police Station, reaffirmed he would not ease up on the crackdown until his district is recognized as “prostitution-free zone.”
“I will put all my energy into eradicating the red-light district during my term since it has become a hotbed of tax evasion and other heinous crimes,” Lee said.
To the question over alleged undue suppression, he stressed “It’s an absurd claim. They ask us to guarantee their rights to live while perpetrating illegalities. It doesn’t make sense.”
Frankly, of all the social ills to put all your energy into eradicating, paid handjobs ranks rather low on my list — especially when it’s perfectly legal to get them for free.
The Korea Development Bank has been in talks to invest in Lehman Brothers, the U.S.’ fourth largest investment bank. It’s been in the news for several weeks, but due to the speculative nature of many of the rumors, in was news not yet worthy to post. However, per today’s Wall Street Journal, KDB officially confirmed that it was in advanced talks to make a significant investment in the troubled financial institution. This is considered by many analysts as an indication that talks are getting serious.
Details are sketchy at this point, since talks are not being held in public. It is clear that a potential buy in by KDB is not supported by Korean financial regulators and that KDB would most likely have to build a consortium of Korean banks and put in capital along with them. The deal faces other significant hurdles such as continued regulator resistance, the fact that KDB, a state owned bank, is apparently trying to go private, not to mention the risky idea of putting so much Korean money overseas while the state of Korea’s own economy is in decline.
The major rationale for KDB’s interest in Lehman, according to yesterday’s KT, is:
KDB earlier noted that it aims to be a competitive global investment bank like Deutsche Bank by expanding through mergers and acquisitions of financial institutions at home and abroad.
This begs the question, is KDB just interested in placing an “investment” in Lehman or in merging and absorbing it? I mean investing in Lehman is one thing, but trying to merge Lehman operationally into KDB is entirely another and really opens up a whole new can of worms.
As per this article in the JoongAng Ilbo, Police yesterday decided to seek a warrant to further detain the 48-year-old president of an educational institute on charges of leading dozens of unlawful political protests and throwing stones at police.
I only wonder who beats the teachers when they do bad things?
