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Korea Report - November, 2017.

Moon-Trump summit agenda summary.

NK nukes; Raising pressure on the regime to bring nuclear and missile programs to a halt. Seoul seeks to bring Pyongyang to dialogue, while avoiding military clash. Defense costs; Trump has accused Seoul of not shouldering its fair share of US military costs. FTA; Seoul and Washington are engaged in talks over modifying the Korea-US FTA. Trump sees the deal as lopsided and called for an overhaul and hinted at possible termination. US tactical assets; Both have agreed to increase the pressure of US tactical assets on and around the Korean Peninsula. Seoul officials have said that rotational deployment of various tactical assets will be boosted from the end of the year. Possible purchase of advanced US weapons; A number of measures including easing missile guidelines for SKorea and introducing advanced US military weapons systems are under negotiation. They have in principle agreed to lift the payload limit on SKorean ballistic missiles.

Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises claimed its members are expected to spend KW15.2 tril more next year in labor expenditures due to 16.4% increase in minimum wage. Moon administration decided to raise minimum wage to KW7,530 per hour next year, marking the sharpest hike in nearly two decades. As government plans to raise the amount gradually to KW10,000 by 2020, the additional burden is expected to jump to KW81.5 tril by that point. Korea Economic Research Institute added Moon's policy to cut weekly labor hours to 52 hours from the current 68 hours will also cost an extra KW12.3 tril annually. The country's top conglomerates, moreover, need to spend KW3.1 tril more on corporate taxes starting next year, industry watchers said. 

At 3:17 am on 29th, NK fired a long-range missile from a mobile launch platform some 30 km north of Pyongyang. NK’s state news agency claimed that the missile was a Hwaseong-15 model, “tipped with super-large heavy warhead which is capable of striking the whole mainland of the US.” The missile was fired at the maximum launch angle, reaching an altitude of 4,475 km and covering distance of 950 km. This means Washington, which lies about 11,000 km away from Pyongyang, could be within its range.

HHI Group has achieved $7.8 bil of orders at the end of Oct, surpassing consolidated annual target $7.5 bil already. And it is in talks for additional LNG fueled tankers and LNG carriers. SHI recently won additional two shuttle tankers, stacking up $6.7 bil. It already surpassed yearly target $6.5 bil. DSME had set a yearly target at $5.5 bil ($3 bil for merchant vessels, $1.5 bil for offshore, $1 bil for special vessels), and have netted around $2.6 bil so far. However, it already surpassed Samjong KPMG’s March target, $2 bil. While the ‘Big 3’ is escaping last year’s order drought, cheerful mood can’t be found as newly secured orders amount only to a year’s work cover. Whereas they have had better order intake this year, it was not enough to fill all the empty docks. Yards are grinding themselves to secure additional orders during the rest of the year. As the cost cut effort goes on, it is expected that restructuring against idle personnel would last a little longer.

TOPICS.

US President Donald Trump’s first state visit to SKorea on 7th (p.2)

Moon-Trump summit agenda summary (p.2)

WTO ruled in favor of SKorea’s steelmakers against the US’ anti-dumping duties (p.3)

SKorea and China agreed on ‘3 nos’ ending more than a year of tensions (p.4)

A rare 5.4 magnitude earthquake hit SKorea's southeast on 15th afternoon (p.5)

Korea’s small and medium Enterprises forced to spend KW15.2 tril more in labor cost (p.5)

NK fired a long-range missile from a mobile launch platform on 29th (p.7)

72.4% of experts said unification between 2 Koreas may take more than 11 years (p.9)

Korea’s GNI per capita expected to reach the level of $30,000 (p.9)

SKorea and Canada clinched a standing bilateral currency swap deal (p.10)

SKorea's economy is expected to grow at a brisk 3.2% this year (p.11)

SKorea's trade surplus came to $7.84 bil in Nov, for 70 straight months (p.11)

Samsung’s Lee family was ranked second on Forbes’ list of Asia’s wealthiest families (p.12)

Performance of chaebols in the third quarter (p.12)

SEC maintained first position with 21% of the global smartphone market share in 3Q (p.14)

KOSPI has kept breaking new high to run above 2,550 (p.18)

KWon hit 1,076 against USDollar, strongest in two years and seven months (p.18)

BOK raised key interest rate from record low of 1.25% to 1.5% first time in six years (p.19)

Big 3 shipyards already surpassed yearly target order, but still tightening the belt (p.20)

DSME sells its subsidiary in Romania, DMHI, accelerating its self-rescue plan (p.23)

KDB offered RG for 7 units ordered with STX on condition of 30% reduction in costs (p.24)

Three steel mills and the Big 3 have agreed to raise thick plate price in 2H (p.25)

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