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KOREA REPORT - JUNE, 2019.
President Donald
Trump and Kim Jong-un met at the truce village
of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone on 30th. After
a brief greeting across the MDL, Trump and Kim walked several steps into
NKorea, after which they came back to the SKorean side. President Moon then joined Trump and Kim. After a short talk, the
three moved into the conference facility on South¡¯s side of Panmunjom. President Trump has made history, becoming the first sitting US president to
meet a NKorean leader at DMZ and to cross into the North. Kim was quoted as
saying ¡°let¡¯s resolve the past and move forward,¡± while Trump reiterated that
significant progress had been made in NKorean issues.
SKorea fell one victory shy of winning their first title
at FIFA
U-20 World Cup held in Poland. SKorean midfielder, Lee Kang-win, earned the Golden Ball as best
player on 15th with two goals and four assists in seven matches. Lee became
first SKorean to win top individual award at a FIFA international tournament. It was also the country's highest finish at any FIFA
men's tournament. SKorea had ended in fourth place at 2002 World Cup.
SKorea's trade surplus came to $4.18 bil in June, marking
89 straight months of surplus. Exports
decreased 13.5% on-year to $44.18 bil in June, due mainly to prolonged trade
row between world's top two economies. Imports fell 11.1% on-year to $40 bil. Over
the first half of 2019, exports moved down 8.5% on-year to reach $271.5 bil,
and imports shed 5.1% to $252 bil. Trade surplus reached $19.5 bil in the first
half.
After
physical division of HHI, Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE)
was officially launched on 3rd under the holding firm HHI Holdings. KSOE had a board meeting on the day at Hyundai's Gye-dong
Office Building, Gye-dong, Seoul, to appoint HHI Holdings Vice Chairman Kwon
Oh-gap as its new CEO and approve agendas including the location of head
office. KSOE, which plays a role as the control tower of HHI shipbuilding
subsidiaries and is in charge of R&D, will be operated as a
technology-oriented company with engineering functions integrated. Some
changes have also been implemented in the governance structure of HHI Group.
Trump
and Kim met at truce village of Panmunjom in the DMZ [p.2]
SKorea
and Saudi Arabia to sign 10 MOUs worth $8.3 bil [p.2]
President
Moon visited Finland, Norway and Sweden during 9-16th [p.2]
Search
for 21 missing SKoreans of sightseeing boat that sank in Hungary continued [p.4]
Seoul
and Busan became fourth and ninth most expensive cities for expats in Asia [p.7]
BTS
on 1st delivered a historic performance at Wembley Stadium [p.7]
The
US State Department said it is ready to hold working-level talks with NK [p.9]
Chinese
President Xi Jinping on 20th began a two-day state visit to NK [p.9]
Government
will inject $60.5 bil into service industries over next five years [p.12]
SKorea's
trade surplus came to $4.18 bil in June, marking 89 months of surplus [p.12]
Trump
called on owners of SKorea¡¯s conglomerates to expand investments in the US [p.15]
Korean
Air clinched a deal with Boeing to acquire 30 Boeing 787 aircrafts [p.16]
IPO
in SKorean stock market surpassed $863 mil in the first half of the year [p.18]
SKorea's
foreign reserves came to $403.07 bil as of end June, world's ninth largest
[p.19]
KSOE
was officially launched on 3rd under the holding firm HHI Holdings [p.19]
Acquisition
of DSME by HHI would benefit the shipbuilding companies [p.20]
Big3
shipbuilders race for winning 80 LNG carriers ordered by Qatar [p.21]
DSME
is resuming employment of field workers, which has been suspended [p.24]
STX
O&S has secured 2019¡¯s first RG for a newbuilding contract [p.24]
Korea
signed 4 MOUs with Norway and 2 certifications from DNV GL [p.25]
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