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Korea Report - May, 2017.

AfterPresident Park was impeached by Constitutional Court on March 10th, fierce presidential election campaign had been swept over the country until President Moon Jae-in was elected as 19th president on May 9th and immediately inaugurated on 10th. The election posted one of the highest-ever turnouts at 77.2% voting rate and Moon won with 41.1%. Throughout the election campaign, Moon has shown his liberal disposition to which a lot of changes in the national policy is expected from President Park’s government. Politicians were only chasing one more vote. No one has cared fatal consequence of vague populism. They have promised the full employment without creating jobs and welfare without proper revenue sources. Furthermore, they have stirred up an extreme disruption of public opinions leading to national schism. Now, it is time to congratulate the winner, and console the loser. The winner should concentrate on establishing a healthy national financial backbone and unifying nation on the basis of Liberal Democracy, in order to deal with the geopolitical threat, global economical and political uncertainties, and the balance among the neighboring countries.

Korean shipbuilders, especially Hyundai Group, is doing well in the 1st quarter this year, under the order draught in the global market. But, this can be seen as Shipowner’s choice to catch up the last chance on lowest price deals, not reflecting the improvement of the shipping market. The barometer of this year’s shipping and shipbuilding market will be decided on how healthy the supply and demand balance is maintained.

TOPICS.

President Moon named Kim Sang-jo, nickname “chaebol sniper,” to be the head of FTC (p.3)

Korea remains on alert for the ransomware attack called WannaCry (p.4)

Outdated coal-fired plants, aged 30 years or over, will be temporarily closed down (p.5)

Si Woo Kim of SKorea became the youngest winner of The Players Championship (p.6)

NKorea's state media said China has crossed the red line of their bilateral ties (p.6)

US Senator Gardner said Donald Trump shouldn't be talking to NKorean leader (p.7)

IMF kept its forecast for SKorea’s economic growth for this year at 2.7% (p.9)

SKorea's trade surplus came to $5.9 bil in May, 64 straight months of a surplus (p.9)

Combined assets of Samsung, HMC, SK and LG stood at $774.3 bil as of end 2016 (p.12)

Operating income of top 10 conglomerates surged 80% on-year in the first quarter (p.12)

Global sales of Galaxy S8 smartphones reached 5 mil units as of 16th (p.12)

Saudi Arabia’s price cut for oil exports is to be favorable to SKorean oil refiners (p.16)

KOSPI surged ceilingless till it hit 2,355 on 26th (p.18)

Bank of Korea kept the benchmark interest rate steady at 1.25% (p.18)

HHI and other major shipyards saw their stock prices hit yearly highs (p.19)

HHI, HSHI and HMD were awarded total of 20 vessels worth $1.3 bil in May (p.22)

KDB finally decided to issue RG for VLCCs won early last month by DSME (p.23)

Korea Line Corp (KLC) has posted a big jump in profit for the first quarter (p.24)

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ATTACHMENT: Korea Report - May 2017 (PDF FILE)