I am sure President Trump will be pleased with this news:
Dan Song, president of LG Electronics’ home appliances business, front left, and Gov. Bill Haslam, front right, sign a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday in Tennessee. LG agreed to build a washing machine factory in the state. In the back row from left are Curtis G. Johnson, a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives; Joo Hyung-hwan, Korean minister of trade, industry and energy; Kim McMillan, mayor of Clarksville; and William Cho, president and CEO of LG Electronics USA. [LG ELECTRONICS]LG Electronics’ plans to build a washing machine factory in Tennessee are taking shape as it seeks to sustain growth in the key American market while avoiding punitive protectionist measures from Donald Trump’s administration.
The company signed a memorandum of understanding with the state government on Tuesday in Tennessee, with the goal of clinching a contract by June and beginning construction by the year’s end. LG will spend $250 million on the project.
The facility, to be built on a 300-acre plot of land in Clarksville, will begin making washing machines for sale in the United States by the first half of 2019 at the earliest, LG said. The plant will be able to produce at least a million units of both front- and top-loading machines a year. The site may later expand to production of other home appliances, the company said. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
Here are some new MRAPs that should soon be seen being used by the 2nd Infantry Division:
The Army is sending more than 100 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles to South Korea to boost troop protection capabilities as tensions rise on the divided peninsula.
The decision is a reversal after a 2012 feasibility study found that MRAPs — famous for saving countless lives from roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan — weren’t suitable for maneuver battalions in South Korea.
The 8th Army says it began fielding MRAPs and smaller versions known as M-ATVs in late December and was on track to complete the deployment to multiple locations by the end of February. [Stars & Stripes]
It appears the illegal immigration reform South Korea has implemented has had some success in reducing the number of illegal immigrants:
One out of 10 foreigners living in South Korea are illegal aliens, government data showed Tuesday.
According to the data released by the Ministry of Justice, 211,320, or 10.5 percent of the total number of foreigners living here as of end-January, are staying without a valid visa.
The number is up 1.1 percent from what was tallied the previous month, which stood at 208,971, it said.
The total shot up to 223,464 in 2007 and dropped to 177,955 in 2009. Since 2014, the number has hovered around 200,000.
The percentage of illegal aliens, meanwhile, has been declining from 12.3 percent in 2012 to 11.3 percent in 2015 and 10.2 percent in 2016 with the overall rise in the number of foreigners living here. [Korea Times]
The South Korean government implemented a program where if illegal immigrants self deported, after six months they could apply for a work visa for the prior job they were working. It seems a program like this could be something that could work in the United States as well.
Members from the civic Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan call for the foreign ministry to withdraw its recent request to move a girl statue symbolizing the victims of Japan’s sexual slavery during the World War II to another place during a news conference at the National Assembly in Seoul on Feb. 24, 2017. On Feb. 14, the ministry sent a letter to the Busan city government, asking for cooperation in moving the statue, which civic groups set up in front of the Japanese consulate in the city. Japan demanded an immediate removal and recalled its ambassador to South Korea in protest about a month ago. (Yonhap)
I am really curious what evidence the prosecutors have against President Park that she committed bribery because I have yet to see any?:
South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye was named a bribery suspect on Tuesday as special prosecutors wrapped up their three-month probe into a massive influence-peddling scandal.
The probe team, led by Independent Counsel Park Young-soo, suspects that the president colluded with her longtime friend Choi Soon-sil and took bribes from the country’s largest conglomerate Samsung Group in return for business favors, its spokesman Lee Kyu-chul said.
President Park, currently awaiting the Constitutional Court’s decision on her impeachment, will not face charges for now as an incumbent president has immunity from criminal indictment.
State prosecutors will decide whether to continue with the investigation into Park as the deadline for the special probe team expires Tuesday.
Special prosecutors indicted Lee Jae-yong, the de facto leader of Samsung, on charges of giving or promising some 43.3 billion won (US$38.3 million) in bribes to the president’s jailed friend Choi in return for the government’s backing of a merger of two Samsung affiliates in 2015. [Yonhap]
I would not be surprised if the prosecutors named her as a bribery suspect just to appease the mobs of protesters knowing full well they don’t have any evidence to charge her.
It is amazing to me that one employee would have access to this much money to embezzle:
A major European conglomerate says one of its employees in South Korea has gone missing — along with $100 million.
Power and robotics firm ABB (ABB) announced Wednesday that it has “uncovered a sophisticated criminal scheme” at its South Korean unit. It only noticed the huge sums had been stolen after the employee of the subsidiary disappeared about two weeks ago.
The employee, who ABB has not identified, is suspected of forging documents and working with individuals outside the company to steal the money, according to ABB and South Korean police.
A police spokesman said that the suspect is believed to have fled to Hong Kong and that they are working with Interpol to bring him back to South Korea. Interpol declined to comment on the investigation.
The embezzlement and misappropriation of funds is limited to South Korea, where ABB employs about 800 staff, the company said. Other people could still come under investigation. [CNN via a reader tip]
You can read more at the link, but the guy behind the theft was the person responsible for ensuring legal and ethical integrity:
The executive, named by a source in South Korea as Oh Myeong-se, was treasurer and one of two integrity ombudsmen for ABB Korea – to whom staff were supposed to report any ethical concerns – according to an online company magazine available on ABB’s Korean website.
He was also the head of compliance at ABB in Korea until 2010, said a source familiar with the investigation, a role that carries responsibility for maintaining legal and ethical integrity.
The executive is suspected of forging documents and colluding with third parties to steal funds, ABB said, estimating it would take a pre-tax charge of about $100 million for the affair, which analysts said raised concerns about its corporate oversight. [Reuters]
It will be interesting to see who else is tied to this crime because I would be surprised if this guy was able to embezzle and move this much money all on his own.
Here is another way for visitors to explore the DMZ area north of Seoul:
A DMZ train run by Korea Railroad Corp., or Korail. (Yonhap)
On a cold, snowy day earlier this week, diverse groups of people hopped aboard a special train at Seoul Station.
They headed to a place emblematic of South Korea’s hope for the “end of separation and the beginning of unification” on the peninsula.
“This train is bound for a civilian-restricted area,” a train attendant announced shortly after departure. “All passengers must fill out an application form, with passports or other identification cards checked.”
She was referring to the train’s final destination, a stone’s throw away from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), a no man’s land which has served as the inter-Korean border for more than six decades. [Yonhap]
You can read more details about the DMZ train at the link, but it goes to the observatory at Dorasan Station and there is a monorail connection that takes visitors to the 3rd North Korean infiltration tunnel.
Special personnel wearing protective clothes and masks operate equipment at the departure lobby of Kuala Lumpur International Airport Terminal 2 in Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 26, 2017, looking for any trace of poison. The detection operation was made after VX nerve agent, a lethal chemical weapon, was found on the body of Kim Jong-nam, the murdered half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. (Yonhap)
