G20 Seoul Summit to offer blueprint for global finance

The G20 Seoul Summit, the biggest annual forum on economic cooperation in the world today, will reveal a new blueprint for the future of global finance this coming November in Seoul, Korea.

Specific details for implementation of sustainable and balanced growth

More specific details will be unveiled to realize a framework for sustainable and balanced growth at the upcoming meeting in Seoul. Officials have already agreed to work together on general policy related to budget, finance, currency and industry based on the results of the previous meeting held in Toronto, Canada.

The basic principle concluded in Toronto was a need for developing nations to reduce their budgets by half by 2013, while emerging nations need to strengthen their social safety nets and increase currency exchange flexibility. The meeting in Seoul will come up with more specific measures to address these and a range of other issues of importance.

In order to strengthen the soundness of bank regulations, a process already begun at the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), the G20 leaders agreed to set up a new global standard for capital and liquidity at the Seoul meeting. They will also discuss reform measures for international financial institutions, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Other issues Korea is pursuing as part of the main agenda include the establishment of the Global Financial Safety Net (GFSN) and addressing development issues, known as the “Korea initiatives.”

A global approach to GFSN is a way to prevent future crisis from spreading from one nation to another. The development agenda has already discussed how multilateral development banks like the World Bank can contribute to food security, developing human resources, fostering private-oriented growth, aiding infrastructure, and developing an environmentally friendly “green” economy. The November meeting will add more specifics to these agendas.

Korea to bridge the gap between developed and developing nations

The G20 Seoul Summit is expected to be a historic moment for Korea to prove itself one of the major decision makers of the future global economy. The G20 stands as the world largest international gathering to discuss the global economy, and Korea’s contributions have helped it become a major policy maker for global regulations.

Korea’s biggest asset lies in its rapid economic growth and ability to recover quickly from financial crisis. Based on its experiences transforming from one of the world’s poorest nations to a developed nation, Korea wishes to use its unique background to help bridge the differences between developed and developing nations.

source:Korea.net

Korea ranked 19th in 2008 UN trade report

The Korea International Trade Association (KITA) said on Aug. 29 that Korea ranked 19th in the UN trade report issued in 2008, with 52 Korean products listed as important export items worldwide.

KITA's latest finding is based on its analysis of the "Personal Computer-Trade Analysis System" report of the United Nations.

According to their analysis, Korea placed 19th with 52 top-selling Korean products in 2008, similar to its ranking the previous year, with the same number of products available globally.

In terms of top selling products, 16 out of 52 Korean products listed in the UN trade report in 2007 were replaced by another 16 export items the following year.

The new 16 best-selling Korean products listed in UN trade report in 2008 include flat-rolled steel products, marine propulsion engines, and parts and materials for batteries and optical filters.

Meanwhile, China topped in the UN report with 1,210 products in 2008, up from 830 in 2004. Among the listed products, the number of China's high-tech products grew from 50 in 2004 to 81 in 2008. Germany ranked second, with 860 products, followed by the United States with 587 items, Italy with 288 items, and Japan with 213 items in the 2008 report.

"The report showed that developing countries seem to be competing in medium and high technology product items, after outstripping industrialized countries in low-tech, light industry sectors," according to KITA .

KITA also urged Korea to focus on expanding its international market share of high-tech products in order to increase exports

source:Korea.net

Stories of the Month

Major Events

1. Incheon International Digital Art Festival (INDAF) 2010

http://www.indaf.org/

The festival will present new aesthetics of digital media art from cutting-edge international and Korean digital artists. There will be digital arts competitions, conferences, exhibitions, interactive displays etc.

- Period : September 1 – 30, 2010
- Venue : Tomorrow City, Songdo, Incheon

2. Media City Seoul 2010

http://www.mediacityseoul.org/2010/

As one of the three major art biennials in Korea alongside the Gwangju Biennale and Busan Biennale, it is the 6th Seoul International Biennale of Media Art. Under the theme "Trust," the biennale will present a wide spectrum of art works created through the inspiring fusion of media technology and contemporary arts.

- Period : September 7 – November 17, 2010
- Venue : SeMA (Seoul Museum of Art), Gyeonghigung etc.

Ever Heard of Sommeliers for Korean Food?

A few years back, there was a big wine boom. Wine was the trendy thing. And so was the word “sommelier.” It is a French word meaning a trained and knowledgeable wine professional who specializes in all aspects of wine service – wine procurement, storage, wine cellar rotation, providing expert service to customers and so on.

Well, you will be surprised to hear that there exist sommeliers for Korean food now. Last October the World Food Culture Center (WFCC) introduced its first sommelier course for kimchi and makgeolli in an effort to globalize hansik – traditional Korean food.

Ms. Hyang-Ja Yang, the CEO of the WFCC, commented, “Kimchi is Korea’s representative food, designated by the New York Times as one of the world’s top 5 health foods. Korean food has numerous benefits – nutrition, taste, and style-wise – and is something we can pride ourselves on.”

Ms. Yang went on to emphasize, “But we’re not making enough effort to promote and globalize hansik. There isn’t enough “story-telling” nor attempts at fusing Korean food with other food culture.”

Mr. Wan-Soo Park, Director of World Kimchi Institute (organization under the Korea Food Research Institute), said in his interview last March, “The fact that kimchi is such an ingrained item in Korean people’s lives is partly the reason why there is an insufficient amount of research on systemizing it.”

Kimchi is something that Korean people eat almost every meal, and Korean households make a load of kimchi every winter almost like a ceremony. Despite its subtlety of taste and a very storage-sensitive nature, there is hardly enough standardization of kimchi-making. Much of how-to-make-kimchi has been handed to the next generation by telling and showing without relying on set recipes. Lack of industrialized processing as well as special wrapping that accommodates fermentation and long-distance delivery has been deterring global distribution of kimchi. The same situation goes for the traditional Korean liquor, makgeolli.

Ms. Yang of the WFCC says, “A kimchi sommelier should be well-equipped with expertise on kimchi and cooking skills, and should be able to provide all kinds of information regarding the dish. The kimchi sommelier course comprises 12 classes in the span of 3 months. The course also teaches you skills that keep the wrapping from bursting while kimchi is fermenting.”

To be a good kimchi sommelier, you should be skilled not only at ensuring and preserving the quality of kimchi, but also at story-telling of kimchi. Ms. Yang says, “To do that, education on the theory of Korean food culture is essential. And with the suitable food styling we can shape the impression of Korean food as classy and elegant as well as generate value-added. Also, developing fusion dishes that blend Korean food with other food cultures will be conducive to globalizing hansik.”

In the makgeolli sommelier course, aside from being educated on the manufacturing, preservation, styling of the liquor, you also learn about its drinking culture such as drinking etiquette or how to shake makgeolli before pouring it and so on.

“In countries like Vietnam that are familiar with rice, makgeolli is regarded as a high-class liquor. And the curry-flavored makgeolli is especially well-received in India. It has a nice color, too, style-wise. We can produce any number of variations of makgeolli that combine various countries’ specialty flavors,” Ms. Yang explained.

“Maintaining a stubborn attitude that doesn’t allow room for incorporating other food cultures won’t work. To globalize Korean food, we ought to be open-minded about and respectful of dishes of other countries. Take Japan’s sushi, for example. Sushi is now made and sold by as many Koreans, if not more, as Japanese people. For effective globalization of hansik, we should get rid of the thinking that Korean food must be made by Korean people, nobody else.”

Mr. Tae-Pyong Chang, the former Minister of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said in his celebratory speech at the International Food Industry Exhibition Seoul 2010, “The size of the global food industry is USD 4.3 trillion, 5.6 times that of the IT Industry, and 2.5 times that of the automobile industry. It is a huge, huge market. And globally, countries are endeavoring to raise their competitiveness and take leadership in the food industry.”

Korea, too, is making efforts far and wide to promote Korean foods such as kimchi, makgeolli, and tteokbokki. For makgeolli, in particular, the goal has been set at USD 10 million volume of export for this year.

“If people get to be familiar enough with variations of Korean food, then they will eventually want to delve deeper and trace back to the food culture in its original. That will stimulate export of Korean food ingredients as well as attract foreign visitors. And by offering hansik sommelier courses, more Korean people will get to be well-versed in expert knowledge of Korean food, which I believe will contribute to the sustainable development of Korean food culture,” Ms. Yang says.

Korean Retirees Put Their Knowledge to Good Use

Korea is undertaking a special kind of development assistance for developing countries. Instead of just giving them money and facilities, Korea aims to aid them in a more fundamental way – teaching them how to stand up on their two feet rather than spoon-feeding them. Retired experts of various fields will be dispatched to developing countries and share their expertise and know-how with the local people. In these times of aging society and unemployment, the retirees too find this volunteer project gratifying.

What Do They Do?

The Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MKE) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT) are recruiting retired experts to be sent to developing countries to share their knowledge and skills. The first round of 21 retirees was already dispatched last March, and the recruitment for the next round is now going on. MKE and MOFAT are seeking a total of 70 experts.

Ministry of Knowledge Economy www.mke.go.kr National IT Industry Promotion Agency(NIPA) www.nipa.kr Korea International Cooperation Agency(KOICA) www.koica.go.kr

Although both MKE’s and MOFAT’s programs are to do with retired experts, there are certain differences between the two.

MKE’s program is titled “Gray Experts Project” with a USD 3 million size of investment. The retirees are sent to such emerging countries as the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and Mexico to work for areas including weather forecasting, water management, energy development, e-learning etc.

MOFAT’s program is called “World Friends Advisers” also with about a USD 3 million budget, and experts are dispatched to countries like Nepal, Mongolia, and Vietnam to work for developing agriculture and fishing, fair competition policies, education field etc.

So, if “Gray Experts Project” is for developing countries with a medium to high income range, aimed at implementing the Korean model for public services, then “World Friends Advisers” is more for developing countries with a low to medium income range aimed at providing knowledge and counsel in such areas as administration, education, medicine, and agriculture so as to reduce poverty and promote sustainable economic and social development.

The two programs, while carried out separately in their own right, will be put under an umbrella title “World Friends Korea” to give a more united impression. “World Friends Korea” is the name of Korea’s most comprehensive international volunteer group launched in May 2009.
Publish Post

<'Gray Experts Porject' Conferment Ceremony>

“Cám ơn, Hàn Quốc! (Thank You, Korea!)”

The developing countries report that they are very satisfied with the first round of Korean experts dispatched there to help them out.

Mr. Sang-Jin Jung, for example, is an electricity expert of a 32-year-long career and was dispatched to Vietnam last February. Recently, the Vietnam Electricity Corporation sent a letter, thanking for Mr. Jung’s unsparing assistance – drawing up an operation mandate for the Vietnamese electricity industry as well as planning the establishment of electricity & IT system – which was even more helpful since it was well-tailored to Vietnam’s specific needs.

These are the kind of help that developing countries would really need. Korea who used to be a recipient of assistance is now trying to pay it back, hoping to become a country that can command true respect.

Korean classes for fall semester

Busan's Korean Language Institute For Foreigners (KLIFF) is offering
classes for fall 2010. Make a change by learning Korean this year.
The teachers at KLIFF can help!

Think it takes a year to speak Korean well? Think again! In just a
month we can get you speaking with the locals!

KLIFF is located in two convenient locations: PNU and Haeundae.

We have as many as 9 levels of Korean ability for you to choose from.

We're open from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and
available Sunday, too!

Questions or need directions? Feel free to call us any time at
010-9108-6594, or email to jennakang@hanmail.net. You can also check us
out at www.kliff.co.kr.
See the map below to our PNU location or call or see our website for
Haeundae classes.

__________________

jenna

Korea became Japan’s victim amid heydays of imperialism

Members of 11 nationalist groups attend a protest rally in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, earlier this month, urging the Japanese government to apologize for the country’s forced annexation of the Korean Peninsula in 1910 and wartime atrocities. / Korea Times file

The date of Aug. 22 is one of the darkest in Korean history. This is when the Annexation Treaty was signed by the representatives of the Korean and Japanese governments. Actually, it was largely a formal act that finalized the slow demise of an independent Korean state which began decades earlier when Korea was forced out of a few centuries of isolation and pushed into the modern world.

To be frank, in the world of the late 19th century Korea’s prospects were grim, even though the Koreans themselves might have underestimated the threats they faced. Those were heydays of imperialism, when the nations of Europe were busy conquering the less fortunate parts of the globe, grabbing land and resources, killing peoples and destroying cultures.

There were attempts at resistance, nearly all futile. The odds were too uneven: the West had railways, steamships, ironclads and machine guns, while its opponents were at best equipped with matchlocks. In the entirety of Asia, only a handful of countries managed to survive the colonial onslaught and keep independence: Afghanistan (due to its mountainous terrain and exceptional toughness of its population), Thailand (being sandwiched between British and French colonies, it cleverly used the contradiction of the two global bullies) and China (size does matter, since the huge continental empire was difficult to digest for any predator).

And, of course, there was Japan, the only Asian country which succeeded in emulating the West. Back then, of course, “emulating the West” meant building railroads and training scientists and introducing mass education, but it also meant being imperialist. The small group of smart and determined politicians who, after the Meiji restoration of 1868 were in control of Japan, had no scruples about overseas aggression: actually, they believed that colonialism was the natural thing to do for a modern civilized state. And this was bad news for Korea, since from the very beginning it was seen as a natural target of Japanese expansionism. They discussed a full-scale invasion of Korea as early as the 1870s.

In September 1875, a Japanese warship invaded the Korean coastal waters. The Korean batteries opened fire. This incident created a pretext that the Japanese government needed to stage an expedition to Korea.

The 1876 expedition had only 800 soldiers, and most of its ships were not heavily armed, but the Japanese negotiators bluffed, threatening a full-scale military expedition towards Seoul (it was not feasible, but the Koreans did not know it). Finally, the Koreans gave in and signed what is known as the Ganghwa Treaty. The Koreans agreed to allow foreigners to settle in some selected part of the country, being engaged in trade and business activities in Korea. All foreigners were exempted from the jurisdiction of the Korean laws (a privilege nowadays reserved for diplomats only). Initially these rights were given only to Japanese, but soon pressure from Western countries made Korea extend those privileges to other foreigners as well.

Frankly, not all Koreans opposed the opening. The opponents of self-isolation existed and were happy to give in: they had long been lobbying for formal treaty relations with foreign powers. They believed — correctly — that the continuous adherence to the old social system would lead to disaster, so they hoped that Korea would use the access to foreign knowledge in order to modernize itself as fast as possible. Essentially, they gambled on whether Koreans would have enough time to master new knowledge. The gamble was lost, but it did not appear irrational in the 1870s.

It was not impossible: in Korea there were reform-minded people and, once given an opportunity, Koreans began to study modern science with remarkable zeal. Such estimates are bound to be subjective and improvable, but it seems that a hundred years ago in all of Asia in its zeal for modernization Korea was second only to Japan. Nonetheless, those people — brilliant and determined and selfless they often were — had to run against time. They lost.

To some extent their situation was aggravated by the naive expectations many of them had toward Japan. They believed that Japan, then the only technically advanced Asian country, would help fellow Asians to escape the clutches of the Western colonial powers. Some Japanese also hoped that their country’s policy would move in that direction, but most politicians cynically manipulated these hopes in order to advance their own agenda which was unabashedly imperialist. Japan was loudly talking about “Asian solidarity” until 1945, but it was a smokescreen. Many Korean intellectual leaders did not see through it until it was too late.

The next blow was delivered in 1894-95 when Japan and China fought a brief war over Korea. The war ended in a Japanese victory, but it also left Korea at the mercy of the Japanese. The Japanese installed a puppet government (which, admittedly, included a lot of genuine reformers, still naive about Tokyo’s intentions), and infamously assassinated Queen Min, a staunch opponent of Japanese encroachment.

In the mid-1890s the Japanese had to withdraw, largely because of Russian pressure — the Russian Empire, then rapidly advancing east, saw Korea and Manchuria as its own sphere of influence. The rivalry of the imperialist neighbors gave Koreans a brief reprieve, but in 1904 a new war broke out. This time Japan fought with Russia, essentially in order to become full master of the Korean Peninsula. Once again, Japan won. This victory produced much enthusiasm through the whole of Asia: the first time a Western power was defeated by an Oriental upstart in a regular, large-scale, high-tech war. However, for Korea there was nothing to be happy about. Korea was to become the first Asian nation to learn that Japanese imperialists were no different from their Western teachers — perhaps, they were even worse.

With Russia being neutralized, and its own public being intoxicated with success and jingoism, Japan could afford to be a bully. In 1905 Japan forced Korea to sign a treaty which amounted to the complete surrender of sovereignty.

King Gojong said that he would not sign the document himself, but would leave the decision as to whether it should be signed with his top officials. So, the Japanese managed to blackmail and bribe five high-level Korean dignitaries prepared to sign the paper which was known as the Eulsa Treaty, after the name of the year 1905 in the traditional Korean calendar. Those officials, headed by notorious Yi Wan-yong, are referred to as “the five eulsa traitors.”

According to the 1905 Treaty all international contact with Korea, as well as consular protection of its citizens overseas, should be handled by the Japanese. A Japanese official, called the Resident General, was to supervise all political activity in the country. Without his permission, no political decisions of nationwide importance could be made.

In an attempt to forestall a complete collapse of independence, King Gojong decided to apply to international public opinion. In 1907, The Hague hosted the Second Peace Conference, a pompous international gathering where diplomats from countries large and small were supposed to discuss how to keep the peace and make wars less likely. In those eras, before the rise of the U.N., such public exercises in diplomatic demagoguery were unusual and therefore attracted much attention.

So, three Korean diplomats were dispatched there secretly and dutifully made their appeal against the Japanese actions in Korea. But as one would expect, they achieved nothing: the great powers ignored their appeal and did not raise a finger to help Korea.

It was understandable. First of all, the major international players were colonial powers themselves, so they did not want to create a dangerous precedent. Second, nobody wanted to alienate Japan whose spectacular victory over Russia made it the first “non-white” great power.

The Japanese were outraged when they learned about Gojong’s exercise in secret diplomacy. The aging King was forced to abdicate, passing the throne to his son Sunjong, the last monarch of the Yi dynasty. The 1907 Treaty, forced on Korea, deprived it of the last vestiges of sovereignty.

So, by 1910 Korea already was a Japanese colony in everything by name, and that year merely delivered a final blow to Korean independence. An independent Korea, officially known as the Korean Empire in those days, ceased to exist. It became a part of Japan, but Koreans themselves were not granted the full rights of Japanese citizens. They remained discriminated against — up to a point that they could be subjected to corporal punishment, long banned for the Japanese. Virtually all positions of power were taken by Japanese officials, Korean language publications closed, and teaching in Korean was discouraged.

The long, painful and humiliating colonial era had begun. It took 35 years for Korea to regain its independence. Needless to say, the Korea which emerged in 1945 was a completely different nation.

source:Korea Times