Korea News for April 7
Chun Doo-hwan's grandson apologizes, Samsung's profit hits record low, and I have a new blog for you to read.
Grandson of Dictator Chun Doo-hwan Apologizes for Gwangju Massacre, Exposes Grandfather’s Slush Fund
Chun Woo-won, the grandson of convicted traitor Chun Doo-hwan, apologized six days ago to relatives of those massacred during Doo-hwan’s crackdown on protesters resisting martial law in Gwangju in 1980. In March, Woo-won posted on his Instagram account that his family had still been living off of money Doo-hwan stole through corruption. Doo-hwan was convicted of large-scale bribery in addition to murder and treason and ordered to pay 220.5 billion won ($169 million), of which he only paid back a little more than half. A recent court ruling would allow the Korean government to sell some of the Chun family’s properties in Osan, Gyeongi province and recover more than 5 billion won, the Hankyoreh reported.
Tennessee Legislature’s Ejection of Elected Lawmakers Evokes Dictatorships of Days Past
I share this from my newly-launched blog about politics and society at
. Some comparative politics. In 1979, Kim Yong-sam was purged from the Korean legislature by Park Chung-hee’s regime for encouraging a protest against an exploitative wig-manufacturing company. What happened in Tennessee, where two lawmakers were purged for encouraging a protest against Tennessee’s lax gun laws, was not of the same degree—the lawmakers were not arrested, and they may stand for reelection again—but it was all the same an authoritarian abuse of power meant to punish the majority’s political enemies.Please subscribe to my blog Mitch’s Picks and check the box for the newsletter “And All Else” to receive my political and social commentary!
South Korea, U.S., and Japan Call for Crackdown on North Korean Foreign Workers Earning Foreign Currency for Regime
As of 2017, about 100,000 North Koreans were working abroad, mostly in China and Russia. The UN passed Resolution 2397 in 2017 to call for North Korean workers to be repatriated so that they could not earn funds the Kim Jong-un regime could use for its weapons programs. The 13 North Korean refugees who arrived in South Korea from China in 2016 were working at an entertainment restaurant, one of many which had been set up across China at that time.
Samsung Cuts Chip Production After Huge Earnings Decline
Samsung operating profit is projected to be down in Q1 to 0.6 trillion won from 14.1 trillion won in Q1 of 2022. The industry has faced trouble due to oversupply after a supply crunch earlier in the pandemic. Samsung’s stock price crashed from 67,500 won per share at its peak in April 2022 to 52,900 won in late September, and now it is back up to 65,000 won.
"Samsung's recent decision will contribute to an earlier recovery in the memory chip sector," Hyundai Motor Securities analyst Roh Geun-chang said. "We had initially expected the DRAM fixed price to start rising from the fourth quarter, but the price will begin to go up from the third quarter."
Source: Korea Times
South Korea's Current Account Deficit Hits Record
According to the Blue Roof,
The trade deficit for goods of USD 7.5b, also a record, was the largest reason for the overall account deficit. South Korea saw trade deficits four months in a row - a streak unseen since the 1997 East Asian Financial Crisis. The balance of service, or the money that South Korea earned by selling services such as tourism set against the money South Koreans spent on foreign services, also faced a deficit of USD 3.3b.
Source: The Blue Roof