The Korea Herald

Subaru offers special financing programs

TransportJan 9, 2011

Subaru Korea is offering a choice between tax coverage and special lease financing programs until the end of the month.Those buying the Legacy Sedan or the Outback during the period can choose between coverage for the 2-percent acquisition tax and a 36-month lease financing program.LegacyWith the New Forester, the company is also offering a 1 million won ($890) gift voucher in addition to the fina
New Mercedes C-Class to hit market early this year

TransportJan 9, 2011

STUTTGART (DPA) ― The new Mercedes C-Class, to be launched early in the new year, has undergone several modifications including a new front and rear and energy efficient engines that reduce consumption by up to 31 per cent compared to the predecessor model, according to the carmaker.Efficiency-enhancing measures include improved 7G-Tronic Plus automatic transmission and the ECO start/stop function
Glitzier auto show reflects renewed sparkle in U.S. car market

TransportJan 9, 2011

WASHINGTON (DPA) ― The big three carmakers in the United States have had many questions to answer over the last few years, including whether they even deserved to survive.This year, the likes of General Motors, Ford and even Chrysler will have the chance to gloat a little bit as they throw on glitzy displays at Detroit’s annual international auto show, which opens with a press preview on Monday.Th
Ford’s Focus Electric takes on rivals

TransportJan 9, 2011

Ford Motor Co., playing catch-up in the battery-powered car market, introduced its first electric car and promised it will outperform rivals.Ford, the first U.S. automaker to offer a gasoline-electric hybrid, will start selling an all-electric version of its Focus compact car late this year. The Focus Electric’s introduction follows last year’s debut of Nissan Motor Co.’s battery-powered Leaf and
China GDP grew about 10% in 2010: vice premier

Jan 9, 2011

China’s economy expanded at about 10 percent in 2010, according to an estimate by Vice Premier Li Keqiang, the official Xinhua news agency reported, a pace forecast to slow as policy makers seek to stem inflation.Li, on a nine-day tour of Spain, Germany and the U.K., also estimated that retail sales in the world’s most populous nation climbed 18.5 percent last year from a year earlier, Xinhua also
Korean tension affects East Asian stability

ViewpointsJan 9, 2011

The current tension on the Korean Peninsula continues to have repercussions on the security and economic climate of East Asia, and indeed the rest of the world. Since the end of the Korean War some six decades ago, the stability of the two Koreas has occasionally been rattled, and official peace on the peninsula remains elusive.Nobody really imagined that the current situation on the peninsula wou
[Editorial] Growing debt

EditorialJan 9, 2011

The nation is set to make a change in its accounting method from cash to accrual this year. One of its consequences is a rise in the measurement of national debt.The government has yet to announce by what margin the new accounting method would readjust upward the debt, which was posted at 359.6 trillion won at the end of last year. But the opposition Democratic Party has already come up with a new
[Editorial] Economy for security

EditorialJan 9, 2011

Last week, a South Korean government agency provided statistical data regarding North Korea, some of which have great security implications. Among them were figures indicating North Korea’s rapidly expanding reliance on China for its external trade.According to a report from Statistics Korea, North Korea’s volume of external trade was at a miniscule $5,093 million in 2009. It was nowhere near that
[Ann Woolner] Women aren’t people under Scalia’s constitution

ViewpointsJan 9, 2011

I tend to think of myself as a person. I’d hazard a guess that most, maybe all, American women consider themselves to be actual human beings, too.The U.S. Supreme Court said that’s what we are, although it took the court until 1971 to say so.Justice Antonin Scalia still doesn’t believe it. In an interview in this month’s California Lawyer magazine, he said that the 14th Amendment means only men wh
[DAVID IGNATIUS] U.S. buying time with Iran

ViewpointsJan 9, 2011

WASHINGTON ― The Obama administration has concluded that Iran’s nuclear program has been slowed by a combination of sanctions, sabotage and Iran’s own technical troubles. Because of the delay, U.S. officials see what one describes as “a little bit of space” before any military showdown with Iran. Israeli officials, too, see more time on the clock. Moshe Yaalon, Israel’s deputy prime minister, note
[Thomas J. Donohue] Korean trade pact a welcome shot for U.S.

ViewpointsJan 9, 2011

WASHINGTON ― A funny thing happened in the wake of the midterm elections: Washington entered into an era of bipartisanship, and trade is the unlikely topic of agreement.From the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to the United Auto Workers, President Obama’s announcement that he’ll send the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) to Congress early this year has been applauded. Trade leaders from both partie
[Mohamed A. El-Erian] Country of the future owes much to one man

ViewpointsJan 9, 2011

Eight years ago, a newly elected president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, faced the challenge of saving Brazil from economic and financial collapse.Last Saturday, Lula passed the presidency to Dilma Rousseff having done much, much more than that during his two terms. In the process, he relied on four simple pillars that other leaders would be well advised to consider.After winning a hotly contested p
[Shlomo Ben Ami] The chaotic birth of South Sudan

ViewpointsJan 9, 2011

MADRID ― The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that was reached in 2005 between mostly Christian southern Sudan and the country’s Muslim North, ended one of the bloodiest civil wars in modern times. Lasting 22 years, that war left more than two million dead. Now the CPA is poised to face its most vital test: the South’s referendum on independence, scheduled for Jan. 9.Whether or not a new state
Global electronics show

Jan 9, 2011

Henry Weinacker III talks on his iPhone while attending the International Consumer Electronics Show, Friday, Jan. 7, 2011 in Las Vegas. (AP-Yonhap)
Indonesian Embassy not for sale: Ambassador

Foreign affairsJan 9, 2011

“This is groundless, we will never move as long as I’m here in Korea.”So Indonesian Ambassador Nicholas Dammen firmly stated about rumors that his government and embassy is entertaining the possibility of moving their chancery and compound to another location.The embassy, which is located on prime real estate, has been the focus of several hawkish, clandestine developers in South Korea and Indones