Today's Date:      Thursday, March 29, 2012

1. BILATERAL/MULTILATERAL ISSUES

S. Korea, Indonesia announce launch of free trade talks [English, CSY]

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/business/2012/03/28/0502000000AEN20120328005900315.HTML

South Korea and Indonesia announced Wednesday they will kick off official negotiations to open up trade between the two countries and agreed to hold the first round of talks as early as possible.  The two sides made the announcement on the launch of talks on a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA), which is equivalent to a free trade agreement, in a joint statement issued after a summit between South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

<3/26/2012>New Zealand P.M. says firms’ survival depends on Korea FTA [English, CSY]

http://www.koreaherald.com/business/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20120326000898

New Zealand’s prime minister on Monday expressed hope that a free trade agreement between his country and Korea will be concluded soon.  After a meeting with members of New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Seoul, Prime Minister John Key told The Korea Herald that without a free trade agreement, his country’s companies would eventually be priced out of the Korean market.  The New Zealand leader came to Korea to attend the Nuclear Security Summit that began its two-day run in Seoul on Monday.  Last year, the kiwi fruit giant Zespri paid $32 million in tariffs to get their products onto Korean shelves.  Currently, New Zealand’s agricultural and food sector pays around 45 percent in tariffs. Chile, New Zealand’s No. 1 competitor for kiwi fruit, pays a 12 percent tariff.

2. MARKETING ISSUES

‘SALT’, Selected as a key Word for New Consumption Trends, Korea Chamber of Commerce [Korean, OSY]

http://sports.hankooki.com/lpage/life/201203/sp20120327143552109540.htm

Summary: Korea Chamber of Commerce (KCC) reported the result of its recent consumer survey.  Summing up the survey result, KCC presented ‘SALT’ as a key word of the new consumption trends identified.  ‘SALT’ represents ‘Sale’, ‘A little’, ‘Low price’, and ‘Transfer to less brands’.  KCC explained that the most outstanding trends identified in the survey was increased attention to lower price and small packaging under the extended economic instability.

3. NORTH KOREA ISSUES

U.S. Suspends Food Assistance to N.Korea[English, MGF]

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2012/03/29/2012032900440.html

Summary: ROK Daily: U.S. Suspends Food Assistance to N.Korea: Peter Lavoy, the acting assistant secretary of defense for Asia and Pacific security affairs, told a congressional hearing the U.S. is working together with allies in the region to try and discourage the North from going ahead with the launch because it would violate Pyongyang's international commitments. He says that failure of North Korea to follow through on what it has promised raises concerns about the nutritional assistance the U.S. has offered as well.  "We have been forced to suspend our activities to provide nutritional assistance to North Korea largely because we have now no confidence that the monitoring mechanisms to ensure that the food assistance goes to the starving people and not the regime elite," Lavoy said.

4. OTHER MISCELLANEOUS ISSUES

Prices of top whiskies will be raised in mid-April [English, CSY]

http://koreajoongangdaily.joinsmsn.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2950647&cloc=joongangdaily|home|newslist2

Bad news for Johnnie Walker enthusiasts who hoped to catch a break when the Korea-Europe free trade agreement went into effect last summer. The price is going up instead.  Diageo Korea, which distributes premium-branded scotch whiskies such as Johnnie Walker and Windsor, said Tuesday it’s charging more from April 13.    After the FTA with the European Union went to effect last July, 20 percent tariffs on whiskies were lowered to 15 percent. The reaming tariff will be cut by 5 percent each year for the next three years.     However, the company said the tariff cut doesn’t really affect whisky prices. “Since tariffs account for a very small portion when determining prices, the FTA doesn’t really cause whisky makers to cut prices,” an official at Diageo said.  According to food industrial analysts, the prices of a number of items might be raised after the April 11 by-election because of high commodity prices. Some are overdue. Oriental Brewery said it would raise the prices of five products by over 7 percent in December, but it scrapped the plan after three days after the public squawked.

Inadequate Quarantine Blamed For Imports of Harmful Goods[English, MGF]

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2012/03/117_107936.html

Summary: Concerns are growing over the safety of imported goods, particularly those from China, after cancer-causing substances were detected in wooden chopsticks, kitchen utensils and other household items manufactured overseas.  Some experts blame the country's quarantine inspection system for the surge of imports of unsafe products. They are urging the government to boost the monitoring of consumer goods brought into the country. They say quarantine inspectors need to conduct more unscheduled checks and examine as much merchandise as possible.