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World Business Quick Take

■ Banking
Construction Bank to cut jobs
One of China's biggest banks plans to cut more than 100,000 jobs, or about one-third of its workforce, as it prepares to sell its first shares to foreign investors, according to a major state newspaper. The Construction Bank, China's third-largest state-owned commercial bank, is expected to sell up to US$5 billion worth of shares in a public offering sometime in the next two years. Other major state banks are also expected to raise money through share sales. The communist government is trying to turn its debt-laden banks into profitable, competitive businesses as it prepares to open its financial markets to foreign rivals.

■ Free Trade
Parliament approves deal
South Korea's parliament yesterday approved the country's first free trade agreement, an accord reached with Chile a year ago but delayed by protests of local farmers who fear it will threaten their livelihoods. The National Assembly endorsed the pact 162-71. Lawmakers put off votes on the issue three times amid violent demonstrations by farmers who say the accord will flood the Korean market with cheaper products. Under the trade pact signed by the two governments last February, Chile will lift tariffs on South Korean motor vehicles, cellular phones, computers, TV sets and air conditioners. In return, South Korea will remove tariffs on Chilean copper products, animal feed, wheat, wool and tomatoes, as well as more than 250 fisheries products. South Korean farmers have threatened to campaign against lawmakers who support the trade agreement in the upcoming April 15 elections.

■ Music
Government mulls ban
The government is considering imposing a ban on the import of low-priced Japanese pop music CDs, made exclusively and legally for overseas markets by Japanese firms, news reports said yesterday. The Agency for Cultural Affairs is considering the ban in response to complaints from Japanese music companies which claim their business is being hurt by an influx of CDs intended for sale in other countries, mostly in the Asian region, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun daily said. The ban, which is likely to take effect in 2005, would be effective for five years after the release of the CDs and would also cover cassette tapes and vinyl records. The music industry welcomed the reports. CDs of Japanese pop songs and other popular music sell for ?550 to ?1,600 (US$5 to US$15) in many Asian nations, such as China and South Korea, compared with ?2,500 or more in Japan, according to the Recording Industry Association of Japan.

■ Aviation
Honda to work on engines
Honda Motor Co will work with General Electric Co of the US to make jet engines for small business planes, both sides said yesterday, marking the Japanese automaker's entry into the aviation industry. The basic agreement signed Friday covers marketing Honda's HF118 turbofan jet engine under a joint brand while continuing discussions to come up with a plan to mass produce the engine. Honda started its jet engine and aircraft project in 1986 and has carried out test flights of the HF118 engine, which is for small business jets, a market that is expected to grow in the US. Honda Chief Executive Takeo Fukui said General Electric was chosen because of its sales network and experience in jet engines.

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