South Korea's business community yesterday accepted to a key plank of President Roh Moo-Hyun's reform drive against corporate corruption by supporting the introduction of class action suits by minority shareholders.
The agreement came at a meeting of five business organizations, including the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), which represents the interests of the giant conglomerates known as chaebols.
FKI vice chairman Hyun Myung-Kwan said the organizations agreed in principle to allow minority shareholders to file class action suits over corporate irregularities.
But Hyun called for strict rules to stop minority shareholders from abusing class action rights. He also demanded the new system not be introduced until next year and should be reviewed after five years.
"After running the system for five years, we will demand revisions to the laws, rather than calling for the abolition of the laws," he said.
Roh, who took office last month, has vowed to introduce the class actions and other reforms in a bid to end corporate corruption and illegal share transactions used by chaebol owners to tighten their grip on their groups.
The drive has sparked corporate protests, with business leaders arguing the reforms would hurt the economy.
Such concerns intensified last week when prosecutors indicted 10 SK Group executives, including the group's controlling shareholder Chey Tae-Won, for falsifying accounts to inflate earnings. Chey was jailed last month on charges of misappropriation relating to share deals between group subsidiaries.
Roh conceded yesterday in a speech to businessmen that South Korea's economy was being pressured by high oil prices and the stand-off over North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
"Our economy faces considerable difficulties. It's time for us to take firm countermeasures," he said.
But he stressed he would push ahead with reforms to rein in the chaebols, whose over-expansion and iron grip on the economy hampered the country's ability to compete and contributed to the 1997 to 1998 economic crisis.
"We have to implement reform in economic, political and all other quarters. Reform is a prerequisite to enhance competitiveness," he said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday that China using armed force against Taiwan could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, allowing the country to mobilize the Japanese armed forces under its security laws. Takaichi made the remarks during a parliamentary session yesterday while responding to a question about whether a "Taiwan contingency" involving a Chinese naval blockade would qualify as a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, according to a report by Japan’s Asahi Shimbun. "If warships are used and other armed actions are involved, I believe this could constitute a survival- threatening
RSS