VIENNA CONVENTION ON CONSULAR RELATIONS
DONE AT VIENNA, ON 24 APRIL 1963
Article 1
DEFINITIONS
1. For the purposes of the present Convention, the following expressions shall have the meanings hereunder assigned to them:
(j) "consular premises" means the buildings or parts of buildings and the land ancillary thereto, irrespective of ownership, used exclusively for the purposes of the consular post;
One striking example is the behavior of profit ratios of car makers.
For selected Korean and Japanese car makers, profit margin developments in recent years paint
quite contrasting pictures?Hyundai Motors showing a decline in operating margins, while Toyota
and Honda experiencing a sharp pick-up since 2013 (Figure 2).
Furthermore, as shown in Figure 3, the quarterly operating margins of Hyundai Motors showed
a correlation of 0.8 with the Won’s exchange rate against dollar (KRWUSD) since the first quarter
of 2012. During this time, Hyundai Motors’ operating margin (three quarter centered average)
decreased by 19 percent, while that of Toyota increased by 63 percent.
Toyota’s operating margins have shown a correlation of 0.7 with the Yen’s exchange rate against dollar (JPYUSD).
South Korea’s Prozac Moment July 17, 2015 ? 9:51 AM KST
South Korean President Park Geun Hye recently announced that the Greek
debt crisis would hurt the domestic economy for "some time."
The population is aging, labor markets are rigid, innovation is lagging,
corporate and household debt is rising and confidence has been hit hard
by the threat from an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or
MERS.
The South Korean malaise isn't rooted in a sudden shift, but the
accumulation of economic challenges that still need to be addressed.
South Korea's highly-indebted corporate sector has also seen its export
competitiveness drop off markedly thanks to the appreciation of won
versus other major currencies. Exports have fallen for six months straight.
South Korea is being squeezed on two sides.
A slowing China is hurting export demand short-term, while innovating and
moving up the manufacturing value chain in the long-term. The country is
incubating its own technology giants like Xiaomi Corp. that could someday
take on the likes of Samsung Electronics Co.
"The problem is zombie companies are increasing especially among big
companies recently," said Jeong Dae Hee, a fellow in the macroeconomic
policy department at state-run think tank Korea Development Institute,
in Sejong near Seoul.
"Zombies should be liquidated or restructured in order to gain the
dynamics of economic growth."
