Thoughts on Korean Business by Don Southerton

  Listen to the audio version Headline:  Seoul unveils a $576 billion semiconductor and AI investment drive as Samsung and SK Hynix commit to massive new domestic fabs. Top Story President Lee Jae Myung laid out a sweeping industrial strategy built around chips and AI , with over $576 billion in planned investment to secure global leadership.  Samsung and SK Hynix anchor it with a combined 800 trillion won (about $518 billion) for new fabrication sites in the southwest, alongside regional and packaging-cluster funding. The signal: Korea is doubling down on home-soil capacity even as it manages US tariff and investment pressure. Trade & Tariff Korea's 15% reciprocal rate continues to hold under the bilateral deal, with Seoul's industry minister citing US reassurance it will go no higher. Watch the USTR forced-labor proposal that could add 12.5% on goods from 54 economies, Korea among them.  Metals face Section 232 at a 15% cap as of June 8. Sector Watch Semicon...

    Listen to the audio version Sunday, June 28, 2026 (the week of June 22 to 26) Top story: A 16-year-low won and a chip-led market whipsaw, all under a now-fixed 15 percent tariff ceiling. The slide cuts both ways: a tailwind for exporters billing in dollars ( Hyundai, Kia, Samsung, SK Hynix ), a headwind for a country that imports nearly all its energy and raw materials in dollars and carries dollar-denominated debt. Why it matters:  Clients with Korea exposure should price into contracts rather than wait for a FX reversal. Chips: SK Hynix takes the crown, then sets a U.S. listing. SK Hynix overtook Samsung as Korea's most valuable company on HBM/AI demand , with shares up more than 340 percent this year.  It then announced a U.S. ADR listing for July 10, issuing up to about 2.5 percent of shares for as much as 46 trillion won (BofA, Citi, Goldman, JPMorgan leading) to fund the Yongin chip cluster. Korean exports rose 60.4 percent year on year in the first 20 da...

  Listen to the audio version Saturday, June 27, 2026 This paper defines the national security interests at stake, sets forth the architectural requirements enabling democratic AI deployment , and positions the United States as the democratic nation best positioned to lead and coordinate the delivery of a complete solution. AI Deployment Without Governance Infrastructure : The National Security Threat Inside America's AI Leadership. Why frontier leadership without deployment governance infrastructure is an incomplete and vulnerable strategy. Kenneth Herfurth , Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Ander LLC, June 2026 Abstract This paper is submitted in direct response to the Executive Order Promoting Advanced Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Security , signed June 2, 2026, and specifically to the mandate under Section 2(e) directing the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to determine within 30 days whether any federal grant programs have available funding that ...

  Listen to the audio version Korea-US Trade & Investment Briefing and BCW Client Spotlight: CaniCatiCare Friday, June 26, 2026 Headline:  Korea's chip-led market pulls back as the 15 percent US tariff framework settles into place. Top Story The Korean KOSPI extended a sharp tech-driven selloff into June 26, down roughly 4.6 percent from its record high earlier in the week, as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix led declines on memory-chip valuation concerns .  The pullback follows a strong AI-semiconductor rally and signals profit-taking rather than a shift in fundamentals, but it underscores how concentrated Korea's market gains have become in a handful of chip and EV names. Trade & Tariff The cemented US-Korea agreement holding a 15 percent reciprocal rate is now the baseline, with Section 232 auto and auto-parts tariffs cut from 25 to 15 percent. Semiconductors remain under a separate Section 232 review, with the U.S. Commerce Department signaling Korea wi...

Listen to the audio version They Love the Deal. So Why Won't They Sign? The Signature Paradox: Why Korean Partners Hesitate, and What Korean Law Actually Says Bridging Culture Worldwide | Client Advisory Over more than twenty years of working with Korean companies, I keep running into the same paradox. A Korean partner is enthusiastic, has invested months in the relationship, and clearly sees the mutual benefit. Then the agreed documents arrive to be signed, and they hesitate, or simply do not sign. Western teams read this as cold feet. It rarely is. The reluctance is usually not about the deal. It is a reasonable response to how Korean law actually works. Korea is a civil-law system with no consideration doctrine . Under the Korean Civil Act , a properly formed agreement is binding without the exchange of value that common-law systems require. The practical implication, which most U.S. lawyers miss: a document labeled " non-binding ," an MOU or a letter of intent, may al...

      Listen to the audio version   Headline:   Korean won closes above 1,540 per dollar, even as the KOSPI surges 3.4 percent on AI chip strength .   Top Story The won settled at 1,541.8 per dollar, its weakest close since March 2009, on a third straight session of dollar strength and Fed rate-hike expectations . The slide cuts both ways for Korea Inc.    On the plus side, a weaker won inflates the local-currency value of dollar revenue, padding margins for exporters like Hyundai , Kia , Samsung , and SK Hynix that bill US buyers in dollars, and it partly offsets the bite of US tariffs by making Korean goods cheaper abroad.    On the minus side, Korea imports nearly all of its energy and much of its raw materials in dollars, so input costs and imported inflation climb just as firms carrying dollar-denominated debt face heavier service costs.    Net read: a tailwind for the export P&L, a headwind for importers and balan...