Thoughts on Korean Business by Don Southerton

  Listen to the audio version Sunday, July 12, 2026  · Bridging Culture Worldwide​ One theme all week: Korea keeps going big at home, and the domestic mega-pledges could draw fresh U.S. pressure to build stateside. The five deals that mattered: $201.7B home investment wave —   Hanwha , Hyundai , Samsung , and SK will pour 312 trillion won into the Yeongnam region for AI , robotics , and chips $522B chip flashpoint —  Samsung and SK's record 800 trillion won plan for Korea's chip belt is now a possible test of the U.S. relationship, and could revive President Trump's threat of up to 100% tariffs on chipmakers that don't build in the U.S. Record exports —  June exports hit $102.25B (+70.9% YoY) — Korea joins Germany, the U.S., and China as the only nations ever to clear $100B in a month. Chip exports nearly tripled to $44.82B. Tariff clock —  The 10% Section 122 tariff expires ~July 24; and KITA is asking the USTR to cut a planned 12.5% Section 301 rate. ...

  By Don Southerton • May 2026 • 94 pages Hyundai is no longer a fast follower; it has become a game-changer. In this 4th edition, I trace how one of the world’s most competitive companies reinvented itself under Executive Chairman Euisun Chung : from the founder’s raw entrepreneurial drive, through a global quality revolution, to today’s bold bets on EVs , autonomous vehicles , robotics , and hydrogen . At the center is a framework I call “ work funneling ,” the chaebol strategy that lets Hyundai enter new markets, create captive demand, and reach profitability faster than Western rivals can react. Whether you’re a business leader, investor, dealer, or new to the Hyundai organization, this book gives you the context and the framework to understand where Hyundai has been and where it’s going. Available on Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H21WLCG7

  Korea-US- Global Briefing — Fri Jul 10 SK Hynix debuts on Nasdaq as Washington presses Korean chipmakers to build US memory capacity Listen to the audio version TOP STORY SK Hynix begins trading American depositary receipts on Nasdaq today, bringing the trillion-dollar Korean memory leader directly to US investors. The debut lands one day after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick publicly pressed SK Hynix and Samsung to expand memory production in the US, putting Korea’s two chip giants at the center of both Wall Street and Washington this week. TRADE & TARIFF Speaking at Micron ’s fab ceremony in Clay, New York, Lutnick said he wants Samsung and SK Hynix to build memory plants in the US to ease the AI-driven chip shortage . The pressure collides with the two firms’ recently announced 800 trillion won plan for four new fabs at home, a tension worth watching as trade-deal implementation talks continue. KOREAN CORPORATE TRACKER SK Hynix’s US footprint anchors the ADR story : ...

  I curate and offer this Briefing daily, as well as a Sunday 'Week in Review,' plus special updates most Saturdays. I plan to expand my coverage to a more global  US-Korea-Global perspective.    Listen to the audio version HEADLINE Section 301 tariff pressure defines today's Korea-US landscape. TOP STORY The Korea International Trade Association ( KITA ) is asking the USTR to delay or cut a planned 12.5% Section 301 tariff on Korean goods , on top of the 10% Section 122 tariff set to expire around July 24 . LG says tariff uncertainty could delay its $28B US battery investment unless materials get an exemption.

  Listen to the audio version Korea-US Trade & Investment Intelligence Briefing Wednesday, July 8, 2026 We offer this Briefing daily, as well as a Sunday 'Week in Review,' plus special updates most Saturdays. HEADLINE Samsung and SK's record 800 trillion won (about 522 billion dollars) domestic Korean chip build-out is becoming the flashpoint in Washington's push to move more Korean manufacturing onto US soil. TOP STORY The two chipmakers' plan to anchor Korea's southwestern semiconductor belt is now read as a test of the US relationship. Officials warn the Trump administration, focused on domestic manufacturing, may lean harder on Samsung and SK Hynix to expand US fabs, echoing Trump's earlier threat of up to 100 percent tariffs on chipmakers that do not build stateside. TRADE & TARIFF The base, across the board, 10 percent Section 122 tariff is set to expire around July 24, 2026. It was ruled unlawful by the Court of International Trade in May and ...

  Listen to the audio version Investor 101: Feast or Famine? It Has One Root Cause February was great. April and May were awful. Same business, same offer and pitch, same market. Nothing changed except one thing: in the weeks up to February, you’d been doing daily outreach consistently. Then you went head-down delivering. Outreach stopped. The pipeline dried up. By the time you noticed, it was already too late to fix quickly. It wasn’t a bad business. It was a feast-or-famine cycle, and no system to break it. I used to think this was just how business worked. Great month, dead month, great month again. Roll with it, that’s the nature of the game. It’s not. Here’s the root cause: when you’re the one doing outreach, content, follow-up, and delivery, something always gets dropped. And outreach is always the first thing to go when you get busy. Which means your pipeline only fills when you have time, exactly when you need it least. The math is brutal. If it takes 60–90 days for a lead ...