South Korea Engages U.S. Over Tariff Concerns

The South Korean government is actively engaging with the U.S. to address trade uncertainties stemming from new tariff measures, Trade Minister Cheong In-kyo said Thursday.

During a meeting with top industry think tanks—including Samsung, Hyundai, POSCO, and LG—Cheong emphasized the importance of coordinated efforts to navigate U.S. protectionist policies under President Trump.

The U.S. is reportedly considering tariffs on steel, aluminum, and automobiles, raising concerns among its trading partners.

“We are maintaining direct communication channels with the U.S. to mitigate risks and help domestic industries adjust to these evolving trade policies,” Cheong said, calling for stronger industry-government collaboration.

Deputy Trade Minister Park Jong-won is currently in Washington, holding discussions with U.S. officials on the potential impact of Trump’s trade agenda on South Korean industries.

Meanwhile, consumer sentiment in South Korea surged to its highest level in nearly four years, driven by expectations of political stability following recent turmoil. The Bank of Korea’s consumer sentiment index rose to 95.2 in February, marking the largest gain since June 2021.

India to assume G20 Presidency for a year from Dec 1; Sets priorities

New Delhi, Sep 13 (IANS) India has listed its priorities ahead of assuming the G20 Presidency for a year from December 1, 2022 to November 30, 2023.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Ministry of External Affairs said: “Our G20 priorities are in the process of being firmed up, ongoing conversations inter alia revolve around:

  • Inclusive, equitable and sustainable growth;
  • LiFE (Lifestyle For Environment);
  • women’s empowerment;
  • digital public infrastructure and tech-enabled development in areas ranging from health, agriculture and education to commerce,
  • skill-mapping,
  • culture and tourism;
  • climate financing;
  • circular economy;
  • global food security;
  • energy security;
  • green hydrogen;
  • disaster risk reduction and resilience;
  • developmental cooperation;
  • fight against economic crime; and multilateral reforms”.

    Under the role, India is expected to host over 200 G20 meetings across the country, beginning from this December.

    The G20 Leaders’ Summit at the level of Heads of State Government is scheduled to be held on September 9-10, 2023 in New Delhi, said the Ministry statement.

    The G20 is an inter-governmental forum of the world’s major developed and developing economies.

    G20 comprises 20 countriesIndia, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US — and the European Union (EU).

    Collectively, the G20 accounts for 85 per cent of the global GDP, 75 per cent of international trade and two-thirds of the world population, making it the premier forum for international economic cooperation.

  • G20 flags

    India is part of the G20 Troika (current, previous and incoming G20 Presidencies), which includes Indonesia and Italy.

    “During our Presidency, India, Indonesia and Brazil would form the Troika. This would be the first time when the Troika would consist of three developing countries and emerging economies, providing them a greater voice,” the statement said.

    The G20 currently comprises Finance Track, with eight workstreams (Global Macroeconomic Policies, Infrastructure Financing, International Financial Architecture, Sustainable Finance, Financial Inclusion, Health Finance, International Taxation, Financial Sector Reforms)

    Sherpa Track, with 12 workstreams — Anti-corruption, Agriculture, Culture, Development, Digital Economy, Employment, Environment and Climate, Education, Energy Transition, Health, Trade and Investment, Tourism.

    Ten Engagement Groups of private sector/civil society/independent bodies (Business 20, Civil 20, Labour 20, Parliament 20, Science 20, Supreme Audit Institutions 20, Think 20, Urban 20, Women 20 and Youth 20).

    In addition to G20 members, there has been a tradition of the G20 Presidency inviting some guest countries and international organizations to its meetings and summit.

    Accordingly, in addition to regular international organizations (UN, IMF, World Bank, WHO, WTO, ILO, FSB and OECD) and Chairs of Regional Organizations (AU, AUDA-NEPAD and ASEAN).

    India, as G20 Presidency, will be inviting Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Spain and UAE as guest countries, as well as the International Solar Alliance, Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure and the Asian Development Bank as guest international organizations.

Recalled Galaxy Note 7 to Sell at 30% Less in South Korea, Not in India, US: Samsung

Samsung Electronics, which has recalled millions of units of Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, will refurbish them and sell them 30 percent discounted price in South Korea beginning Friday, July 7, 2017.

The Galaxy Note 7 faced several instances of battery fires and was banned in aircraft last year when it was launched, forcing the mobile giant to recall them. Now Samsung wants to resell them with replaced batteries manufactured by different makers.

Samsung said in a statement that 400,000 phones, dubbed the Galaxy Note 7 Fan Edition, will be put on sale in its home country priced at 699,600 won ($611), which is 30 percent lower than the Note 7’s original launch price.

The new units meant for sale are from recalled, unsealed Galaxy Note 7 handsets and making use of some unused Note 7 components, said the company. Since the battery was the main problem, the replaced battery will have a lower capacity than those of the original Note 7s, but have passed new safety measures, it said.

To recall, Samsung faced unprecedented criticism over a higher capacity battery that was used in its highly advertised Galaxy Note 7 when it was launched in October last year.

Within two months, amid several instances of the smartphone catching fire from its batteries, Samsung had to recall all the units that had cost the world’s biggest smartphone maker by volume a staggering amount of $5 billion and damaged its reputation, though its next launch Galaxy S8 was smooth and successful.

Samsung will decide soon whether to sell the refurbished Note 7s in other markets, but not in India and the United States, where it faced legal ban.

Here are the features or specs of Samsung Galaxy Note 7:

NETWORK Technology GSM / HSPA / LTE
LAUNCH Announced 2016, August. Released 2016, September
Status Discontinued
BODY Dimensions 153.5 x 73.9 x 7.9 mm (6.04 x 2.91 x 0.31 in)
Weight 169 g (5.96 oz)
Build Corning Gorilla Glass 5 back panel
SIM Single SIM (Nano-SIM) or Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)
– IP68 certified – dust/water proof over 1.5 meter and 30 minutes
– Stylus
– Samsung Pay (Visa, MasterCard certified)
DISPLAY Type Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size 5.7 inches (~78.0% screen-to-body ratio)
Resolution 1440 x 2560 pixels (~518 ppi pixel density)
Multitouch Yes
Protection Corning Gorilla Glass 5
– HDR10 compliant
– Always-on display
– TouchWiz UI
PLATFORM OS Android 6.0.1 (Marshmallow)
Chipset Exynos 8890 Octa
CPU Octa-core (4×2.3 GHz Mongoose & 4×1.6 GHz Cortex-A53)
GPU Mali-T880 MP12
MEMORY Card slot microSD, up to 256 GB (dedicated slot) – single-SIM model
microSD, up to 256 GB (uses SIM 2 slot) – dual-SIM model
Internal 64 GB, 4 GB RAM
CAMERA Primary 12 MP, f/1.7, 26mm, phase detection autofocus, OIS, LED flash, check quality
Features 1/2.5″ sensor size, 1.4 µm pixel size, geo-tagging, simultaneous 4K video and 9MP image recording, touch focus, face/smile detection, Auto HDR, panorama
Video 2160p@30fps, 1080p@60fps, 720p@240fps, HDR, dual-video rec., check quality
Secondary 5 MP, f/1.7, 22mm, dual video call, Auto HDR
SOUND Alert types Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
Loudspeaker Yes
3.5mm jack Yes
– 24-bit/192kHz audio
– Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
COMMS WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot
Bluetooth 4.2, A2DP, EDR, LE
GPS Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO
NFC Yes
Radio No
USB 3.1, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector
FEATURES Sensors Iris scanner, fingerprint (front-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, heart rate, SpO2
Messaging SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM
Browser HTML5
Java No
– Fast battery charging
– Qi wireless charging (market dependent)
– ANT+ support
– S-Voice natural language commands and dictation
– MP4/DivX/XviD/WMV/H.265 player
– MP3/WAV/WMA/eAAC+/FLAC player
– Photo/video editor
– Document editor

 

TESTS Performance Basemark OS II 2.0: 2676 / Basemark X: 32648
Display Contrast ratio: Infinite (nominal), 4.247 (sunlight)
Camera Photo / Video
Loudspeaker Voice 69dB / Noise 69dB / Ring 72dB
Audio quality Noise -92.8dB / Crosstalk -92.9dB
MISC Colors Blue Coral, Gold Platinum, Silver Titanium, Black Onyx
SAR EU 0.25 W/kg (head)     1.28 W/kg (body)
Price About 850 EUR