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sconner
Joined: 26 Jan 2006 Location: South Carolina
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Join Me

Joined: 14 Jan 2008
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Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 5:32 am Post subject: |
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I think the government is going to have to take some serious measures to change the direction of the won pretty soon. If we are feeling it, imagine what the average restaurant owner is going through now. If you are here for the long hall the won fluctuates and you just have to wait till the right time to send your cash come. That time is definitely not now.
I also think that while prices are rising it is much like the article said. Consumers are willing to pay through the nose for high quality goods. If you are willing to settle for locally produced goods (beef being on exception), you can still live pretty cheaply. Dok boki and ramion have went up over the past few years I have been here, but not as much as compared to imported goods. |
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crusher_of_heads
Joined: 23 Feb 2007 Location: kimbop and kimchi for kimberly!!!!
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Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 5:33 am Post subject: |
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The policy of a weak won will seriously hurt productivity and any chances of serious foreing investment here-sure the start up costs will be good but the ROI-who needs it? |
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sojourner1

Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Location: Where meggi swim and 2 wheeled tractors go sput put chug alugg pug pug
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Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 5:17 pm Post subject: |
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They need to stop pegging Asian currencies to the US Dollar. |
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bodybydada
Joined: 07 Sep 2006 Location: Jinju
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 6:34 am Post subject: |
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sojourner1 wrote: |
They need to stop pegging Asian currencies to the US Dollar. |
The Korean won is not pegged to the dollar. I can't think of any asian currencies that are, as a matter of fact. The chinese used to have theirs fixed to the dollar, but they started to float it a few years back and the Yuan Renminby has been getting stronger ever since.
so, what asian curencies are you referring to? |
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Dome Vans Guest
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 6:42 am Post subject: |
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sojourner1 wrote: |
They need to stop pegging Asian currencies to the US Dollar. |
Everyone needs to stop pegging their currency to the dollar, and we'll speed up the inevitable. |
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Real Reality
Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: Seoul
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 7:01 am Post subject: |
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Way Too Expensive
Korea Times (May 20, 2008)
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2008/05/202_24494.html
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There is no dearth of surveys and statistics backing it up. A Swiss institution puts Korea's competitiveness as measured by its living cost index at the bottom of 55 countries surveyed. Goods and service prices and housing expenses in Seoul were 20 to 40 percent higher than New York and other global cities. This combined with low levels of openness to foreign culture, poor labor-management relationships and technological regulations to pull down Korea's ranking in terms of foreign direct investment to GDP to 54th place.
Foreigners of course are not the only ones suffering from high prices. According to the Korea Consumer Agency, the prices of seven goods and services, ranging from fruit juice to green fees, were 1.5 to 2.3 times higher even than the average of G-7 countries.
If these selected items appear to have less to do with working-class people, one should refer to the gradual fall of Korea's per capita gross national income to 51st place among 209 nations in 2006, a level that hardly deserves the label of a semi-developed country, let alone an advanced one.
In short, high price levels erode national competitiveness and reduce real income, deteriorating the overall standard of living. |
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Privateer
Joined: 31 Aug 2005 Location: Easy Street.
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 7:07 am Post subject: |
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51st place? If Korea's at 51st place for gross national income then I suggest there's something wrong with the criteria they're using to come up with that tosh. Either that, or a lot more countries have been getting wealthier recently. |
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Sincinnatislink

Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Location: Top secret.
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zizi
Joined: 01 Dec 2007 Location: Korea
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 8:35 am Post subject: |
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That still doesn't look good for us. The chart shows it's going down. |
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Sincinnatislink

Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Location: Top secret.
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 8:36 am Post subject: |
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It's going down, but the real problem here is cost of living, not devaluation relative to the dollar. |
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Gwangjuboy
Joined: 08 Jul 2003 Location: England
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 2:48 pm Post subject: |
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Privateer wrote: |
51st place? If Korea's at 51st place for gross national income then I suggest there's something wrong with the criteria they're using to come up with that tosh. Either that, or a lot more countries have been getting wealthier recently. |
They are 51st in terms of per capita income. In terms of GDP they are probably still 12th or 13th. I can't remember a time when Korea was ever particuarly high in the list of per capita GDP. On average Brits probably earn three or four times more than Koreans. |
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Real Reality
Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: Seoul
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 2:50 pm Post subject: |
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Sincinnatislink wrote: |
... the real problem here is cost of living,.... |
"Korea's consumer prices are some of the highest in the world, according to the Korea Consumer Agency."
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/_data/photo/2008/05/20231127.jpg
Korea ranking highest on prices for 7 items
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In a survey of average consumer prices of seven items in 11 major countries including G7 countries [U.S.., U.K., Germany, France, Japan, Italy and Canada] as well as Taiwan, Singapore, China and Hong Kong, Korea ranked highest on all items.... |
By Cho Jae-eun, Park Hyun-young, JoongAng Ilbo (May 21, 2008)
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2890071 |
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jim_we

Joined: 06 May 2004 Location: Korea
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 3:42 pm Post subject: |
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So leave! Or keep your money in Yen, gold or silver if you want to keep the value of your money. Medium term, the Yen will continue to to rise.........until the Yen carry trade starts to unravel. Then, precious metals will be the place to be. |
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marlow
Joined: 06 Feb 2005
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 4:35 pm Post subject: |
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The Economist is predicting the won will recover starting late this year or next year. Maybe we can expect 750 for a C$ by 2012. Commodity inflation is expected to cool this year as well. But, pay still has to go up in Korea. It has not matched the inflation of the past five years. Not even close. |
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