Korean Developments

MONDAY 16 JANUARY 2006
THE CHANGING BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT OF ASIA (Series)
"The Korean case: how much has changed in the last decade?"

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Location: Deloitte, Stonecutter Court, 1 Stonecutter St, London EC4A 4TR
Nearest Tube Stations: Blackfriars, Chancery Lane, Farringdon, St Pauls
Time: 3 - 6 pm

Chair: Mr Christopher Fitzgibbon, Partner/Chairman, Korean Desk, Deloitte

Speakers: His Excellency Ambassador Yoon Je Cho "The Role of Corporate Restructuring" (working title)

Mr Phil Burton, Chairman, Korea Advisers Group, UK Trade and Investment "The view from the Foreign Investment Community" (working title)

Mr James Rhee, Senior Consultant (Law), KOTRA, Invest Korea (Seoul) "The Intellectual Property scene"

Mr Charles Hardy, Audit Partner, Deloitte & Touche LLP "Developments in accounting standards"

Commentators: Mr Martyn Allen, Business Development Director, Underwater Systems, BAE Systems (former Trade Promoter, UK Trade and Investment)

Background
Korea was hit badly by the 1997 Asian Crisis. The value of the Won fell drastically. The corporate sector was in danger of mass bankruptcy. The economy shrank. The IMF was making demands for reform. However, the government and the corporate sector responded quickly, taking far more radical steps than, say, the Japanese when faced with the collapse of their bubble economy in 1990. The economy is firmly back into growth.

This seminar will look at how much has changed over the last decade. What is the true extent of corporate restructuring and the improvement of corporate governance? Have Korean companies become more focussed on profitability, rather than putting growth first? How has the transparency of Korean businesses improved? What has happened to their financing strategies? How have accounting standards evolved? Similarly, what has been happening in the field of intellectual property?

The purpose of this seminar is to look at the process of change in the Korean business environment. What forces have brought about these changes? How sustainable are they? Are we seeing the evolution of the Korean economy in the direction of the "Anglo-American" model - or are we faced with a distinctively Korean one?

This seminar is part of a research programme which APTN and Chatham House's Asia Programme are launching to look at the impact of Anglo-American economic institutions on Asian Business Cultures. So far, they have run one overview seminar. This Korean event will be followed by similar ones on major regional economies such as Japan, China and India. The study will, however, look at sectoral developments across the region (ie the spread of international accounting standards, mergers & acquisition activity and venture capitalism etc).

Speakers' Backgrounds

His Excellency Ambassador Yoon Je Cho
Professor Cho received his B.A. in economics from Seoul National University and Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University. During 1984 - 1993, he worked at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund as an Economist and Senior Economist. He also taught at the Georgetown University as an Adjunct Professor during this period. He returned to Korea in 1993 and served as the Senior Councellor for the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance and Economy and Vice President of the Korea Institute of Public finance during 1993-1997. He joined the faculty of the Graduate School of International Studies of the Sogang University in 1997 and then served as the Director of the Institute of the International and Area Studies. He was also standing economic policy advisor to the President of the Republic of Korea,

Professor Cho has widely published in the areas of the financial liberalization, financial sector reforms, and economic development of Korea. He also has served as a member of various government committees including National Economic Advisory Council to the President, and Financial Sector Development Deliberation Committee of the Ministry of Finance and Economy.

Phil Burton, Chairman, Korea Advisers Group, UK Trade and Investment
Phil Burton took over as Honorary Chairman of the Korean Advisers Group of Trade Partners UK in January 2002.

He had two careers, the first of 24 years as a Royal Air Force and civil airline pilot during which he served in South East Asia for over six years, commanded three RAF flying units and was awarded the Air Force Cross. His second career was of 21 years in high technology industry. He specialised in two main fields, small business start-ups and international business. As a New Ventures Director, he started six businesses in the UK, all of which were successful. He became a fellow of the British Institute of Management and lectured extensively on entrepreneurship in large companies.

In the international arena, he was Chairman or a Director of some 30 companies, located in Europe, North & South America, the Middle East and Asia - Pacific. His first overseas company was a small software house started in Seoul in 1985, part of his long-running involvement with Korea. Although he led M&A activity for three major UK companies, his specialisation was in the start-up of new high technology companies outside the UK. In his 21 year career, none of these failed.

In Government, he was previously on the Middle East Association (twice Chairman of the Association) and the Latin American Trade Advisory Association. He also served on the British Government's Asia-Pacific Advisers Group and is a member of the UK-Korea Forum for the Future. He has chaired three Korea-UK High Technology Industry Fora, and is involved in the new UK-Korea Science & Technology Industry Partnership. He also represented the EU in recent Asia-Europe Business Forum, chairing the Trade Group. He still flies extensively, both as a private pilot and as an instructor in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. His hobbies also include skiing and sailing. He married, to Sandy, in Singapore in 1967 and has two daughters, Victoria (35) and Alexandra (32). He now lives in Dorset, England, a village in the Colorado Rocky Mountains and the Algarve, Portugal.

James Rhee, KOTRA Invest Korea
2004-Present KOTRA Invest Korea Senior Consultant (Law)
2001-2004 Shin-Hwa Law Professional Co., Korea Chief/International Team
1996-2001 JSL Fund Management, Sydney Managing Director
* 1998 NSW Office of Seoul Metropolitan Government, Sydney Assistant Liaison Officer
1990-1996 GIBSONS Lawyers, Sydney Senior Consultant
1985-1989 Hyundai Electronics Co. Ltd, Korea (Hynix Semiconductor) Section Chief / Legal Dept.
1990-1993 The University of Sydney, Australia Law School, SAB course
Member of ANZCCK (Australia-New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in KOREA)

Mr Charles Hardy, Audit Partner, Deloitte & Touche LLP
Following his return from an overseas secondment, Charles has specialised in the accounting and regulatory issues of the UK banking and securities industry since 1985, and has been a partner since 1988. He has acted for a large number of overseas financial institutions in London, helping them in a wide variety of areas, including opening their offices here, systems and controls consulting, regulatory advisory projects and audits. As a consequence of this, he is an active member of various of our teams serving overseas clients, including working with Chris Fitzgibbon on the Deloitte Korean and Greater China Desks.

Organised by: Asia-Pacific Technology Network
Asia Programme, Chatham House

Sponsored by Deloitte
Korean Embassy
Kotra (Korea Trade Centre London)

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