Roaring ahead to a seven year high...The economy steamed ahead in Q3, according to preliminary data released by the Bank of Korea. Growth came in at 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year, higher than the 2.7% growth recorded for Q2. A jump in exports, coupled with an increase in government spending, propelled the economy in the third quarter. Kicking off Q4, consumer and business confidence were strong in October and November, respectively, and the underlying health of export growth was also strong in October. On 31 October, Korea and China agreed to improve diplomatic relations, which could lead to a recovery in tourism exports next year since they have suffered from the deterioration in relations between the two countries following the deployment of the THAAD missile system in Korea earlier this year. On 7 November, during his visit to Korea, U.S. President Trump called to push ahead with amendment negotiations for the U.S.-Korea free-trade agreement. President Trump’s visit was part of a wider tour of East Asia, in which he pushed for greater regional unity regarding North Korea. The 2018 budget, which includes an increase in spending, and improved diplomatic relations with China should buoy economic growth next year. However, measures to cool the housing market could weigh on the outlook. FocusEconomics panelists expect GDP to expand 2.8% in 2018, which is up 0.1 percentage points from last month’s forecast. In 2019, the economy is forecast to grow 2.7%.  Inflation dropped from 2.1% in September to 1.8% in October. Our panelists project that inflation will average 2.0% in 2018, which is up 0.1 percentage points from last month´s forecast. In 2019, the panel expects inflation to average 2.0% again. Read more at Focus Economics.

You do not know where it (the equity stock price) is gonna land. Despite the tremendous news - including eyewitness accounts of burning phones, and major activist funds calling for executive changes and special dividend payouts - Samsung posted better than expected numbers. 

Good for Samsung. Good for Korea. - Chad

By Jungah Lee (Bloomberg) -- Samsung Electronics Co. posted better-than-expected earnings as demand for its high-margin memory chips and displays limited the impact of a global recall of its marquee Galaxy Note 7 smartphone. Operating income rose 5.5 percent to 7.8 trillion won ($7 billion) in the three months ended September, the world’s largest maker of phones and memory chips said in preliminary results released Friday. That compares with the 7.58 trillion- won average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. While the recall has dominated headlines since it was announced last month, Samsung worked to contain the fallout from exploding smartphones and insulate its component businesses. That helped maintain growth as new devices from rivals stoke demand for memory chips and displays. A fresh issue emerged this week when billionaire activist Paul Elliott Singer launched a campaign to get the family-controlled company to restructure. “The recall-related costs have surely taken its toll on its mobile business in the quarter but its other businesses, particularly semiconductors, have fared extraordinarily well, ” Lee Seung-woo, an analyst at IBK Securities Co. in Seoul, said before the earnings release. "Even Apple has placed a huge order for chips from Samsung, I heard, and it can’t even keep up with explosive demand from China ahead of the typically strong fourth quarter." Sales were 49 trillion won in the quarter, the Suwon-based company said, compared with the 51 trillion won analysts expected. Samsung won’t provide net income or break out divisional performance until it releases audited results later this month. The company didn’t specify the financial impact of the recall. Analysts have estimated the cost at $1 billion to $2 billion. Shares of Samsung closed at 1.69 million won won Thursday, up 4.5 percent, reaching a record after Singer’s proposal to split the company and return cash to investors.

Pressure cooker alert.

Increased defense by NK circa 2013 was a possible chess move by Russia or China, but not in this case. NK is attempting to build out infrastructure. See, when the ballon is squeezed at one end the other end still jets out, this inflation happens to be the submarine- launched ballistic missile end. - Chad

By Julian Ryall (Telegraph)

Satellite images indicate that North Korea is starting work on a submarine that will be larger than anything it can presently deploy, with analysts suggesting the vessel may be used as the platform for Pyongyang's newly developed submarine-launched ballistic missiles. 

Images captured by commercial satellites in September show components compatible with the construction of a submarine stockpiled at the Sinpo South Shipyard, according to the 38 North web site, operated by the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University . "While there is no direct evidence that the program is for a boat to carry the ballistic missile currently under development, the presence of an approximately 10-metre in diameter [32 feet] circular component outside the facility’s recently renovated fabrication hall may be intended as a construction-jig or as a component for the pressure hull of a new submarine," the report claims. The vast majority of North Korea's submarines have been built at the Sinpo South Shipyard and, if the component is for a new generation of submarine, it will be larger than the Gorae-class experimental ballistic missile submarine - with a beam of around 23 feet - that has been used in SLBM tests to date. The shipyard has undergone extensive modernisation work in the last 18 months, including the addition of a fabrication plant and a roof to a construction hall alongside a slipway. Satellite images have also monitored the delivery of raw steel and fabricated components, as well as the presence of heavy equipment transporters. North Korea carried out a successful test-launch of a SLBM in late August , with the missile travelling more than 300 miles before falling into the Sea of Japan. "There are many strategic reasons why North Korea is seeking an SLBM capability," said Lance Gatling, a defence analyst and president of Tokyo-based Nexial Research Inc. "Rather than relying on fixed sites that can be detected by electronic or human intelligence, a submarine has a far greater ability to roam and be undetected," he told The Telegraph. "If they were just building a larger conventional submarine, armed with torpedoes, then no-one would be very worried", he said. "But their ability to miniaturise nuclear warheads and put those warheads on missiles that can be launched from submarines is a significant and worrying step forward in their strategic capabilities." 

0- Oct/04/2016 23:11 GMT Bloomberg 

Reprint - A great read, it's almost symbolic. The greatest guys still helping out the wars. Reminds me of my grandfather and his golfing...He would totally allow this at his home course.  - Chad 

By Kanga Kong (Bloomberg) -- A Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course in South Korea was picked Friday as the new site for a U.S. missile system aimed at defending the country from any North Korean attack. The decision comes after more than two months of protests over the original plan to locate Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, known as Thaad, in the mountainous county of Seongju more than 200 kilometers (125 miles) southeast of Seoul. The missile defense system will now be located nearby at the Lotte Group’s Skyhill Country Club, according to South Korea’s Defense Ministry. The move, just weeks after Kim Jong Un’s regime conducted its fifth nuclear test, may appease some villagers who fiercely opposed putting Thaad in Seongju due to concerns over how its powerful radars would impact their health. Even so, President Park Geun-hye’s administration still faces other obstacles to moving ahead with the defense system. China and Russia remain opposed to Thaad as they believe it will destabilize the region, with Beijing considering economic retaliation if South Korea deploys the missile shield. The issue has prompted China to give the cold shoulder to Park, only months after the two nations hailed ties as the best in history. “China has many times made clear its opposition to the U.S. deploying its THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea,” Chinese defense ministry spokesman Yang Yujun told reporters in Beijing on Thursday.