'Sajeuksaeng' and 'Tough Samsung Employee' Ordered by Lee Jae-yong... Will the Winning Move Work? [3-Minute Brief]

[At a Glance]
① Lee Jae-yong urges 'tough Samsung people'... "Respond to crisis with SaJukSaeng resolve"
② As Korea's trade surplus with the U.S. grows, will it face pressure to renegotiate the FTA?
③ Samsung SDI's 2 trillion won capital increase... "Stock price halved"

MARKET INDEX

○ U.S. New York Stock Exchange's three major indices all closed higher... Inflow of bargain buying

○ February retail sales up 0.2% month-on-month... below expectations

○ Focus on FOMC on the 19th... key to this year's interest rate outlook

TOP 3 NEWS

■ Warning from Lee Jae-yong: "Samsung has lost its true strength"... Urges 'SaJukSaeng (死卽生)' resolve

○ Samsung conducts 'Restoring Samsung Values Education' for 2,000 executives
○ Chairman Lee's message emphasizes "Facing survival issues... technology is the first and foremost"
○ External experts point out "Samsung needs to strengthen crisis response leadership"

■ U.S. announces bilateral negotiations with countries after mutual tariff bombardment... Will South Korea face pressure to revise FTA?

○ Secretary Rubio: "Bilateral negotiations based on fairness and reciprocity"
○ South Korea likely no exception... possibility of revising the Korea-U.S. FTA
○ Secretary Basant: "Healthy adjustment to prevent financial crisis"

■ "What about the retail investors with stock prices halved?"... Samsung SDI makes shareholders cry twice with capital increase

○ Fell more than 6% on the 14th... intraday 52-week low
○ Stock price halved compared to a year ago... dropped about 23% this year alone
○ Stock recovery seems distant, shareholders 'in tears' due to large-scale capital increase

Graphic News: Beauty and Plastic Surgery Consumption Surpasses 1 Trillion Won for the First Time... "Traveling to smooth wrinkles and get double eyelid surgery"

○ Last year, medical tourism consumption in Korea surpassed 1 trillion won
○ Dermatology and plastic surgery have overtaken since last year
○ Sharp increase in Japanese tourists... visits even on weekends

Law That Makes Money

■ Small business owners and individual investors suffer huge damages... Authorities target MBK

○ National Tax Service launches special tax investigation on MBK
○ Kim Byung-joo has a history of 42 billion won tax recovery due to offshore tax evasion
○ "Despite many disputes, does not appear as a party in lawsuits"
☞ Read article: https://www.lawtimes.co.kr/news/206388

■ Bithumb's Lee Jung-hoon acquitted of fraud charges worth 110 billion won

○ Accused of embezzling over 100 billion won in investment funds under the pretext of coin listing
○ Acquitted as there was no evidence to prove promise of listing
○ Lack of notification and other issues may be considered as civil liability
☞ Read article: https://www.lawtimes.co.kr/news/206403

■ To justify probationary dismissal... "Specific and substantial reasons must be clearly stated in writing"

○ When refusing full employment based on evaluations during probation period,
○ Specific dismissal reasons must be notified in writing
○ "Employees should be able to know the dismissal reasons concretely"
☞ Read article: https://www.lawtimes.co.kr/news/206353

※ 'Law That Makes Money,' a content partnership corner between Asia Economy and Law Times, is published every Tuesday and Thursday.

Today's Key Schedule

○ Domestic

○ Overseas

03:00 U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta GDPNow (Q1)

19:00 Germany ZEW Economic Sentiment Index, Economic Expectations Index (March)

19:00 Europe ZEW Economic Outlook Index (March)

21:30 U.S. Export Price Index (MoM) (February)

21:30 U.S. Import Price Index (MoM) (February)

◇ Lunch & Commute Weather

○ Lowest temperature -2℃(▼2℃) ｜ Highest temperature: 4℃(▲5℃)
○ Precipitation probability: 60% in the morning｜20% in the afternoon
○ Fine dust: Moderate in the morning｜Good in the afternoon

OK in 3 minutes, essential time-efficient economic news. Published daily at 8 AM.