1-1) New drama 'Goblin' 1-2) JP Morgan's corrupted hiring 2-1) Political view on Facebook stock 2-2) Tesla smart factory _ Nov. 29

1-1) 'Descendants' writer, director team up for new fantasy piece(Koreaherald)Most followers of Korean pop culture will remember the megahit TV series "Descendants of the Sun," which created a sensation at home and abroad. The writer and director of that drama have teamed up again to create a fantasy rom-com based on the lives of an immortal goblin, an amnesiac grim reaper and a high school girl claiming to be the goblin's future bride. In its lead roles, "Goblin" has cast actors Gong Yoo, Lee Dong-wook, Kim Go-eun, Yoo In-na and Yook Sung-jae, a member of the boy band BTOB. "It's my second time working with (Kim) Eun-sook. I was fooled," Lee Eung-bok, the director, said jokingly during a promotional press conference held in southern Seoul, turning to the screenwriter seated next to him. "We had such a hard time during the filming of 'Descendants of the Sun' that this time I wanted to do a comfortable piece in a limited area of space but it turned out to have immense scale." As the drama goes back and forth in time, the goblin, Kim Shin (Gong), appears at first as a military officer dressed in period armor and then as a modern day man with his true identity in disguise. He was cast as a traitor some 900 years ago and put under a spell of eternal life. The only way to break the spell is to meet a "goblin bride" who will pull the dagger out of his heart and end his life. When he meets the high school senior, Ji Eun-tak (Kim Go-eun), the two develop a friendship that later grows into love. The cast and producers traveled to Quebec, Canada to shoot part of the series and used various computer graphics for special effects. "It was amazing," the writer said of the teaser that was screened at the conference. "The battle scenes were portrayed much more majestically than I expected, so I got goosebumps." Kim has been a hit maker for years. Aside from "Descendants," her portfolio also includes such popular dramas as "Lovers in Paris," "Secret Garden," "A Gentleman's Dignity" and "The Heirs." Still, it took her five years to cast Gong in one of her dramas.  "I was repeatedly rejected (by Gong) so I was a bit shy to ask him again, but this time he gave a very quick response," she recalled. "He gave me a wonderful response that stunned me." In a text message from Hawaii, the 37-year-old actor wrote at the time, "Should you be alright with such a timid and fainthearted goblin as me, I will do it." Gong, who has mostly recently starred in films, explained that he had a fear of TV series, but was encouraged after a three-hourmeeting with the writer and director. "In a drama, filming is ongoing, so the actors can't promise to be in best shape until the end," he said. "I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to show my best acting." He confessed that at first he found it hard to play the part of a non-human, but later grew to enjoy it. "Since I'm not a human, I can do whatever I want. I'm neither here nor there," he said. "My abilities will be revealed bit by bit with each episode. It will be fun to watch." Meanwhile, the writer shared her discomfort about holding a promotional press conference at a time when the country has been roiled by a widening corruption scandal involving the president and her confidante. "I want (our drama) to be a short break," she said. "It's a drama that lets those who want to cry, cry their eyes out, and those who want to laugh, laugh as much as they want. I hope you enjoy it." "Goblin" will premiere on cable channel tvN at 8 p.m. on Dec. 2. The Friday-Saturday series is set to run for 16 episodes.[Question] Who do you like/dislike among the cast actors? Is the scenario appealing to you? Which dramas/actors do you like and why? Do you see a likelihood of Netflix contacting the contents producer for distribution rights? 1-2) JPMorgan fined for hiring kids of China's elite to win business(cnn)Inside JPMorgan, they called it the "Sons and Daughters" program. Authorities now describe it as "corruption, plain and simple."JPMorgan Chase (JPM) improperly hired the "unqualified" children of China's ruling elite to win lucrative business from the country's key decision makers, authorities alleged on Thursday. Regulators slapped JPMorgan with $264 million in fines and said the bank "corruptly influenced government officials" with its hiring and internship tactics in China. The settlement follows a three-year investigation into JPMorgan and marks one of the first major crackdowns on a big U.S. bank for running afoul of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Known as the FCPA, the law prohibits companies from making payments or giving "anything of value" to win business from foreign officials. "JPMorgan engaged in a systemic bribery scheme by hiring children of government officials ... who were typically unqualified for the position on their own merit," Andrew Ceresney, director of the SEC's enforcement division, said in a statement. The practice of giving the children of China's ruling class plum jobs and internships was so common at JPMorgan that the bank even had a formal program known as "Sons and Daughters." The program included spreadsheets that tracked how often the hires turned into business deals. "The so-called Sons and Daughters program was nothing more than bribery by another name," said Assistant U.S. Attorney General Leslie Caldwell. She called it "corruption, plain and simple."  Over the course of seven years, JPMorgan hired about 100 interns and full-time employees at the request of foreign government officials, according to authorities. These jobs scored JPMorgan more than $100 million in business. JPMorgan admitted to authorities that individuals hired during the scheme were given the same titles and paid the same amount as entry-level investment bankers. That's despite the fact that, according to the DOJ, they mostly focused on routine work such as "proofreading" and generated little actual business. JPMorgan's $264 million in fines is being divided up among multiple government agencies. The bank has agreed to pay more than $130 million to the SEC, $72 million to the Justice Department and $62 million to the Federal Reserve. Despite the "blatant" conduct alleged by authorities, the U.S. did not announce any criminal charges against JPMorgan itself nor any individual employees of the bank. In a statement, JPMorgan said the hiring practices were "unacceptable" and the program was stopped in 2013. The bank said it took "action" against the individuals involved and has since improved its hiring procedures. JPMorgan also said in a filing that it continues to cooperate on other related investigations that are "ongoing." The SEC said it continues to investigate the issue. Authorities say the hirings were quid pro quo arrangements expressly made with the intent to win business. For instance, the DOJ said that in late 2009 a Chinese official told a senior JPMorgan banker in Asia that hiring a referred candidate would significantly influence the role JPMorgan would play in an upcoming IPO of a Chinese state-owned company. JPMorgan then spent months trying to place the candidate in a New York investment banking position -- despite realizing he was not qualified. The SEC said JPMorgan's internal controls were "so weak" that not one of these hiring requests was denied. The settlement comes as JPMorgan's CEO, Jamie Dimon, has been floated as a potential treasury secretary in the Trump administration. It's also the latest black eye for Wall Street and big banks. Earlier this year, Wells Fargo (WFC) outraged Americans by saying it fired 5,300 employees for creating as many as 2 million fake accounts. The scandal dealt a blow to Wells Fargo's reputation and resulted in the sudden retirement of longtime CEO John Stumpf. JPMorgan itself has also been in trouble in recent years. In 2013, JPMorgan paid $5.1 billion to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac linked to misdeeds in the run up to the housing bubble. JPMorgan was also hit with a $1 billion fine for improper oversight that led to the London Whale trading debacle. Regulators worry the misbehavior among bankers is causing a credibility problem for the industry. "Deep-seated cultural and ethical problems," New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley recently warned," have "eroded the industry's trustworthiness."[Question] If you were an investor in JP Morgan, would you see the hiring project 'Sons and Daughters' as good? Do we have any job-related corruption cases in Korea? If your parent influlce Samsung to get you a job, would you take the position or not?   2-1) Facebook stock is on fire (CNN)Shares of the social network have rebounded sharply in the past few days after a post-Election Day pummeling. Concerns about how Donald Trump would treat tech companies and allegations that fake stories on Facebook (FB, Tech30) helped Trump beat Hillary Clinton weighed on the stock. Shares fell nearly 10% between November 8 and November 14. But since then, Facebook's stock has bounced back by about 7%.  So what happened? Many big tech stocks initially tanked after Trump was elected to be the next president due to fears he would be an enemy of Silicon Valley. Trump feuded with leaders in the tech sector, most notably Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) CEO Jeff Bezos, on Twitter throughout the campaign. Some tech executives even suggested after Trump won that California should secede from the United States. (Good luck with that.) Making matters worse for Facebook, were the problems it faced with its news feed algorithm. A few Clinton supporters accused Facebook of helping Trump win the election because of a preponderance of false news reports popping up on the site -- many of which were extremely negative about Clinton. For example, First Lady Michelle Obama did NOT delete tweets about Clinton. But stories suggesting she had somehow made it to Facebook. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg initially refused to even consider that Facebook could have influenced voters. But in a surprising turn, the company announced just a few days ago that it was making tweaks in order to fight the scourge of fake news. That change of heart probably helped Facebook's stock a bit. Advertisers can't like the fact that Facebook's feed might be able to be gamed. Facebook has to seriously address fake news. Another factor behind the stock's fall and subsequent comeback? The company admitted that there have been errors with some of its internal metrics. That could be a significant problem if it leads marketers to try and negotiate lower ad rates or, worse, ditch the platform altogether. But that seems unlikely. With Facebook's monthly user base approaching 2 billion, advertisers may have to put up with the company's auditing issues. There simply aren't many other platforms that offer marketers this much scope and reach. What's more, it seems Facebook is doing the right thing for its customers and is admitting candidly that there are issues that it still needs to work on. Investors probably like that as well. There a couple of other factors that can explain Facebook's comeback.The company's Instagram subsidiary is continuing to roll out new features that could make it more competitive with Snapchat. (Although a cynic would argue that Instagram is simply copying Snapchat.) Facebook also just announced a $6 billion stock buyback program. Now on the one hand, that might be a sign that Facebook is maturing and has nothing better to do with its cash. Other "older" tech companies like Apple (AAPL, Tech30), Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) and even Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL, Tech30)have bought back stock recently. But Wall Street tends to cheer buybacks for two reasons. First, it's a sign that a company feels its own stock is worth investing in. And second, buying back stock reduces the number of shares outstanding -- which, in turn, boosts earnings per share. Finally, tech stocks in general have rebounded in the past week. The Nasdaq is now at an all-time high. Trump is probably not going to wage war with Silicon Valley after all and the Golden State is not going to become the Golden Nation State. Facebook investors probably don't have that much to worry about. Shares are still up more than 15% this year. The company is now worth $350 billion. And sales continue to grow at an impressive clip thanks to its core platform, Instagram and WhatsApp. So Facebook should be fine for the next four years. If nothing else, its nearly 2 billion users are going to have a lot to talk about and share thanks to Trump being in the White House. And hey. Maybe most of that content won't turn out to be fictitious either.[Question] What is a stock? Do you own/want to own a stock? What stocks have you bought? How do you expect the stocks of Hyundai&Kia Motors, Korean Air, and Shinsaegae(E-mart) under the following conditions? -. Exchange rate of Won-USD is in upward trend. -. Interest rate in the U.S. is about to go up by 0.25% in December. -. Korea is under political turmoil and weakened economy mainly due to ship-building, construction, and steel.   2-2) Tesla smart factory (LA Times)Having already upset the traditional automobile industry with his electric cars and the space exploration business with his reusable Space X rockets, Tesla Motors Chief Executive Elon Musk will now set about trying to revolutionize the American factory. In a freewheeling talk before shareholders Tuesday, Musk said he and his Tesla team will completely rethink the factory process, hoping to bring “factors of 10 or even 100 times” in improvements in efficiency to the manner in which “you build the machines that build the machine.”  Musk, returning repeatedly to the idea of “physics-first principles,” said he no longer uses an office at Tesla, but spends all of his time on the production line. That exercise has shown him methods by which production capacity could be increased exponentially, he said, by applying those principles. “The most important point I want to make is … that we’ve realized that the true difficulty and where the greatest potential lies is in building the factory,” Musk said.  Charging the world's best automotive factories with using outmoded and inefficient systems, Musk said, “We can make dramatic improvements to the machine that makes the machine. A lot of people will not believe us about this, but I am absolutely convinced this can be accomplished.” Speaking to shareholders at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif., Musk spent more than two hours reviewing the history of the Bay Area-based electric car company -- reminding his support group of investors and engineers about how many times Tesla could have gone under and how many ways the company has surprised critics. The co-founder and CEO used the word “hubris” repeatedly and took complete responsibility for cost overruns and delayed delivery of Tesla’s “falcon-wing” SUV, the Model X. Calling the Model X program “challenging,” Musk said, “I particularly need to fault myself for … putting too much technology all at once into a product. We have these great ideas. The smart move would have been to table those for version 2 or version 3.” He promised Model X owners that the doors, which have experienced difficulties, will now work correctly. “If you order a Model X now, or soon, trust me, you will love the doors," he said. "Because the software will actually be right.”The year so far has been one of big promises for Tesla. This spring the company unveiled its long-awaited Model 3, the planned long-range, $35,000 electric car for the masses. In May Tesla announced a July 29 “grand opening" for its huge “gigafactory” lithium ion battery plant in northern Nevada. To shareholders, Musk repeated his promise that the company can grow from a projected 80,000 to 100,000 vehicles a year for 2016 to nearly five times that by 2018 – and perhaps as many as a million cars a year by 2020.  Pointing to the company's history, he insisted that such growth was nothing compared with the production ramp-up Tesla underwent going from 1,500 units a year in 2010 on its first vehicle, the Roadster, to 110,000 units a year, five years later, of its much more complex Model S. Although Musk did not make the point specifically, his statements about modernizing the American factory are meant in part to address concerns about whether Tesla’s Fremont, Calif., automobile plant can be capable of maintaining production of the Model S and Model X while beginning production of the less expensive Model 3 -- in a manner that can make it possible at the proposed price. Tesla began taking deposits for Model 3 the day it was unveiled, saying it expected as many as 100,000 customers would step up. In fact, the company received orders for more than 350,000 cars, which it must now build. Musk closed the three-hour meeting by taking questions from shareholders, defending Tesla’s tax incentives, government loans and labor practices, periodically handing off certain questions to senior Tesla staffers.  He may have also disappointed Model 3 buyers by telling them that they would not have access, at the base price, to the “free long-distance charging” system currently available to all owners of the Model S and Model X. Those chargers enable all Tesla owners to replenish their batteries at charging stations spread across the U.S., and in some other countries. Model 3 owners won’t get that service without paying for it. “It will still be very cheap, and far cheaper than buying gasoline,” Musk said. “But it will not be free long-distance charging for life unless you purchase that package.”  *Tesla announces a partnership in South Korea for first store and 25 charging stations(electrek.co) In South Korea today, a week after the official start of pre-orders in the country, Tesla announced a partnership with Shinsegae, the largest retailer in South Korea, to open its first store in the market and to deploy charging stations at 25 locations. As previously rumoured, the first Tesla Store in the country will be in South Korea’s new Starfield Hanam mall. The mall, owned by the Shinsegae Group, is set to open next week, but Tesla’s store will not be in operation until later in the year. Shinsegae owns several other retail brands in South Korea, like E-Mart, Chosun Hotels and Starbucks Korea. Tesla will deploy Destination chargers at 25 of those retail locations by the end of the first half of 2017, according to a press release. The retail group says that Tesla is now considering other Shinsegae locations for future stores. As we previously reported, South Korea is the world’s 11th largest car market and could become an important country in Tesla’s expansion plan.  It largely favors domestic brands like Hyundai and Kia, but aside from the Soul EV and the upcoming Hyundai IONIQ Electric, the country’s electric vehicle options are limited. Tesla will increase the EV offering in the country starting with the Model S in early 2017, followed by the Model X later in 2017. Appointments for test drive events will be available through Tesla’s new Korean website.[Question] What is good about Electric Vehicles compared to fuel-engine vehicles? If enough EV charging stations are completed in Korea, what could happen to Hyundai/Kia motors and it's employees? How can Tesla be more competitive than Hyundai in electric vehicle production? How do you judge Tesla's distrubution strategy in Korea?