Hyundai breaks monopoly

Hyundai breaks monopoly

SEOUL (AFP): South Korean industrial giant Hyundai Group yesterday obtained approval from a provincial government to jump into the country's monopolized and state-controlled steel industry, the group said.

Hyundai Group chairman Chung Mong-Koo signed an agreement with the governor of Kyungnam province, who allowed the group to build a major steel mill in Hadong, near the hometown of President Kim Young-Sam.

The agreement, however, bypassed the central Seoul government, which has rejected Hyundai's ambitious drive to break the state monopoly in the lucrative industry.

In parliament last week, Trade and Industry Minister Lim Chang-Yeul repeated that Seoul objected to Hyundai's steel mill project.