Several officers of the Department of Defense Korean tried to influence the 2012 presidential election by posting on social networking messages accusing the opposition candidate, Moon Jae-in, being a supporter of Stalinist regime Pyongyang.

In South Korea, a political scandal involving several intelligence agencies of the country begins to embarrass the executive taken from less than a year, the conservative President Park Geun-Hye. Yesterday, the military investigative services staged a raid on the premises of a unit of the Ministry of Defence, called “Cyber ​​Warfare Command.” Founded in 2010, the Agency, with 400 men, should, in theory, protect the country from cyber attacks launched by North Korea. But the ministry has acknowledged that several officers of the group, theoretically neutral, tried to influence the presidential election of December 2012, putting in the time online on social networking messages accusing the opposition candidate , Moon Jae-in, being a supporter of the Stalinist regime in Pyongyang. Justice has revealed that tens of thousands of similar messages, supporting the right candidate against his opponent, were also posted on Twitter, in the weeks before the vote by members of another agency, the National Service information (NIS).

The opposition, which said that Park Geun-Hye had been elected with a million votes ahead, began to discuss the establishment of a national program of systematic defamation of his candidate. And several protests were held in Seoul, including students requiring a complete reorganization of the secret services. The Head of State has so far denied any use of agents of the country in his campaign, but is confronted with envenoming very fast scandal. Very talkative since he was landed, the last week of the survey posts NIS, the magistrate Yoon Seok-ryeol ensures it has been submitted before his ouster, strong political pressure.

Singapore gets a piece of the offshore yuan

The city-state has signed yesterday an agreement with Beijing in which it is one of the few territories outside the mainland from which may exchange, and investment, the Chinese currency. On the occasion of the visit of Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, Singapore was allocated a quota of 50 billion yuan (about 6 billion euros) for the RQFII mechanism, a scheme that allows some foreign investors, previously authorized by Beijing to invest in stocks in the Chinese territory. In other words, it is now possible to invest in Chinese stocks and bonds, or even take part in some IPOs in Shanghai or Shenzhen, from the territory of Singapore markets. Rarer still, Singapore could receive shortly the right to host investment “RQDII” or funds yuan from mainland China, which would make it accessible to a Chinese fortune few foreign territories.

These ads are part of the framework of an international competition around the offshore yuan. Hong Kong, which has taken the lead in this race before getting everyone status test area for the internationalization of the Chinese currency, is now facing competition from London, but also in Taiwan and Singapore . Last week, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, was notably signed in Beijing a “RQFII” agreement on a quota of 80 billion yuan. But with the possibility to position it on the “RQDII” Singapore has a point opposite the British capital. Measures are also being studied to allow the city to trade in yuan with two Chinese territories, industrial areas of Suzhou and Tianjin.

Doubtful: Chinese banks convert to realism

According to Bloomberg, the four largest Chinese banks rose sharply in their official accounts, the amount of bad debts. During the first half of 2013, they tripled the value of loans considered lost during the period, bringing the cumulative amount of 7.65 to 22,100,000,000 yuan. This reflects the deterioration in the financial situation in China, which sees some companies find it difficult to repay their debts.

But, paradoxically, it is rather good news for the Chinese financial system that seems, after years of denial, accept to face reality and to present openly. An evolution that follows the will of the Chinese banking regulator, the CBRC, prevent any deterioration of the situation, through an outright deletion of the more dubious loans, an increase in financial provisions and lower dividends to shareholders. This transparency effort aims to restore confidence about Chinese banks, equity valuations remain low given the questions about their health. Knowing that their profits continue to grow and that despite all the bad debt ratio remain at very low levels, moving around 1%.

Ecstatic, Subaru will double its production capacity in the United States

Winning since the beginning of the year as the fastest growing Japanese car manufacturer , Subaru, which is controlled by Fuji Heavy Industries, will, according to the “Nikkei”, organized in the coming months to double its production capacity to United States, where she now runs half its cars. The plant owned by the group in the state of Indiana currently produces 170,000 vehicles per year Subaru, but also 100,000 Camry models for the Japanese giant Toyota, which is one of its major shareholders.

To meet the growing demand in the U.S. market, where sales surged since late 2012, Subaru will gradually stop the production of Toyota on its website and will also invest in a new assembly line capable of manufacturing 100,000 extra vehicles year. With this investment of 40 billion yen (300 million euros), the group will, by 2016, producing 370,000 vehicles per year in the United States. The fiscal year ending in March 2014, Subaru should have sold worldwide nearly 800,000 vehicles.

By Gabriel Gresillon; yann Rousseau