SouthKorea

Hyundai Enters the Limousine Market with Equus VL500

Hot on the heels of the announcement that it would be bringing its flagship Equus luxury sedan to the North American market comes the launch of the Equus VL500 limousine. The stretched limo measures a foot longer than the luxury automobile on which it is based, and beats the likes of the Mercedes-Benz S500L and Lexus LS460L by some 15 inches, providing rear-seat passengers with that much extra legroom.

Although it hardly ranks among the top premium marques on this side of the ocean, Hyundai has quickly risen to the number four spot among automakers worldwide, and is certainly the largest in its domestic market, where the Equus VL500 is being launched exclusively for the time being. Prices hover around the Korean Won equivalent of $120,000, and three examples have even been outfitted with full bomb-proof armor for the President of South Korea, which will be used at the upcoming G20 summit there next year.

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Tags: equus, equus vl500, EquusVl500, hyundai, hyundai equus, hyundai equus vl500, HyundaiEquus, HyundaiEquusVl500, korea, limo, limousine, south korea, SouthKorea

New Billion-Dollar Project Proposed For Los Angeles

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Real Estate Developments

Downtown Los Angeles got a big boost this week with a proposal for a $1-billion hotel, office and retail project. The project from Korean Air is being developed by Thomas Properties Group. The two skyscrapers would replace the Wilshire Grand hotel and adjoining offices being used by Korean Air. The project would be the first time a South Korean developer has created a project this large in the U.S.

Los Angeles architect David Martin, a principal at AC Martin Partners, designed the towers which may have a photovoltaic skin to create solar power. One tower will host a 40-story hotel with as many as 700 rooms and several floors of condominiums. The other taller tower will be a 60-story building offering over a million square feet of office space and a plaza and shops on the ground level. What's really amazing is that this would be the first major high-rise office building constructed in Los Angeles since 1992. Los Angeles needs a new skyscraper about as much as it needs an NFL team of its own (could be a lot or not at all depending on who you ask).

The project still has to win city approval but if it does construction could begin in 2011 and be finished in 2014.

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Tags: development, korean air, KoreanAir, los angeles, LosAngeles, skyscraper, south korea, SouthKorea

Thankful Troops Smoke 7,000 Cigars

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Cigars

While we are constantly reminded of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we often lose site of the people serving. Sure, we support the troops and lament the fact that some are separated from their families for a year or longer ... with unfortunate regularity. But, these concepts remain abstract from those who don't don the uniform every day. Many have a friend or family member serving, but the vast majority is another step removed from the sacrifice. Chuck Ley, founder of the organization Cigars for Soldiers, is bridging the gap. His effort has added a personal and genuine touch to a "support the troops" message that the mainstream media has forced into cliché too soon.

Ley, like me, was a soldier. While my service entailed comfy pencil-pushing positions in Uijongbu, South Korea and Fort Gordon, Georga, he was an infantryman – the real deal – wounded in action in Mogadishu, Somalia. It wasn't the event immortalized in Mark Bowden's Black Hawk Down, but few realize that we fought more than once over there. Though back in civilian life for more than a decade, Ley has not forgotten his time in uniform, and many of his friends continue to serve.

From time to time, Ley would get a phone call or e-mail from overseas, a friend in some far-flung place. The tone varied from casual inquiry to begging to near-demand: send cigars. How could a cigar-smoking former soldier refuse?

Gallery: Cigars for Soldiers

Soldiers smoke Pepin Garcia cigars in Iraq

Don Pepin Garcia addresses the crowd at De La Concha

The cigars donated to Cigars for Soldiers by Don Pepin Garcia

Tags: afghanistan, black hawk down, BlackHawkDown, charity, cigar, cigar accessories, cigar cutter, CigarAccessories, CigarCutter, cigars, donate, donation, donations, foundation, georgia, iraq, iraq war, IraqWar, lighter, lighters, marine, marines, mark bowden, MarkBowden, mogadishu, relax, soldier, soldiers, somali, somalia, south korea, SouthKorea, support the troops, SupportTheTroops

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South Korea's New President To Donate His Salary

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Charity

South Korea's new president Lee Myung-Bak seems determined to prove to dedication to the poor. Not only did he pledge during his election campaign to donate his entire fortune (estimated to be around $30.2 million) save for a retirement house in Seoul, but now he has said he will donate his presidential salary to help the underprivileged. CNN reports that he made the pledge during a meeting with reporters on Sunday. He made his fortune as a CEO of an engineering and construction company and when he was the mayor of Seoul from 2002 to 2004 he also donated his salary. He will be donating his salary each year of his five year term. Korea.net says that he received about 16.5 million won ($16,640) in his first presidential pay packet on March 10. Now if only our Presidential candidates would make that kind of pledge.

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Tags: expire-images:2009-4-1, Lee Myung-Bak, LeeMyung-bak, president, south korea, SouthKorea