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| No.480 2005.03.31 |
Korean Federation of Housewives Clubs |
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2005 Brand Rice Competition and Festival Held |
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Press Release No. 480, Issued on 31 Mar. 2005 by Park In-rye, Secretary General |
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Korean Federation of Housewives Clubs
- 2005 Brand Rice Competition and Festival Held
Seoul YMCA Citizens’ Mediation Center
- Case of Collective Criminal Complaints Started against Pyramid Sales Vendor
‘Plus IMG’
- “Uh? Money is withdrawn from my account for someone else’s mobile phone bill
and handset installment payment? |
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Korean Federation of Housewives Clubs
2005 Brand Rice Competition and Festival Held
The Korean Federation of Housewives Clubs (Chair Lee Yun-ja) holds the 2005 Brand Rice Competition and Festival in order to announce the yearly commencement of the Brand Rice Evaluation Project (sponsored by consumer organizations since 2003) and to raise the interest of the general public in Korean rice, whose quality has improved with “Brand Rice”.
□ Outline of the 2005 Brand Rice Competition and Festival
1. Event Name: 2005 Brand Rice Competition and Festival
2. Date: 11:00am-16:00pm on April 12, 2005 (Tues.)
3. Venue: Tech Plaza, Convention Center, 3rd Floor, Sejong Center for the Performing
Arts
4. Hosted by: The Korean Federation of Housewives Clubs (Chair Lee Yun-ja)
(1) Organizing Ceremony of the 2005 Brand Rice Evaluation Project
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<Program>
11:00 National Ceremony
11:05 Greetings
(Lee Haeng-ja, Chair, Korea National Council of Consumer Organizations)
11:10 Report on programs for the implementation of the 2005 Brand Rice Evaluation
Project
(Park In-rye, Secretary General, Korea National Council of Consumer
Organizations)
11:15 Congratulatory Speech
(Park Hong-su, Minister of Agriculture & Forestry)
11:25 Opening Remarks on the Organizing Ceremony of the 2005 Brand Rice
Evaluation Project
(Lee Yun-ja, Chair, Korea National Council of Consumer Organizations)
11:30 Announcement of Local Autonomous Governments and Producers
Participating in the 2005 Brand Rice Evaluation Project
11:40 Declarations on the Organizing Ceremony of the 2005 Brand Rice Evaluation
Project
(Lee Jong-hun, CEO, NACF<the National Agricultural Cooperative
Federation> Wonbuk branch RPC, Producer of Outstanding Brand Rice)
(Lee Ok-sun, Chair, Gwangjin-gu sub-branch, Seoul Branch of Korean
Federation of Housewives Clubs)
11:45 Closing |
(2) Exhibition of Outstanding Brand Rice
① Panel Display
- Meaning and objectives of the Brand Rice Evaluation Project
New assessment of nutritional value of rice, excellence of cooked rice, and how to cook tasty rice
② Exhibition of Promotional Materials by Producer Organizations
- 12 Outstanding Rice Brands were exhibited, sold and ordered (bookings) in 2004
- Promotional exhibition of brand rice producers participating in the 2005 evaluation
(recommended)
③ Exhibition of Rice Dishes
- Simple recipes suggested to promote the eating of rice for breakfast
- Rice dishes for a healthy diet
- Special rice tasting
(3) “Tasting Our Rice”
- 12 producers selected as an “Outstanding Cooked Brand Rice” in 2004
- Rice cake making
- Prize winning events, including “Outstanding Brand Rice” gift
▶ Contact: Choe Myeong-ryeol, Director, Consumer Protection Bureau
(T. 02-2265-3627~8) |
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Seoul YMCA Citizens’ Mediation Center
Case of Collective Criminal Complaints Started against Pyramid Sales Vendor ‘Plus IMG’
- Virtually forced students to purchase several million won’s worth of items by fraudulently baiting them with cyber shopping mall allocations amid unemployment upheaval
- Company has prospered for years under new business names despite widespread criticism, accusing victims of biting the hand that feeds.
1. Collective criminal complaints have been leveled against a company that has engaged in illegal business activities toward young people in their 20’s by conducting a pyramid sales scheme, although it originally registered itself as a canvassing sales business. Seoul YMCA and the AntiPyramid Campaign Headquarters jointly filed formal complaints with the Seoul District Prosecutors’ Office against Plus IMG on March 30 after securing depositions from four victims. Damage cases have been continually reported by victims of the company’s illegal pyramid sales activities.
2. Plus IMG is a representative specimen of the pyramid sales vendors who target college students, a social problem since 2000. It has managed to continue its illegal business by successively renaming itself as Hana Life, Aqua Plus and True Life International. The company’s business scheme supposedly involves paying profit dividends pro rata to sub-level sales persons recruited by a member who purchases a cyber shopping mall for 2.2 million won. It has committed various illegal acts, all willfully performed by generic pyramid vendors, including false scenarios, tuition fund financing, and virtual forced purchase.
3. Many victims of the company have reported their cases, inflaming public opinion. However, Plus IMG filed a petition with the court seeking “a preliminary injunction prohibiting the display of articles” in which the victims have indicated problems involving the company rather than correcting its business schemes. The petition was turned down by Seoul District Court South Branch Panel, the first instance court, on February 4. However, Plus IMG has appealed to the higher court. Seoul YMCA has continued its legal support as part of its citizens’ movement programs. (Represented by Lee Han-mu, attorney-at-law, Seoul YMCA Citizens Interest Defense Counsel)
4. Such pyramid sales activities, which exploit the vulnerability of college students, should be eradicated as quickly as possible as they are already suffering as a result of the severe unemployment situation. Also, the general public needs to pay extra attention to illegal pyramid sales vendors who exploit loopholes in the current Act on Canvassing Sales. We strongly urge the justice authorities to promptly investigate and sternly punish them.
▶ Contact: Kim Hui-kyeong, Secretary (02-725-1400) |
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Seoul YMCA Citizens’ Mediation Center
“Uh? Money is withdrawn from my account for someone else’s mobile phone bill and handset installment payment?
- Phone companies are not checking the relationship between the handset holder on the subscription form and the account holder, virtually neglecting cases of stolen identity and irresponsibly responding to protests by saying, “We don’t know.” “I’ve become a credit defaulter and my phone service has been suspended.” Mistaken account number entries are unfairly attributed to subscribers while suspending their phone service and listing them as credit defaulters.
Even if someone willfully abused your account number by subscribing to a mobile phone service, money is automatically withdrawn from your account as long as the account number exists. This problem has arisen because KT-PCS virtually aids and abets such unauthorized withdrawals: the company fails to check the relationship between the name of the handset holder given on the subscription form and the name of the account holder at the time a new subscription to its service is made, and does not check that ‘the serial resident number is correct’ later on. KT-PCS has become the 4th largest mobile phone service provider with 2.3 million re-sale subscribers (20% of all KTF subscribers), achieving one trillion won in annual sales. However, it has such a poor payment system that extensive damages amounting to scores of million won may have been caused by the problems involving its poor checking of subscriber identity and unauthorized account transfers for phone bills. Furthermore, as the company does not enter a subscriber’s correct account number, bona fide subscribers suffer considerable inconvenience and damage as their service is arbitrarily suspended or they are mistakenly listed as a credit defaulter. Some cases are summarized as follows:
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[Case 1] A Park (28, male, residing in Seoul) When he checked his bank account passbook last February, he discovered that approximately 300,000 won had been withdrawn over three months to pay an unknown person’s bill for KT-PCS service and handset installment payment. Though he protested to KT, it continues to operate the mistaken withdrawal, stating that ‘it was a computing error’. He hasn’t heard from KT at all. The amount is still being withdrawn from his account.
[Case 2] A Kim (37, male, residing in Seoul) He was notified by a credit information company that he had been listed as a credit defaulter three months after converting his mobile phone service from SKT to KT-PCS. After checking the circumstances, he discovered that he was to be listed as credit defaulter since payment of approximately 60,000 won for a phone bill from the existing phone company was defaulted for three months. This occurred because KT entered the wrong account number.
[Case 3] A Cho (29, male, residing in Seoul) Cho received a sudden warning about defaulting on the payment of a phone bill after newly subscribing to the KT-PCS service. After checking the circumstances, he discovered that the amount for the bill t had not been automatically withdrawn from his account as KT had erroneously entered an incorrect digit for his account number. KT arbitrarily suspended his phone (calling) service without checking the situation internally first. |
Seoul YMCA and the Mobile Phone User League plan to file a formal complaint to the Korea Communications Commission about these cases, as well as collecting information on similar cases from many other victims who have suffered as a result of the poor billing system maintained by KT-PCS. KT-PCS is hereby urged to promptly take the necessary corrective action.
▶ Contact: Kim Hui-kyeong, Secretary (02-725-1400) |
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