09/05/2017 BBC Business Live

This is Business Live from BBC News with Ben Thompson and Sally Bundock.

Voting is under way in South Korea - but will new leadership make

Kante break the cosy relationship between big business and government?

Live from London, that's our top story on Tuesday 9th May.

South Korea's massive conglomerates dominate the country's economy,

but the election frontrunners say that more needs to be done to tackle

Who will win and what can they achieve?

Also in the programme, there's a new kid on the block

in the world of online payments - can the Chinese giant

Alipay give Paypal a run for its money in the US?

We will take you three winners and losers in Europe, on the they are

all up. Also in the programme,

we'll get the inside track on a smartwatch that allows parents

to keep tabs on their children. But is wearable tech really

the solution to parenting problems - Welcome to the programme. Please get

in touch with your views on that story about parenting, wearable

technology, or anything else we are covering.

South Korea is just a few hours away from finding out

The election comes after the former President Park Geun-Hye was removed

from office as part of an ongoing investigation into corruption.

The country's economy bounced back strongly

following the 2008 financial crisis, but in recent years,

quarterly growth has struggled to break above 1%.

What are the presidential hopefuls offering to try to change the

fortunes of South Korea? The current frontrunner Moon Jae-In

has vowed to boost government spending and create

over 800,000 new jobs His main rival - Ahn Cheol-Soo -

feels the government should be more cautious with its spending plans,

but both candidates are united over Big business is still reeling from a

money for influence scandal that has seen several top executives grilled

by politicians. This includes the bosses of massive

corporations such as Samsung, In the past, large conglomerates

were credited with South Korea's rise to economic prominence,

but now many experts are questioning whether the country has

become too over-reliant To give you a sense of scale -

the biggest company in South Korea is Samsung,

the group spans every aspect of life and its business

accounts for roughly 20% of Currently the 10 biggest companies

in South Korea account for nearly a quarter of the country's total

corporate tax revenue. With me is Agathe L'Homme,

Asia analyst at the Sally getting into some of the

details there about how the chaebol works, the influence they have over

the South Korean economy. How dominant are they, how much pressure

can they exert on politics and economics? They are very dominant

and can exercise a lot of pressure. I think that is what we have seen

with Park Geun-Hye, the former President, that was impeached. The

Vice President of Samsung is in jail on bribery charges, which he denies.

They have a very cosy relationship. The candidates running in the

election right now have been campaigning on that topic very

intensely. We do expect changes in that regard. How likely is it they

can break up that cosy relationship? We posed the question at the start

of the programme, the links are so intertwined with many parts of

society and the economy. Is it realistic to expect there will be

cut overnight? They will not be cut overnight, I don't think that is

desirable. But there should be some reining in happening. The leading

candidate, Moon Jae-In, has been campaigning on that topic. There are

already bills in the pipeline. Should he be elected, that is

forecast, he will have momentum to pass them through the National

Assembly. It is probably easy as outsiders to criticise the system.

We should also remember that system is what has but South Korea on the

map will stop economically, some of the most well-known names in the

world have come from South Korea, Samsung or the other is that Sally

Ryan through. It is a double-edged sword, it works, but we have seen

the downside? Yes. Domestically, what is problematic is that they

have such a strong hold on the economy that there is no trickling

down any more. A lot of SMEs are suffering, suppliers of the big

chaebol, they don't really see growth happening. A word on North

Korea, we can't talk about the south without concern for the North, what

effect could not have? We see Moon Jae-In wanting to re-engage with the

North. We think they could rekindle the Sunshine Policy, and to the

regime. That is one we will all watch closely. Really nice to see

you. Let's take a look at some of

the other stories making the news. Toshiba has told its memory chip

partner Western Digital not to interfere with the sale

of its chip unit. Western Digital claims

that the Japanese firm has breached a contract between the two

by transferring rights it doesn t Toshiba says it will use

all available remedies if Western Digital continues

to pursue the complaint A woman who alleges she was sexually

harassed at Fox News has asked UK media regulators to block 21st

Century Fox's planned Ofcom is examining the bid

for the UK broadcaster, Dr Wendy Walsh's legal team says

the deal would allow Fox to bring a "culture of sexual and racial

harassment" to the UK. The company says it has addressed

the allegations and made The International Monetary Fund has

raised its growth forecast for the Asia Pacific region to 5.5

percent from its previous But the IMF also warned

that the near-term outlook for the region is "clouded

with significant uncertainty". In a report, the fund said

medium-term growth faced difficulties from a slowdown

in productivity growth in both Alipay, China's biggest

online payments platform, is stepping up its global expansion

with a major foray into North America -

the home of PayPal and ApplePay. Leisha Chi is across

the story from our Asia Tell us what Ali pay has in mind?

PayPal is the 800 pound gorilla in the room when it comes to mobile

payments. But this new deal for Alipay puts it in the same league as

ApplePay. Basically, users will now be allowed to use the app to shop at

4 million merchants in the US. That is quite significant. The Chinese

billionaire that owns Alipay has billionaire that owns Alipay has

declared his intention is to expand his business empire globally. He is

looking at the US, the world's biggest consumer market. In China,

Alipay already dominates the mobile payment landscape, together with

rival they account for most of the market. If the foray into the US is

successful, they can expand into other countries where they don't

have a presence. It's a smart move, we are seeing increasing numbers of

Chinese travelling each year and they will be able to use Alipay to

book cabs, hotels and so forth. book cabs, hotels and so forth.

Interesting, we will keep an eye on that.

Lets see how markets fared. Japan down by 0.25%. A mixed picture in

Asia. Most markets down slightly because the previous day was such a

strong start to the week. Over 2% gain on Monday. A bit of a sell-off.

Sony is one of the big winners. Let's look at how Europe is faring.

Markets across the board or edging slightly higher. Oil prices are flat

after yesterday's jump off the back of rumours... Well, not rumours,

statements from Opec about plans to keep production cuts in place for

longer, to try to keep the price of oil higher. Now what is ahead on

Wall Street. Two media companies will be

reporting earnings on Tuesday, The recent film Beauty

and the Beast will help lift But the other part of the company,

ESPN, it has been losing The company will have to pacify

investors with a plan to strengthen ESPN, whilst also finding a capable

replacement to chief executive Bob Iger, who will be

stepping down in 2019. The decline in newspaper advertising

will certainly heard News Corp's earnings,

they own newspapers like the Wall Street Journal,

the Dow Jones newswires As part of its digital push,

the company has been cutting jobs, Joining us is Jeremy Cook,

Chief Economist, World First. Staying with the American team, the

issue that was being raised there, a lot of corporate news? But also we

heard from the Fed? Yes, trying to re-energise the communication coming

out of there. It has gone quiet in the last couple of weeks. Almost a

100% probability they will raise rates in June. It is a case of

whether they will come out and say, yes, we are going to do something in

June. Much like we heard from the IMF in Asia, there is still

uncertainty and clouds around this, they are not going to 2% any time

soon. They should call them the Fed Talk, you know, like the TED talk?

With Sony, quite interesting, following the fact that Emmanuel

Macron did get the election in France, it has gone quite quiet? It

has, we were expecting a bit of a bump and we got the tiniest bump,

and then everybody said, well, now the focus turns to the legislative

elections and whether he can get a mandate within Parliament to be able

to get up there and do what he was elected to do. The main conversation

I heard on Sunday night was, yes, France, but what about Italy?

Everybody is talking about the possible Italian election. Sony is

interesting, that has been around for years and years. Every time you

see Sony, it is new profit warnings. But they are starting to come back,

we are getting upgrades by Goldman Sachs. The oil price is going to be

capped, largely due to the fact that Opec are going to keep the cats

going into the market, the price remains pretty stable. An

interesting place to leave it, you're going to talk about how

petrol stations work out how much to charge? Robots are controlling as!

We know that already. Is wearable tech really the solution

to parenting problems - Should kids be left to be kids? We

will find out later. on a smartwatch that allows parents

to keep tabs on their children. You're with Business

Live from BBC News. Theresa May has promised to end

the injustice of rising energy costs by including a cap

in the Conservative general The Prime Minister says the energy

market "is not working", with vulnerable people worst hit

by rip-off bills. Industry groups have

criticised the plan, first announced last month,

saying it could lead Labour, which offered its own bill

cap ahead of the 2015 election, accused the Tories

of desperate stuff. Chris Mason is at

Westminster for us. We are getting some details ahead of

the manifesto launch about what they might want to talk about today,

energy? It is. Energy is the big focus today. The Conservatives,

quite striking, trying to put themselves on the side of consumers

rather than the big energy providers. The other thing that is

striking is that it has a ring of familiarity about it. Why? Well,

here is the Labour manifesto from two years ago. Labour will freeze

energy bills until 2017, ensuring they can fall but not rise, and will

give the regulator the power to cut bills this winter. The Conservatives

seem to have done a bit of a cut and paste job. The idea was popular when

it Ed Miliband floated it, Conservatives decided to take it on

board two years on. They say it is different and more subtle, it is

less crude. But the similarities are pretty striking. The question is,

will it be a vote winner and is it a promise they can keep? They will

hope it is, that is the short answer to the first question. In terms of

whether it is something they can keep in terms of a promise, this is

where it gets a bit complicated. It would involve the regulator, of

common. There will have to be a consultation. -- of common. If there

are variations in the wholesale price, bills could still rise and

fall. The extent to which consumers will notice instantly, we will have

to wait and see. When we get news about the

manifesto, we'll fill you in. If you want more details on the energy

story, you'll find it on the BBC Business Live page.

It has details from Labour, of course, as you heard from Chris

Mason who already proposed it in a previous election campaign.

This is Business Live. Today we're focussed on South Korea. In a few

hours we will find out who the next Prime Minister will be. We have been

looking at what influence business has on politics in the country.

Let's look at markets quickly to bring you up-to-date. In Europe,

they were up by a quarter of a percent when we last looked. We'll

bring you the numbers later. The numbers are on the screen.

That's what Europe is doing. So details there. As you can see,

another rise in the CAC and the DAX. Imagine losing your

child at a theme park - something most people

would rather forget. But witnessing another parent's

panic resulted in our next guest giving up her career in investment

banking to become Last year, Colleen Wong launched

a smartphone watch, the Gator, it allows parents to keep track

of their kids, without having But Colleen says being a start-up

boss is not glamorous. As well as running a company,

she is a busy mum To keep costs down she employs two

flexible staff who look after IT and social media marketing,

and three advisors who are friends So far, the business has received no

outside investment yet, but Colleen With me is Colleen Wong,

developer of the Gator watch and founder of child tracker firm,

TechSixtyFour. Explain how the Gator watch works.

So it has a button here that can call mum or dad or up to ten other

members of the family and it is a tracker as well. Parents can

download the Gator app and track where their child is and uses GPS

when the child is outdoors and wi-fi when it is indoors. It is something

kids would probably want to wear. We touched on there why you saw the

need for it. Talk us through the moment when you realised this could

be a great product? I was with my two kids at a farm park and I

witnessed a mum running around looking for her five or six-year-old

son... It wasn't me, was it? That mum could have been looking for my

child and it does cause a moment where your heart stops for a few

minutes. In terms of how this works, you put the sim in yourself. So, if

we were to purchase this watch, we have to come to you to get the sim

and to get it up and running and it links up to any mobile network

wherever you happen to be, Vodafone, O 2 or EE or anything? No. I've done

it this way. As a parent, we don't have that much time. I wanted to

make it, easy solution for parents when they buy the watch, they sign

up for the service plan online and it connects within 24 hours. I guess

it varies where you are in the world. We posed this question at the

start of the programme, could kids not be kids? Part of the fun of

doing a kid you had independence just as you were starting to grow

up, as long as you didn't go too far and your parents would know you come

back at the end of the day, does that ruin that element? I think

times have changed and parents are more worried when their kids are out

and about on their own. So, when they want to give there. When they

think about giving their child a snOn, that increases other worries,

access to the internet, too much gaming, too much screen time. So

what's the happy medium? I think my solution offers that. You can stay

connected, but you don't have to have them using a smartphone and

getting access to too much information. The difficulty I have

to say, my children haven't got smart devices, but my son who is

nine, who I might get one of those for because he is all over the shop

and wild and I'd love to know where he is half the time. He would like

an Apple watch and he would want to swipe around and play games and do

all this stuff and that doesn't provide that. I would have a job

convincing him to wear that, I think? No, I agree. And that's the

thing, it's trying to keep that on a child. What I'm trying to do is work

with various partners to make it more exciting for children. So when

I do my crowdfunding and when I raise funds licensing would be

something I would be looking at. So I imagine this watch with the strap,

with Star Wars on it. Something to keep the child interested as well.

A word about your background. Investment banking to creating

watches for kids. Join the dots for us. OK, so I used to work in foreign

exchange sales. I left the business to have children. And then yeah,

that was it. That light bulb moment came when I took my kids to the

farm. Have you ever looked back? No, I love what I'm doing. You look

after the children and try and run this company at the same time? I

have an amazing childminder, but yes, it is a juggle every day and I

don't have much sleep. But, it's amazing and exciting and I love

every single minute of it. You're wide awake on this show. Thank you

for coming in. Interesting. Thank you.

Here is a reminder of how to get in touch.

We want to hear from you too. Get involved on the BBC Business Live

web page. On Twitter we're at BBC business and you can find us on

Facebook. Business Live on TV and online whenever you need to know.

Today, your comments on the smart watch for tracking kids. A viewer

says, "Honestly, it sounds like a breaking of trustment don't spy on

your kids when they say they can go somewhere without you." I love

Annie, "Just give your kid the watch, it can set an alarm for

bedtime so you don't need a baby-sitter." ." Tea being dinner,

not a cup of tea for the childminder. If it is the north of

England, it is tea. Tea is what? Tea is your evening meal. It's not

something in here? No, that's a brew! OK. Just to be clear. It is a

builder's. What's tea for you? It's a hot

refreshing drink! Let's talk Wall Street Journal. Why are the gas

prices changing and it is to do with computers? It is. It is to do with

software that petrol stations and these big oil companies are using to

make sure that they are constantly matching the demand this they are

seeing on the fore courts with higher prices. And only cutting

them, it seems, when demand is very, very low. Now, you normally see that

with this higher level of competition, classical economics,

would say that the prices will therefore have to fall, but

actually, in the Netherlands, it's where most of this seems to have

been trialled just outside of Rotterdam, we're seeing prices rise

and people are paying eight cents more per gallon. Some allegations of

collusion. They look at what everyone else is doing, they're

charging higher and I'll put mine up? There is probably evidence of

collusion in similar industries which are low margin, very, very

high volume, but also, you know, things like groceries and food. The

algorism story is something we talk about a lot in markets and

algorisms, Emmanuel Macron win by French stocks, we are starting to

see that in real life. So your job will be redundant soon? Yes, I'll go

and sort out a smart watch company. The Independent has got a story that

our economics editor has written about as well. This chap here,

Matthew Taylor who is leading a review. This is to do with the rise

of the gig economy and Uber and we are less fulfilled? Yes, whether you

come home and that's your day done or whether you are having to do more

and more hours to bring the cash in to pay the bills. Most of the

western economies are still seeing that, unemployment is at 30 year

lows, nearly 40 year lows here in the UK, but the level of pay that

people are getting and obviously the level of GDP that you would assume

with everyone in work for nine hours a day for example isn't actually

coming through and whether we are starting to see these zer hour

contracts, you look at places like JD Sports and whether we need to see

a more political change for that moving forward. Jeremy, thank you

very much. That's all from us today. Same time same place tomorrow. Yes,

I will have my statistic ready. Good. I'll look out for it. See you

soon.