" SEOUL Nike Air Max 95 Sale Outlet , May 9 (Xinhua) -- Bank of Korea (BOK), South Korea's central bank Nike Air Max 90 Sale Outlet , froze its policy rate for 12 months in a row on Friday as worries spread over a sluggish private consumption following the ferry sinking disaster.
The six-member monetary policy board decided to keep the seven- day repurchase rate on hold at 2.5 percent.
The central bank said in a statement that it would manage its monetary policy while closely monitoring changes in domestic demand following the ferry Sewol accident as well as external risk factors, including the U.S. monetary policy stance Nike Air Max 1 Sale Outlet , sluggish emerging economies and geopolitical risks in Eastern Europe.
It was the first time the central bank mentioned its concerns about the possible slowdown in private consumption caused by the ferry sinking disaster.
President Park Geun-hye held an emergency meeting Friday to come up with measures to prevent a consumption slowdown following the ferry sinking disaster.
Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok said Tuesday that last month's ferry sinking accident had a more or less negative influence on consumption and service industry activity.
Retail sales, usage of cultural facilities and tourism have shown sluggishness since the 6 Nike Air Max Sale Outlet ,825-ton passenger ferry Sewol capsized and sank off the country's southwestern coast on April 16, Hyun said.
A paroxysm of grief swept all over the country as two thirds of the 476 passengers aboard the ill-fated ship were high school students. Memorial altars were set up nationwide to mourn the victims. Cheering at baseball stadiums has been prevented Air Max 95 Sale Outlet , and schools cancelled class trips. Celebration ceremony for the Buddha' s May 6 birthday was held to mourn the victims.
As of Friday morning, 273 people have been confirmed dead and 31 others are still missing. No survivor has been reported since 172 people were saved from the ship and sea on April 16. ""Many Korean individuals and corporate have delayed or canceled entertainment Air Max 90 Sale Outlet , promotions and travel ahead of the Golden Week, which is comprised of the May 1 Labor Day Air Max 1 Sale Outlet , the May 5 Children's Day and the May 6 Buddha's Birthday,"" said Kwon Young-sun Air Max Sale Outlet , a senior economist at Nomura in Hong Kong.
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by Guo Shuang
LAS VEGAS, the United States, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Fifty kilometers north of Las Vegas, Nevada, in the middle of the desert, Elon Musk's vision of transporting people at around 700 miles per hour, or 1,126 kilometers per hour, is one major step closer to reality.
On Wednesday morning, dozens of investors, partners and media representatives assembled on metal risers watched a test vehicle rocket along a straight track, which is built by a Los Angeles-based startup Hyperloop One.
That is the first public peek at what engineers are calling a "propulsion open-air test" (POAT) of Hyperloop One's transportation technology, which will potentially change the future of transit along the way.
"Today we demonstrated the full-scale propulsion system, which is actually a component that will go into the full scale system we build here in north Las Vegas this year," CEO Rob Lloyd told Xinhua, "This was actually a very major technical achievement."
During the about five seconds' test, "the test vehicle went from 0 to 60 mph in about one second, generating a force of about 2.5 Gs," Josh Giegel, the company's senior vice president of Engineering told Xinhua.
The company is competing to turn the Hyperloop concept, brought out by Elon Musk, a South African-born Canadian-American business magnate, in 2013. The idea is to put people into special pods that move at more than 1,126 km per hour inside a partially pressurized enclosed track.
At the end of last year, Hyperloop One acquired the land in the U.S. state of Nevada to start building a complete prototype, which Lloyd estimates will be ready by the end of 2016. What Lloyd referred to as the startup's "Kitty Hawk moment," alluding to the Wright Brothers' famous first flight, will happen when the full-size Hyperloop prototype is ready.
CTO and CoFounder of Hyperloop One Brogan BamBrogan said to people in attendance: "Everything you see out here today has happened in 6 months." The company now reaches more than 150 employees split between its Los Angeles headquarters and the test facility in North Las Vegas.
Lloyd called his company "the one that can deliver Hyperloop first," which "will make it possible to be anywhere, move anything, and connect everyone."
On the eve of the test, the company announced that it will change its name from Hyperloop Technologies to Hyperloop One, to distinguish itself from another Los Angeles-based Hyperloop competitor -- Hyperloop Transportation Technologies.
Just two days ago, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies announced a licensing technology called "passive magnetic levitation" to power its own prototype. But Hyperloop One seems to be jumping ahead with an actual test of its technology and more funding.
The rebranded company also announced it has successfully raised another 80 million U.S. dollars from the second round of financing to build Hyperloop and unveiled its new global partner ecosystem, featuring some of the world leaders in transportation engineering, architecture, infrastructure strategy and financing, construction and operations.
"We are unified together with our partners," Lloyd said to Xinhua, "we would like to see that happen in China and we will continue to reach out to our friends in China as well."
Musk's original idea was a Hyperloop train system that would be able to make the journey from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 35 minutes. Hyperloop One is looking beyond just California, and past human cargo.
"I think Hyperloop is the next mode of transportation. I think it's going to change so many things so businesses can grow, economies can flourish and communities can thrive," CEO Lloyd said.