1. On Friday, October 31, the U.K. HM Customs and Excise notified the Government of Korea of the result of 
its formal review that the origin of the Hynix semiconductor DRAM modules is the U.S., and as such, they are 
excluded from any countervailing duties. 

Starting last April when the EU made a preliminary decision to impose high countervailing duties on Hynix, 
Hynix began to assemble the semiconductor wafers fabricated at its U.S. facility in Eugene, Oregon as 
DRAM modules in Korea.  The chipmaker company had applied for a Binding Origin Information (BOI) ruling 
when it began exporting these modules to Europe, but the U.K. decided last July that the memory modules 
should be regarded as having South Korean non-preferential origin.  The Government of Korea subsequently 
requested a re-evaluation of the decision to the U.K. Ministry of Trade and Industry.


2. The result of the formal review by the U.K. comes after repeated complaints by the Korean side of the 
unfairness of the original BOI ruling. In several talks held between the Korean and U.K. officials since late 
September, the Korean government, in close consultation with Hynix, had strongly emphasized to the U.K. 
counterpart that the origin of the core processing operation is the U.S., not Korea, which position the U.K. 
government eventually accepted at the conclusion of its formal review process.


3.    The result of the U.K. government's review on the Memory Module will now allow for Hynix to continue 
exports of its DRAM modules to Europe.  Last August, exports of Hynix semiconductors were severely 
crippled when the U.S. and the E.U. decided to impose countervailing duties.  The result of the review is 
seen as an opportunity for Hynix to recover its global operation and management strategy. 




                                                                       Spokesperson of MOFAT

* unofficial translation