Headlines, December 23, 2019

Moon to Visit China for Summit Talks with Xi, Abe
President Moon Jae-will head to China on Monday for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Moon will sit down for talks with Xi on Monday in Beijing, the first talks following the previous session held in Osaka, Japan, on the sidelines of a Group of 20 meeting.

S. Korea, China, Japan Agree to Accelerate FTA Talks
Trade ministers of South Korea, China and Japan agreed on Sunday to accelerate trilateral free trade talks and step up efforts to conclude a larger Asia-Pacific trade deal. The agreement was made in a three-way meeting of South Korea's Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Sung Yun-mo, China's Commerce Minister Zhong Shan and Japan's Economy and Trade Minister Hiroshi Kajiyama in Beijing.

Assembly Speaker to Hold Meeting with Floor Leaders of Major Parties
National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang will hold a meeting with the floor leaders of the ruling Democratic Party(DP), the minor opposition Liberty Korea Party(LKP) and the minor Bareunmirae Party on Monday. The four sides will discuss the passage of bills related to next year's budget and people's livelihoods.

Japanese scholar criticizes Abe over historical revisionism
A Japanese historian has stepped up criticism against Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push for historical revisionism and his reluctance for the country to take responsibility for its wartime wrongdoings. This has led to Tokyo's countermeasures to the October 2018 South Korean Supreme Court ruling on wartime forced labor compensation.

Korean woman killed, husband and daughter seriously injured in Vietnam robbery
A Korean woman has been stabbed to death and her husband and daughter seriously injured in a robbery in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's commercial hub. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sunday, an armed man who broke into their home in Phu My Hung, an affluent area in District 7, on Saturday at around 2 a.m. killed the woman, 49, and wounded her husband, 50, surnamed Yoon, and their daughter, 16.

N. Korean leader meets top military officials amid tension with US
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has discussed the country's defense capabilities with top military officials, Pyongyang's state-controlled Korean Central News Agency (KNCA) reported Sunday. The enlarged meeting of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Military Commission has taken place six times since Kim took power in December 2011, with the last such meeting held in September.

S. Korea rejects paying for US troops stationed outside Korea
South Korea’s chief negotiator in its defense cost-sharing talks with the US said on Dec. 19 that Seoul cannot pay for American troops based in other countries. Jeong Eun-bo also reiterated the need to maintain the current framework of the Special Measures Agreement (SMA), which limits South Korea’s financial contribution to stationing US troops within Korea.

Moon to hold summit with Xi Jinping in Beijing on Dec. 23
South Korean President Moon Jae-in will be holding a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Dec. 23. Given North Korea’s impending end-of-the-year deadline for its negotiations with the US, Moon is likely to ask China to play a role as a mediator to help decrease tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

2019 S. Korea-US defense cost-sharing negotiations end without agreement
This year’s last round of negotiations over South Korea and the US’ defense cost-sharing arrangement, which is supposed to take effect next year, ended without an agreement. The failure of the meeting, held in Seoul on Dec. 18, pushes the negotiations over the Special Measures Agreement (SMA) into next year.

Government, “Economic Rebound Next Year at All Costs” Aims for 2.4% Growth
The government forecast for the South Korean economy next year was a 2.4% growth. As the global economy recovers, exports are improving, and with the government’s expansionary fiscal policy and policies to stimulate investment, the government expects to see an increase in domestic consumption and investment and expects the economy to grow 0.4% more than it did this year. In order to accelerate the economic rebound, the government will provide income tax deductions for the cost of accommodations for domestic travelers and implement various measures to encourage consumption throughout the nation, including more duty free shops in the arrival halls of major airports nationwide.

A Butcher Found Guilty for “Electrocuting” Dogs: Brakes on the Cruel Slaughter of Animals
A man who slaughtered dogs by sticking a steel rod (pictured) charged with electricity into the dog’s mouth was found guilty in a case that was returned to the lower court by the Supreme Court. The court judged that his method of slaughtering the dogs could be categorized as a “cruel method” banned by the Animal Protection Act.