Friday May 22, 2020

 Round-up of important news from major Korean dailies and from international media today

The Korea Post (http://www.koreapost.com/)
“Oriental medicine is useful in controlling the spread of COVID-19 disease”
Highly contagious disease, COVID-19, is wracking havoc on many countries around the world—claiming 308,569 deaths as of May 17, 2020. The total affected cases worldwide are 4,588,914 and 308,569 persons died--and the mortality rate is 6.72%.
In Korea, the people and government have been handling the cases vert well, and the records show 11,037 affected, 9,851 cured, and 262 dead (mortality rate: 2.37%.

Special notice: The Korea Post is organizing a tour for the Ambassadors and Madams to the Pyeongkang Oriental Medicine Hospital on Tuesday June 9, 2010. Ambassadors and Madams are cordially invited to the Tour where an Oriental medicine pack against COVID-19 is presented to each Excellency. In the event of absence of Invitation, please advise the Editor at The Korea Post at 010-5201-1740.

“United We Fight”
Corona virus has had a huge impact on humanity cutting across all boundaries, physical and social, of nations, caste, class, colour, religion and belief systems bringing the world to its knees. But united we stand, steadfastly helping, assisting, sharing knowledge, cooperating and coordinating with each other, cutting across boundaries fighting as ONE force against the Corona virus.
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KBS (http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/news/)
Investigators Seize Accounting Data in Raid on NGO for Sex Slavery Victims
The prosecution is going all out to get to the bottom of an alleged embezzlement scandal involving the organizer of the Wednesday Protest for the elderly South Korean victims of Japan's wartime sex slavery. Investigators raided the main headquarters of the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan overnight and another office on Thursday.

S. Korea's Exports Down 20% in First 20 Days of May
South Korea's exports sank 20-point-three percent on-year in the first 20 days of May.
According to data from the Korea Customs Service on Thursday, outbound shipments during this period amounted to 20-point-three billion dollars. Given the number of business days at 13-point-five, daily average exports also plunged 20-point-three percent from a year ago to one-and-a-half billion dollars.

New COVID-19 Infections Subside to 12 After Previous Day's Spike
South Korea reported 12 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Thursday.
The number represents a return to the teens after spiking into the 30s the previous day due to the continued spread of a cluster infection that began in the nightclubs of Seoul's Itaewon district and an outbreak involving medical workers at a major hospital.
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The Korea Herald (http://www.koreaherald.com)
Samsung to break ground for 2nd EUV line in Pyeongtaek
Samsung Electronics is preparing to construct another cutting-edge foundry manufacturing line in South Korea, taking one step closer to achieving its goal of becoming the No. 1 system-on-chip business by 2030.
The tech giant on Thursday announced it will break ground for the second extreme ultraviolet foundry line in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, this month, with a schedule to start operating the new line in the second half of next year.

Fresh COVID-19 infections spread through greater Seoul area
South Korea counted 12 additional cases of novel coronavirus infections in the 24 hours ending Wednesday midnight. Despite the slowing of new cases, symptomless or minimally symptomatic spread among the younger population remains a challenge for containment efforts, public health authorities said.

Kansong Art Museum to auction treasures
The Kansong Art Museum -- a private museum in Seoul that has collected valuable artifacts since the Japanese colonial era -- has put two state-designated treasures up for auction.
The Buddhist sculptures are the first items to be sold by the museum in its 82-year history. The trading of state-designated cultural treasures is also a rare occasion in the auction market.
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Korea Times (http://www.koreatimes.co.kr)
Teachers stretched too thin with teaching, quarantine
Teachers are struggling with unexpected responsibilities as they are being pushed to perform the role of quarantine official in schools, according to a teachers' union, Thursday.
With high school seniors returning to school and juniors scheduled to follow in the coming days, teachers are complaining about an increased workload as they have to check the temperature of their students and ensure they practice social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in their classrooms.

Samsung to build new foundry line in Korea
Samsung Electronics said Thursday it will build a new semiconductor production line to expand the production capacity of its foundry business to better compete with global foundry leader TSMC of Taiwan.
The tech giant said the new production line will be added at its plant in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, and will produce 5-nanometer chips utilizing extreme ultraviolet (EUV) semiconductor manufacturing technology, used to produce smaller and more energy efficient chips.

Income gap widens amid pandemic
The income disparity between the haves and have-nots has widened as the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in employers slashing the country's low-paying jobs.
Household spending was also hit hard by the spread of the coronavirus, showing the steepest decline since the government started collecting statistics in 2003.
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Chosun Ilbo (http://english.chosun.com)
S.Korea Dilutes Sanctions to Engage N.Korea
The government on Wednesday said 2010 sanctions against North Korea imposed over the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan are virtually no longer in effect. The sanctions "no longer pose any obstacle to cross-border exchange and cooperation," Unification Ministry spokesman Yoh Sang-key said.
They were imposed on May 24, 2010 after the North torpedoed the Cheonan, killing 46 South Korean officers and sailors in waters off Baeknyeong Island in the West Sea.

Japan's Export Curbs Against Korea Backfire
Japanese manufacturers have taken the hit from vindictive curbs on exports of vital semiconductor materials to Korea their government imposed last July.
The Nihon Keizai Shimbun on Wednesday said Japanese materials and parts manufacturers are being hurt as Korean clients simply turned to other suppliers.

What Do Koreans Consider Adultery?
Adultery only recently became legal in Korea, after decades when the law against it was haphazardly applied to make the occasional example of people. But many still grapple with the ramifications of that decision.
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton famously denied he committed adultery with White House intern Monica Lewinsky because no full penetrative sex had taken place -- she had "only" fellated him.
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The Dong-A Ilbo (http://english.donga.com/)
Seoul, Washington fail to align on May 24 measures
As the South Korean government has effectively announced to scrap the May 24 measures, a set of sanctions to be imposed on North Korea, relations between Seoul and Washington are growing frosty again.
“Inter-Korean cooperation must come in hand in hand with the progress towards denuclearization,” said the U.S. State Department, a day after the announcement was made, making it clear that easing on the sanctions is only possible when the North takes steps towards nuclear disarmament.

Kospi exceeds briefly 2,000-mark in two and a half months
South Korean benchmark Kospi has shown an upward trend for five consecutive days in a row, briefly rising over 2,000 points for the first time in two and a half months. As Kospi has reached the 2,000-mark again since its fall due to the global pandemic of COVID-19, the financial market is deemed to have recovered from the shock of COVID-19 to a degree.

Who will be ‘game-changer’ in COVID-19 vaccine development?
U.S.-based pharmaceutical company Moderna announced on Monday that all participants of the phase one clinical trial for the company’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate substance have developed antibodies, driving up expectations for the development of a COVID-19 vaccine. However, the substance’s effects have come under contention as some journals have pointed in just one day that the company has not published scientific supporting data.
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The KyungHyang Shinmun (http://english.khan.co.kr/)
Seoul Human Rights Committee Raises an Issue on the Exclusion of Foreigners from the Disaster Relief Fund
The Seoul Metropolitan Human Rights Committee launched discussions on the exclusion of foreigners from the city’s disaster relief fund. The discussion started because of the view that excluding foreigners from welfare benefits could have a significant impact on one’s basic rights at a time when foreigners are also facing a crisis situation, just as the Koreans. Currently, the funding for aliens depends on whether or not they are married to a Korean national, so there have been arguments about a big blind spot.

Prosecutors Seek a 35-Year Prison Sentence for President Park Geun-hye on Charges of Abuse of State Authority and Bribery
The prosecutors sought a sentence of 35 years in prison for former President Park Geun-hye (68, pictured) in a trial on the abuse of state authority and bribery in connection to the special activities expenses of the National Intelligence Service (NIS).
On May 20, prosecutors requested a total of 35 years in prison for former President Park in the final hearing at Criminal Department 6 (chief judge Oh Seok-jun) of the Seoul High Court.

Another “Dokdo Provocation” from Japan, after It Described South Korea as “an Important Neighbor”
The Japanese government described South Korea as an “important neighboring country” in the Diplomatic Bluebook 2020 (pictured, equivalent to South Korea’s Diplomatic White Paper) for the first time in three years, but repeated its existing argument that Dokdo was their territory. The South Korean government protested the distorted statement and demanded an immediate withdrawal.
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Maeil Business News Korea (http://www.pulsenews.co.kr/)
Samsung Electronics to add 2nd EUV line on 5-nm to boost foundry powerSouth Korea’s chipmaker Samsung Electronics Co. on Thursday announced possibly $8 billion investment to expand its on-demand chip-making capacity by adding a sixth production line at its foundry base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province.

Korean exports in May 1-20 extend 20% losses for second straight month
South Korean exports plunged 20.3 percent in the first 20 days of May, extending the double-digit losses for the second straight month as overseas markets continued their battle with the pandemic.
The country’s outbound shipments totaled $20.3 billion in May 1-20, down 20.3 percent or $5.18 billion from the same period a year ago, data from Korea Customs Service showed Thursday.

Samsung Display temporarily stops expansion in Asan complex
Samsung Display Co., the display unit of South Korea’s top conglomerate Samsung Group, has temporarily suspended expansion project at its major Asan site in the face of setbacks from COVID-19 pandemic.
According to industry sources on Wednesday, Samsung Display recently halted construction work for the second plant at its Asan display campus spanning over a space of about 2.1 million square meters (22.6 million square feet) in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, Korea.
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What’s ticking around the world at this second?
See what the world media around the world have to report:

USA Today www.usatoday.com aallman@gannett.com
The New York Times www.nytimes.com inytletters@nytimes.com
Wall Street Journal www.wsj.com support@wsj.com, service@wsj-asia.com
Financial Times www.ft.com ean@ft.com
The Times www.thetimes.co.uk help@timesplus.co.uk
The Sun www.thesun.co.uk talkback@the-sun.co.uk
Chinese People's Daily www.people.com.cn kf@people.cn
China Daily www.chinadaily.com.cn circulation@chinadaily.com.cn
GwangmyeongDaily www.gmw.cn webmaster@gmw.cn
Japan's Yomiuri www.yomiuri.co.jp japannews@yomiuri.com
Asahi www.asahi.com customer-support@asahi.com
Mainichi www.mainichi.jp
Le Monde www.ilemonde.com
Italy LaRepubblica www.quotidiano.repubblica.it vittorio.zucconi@gmail.com
Germany Frankfurter AllgemeineZeitung www.faz.net anzeigen.ausland@faz.de
SüddeutscheZeitung www.sueddeutsche.de forum@sueddeutsche.de
AustraliaBrisbaneTime
www.brisbanetimes.com.au syndication@fairfaxmedia.com.au
Sydney Morning Heraldwww.smh.com.au
Colombia Reports http://www.colombiareports.com
BogotaFree Planet http://www.bogotafreeplanet.com,bfp@bogotafreeplanet.com
El Universal https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/english
Andes https://www.redaktionstest.net/andes-info-ec/
Ecuador Times https://www.ecuadortimes.net/
The Jordan Times https://www.jordantimes.com/
LSM.lv https://www.lsm.lv//
The Baltic Times http://www.baltictimes.com lithuania@baltictimes.com, estonia@baltictimes.com, editor@baltictimes.com
El Pais https://english.elpais.com/
Philippine Daily Inquirer https://www.inquirer.net/
Daily News Hungary https://dailynewshungary.com/
Budapest Times https://www.budapesttimes.hu/

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The Korea Post is running video clips from the different embassies.

Azerbaijan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR8CBpcQ4WM

Sri Lanka: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hByX92Y2aGY&t=22s

Morocco: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfFmp2sVvSE

And many other countries.
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