Friday June 26, 2020

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

The Korea Post (http://www.koreapost.com/)
 

“We will build a Memorial Wall of Remembrance in Washington D.C.”
President Moon Jae-in said, “By 2022, we will complete construction of a Memorial Wall of Remembrance in Washington D.C. in the United States to forever honor the fact that the ‘Great alliance’ is rooted in the noble sacrifices of Korean War veterans.”
Speaking on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War on June 25, President Moon than stated, “The U.N. Korean War veterans I met during my overseas trips have invariably regarded Korea as their second home and taken great pleasure and pride in Korea’s development as if it is their own.”
http://www.koreapost.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=20985

“Acute food shortage in North Korea attributed to call-off of belligerent acts”
Today (June 25, 2020) marks the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, which started on June 25, 1950. In recent days, tensions rose again on the Korean peninsular due to resumption of provocations by North Korea, which were recently halted by special remarks made by Chairman Kim Jong-Un of the (North) Korean Workers Party.
Chairman Kim called off a series of military provocations against the Republic of Korea (south), which had recently been waged against the South by his younger sister, Vice-Chairperson Kim Yo-Jong of the Workers Party, the Number 2 leader in North Korea.
http://www.koreapost.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=20983

“Uzbek gov’t, businesses make joint effort to support the vulnerable groups”
Until mid-March, residents of Uzbekistan – a doubly landlocked state - experienced the coronavirus epidemic with some degree of surprise: the epidemic, which originally found in China, circled the center of Asia and began to spread in Europe. On March 15, Uzbekistan officially announced the detection of the first case of coronavirus infection in a citizen who arrived from France. 2 months passed and during this time the number of infected COVID-19 on May 19, 2020, has reached 2802 people, of which 2314 (82.6%) - recovered, and 13 - died. The mortality rate in Uzbekistan remains extremely low - 0.46% of the total number of cases.
http://www.koreapost.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=20976

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KBS (http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/news/)
Special Documentary on the 70th Anniversary of the Korean War: Memories of the War
In 1951, a year after the Korean War broke out, Han Joon-sik joined the fight at the tender age of 19. Veteran Han took part in fierce battles as part of the anti-guerrilla operations at Baekunsan and Jirisan, and recorded the horrendous details in his diary 50 years after the war. These records were discovered by chance by his granddaughter, and they were published in 2019 under the title, “I Unfold This Story at the Age of Eighty-nine.”

Trump Pays Respects at Korean War Memorial on 70th Anniversary
U.S. President Donald Trump visited the Korean War Veterans Memorial on Thursday to mark the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the war.
The president and First Lady Melania Trump participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial on Washington's National Mall.
The first couple stood for a moment of silence before laying their hands on the wreath to pay their respects.

US Names N. Korea Worst Human Trafficking Nation for 18th Year
The United States has named North Korea one of the worst human trafficking nations for the 18th consecutive year.
The State Department's annual "2020 Trafficking in Persons Report" put North Korea in the lowest Tier 3, together with China, Russia and Iran.
Releasing the report on Thursday, the department said the North Korean government did not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and did not make significant efforts to do so, leaving it in the lowest category of Tier 3. 
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Yonhap (http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr)
Moon urges N. Korea to formally end Korean War, warns of firm response to threats
South Korean President Moon Jae-in called on North Korea Thursday to join a bold move to formally end the Korean War in peace overtures, coupled with a clear warning message, commemorating the conflict that started seven decades ago.
"We cannot commemorate the Korean War in a genuine manner yet. That is because the War has yet to come to an end," he said during a speech at the war anniversary event held at Seoul Air Base, a military compound just southeast of Seoul.

U.S. will stand with allies amid concerns about Chinese retaliation: official
The United States will stand with its allies and partners and support them in whatever they need, a senior U.S. official said Thursday in response to concerns about China's retaliation against U.S.-aligned nations.
Keith Krach, under secretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment, made the comment during a teleconference with reporters when asked how the U.S. plans to protect countries, such as South Korea, from such action by Beijing.

U.S. supports use of WTO system to settle Seoul-Tokyo trade dispute: official
The United States supports the use of the World Trade Organization's dispute settlement process to resolve trade issues between South Korea and Japan, a senior U.S. official said Thursday.
The comment by David Stilwell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, comes after Seoul reopened its complaint against Tokyo's export restrictions at the WTO.

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Korea Times (http://www.koreatimes.co.kr)
Moon strives to revive peace talks with North Korea
President Moon Jae-in has again extended an overture to North Korea in an effort to get soured inter-Korean relations back on track for peace talks.
Marking the 70th anniversary of the Korean War, Thursday, Moon also urged North Korea to join efforts to achieve the "long-desired wish of 80 million Koreans" for peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula.
His remarks come after tensions were escalated following the North's resumption of hostile rhetoric and activities toward the South, but subsided temporarily following North Korean leader Kim Jong-un giving an order Wednesday to withhold planned military actions.

Gov't eases standard for releasing virus patients
The government eased the standard for releasing COVID-19 patients from hospitals on Thursday amid growing concerns about a possible lack of beds for critically ill patients following a string of infection clusters that have continued to occur here since May.
Under the new standard, the health authorities began allowing asymptomatic patients to be released from quarantine although they show an initial positive test result, if they have no symptoms associated with the coronavirus, such as a fever, for 10 days from the day of the initial COVID-19 diagnosis.

Korea Times, Incheon Global Campus to begin cooperation
The Korea Times and the Incheon Global Campus Foundation (IGCF) signed a memorandum of understanding Thursday to enhance their cooperation in education.
The signing ceremony took place at the IGCF's multi-complex building in Incheon's Songdo, between The Korea Times President Publisher Oh Young-jin and IGCF CEO Paek Ki-hun.
Under the MOU, The Korea Times and the IGCF will promote global corporate social responsibility (CSR) campaigns, host global forums and create internship programs for university students studying at the IGCF's campus in Songdo.

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HanKyoReh Shinmun (http://english.hani.co.kr)
South and North Korea need to be the masters of their own fate
Seventy years ago today, the Korean Peninsula plunged into the tragedy of a horrific war. As North Korean troops swept across the 38th parallel, the Cold War – rooted in the conflict between the US and the Soviet Union – exploded onto the Korean Peninsula. Korea was sacrificed on the altar of the struggle between those superpowers: the ensuing war resulted in the death of more than 3 million people, or 10% of the population of South and North Korea, and the country was reduced to ashes.

It’s time to abandon Trump’s diplomacy and turn to Kim Dae-jung’s “open autonomy”
Among the various South Korean responses to the inflammatory remarks of Kim Yo-jong, first deputy director of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) Central Committee, the one made by Moon Chung-in, special presidential advisor for unification, foreign affairs, and national security, is particularly noteworthy. Moon said that Kim Yo-jong’s critical statements about South Korea were actually a form of self-criticism. Considering the big role that Kim played in the inter-Korean thaw, her belligerent language now both expresses her extreme displeasure with the South and her remorse for her own actions, Moon suggested.

Remains of S. Korean soldiers return home after 70 years
The remains of South Korean soldiers who died fighting during the Korean War (1950-53) that were in Hawaii are finally returning home, after 70 years. On June 24, a South Korean KC-330 Cygnus tanker aircraft arrived at Seoul Air Base with 147 sets of remains from Hawaii. The remains were excavated from North Korea between 1994 and 1995, and were included among 55 boxes of remains of US soldiers returned to the US by North Korea in July 2018, following the Singapore summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The US decided to return the remains to South Korea after determining their origin.

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Chosun Ilbo (http://english.chosun.com)
N.Korea 'Kept Making Nukes During Hanoi Summit'
North Korea continued to produce nuclear weapons even in February last year when North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met with U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi with a promise of "complete denuclearization," a U.S. State Department report suggests.
In the report submitted to Congress on Tuesday, the State Department said, "Throughout 2019, the United States continued to have significant concerns regarding North Korea's nuclear weapons program and its continued production of fissile material."

Int'l Activists Accuse Moon of Ignoring N.Koreans' Human Rights
International human rights activists have slammed the South Korean government for not supporting a North Korea resolution of the UN Human Rights Council for a second year running, according to Voice of America on Wednesday.
Greg Scarlatoiu, the executive director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, said, "Seoul used to be one of the key members of an informal coalition of like-minded UN member states that produced very significant and very effective measures addressing the human rights situation in North Korea. [But now] Seoul has given up the high ground it once held.

Spring Weddings Plummet Amid Coronavirus Lockdown
The coronavirus pandemic drastically reduced the number of spring weddings this year, traditionally the peak season for nuptials.
According to Statistics Korea on Wednesday, there were 15,670 weddings this April, down 21.8 percent on-year and the first time the total fell below 20,000 for the month.
In the southeastern city of Daegu, which was a hotbed of coronavirus infections, weddings declined more than 25 percent.

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The Dong-A Ilbo (http://english.donga.com/)
Secretary Esper: N. Korea must grab the chance of lifeline’
In regard with the recent threats from Pyongyang, U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said the North won’t be compensated for bad behaviors, adding that the U.S. is closely watching the exceptional and alarming developments from North Korea. Secretary Esper urged the communist regime to grab “the chance of lifetime,” saying the U.S. is working along its ally South Korea to achieve the “Final Fully Verifiable Denuclearization (FFVD)” of North Korea.

Kia Motors wins best initial quality awards in America
Kia Motors Corporation has been chosen as a producer of the best-quality cars by American consumers. All in all, three brands under Hyundai Motor Group have been ranked within top 10, with Genesis and Hyundai Motor being ranked in the fifth and tenth, respectively.
In the J.D. Power 2020 U.S. Initial Quality Study, Kia Motors Corporation was tied for the highest in overall initial quality along with American automobile brand Dodge among 31 automobile manufacturers.

WHO predicts global COVID-19 cases to reach 10 million next week
Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday (local time) that the accumulated number of COVID-19 cases across the world will reach 10 million next week. It has been six months since China reported its first case to the organization on December 31, 2019.
“The globally accumulated numbers of patients and deaths stand at 9.1 million and 470,000, respectively, as of now. The number of cases will soon reach 10 million,” the director-general said during a video press conference at the WHO headquarters in Geneva on Wednesday.

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The KyungHyang Shinmun (http://english.khan.co.kr/)
Kim Jong-un Appears and Settles the Situation… According to a Prewritten Script?
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appeared as the “good guy” easing the tension on the Korean Peninsula. Chairman Kim had remained silent while Kim Yo-jong, first deputy director of the Workers’ Party of Korea, played the “villain” putting pressure on South Korea since June 4. Some experts believe the North intentionally divided the roles with Kim Yo-jong shaking things up by attacking the South and her older brother playing the role of the problem-solver and settling the situation.
According to the Rodong Sinmun on June 24, Chairman Kim presided over a preliminary meeting for the fifth meeting of the seventh Central Military Commission the previous day and deferred the military action plan, which the North had warned the South was due to the distribution of propaganda flyers by groups of North Korean defectors. This was the North Korean leader’s first public activity since he chaired the thirteenth Politburo meeting of the party’s seventh Central Committee 17 days earlier on June 7.

Seventy Years of the Korean War Amidst Inter-Korean Confrontation: Time to Strengthen Our Will for a New Start Toward Peace
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held a preliminary meeting of the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea on June 23 and deferred plans to take military action against the South. According to the decision made this day, on June 24, the North Korean military removed most of the facilities for loudspeaker broadcasts that it had installed in the forefront. It is unclear as to why North Korea suddenly decided to pause and catch its breath while heightening its level of pressure on the South this month--cutting off all lines of communication between the two Koreas and blasting the North-South Korea Joint Liaison Office.

North Korean Defectors Claim to Have Released 500,000 Propaganda Leaflets; Government Works to Silence “False Information”
Fighters for a Free North Korea, a group of North Korean defectors, claimed to have released twenty large balloons carrying 500,000 propaganda flyers from Paju-si, Gyeonggi-do on the night of June 22, but the government argued that this was “false information.” The government also said, “No leaflets went to North Korea.” The government further announced plans to crack down on the office and residence of Park Sang-hak, head of Fighters for a Free North Korea, which released plans to distribute additional flyers. As the tension builds between North and South Korea surrounding the distribution of propaganda leaflets, the government is taking strong measures to prevent the situation from deteriorating.
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Maeil Business News Korea (http://www.pulsenews.co.kr/)
Korea’s consumer confidence rises for second straight month in June
South Korea’s consumer sentiment climbed for the second straight month in June, buoyed by a slew of strong government measures to keep the economy afloat that also helped the stock market rally amid dwindling COVID-19 cases in the country.
The composite consumer sentiment index rose 4.2 points on month to 81.8 in June, up for the second month in a row, the Bank of Korea reported Friday.

S. Korea’s inflation to remain low even after COVID-19: BOK Governor
South Korea’s inflation is expected to rise at a slow pace even after the coronavirus pandemic recedes, central bank chief warned Thursday, citing an “unprecedented shock” of COVID-19 to the global economy that should bring fundamental changes to how economic activities are conducted.

KB Kookmin to take up rights offering to become majority shareholder in Bank Bukopin
South Korea’s KB Kookmin Bank, richer through handsome returns from a latest equity sale, has offered to invest extra to command a dominant stake in Indonesia’s mid-sized Bank Bukopin.
According to industry sources on Wednesday, KB Kookmin Bank has decided to invest $200 million to join the rights offering from Bank Bukopin, which could make the Korean bank the largest shareholder  with a 51 percent stake.
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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 Herald www.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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