Wednesday August 5, 2020

 

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

The Korea Post (http://www.koreapost.com/)
“We should stand firm to protect freedom and democracy from dictators, totalitarianists”
Prosecutor General Yoon Suk-yeol said, “The free democracy, which forms the core value of the Constitutional Law of the Republic of Korea, means the genuine democracy which is opposed to the dictators and totalitarianisits who cover themselves under the name of ‘democracy’ which is not real democracy.”
Speaking at an introduction meeting with newly appointed prosecutors in Seoul on Aug. 3, 2020, Yoon made the marks which Korea’s leading daily Chosun Ilbo and other Korean languge media interpreted the remarks as meaning criticisms against the ‘undemocratic state of things’ happening under the incumbent government of President Moon Jae-in.

POSCO INTERNATIONAL, Publishing a ‘Corporate Citizenship Report’ with Significantly Enriched ESG Data
On August 2, 2020, POSCO INTERNATIONAL (CEO: Joo Si-Bo) announced the publication of its ‘Corporate Citizenship Report 2019’ that illustrates the Company’s sustainability management activities and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) achievements.
Just as last year, this year’s Corporate Citizenship Report highlighted the Company’s major accomplishments in the three areas of Business, Society, and People in line with POSCO Group’s ‘Corporate Citizenship’ management philosophy. 
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KBS (http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/news/)
S. Korea's COVID-19 Cases Rise by 33
South Korea reported 33 new COVID-19 cases.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(KCDC) on Wednesday announced the new figure compiled throughout Tuesday, lifting the cumulative tally to 14-thousand-456.
Eighteen of the latest cases were imported from overseas, with 11 of them South Korean nationals. In terms of country of origin, six arrived from the U.S. while another six arrived from Uzbekistan.

Prime Minister Calls to Quickly Declare Rain-Affected Areas Disaster Zones
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun on Wednesday instructed the Ministry of the Interior and Safety to consider declaring Gyeonggi Province and both Chungcheong provinces special disaster zones as quickly as possible.
At a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters in Seoul, Chung expressed regret over the loss of life during recent days due to the heavy rain.

Prosecutors Indict Ex-Journalist on Attempted Extortion Charges
Former Channel A reporter Lee Dong-jae, a central figure in a media-prosecution collusion case, will face trial on charges of attempted extortion.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office announced the indictment on Wednesday, which is also the last day of Lee’s 20-day detainment period.
Lee is accused of threatening Lee Chul, the former head of investment firm Value Investment Korea, in order to obtain incriminating information about former Health Minister Rhyu Si-min. 
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Yonhap (http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr)
Downpours continue to grip S. Korea
Damage from the heavy rain that has pounded South Korea's metropolitan and central regions continued to grow on Wednesday, with the precipitation forecast to continue next week.
The downpours have killed 15 and left 11 missing as of 6 a.m., according to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters. Nearly 1,600 were forced to leave their homes, with two-thirds of them based in the provinces of South and North Chungcheong.

Major river passing through Pyongyang at risk of flooding
A major river running through North Korea's capital of Pyongyang is at risk of flooding as heavy rainfall continues to pound the country, according to state media on Wednesday.
North Korea is expecting to see an average of 150 to 300 millimeters of rainfall around the Taedong River from Wednesday to Thursday, and the water level of the river is expected to exceed the warning level around Thursday evening, the North's weather agency was quoted by state media as saying.

Trump suggests S. Korea's coronavirus death toll can't be trusted
U.S. President Donald Trump has suggested that South Korea's coronavirus death toll can't be trusted as he continues to defend his administration's handling of the pandemic.
In an interview with Axios broadcast late Monday, Trump showed data that indicated the U.S. has a low rate of deaths as a proportion of cases.
Axios reporter Jonathan Swan challenged the U.S. president, saying the U.S. is "really bad" and "much worse" than South Korea and Germany in terms of death as a proportion of population.

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HanKyoReh Shinmun (http://english.hani.co.kr)
Climate change radically alters S. Korea’s monsoon rains
After being soaked with rainfall of over 300mm over the past two days, central South Korea is facing the prospect of additional losses with more heavy rains of over 500mm predicted to fall through Aug. 5. The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) has forecasted heavy rains concentrated in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province and in western Gangwon Province amid the effects of Typhoon Hagupit, the fourth tropical storm of the season. Having already caused 141 deaths in China and 86 in Japan, a “super-monsoon” spawned by climate change is now laying into South Korea.

Tokyo retracts demand for Great Kanto earthquake memorial organizers to submit pledge to abide by law
The metropolitan government of Tokyo has retracted a demand that the organizers of a memorial service for Koreans massacred in the aftermath of the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923 submit a written pledge to abide by the law.
The Executive Committee for the Memorial Service for Korean Victims of the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 told the Hankyoreh on Aug. 3 that “Tokyo accepted our application [for holding the memorial service] on July 29 and said that it wouldn’t demand [that we submit] a written pledge.”

US nominates new envoy for defense cost-sharing talks
The US State Department nominated Donna Welton, former assistant chief of mission at the US Embassy in Afghanistan, to be its new envoy for defense cost-sharing talks with South Korea and other countries on Aug. 3. Welton will succeed Jim DeHart, who is now the US coordinator for the Arctic region. Her appointment comes amid a stalemate in defense cost-sharing negotiations between Seoul and Washington.
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Chosun Ilbo (http://english.chosun.com)
Over 1,000 Homeless After Devastating Floods
Four days of torrential downpours in central Korea have forced more than 1,000 people to flee their homes and seek shelter while 15 died and another 11 are missing.
The Korea Meteorological Administration said Tuesday that typhoon Hagupit, which made landfall in China on Tuesday, will continue to affect the Korean Peninsula until Thursday.

Banks Pay Zero Interest on Deposits for 1st Time
Interest rates on savings accounts have fallen below one percent for the first time in Korea's history. That means even parking W100 million in a bank account will yield less than W1 million a year (US$1=W1,196). Gone are the days when bank deposits served as a means to increase wealth. Now they have become merely safe deposit boxes.
But loan interest rates have also fallen to a record low, making real estate and stocks an even more appealing investment.

More Damaged Banknotes as People Try to Disinfect Them
More banknotes were damaged and destroyed in the first half of the year partly because people attempted to "disinfect" them from coronavirus.
The Bank of Korea on July 31 reported collecting 304.5 million damaged banknotes and coins in the first six months, up 0.1 percent on-year.
That was nearly W2.7 trillion in nominal value (US$1=W1,196). A total of W2.69 trillion worth were pulped, including 5.5 million W50,000 notes, 203 million W10,000 notes, 12.6 million W5,000 notes and 85.6 million W1,000 notes.

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The Dong-A Ilbo (http://english.donga.com/)
First U.N. report on N. Korea’s miniaturization of nuclear warheads
The United Nations published a report for the first time that North Korea might have completed the development of nuclear weapons miniaturized enough to be mounted on ballistic missiles.
Reuters reported that an independent panel of experts monitoring U.N. sanctions against North Korea submitted the interim report to the U.N. Security Council North Korea sanctions committee on Monday (local time). According to the report, multiple unidentified countries said North Korea’s past six nuclear tests had likely helped it develop miniaturized nuclear devices.

SKT, Woowa Brothers strike hands
SK Telecom and Woowa Brothers stroke hands to commercialize autonomous delivery robots. The two companies announced Tuesday that they signed an MOU for technology and business collaboration to gain leadership in 5G-based smart robots and mobile edge computing.

Nevada passes bill to expand mail-in voting
The state of Nevada has approved a bill that would send absentee ballots to all active voters this November, which U.S. President Donald Trump called an “illegal late night coup” threatening to take legal action. It appears that President Trump is stepping up his attacks on states’ effort to expand vote-by-mail, faced with decreasing approval ratings, conflicts with state governments and investigation by the prosecution.

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The KyungHyang Shinmun (http://english.khan.co.kr/)
Foreign Ministry Shifts Direction and Actively Responds to Sexual Assault Allegations Against a Diplomat in New Zealand
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had remained silent despite strong pressure from the New Zealand government concerning a South Korean diplomat accused of sexually assaulting a local employee when he served at the South Korean embassy in New Zealand, but on August 3, the ministry called in the New Zealand ambassador to South Korea and proposed to resolve the issue through a judicial process. The ministry also ordered A, the diplomat in question, currently serving in a third country, to return.

Transition Toward Housing Leased on Monthly Rents Is Accelerating. This Calls for Urgent Measures to Reduce Burden on Tenants
The enforcement of the revised Housing Lease Protection Act, which includes a contract renewal claim, a price cap for lump-sum deposits (jeonse) and monthly rents, and a mandatory report of houses for rent, is expected to accelerate the transition of jeonse to monthly rents in the housing lease market. As the government tightens regulations on people owning multiple properties in an age of the ultra-low interest rate, it will be difficult for homeowners to use the lump-sum deposit (jeonse payment) to invest in other real estate properties, so there’s no need to hold such large sums of money. Meanwhile, if more homeowners lease homes on a monthly rent, it will put a heavier burden on the tenants, so additional measures are necessary. The government and the ruling party must work to improve the policy to prepare for such movements in the market.

Not the Monsoon, Disastrous Floods Swallow Central Korea
The nation is suffering casualties and property damage due to the torrential rains that fell heavily particularly in the Seoul metropolitan area and central South Korea since August 1. According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters on August 2, as of 7:30 p.m. this day, six people have died and eight are missing. Chungcheongbuk-do, hit by a record-breaking “water bomb,” suffered the most number of casualties: four people died and eight people including one fire fighter are missing. The Korea Meteorological Administration expects the Korean Peninsula to come under the influence of Typhoon Hagupit, the fourth typhoon this year, and forecasted torrential rains concentrated in the central region until after August 5. 
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Maeil Business News Korea (http://www.pulsenews.co.kr/)
Hanmi stock zooms to daily high after it pulls in MSD for NASH pipeline
Shares of Hanmi Pharmaceutical opened Wednesday at their daily ceiling on overnight news that it drew in Merck & Co. referred MSD outside North America for an out-licensing deal on its investigational treatment on fatty liver disease.
Under the latest deal, MSD would be granted an exclusive license to develop, manufacture and commercialize efinopegdutide (formerly HM12525A), Hanmi’s investigational once-weekly glucagon-like peptide-1/glucagon receptor dual agonist for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a liver disease type related to obesity.

KB Investment invests $3 mn in Microsoft-backed Indian logistics startup FarEye
KB Investment Co., the venture capital unit of South Korea’s KB Financial Group, has invested $3 million in the Indian logistics management startup FarEye’s Series D financing round.
The Noida-based startup raised a total of $33 million at a valuation of about $95 million in its latest funding round led by Microsoft’s venture fund M12, according to industry sources on Tuesday. 
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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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