Wednesday September 9, 2020

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

The Korea Post (http://www.koreapost.com/)
Princess Suriratna of India marries King Suro of the Gaya Kingdom nearly 2,000 years ago
The Gimhae City of the Gyeongsangnam-do Province in Korea on the southeastern tip of the Korean peninsula, near Busan (Korea’s second-largest city), is one of the bourgeoning provincial cities in Korea.
Gimhae also has a rich history as the capital city of the ancient Kingdom of Gaya ruled by King Gim (Kim) Suro (AD 42-199) who married a princess from India, Princess Heo Hwang-ok (Suriratna of Ayuta in Indian name).

First place winner in polls: Will he make Korea’s next President after Moon?
Chairman Lee Nak-yon of the ruling Democratic Party won the top place with a 24% support in a nationally conducted opinion survey on the Presidential hopefuls in Korea to succeed President Moon Jae-in a little over a year later.
This was published after a joint opinion survey recently conducted by four major opinion survey organizations in Korea, namely Embrain Public, Kstat Research, Korea Research, and Hankuk Research. The follower-up winner was Governor Lee Jae-myung of the Gyeonggi Province with a 20% support.
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KBS (http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/news/)
South Korea saw the number of daily COVID-19 cases remain in the 100 range for the seventh straight day with the spike in infections slowing down slightly.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(KCDC) said as of 12 a.m. Wednesday, 156 more people tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total to 21-thousand-588.
Out of the new cases, 144 were community infections, while the remaining 12 were imported.
Of the domestic cases, 100 were from the greater Seoul area, including 51 in Gyeonggi Province and 48 in Seoul.

S. Korea's Top Diplomat to Attend Annual ASEAN Meetings
South Korea's Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha is set to attend a series of annual meetings led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN) starting Wednesday.
Minister Kang will first attend an ASEAN Plus Three meeting at 5:15 p.m. on Wednesday, which will bring together the ten ASEAN member nations, South Korea, China and Japan.
In the virtual conference, Kang will discuss measures for economic recovery and cooperation in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fitch Lowers S. Korea’s 2020 Growth Outlook amid COVID-19 Surge
Global credit rating agency Fitch Ratings revised down its growth forecast for South Korea this year, reflecting a new wave of the COVID-19 epidemic in the country.
In its latest report on Tuesday, Fitch lowered its 2020 economic growth outlook for South Korea from minus point-nine percent to minus one-point-one percent, though it maintained its assessment that the economic slump is less severe in South Korea compared to other countries.
Praising South Korea's successful quarantine efforts amid the recent surge, Fitch said there was no need to enforce strict restrictions on the country's economic activities. 
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Yonhap (http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr)
New virus cases under 200 for week, virus fight still harried by cluster infections
South Korea's new virus cases stayed below 200 for the seventh consecutive day Wednesday, but health authorities are still on guard against sporadic cluster infections across the nation.
The country added 156 more COVID-19 cases, including 144 local infections, raising the total caseload to 21,588, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).
It marked an increase from 136 new cases Thursday, which also slightly rose from 119 cases added the previous day, the fewest in 24 days.

BTS tops Billboard Hot 100 chart for 2nd consecutive week
K-pop superstar BTS ranked first on the Billboard main singles chart for the second consecutive week Tuesday with its latest single "Dynamite."
"BTS' 'Dynamite' is officially No. 1 on this week's Hot 100 chart for a second consecutive week," Billboard said on Twitter.
The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming, radio airplay and sales data. Billboard will update all charts later this week.

Job losses extend into August amid pandemic, unemployment rate up to 3.1 pct
South Korea lost about 274,000 jobs in August, marking a decline in the number of the employed for the sixth consecutive month, as the coronavirus pandemic hammered job markets, data showed Wednesday.
The country's jobless rate rose by 0.1 percentage point on-year to 3.1 percent in August, with the number of employed people falling to 27.08 million, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.
It marked the longest fall since the eight months of decline posted in 2009 amid the global financial crisis.

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HanKyoReh Shinmun (http://english.hani.co.kr)
Typhoon Haishen wreaks havoc on Gangwon, N. Gyeongsang Provinces as 2 go missing and dozens are injured
Two people are missing in Gangwon and North Gyeongsang Province and around a dozen citizens and police officers are injured in Busan, Ulsan, and elsewhere in the wake of Typhoon Haishen, the 10th tropical storm of the season, which arrived in South Korea on Sept. 7 -- just four days after the country suffered a battering from the ninth storm, Typhoon Maysak. In addition, two reactors were taken offline at the Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant in Gyeongju.

Seoul lost around 20,000 businesses between first and second quarters of 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic and the economic slowdown have caused the number of commercial properties in Seoul to decrease by about 20,000 between the first and second quarters of the year, new data shows.
On Sept. 7, housing information provider Real Estate 114 released the results of its analysis of commercial property data tracked by South Korea’s Small Enterprise and Market Service. The analysis found that there were 370,321 commercial properties in Seoul at the end of the second quarter of 2020 (Q2), 21,178 fewer (5.4%) than the 391,499 reported at the end of the first quarter (Q1).

Hardliners in doctors’ strike still refusing to work, only 14% of candidates to take medical licensing exam
On Sept. 4, the administration and ruling Democratic Party reached an agreement with the Korea Medical Association (KMA) to restart the debate over policies such as increasing medical school admission quotas and postpone applications for the national medical licensing exam by another two days -- but just 14% of students have decided to take the exam. Physician groups are now up in arms over the administration and ruling party’s insistence that any additional extension is out of the question.

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Chosun Ilbo (http://english.chosun.com)
Bankruptcies Surge Due to Coronavirus Epidemic
There has been a surge in bankruptcy filings across the country due to the coronavirus epidemic. There are two types of bankruptcies -- liquidation and rehabilitation. The liquidation bankruptcy exempts individuals from liability for debts surpassing their assets, while the rehabilitation bankruptcy reorganizes debts down to the payable level so people can pay them off within three years as they try to get back on their feet.

Kim Jong-un 'Feared Poisoning' at Summit with Trump
U.S. President Donald Trump unnerved North Korean leader Kim Jong-un when he offered him a Tic Tac breath mint at their first summit, Trump's ex-press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders claims in a new book.
In "Speaking for Myself" published Tuesday, the former spokeswoman says Kim was clearly afraid of being poisoned when the two leaders met in Singapore in June 2018.
Just before working luncheon, Trump offered Kim the breath mint. "Kim, confused, and probably concerned it was an attempt to poison him, wasn't sure how to respond," she writes.

Korean Air to Turn Back Passengers Who Won't Wear Masks
Korean Air will not allow passengers who refuse to wear a mask to board a plane, the flag carrier said Tuesday.
Airline staff will warn them that they are violating the law and, if they still refuse to comply, hand them over to police. They could also be barred from future bookings.Exemptions can be made for infants under 24 months and people who have a health condition that prevents them from wearing masks.
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The Dong-A Ilbo (http://english.donga.com/)
Korea ranks first in shipbuilding orders for two consecutive months
Korea’s shipbuilding industry is leading the world in terms of shipbuilding orders for two consecutive months in July and August. It is a meaningful achievement made in difficult times given the spread of COVID-19.
According to the British shipbuilding and marine market conditions analytics company Clarkson Research, Korean shipbuilders won 73 percent of 860,000 CGT (compensated gross tonnage) ordered globally, beating China which accounts for 24 percent. It was thanks to shipping companies, which hesitated to place orders in the first half of the year due to COVID-19, ordered Korea’s specialty ships including LNG carriers.

KCDA status elevated, a significant progress in infectious disease control
The new Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KCDA) will be officially launched on Saturday. The number of staff will be increased by 569 from 907 to 1,476. It is 1.6 times larger than the previous organization. The internal organization will become double the size with one agency head, deputy head, eight bureaus and 41 departments from the current organization that has one chief, five divisions and centers and 23 departments.

Ethiopian minister earns doctorate degree from KAIST
An Ethiopian minister earned a doctorate degree from the Global Information & Telecommunication Technology Program (ITTP) at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).
Mekuria Teklemariam who serves as an advisor to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia graduated summa cum laude last month after joining the doctorate program in September 2016. He became the country’s youngest Minister of Urban Development and Housing at the age of 40 10 years ago. He has led the economic development of Ethiopia with smart city development, land management, and housing development policies before making a sudden decision to study abroad as he felt anxious about a lack of progress in his own capabilities.

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The KyungHyang Shinmun (http://english.khan.co.kr/)
For Public Interest or Private Retribution? The Controversial Digital Prison
Are actions taken to punish alleged sex criminals in the place of state agencies for the good of the public? The Digital Gyodoso or Digital Prison is a website that publishes the personal information of sex offenders received from tips, and it is now at the center of controversy after the death of a college student whose name and face was released on the website.
On one side, people criticize that the passive investigations and rulings on sex crimes by law enforcement agencies and the court caused the launch of such a website, while on the other side, people voice concerns that such private retribution threatens the very roots of the community.

After the Outbreak of COVID-19, 20,000 Stores Disappeared from Downtown Seoul
Due to the spread of COVID-19, the number of stores in central Seoul has dropped by more than 20,000 in the second quarter.
According to the Small Enterprise and Market Service data on stores analyzed by Real Estate 114 on September 7, the number of stores in Seoul was 370,321 in the second quarter, 21,178 less than the 391,499 stores in the first quarter.
Restaurants suffered the greatest fall. The number of restaurants fell by 10,040 from 134,041 in the first quarter to 124,001 in the second quarter. More than 3,000 stores disappeared in the same period among retail stores, such as convenient stores and supermarkets, and businesses providing everyday services, such as printers and hair salons. Yeo Kyung-hee, a senior researcher at Real Estate 114 said, “The sluggish economy continued and consumer sentiment was down due to COVID-19, which affected the drop in the number of businesses.”

Government Plans to Hand out Second COVID-19 Relief Fund Before Chuseok
On September 6, the Democratic Party of Korea, the government and Cheongwadae decided to draw up a 7-trillion-won fourth supplemental budget to overcome the crisis triggered by COVID-19. The second disaster relief fund in response to the novel coronavirus will first be handed out to people in vulnerable industries and in the low-income tier, who have suffered big damages. The ruling party and government plan to submit the draft of the fourth supplemental budget at the National Assembly this week so they can hand out the funds before the Chuseok holiday.
Choi In-ho, chief spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Korea announced that the ruling party, the government and Cheongwadae held a meeting of senior representatives at the prime minister’s residence in Samcheong-dong, Seoul and agreed to such details. In a briefing, Choi said, “We have agreed to quickly prepare policy tasks and provide thorough support tailored to the needs of those, on whom the damages from COVID-19 have been concentrated, along with a fourth supplemental budget to support such policies.” 
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Maeil Business News Korea (http://www.pulsenews.co.kr/)
Record $53 billion parked in securities accounts as they await Big Hit IPO
Record fluid money sat tight in brokerage houses as they wait to grab the next blockbuster IPO after losing Kakao Games.
According to the Korea Financial Investment Association, the balance in securities deposits amounted to 63.3 trillion won ($53 billion) on Sept. 4, adding 16 trillion won from the previous day to a fresh record high.
The cash management account (CMA) balance at stock brokerages also increased by 13 trillion won to 58.1 trillion won from the previous day. A CMA is a brokerage account designed for spending and managing cash, allowing immediate investment on stocks or other financial products.

Seoul’s network traffic surcharge on multinationals draws complains from local players
South Korean tech giants Naver and Kakao fear damaging ripples from a new local regulation aimed to levy wireless surcharge on multinational platform operators like Google and Netflix if they cause traffic overload.
The Ministry of Science and ICT announced its plan to implement an ordinance under the revised telecommunications business act on Tuesday. The new act will require overseas platform operators to appoint local agents to maintain service stability if they cause network overload.

Samsung Elec to make Qualcomm 4 series, sweeping orders from all 3 US chip majors
Samsung Electronics Co. scored an order to make Qualcomm Technologies Inc.’s mobile application processors for 5G budget smartphones, winning over all three fabless U.S. chip giants as they are forced to end ties with Chinese makers.
The South Korean chipmaker would be tasked with producing Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 4 series processors powering low- to mid-end 5G smartphones, 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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