Monday September 14, 2020

 

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

The Korea Post (http://www.koreapost.com/)
Moon says: “We are in the middle of war; I won’t call the commander from the battle front!”
President Moon Jae-in said, “We are in the middle of a war and I don’t think it is right to call the commander back home from the battlefront in the middle of a war!”
http://www.koreapost.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=21430

“We will upgrade the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention an agency level”
President Moon Jae-in disclosed on Sept. 8, 2020 that the government will upgrade the present Korea Centers for Disease Control (KCDC) one grade higher to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
Speaking with the members of his Cabinet, President Moon said, “Today, we will make a decision on the government restructuring plan to implement the upgrading. Details of the announcement of President Moon follow:
http://www.koreapost.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=21426

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KBS (http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/news/)
Korea Alleviates Distancing Measures in Greater Seoul Area
South Korea has enforced eased social distancing measures for the greater Seoul area from Monday following 14 days of so-called Level Two-point-Five guidelines.
Health Minister Park Neung-hoo said on Sunday in a briefing that while relaxing the social distancing guidelines to Level Two, the government will apply strict and targeted quarantine steps at high-risk facilities.
Starting Monday, the Seoul metropolitan area will be placed under the Level Two rules in the three-tier system until September 27.

Justice Minister Apologizes over Power Abuse Scandal Involving Son
Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae apologized Sunday over allegations she abused her power to gain special favors for her son during his mandatory military service.
Choo offered an apology in a Facebook post, saying that she has caused concerns for the people with issues involving her son's military duty at a time when the whole nation is facing difficulty due to the COVID-19 crisis.
Choo said she has kept silent regarding the issue because she, as the justice minister, could not affect the ongoing investigation, calling on prosecutors to shed light on the case by thoroughly investigating.

Senior Medical Students to Halt Collective Action
Senior medical students boycotting the state medical licensing exam have decided to tentatively halt their collective action.
Representatives of senior students at 40 medical schools across the nation announced the decision on Sunday in a joint statement after a meeting the previous day.
The representatives said they decided to put the action on hold and will announce their next steps after discussions, denying media reports that they applied for the exam. 
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Yonhap (http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr)
S. Korea to ease biz restrictions on eateries, coffee franchises in greater Seoul
South Korea will relax business restrictions on eateries, franchise coffee chains and other facilities in the wider Seoul area, as the country decided Sunday to ease tougher anti-virus curbs in the region for the next two weeks.
The country decided not to extend the so-called Level 2.5 social distancing scheme, set to end at midnight, in the densely populated capital area, as the stricter curbs have been effective in slowing new virus cases, according to health authorities.

New virus cases under 200 for 11th day; tougher virus curbs eased in greater Seoul
South Korea's new virus cases stayed below 200 for the 11th consecutive day Sunday, prompting health authorities to ease tougher virus curbs in the greater Seoul area for two weeks.
The country decided not to further extend the Level 2.5 measures, set to end at midnight, in Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon but to lower the virus curbs to Level 2 instead, effective starting Monday, amid slowing virus cases.

Justice minister apologizes over alleged power abuse scandal involving her son
Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae apologized Sunday over allegations she used her influence to seek special favors for her son during his mandatory military service, breaking her recent silence on the issue.
Choo has come under fire over suspicions that she abused her power to seek preferential treatment for her son, surnamed Seo, when he was in the military in 2017, such as by extending medical leave without following due procedures. Choo was chairwoman of the ruling Democratic Party at the time.

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HanKyoReh Shinmun (http://english.hani.co.kr)
The pandemic is a warning against the excesses of modern civilization
The raindrops had started falling again. In front of the crosswalk, the couple opened their lone umbrella. Both sporting yellow masks as if part of a “couple look,” they had been staring into each other’s eyes and did not start walking right away. It was just after 9 pm. The franchise coffee shop they frequented had closed early; their favorite bars were not accepting customers. Restaurants, eateries, bakeries -- all indoor dining prohibited until 5 am! The couple turned around and headed down into the subway station. After that, there were no more passersby. I had been visiting the parking garage road in front of Hongik University for over 30 years, but this was the first time it had ever felt so empty.

Samsung spent over US$ 3 million on ad campaign to support merger of Cheil Industries and Samsung C&T
The Samsung Group aggressively lobbied South Korea’s press to manipulate public opinion leading up to the extraordinary general meeting of stockholders held in July 2015 to vote on the proposed merger of Cheil Industries and Samsung C&T, an investigation by South Korea’s prosecutors has found. Over the course of four days, Samsung took out 3.6 billion won (US$3.03 million) in advertisements at newspapers in the country. According to the prosecutors, Samsung branded the managers of a foreign-owned hedge fund opposing the merger as “dine-and dash capitalists” and asked media outlets to run stories in support of that narrative.

S. Korea emphasizes alliance with US as “linchpin of foreign affairs and national security”
South Korean First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Choi Jong-kun stressed the importance of the South Korea-US alliance, calling it a “linchpin of foreign affairs and national security” in a visit to the US on Sept. 9.
Choi’s remarks came upon his arrival at Dulles International Airport near Washington, DC, that morning. In response to a reporter’s comment that the US “seems to want to bring South Korea a bit closer to its position on China,” Choi said, “I’m not sure what you mean by ‘bring closer,’ but the relationship between the Republic of Korea and the United States is an alliance. That alliance is the linchpin of our foreign affairs and national security.”

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Chosun Ilbo (http://english.chosun.com)
Koreans Embrace Decluttering in Lockdown
Many Koreans are radically trimming down their lives and possessions amid the coronavirus crisis. They are decluttering their homes, where they suddenly have to spend much more time, getting rid of unnecessary objects and keeping only what they consider essential.
Newlyweds Yoo Min-jae (33) and Choi Seung-woo (35) live in northeastern Seoul. "It's time to lighten our load," Yoo said. "We started throwing away useless things since we're moving to a new home in a month, but spending more time at home due to the epidemic also made us rethink what is really important."

Most Koreans See Coronavirus as Major Threat
Koreans fear coronavirus more than any other nationalities like the U.S., Japan and the U.K., a survey suggests.
Pew Research Center, an American think tank, polled people in 14 wealthy countries on what they see as the greatest threat, and Korea topped the list with a whopping 89 percent of respondents naming the spread of infectious diseases.
In Japan the proportion was 88 percent, in the U.S. and Spain 78 percent, and in the U.K. and France 74 percent. In Europe most people still perceive climate change as more dangerous than epidemics.

Holders of Unreported Offshore Bank Accounts Fined
The National Tax Service has fined 18 individuals and corporations W12.4 billion for failing to report offshore bank accounts in the first half of this year.
It also filed criminal complaints against nine of them whose unreported offshore accounts hold more than W5 billion each, according to a press release Thursday (US$1=W1,188).
Residents must report to the tax office by June the following year if the total balance of their offshore accounts exceeds W500 million on any single day in a month. The obligation has been in effect since 2011.

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The Dong-A Ilbo (http://english.donga.com/)
Anthony Fauci: ‘Normal life will not be possible before late 2021’
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said even if a COVID-19 vaccine is made available within this year, people will be able to return to normality after mid-next year. The global daily total of confirmed COVID-19 cases topped 310,000 per day, breaking the previous record.

‘Alliance Talks’ between U.S. and S. Korea stumble even before they begin
“Alliance Talks (tentative name),” working level discussions about the South Korea-U.S. alliance, are stumbling even before they officially begin. Disagreements between the two nations surfaced when the U.S. Department of State denied that it agreed to have the talks as stated by South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jung-kun at a briefing for correspondents.

HMM’s 12 24,000-TEU commercial container ships set sail
HMM announced Sunday that all 12 24,000-TEU container ships have left South Korea and are sailing Asia and Europe.
Starting with HMM Algeciras in April, HMM now has a total of 12 24,000-TEU commercial container ships, all of which have set sail. The most recent ship it received is “HMM Saint Petersburg,” which was delivered by Samsung Heavy Industries on Friday. Thanks to the government’s program introduced in 2016 with the aim of boosting the shipping industry, HMM can now connect Asia and Europe once a week and has become the world’s eighth largest shipping company by capacity with its total capacity having increased from 400,000 TEU in March to 700,000. 
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Maeil Business News Korea (http://www.pulsenews.co.kr/)
State lenders to inject $2 bn in Asiana Airlines after M&A officially ends
The South Korean government will provide 2.4 trillion won ($2 billion) to full-service Asiana Airlines from a state fund dedicated to protect key industries from the virus pandemic woes as the prolonged crisis killed the country’s biggest airline M&A deal.
Kumho Industrial officially ended the contract to sell its majority stake in Asiana Airlines for 2.5 trillion won first signed in December last year. Primary state lender Korea Development Bank (KDB) and the government on Friday held a meeting to launch the Plan B to keep the airliner afloat.

Celltrion completes Phase 1 clinical trial of COVID-19 antibody drug candidate
South Korea’s Celltrion Inc. has completed in-human Phase 1 clinical trial of CT-P59, a COVID-19 antiviral antibody treatment candidate. It plans to begin commercial production soon to supply the antibody drug immediately when it secures additional evidence of efficacy and safety.
The biotech firm said Friday that it has completed the Phase 1 study, verifying safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetic properties of CT-P59 COVID-19 antibody drug candidate. The Phase I trial involved 32 healthy volunteers in Korea. It is currently conducting separate human trials in patients with mild symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Qurient shares jump on hope for coronavirus med trial and promising pipelines
Qurient shares climbed to a 52-week high Friday on expectations that its investigational multi-drug resistant tuberculosis therapy Telacebec could be used to treat COVID-19 symptoms, while its other late-stage candidates became eligible for out-licensing discussion.
The Kosdaq-listed stock gained 4.37 percent to end the day at 40,600 won ($34.20).

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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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