Wednesday, March 16, 2022
Round-up of important news from major Korean dailies and from international media today

The Korea Post ( www.koreapost.com )

We should solve the polarization problem between large and smaller businesses”

The total sales of Korean companies is similar between large companies and SMEs at 52% versus 48%, but in terms of profit margin, large companies take 57% of the total operating profit and SMEs only account for 25%. As a result, the polarization problem is escalating to the highest level this year,” said Kim Ki-moon, chairman of the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business (KBIZ). In an interview with the Korea Post media, Chairman Kim said, “For the remainder of my tenure, I plan to focus on resolving this polarization problem and resolving the three negative issues in the new economy to realize a leading economy.”

 

With remarkable development, Rwanda makes a model in Africa”

Following the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Republic of Rwanda in 1963, the Republic of Korea opened its Embassy in Rwanda for the first time in the 1970s, and again in the 1980s, before circumstances forced it to be closed again. The Embassy was finally reopened on 14 May 2011. The Republic of Rwanda is located in central Africa, close to the Equator. Rwanda's climate is moderate all year round, and its mountainous terrain provides a magnificent landscape. Rwandans are proud of their country's beauty, referring to it as "the Land of a Thousand Hills," or "the Land of Eternal Spring."


We can expand our cooperation with Brunei to next-generation industries"

President Moon Jae-in said, "Brunei Darussalam is pursuing her ‘Vision 2035’ to create new growth engines in moving beyond being a resource-rich country." Speaking at the -ROK Commemorative Summit in Busan on Nov. 24, 2019, President Moon then added, "If we harmoniously fulfill Vision 2035 and Korea's New Southern Policy, we can expand the horizons of our cooperation to the next-generation industries and achieve common prosperity." As was exemplified in the statement of President Moon, Korea and Brunei Darussalam has a great deal of potential for a drastically increased win-win cooperation for mutual benefit.

 

                                                                                             

 

Chosun Ilbo (http://english.chosun.com)
Korea Already Short of Paxlovid

Korea is already running out of Pfizer's Paxlovid COVID pills. At first, the pills were available only to the over-65s for fear of a possible shortage, but now it is being prescribed for all risk groups over 40 as well as all over-60s. Health authorities say they have signed a contract for enough Paxlovid courses for 762,000 people, but only 163,000 have arrived so far. Since they were first prescribed on Jan. 14, the pills have been prescribed for 40,111 patients, or 24 percent of the first batch, so a stockpile of 122,679 courses remains.

Punitive Real Estate Taxes Swayed Votes in Favor of Yoon
The current government's punitive real estate taxes appear to have swayed votes in favor of the People Power Party's Yoon Seok-youl in the presidential election last week. Yoon beat ruling-party rival Lee Jae-myung in 14 out of 25 districts of Seoul, and most of them are home to mid- to high-priced apartments that have been slapped with punitive taxes (US$1=W1,232). Yoon won the biggest majority in wealthy Gangnam with 67 percent, followed by neighboring Seocho and Songpa with 65.1 percent and 56.8 percent and downtown Yongsan with 56.4 percent.


Election Result Shows People's Desire for Change
Since adopting direct presidential elections in 1987, South Korea had more or less seen the government shift back and forth from conservative to liberal every 10 years, so few expected the presidency to revert to the conservatives so soon after Park Geun-hye disgraced them. When president-elect Yoon Seok-youl quit his job as prosecutor-general in March last year and left his lifetime career behind to pursue his political ambitions, not many thought he would succeed. There have been too many like him, who created a buzz early on but fizzled as the election approached and reality took over. In that sense, Yoon's election win is unprecedented in South Korean politics.

                                                                                              

 

Joongang Ilbo (https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com )
Yoon goes hunting for new presidential office site

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is considering moving his presidential office to the Foreign Ministry building in Gwanghwamun or the Defense Ministry compound in Yongsan in central Seoul. During the campaign, Yoon pledged to make the presidential office less isolated and more approachable to the public and the press. The idea of relocating the presidential office has been proposed by previous presidents, but eventually was deemed infeasible, largely because of security. Yoon set up a transition task force on the Blue House relocation, which is reviewing options. On the campaign trail, he promised to move the presidential office from the not very accessible Blue House to the central government complex in nearby Gwanghwamun in Jongno District.

 

Vaccinated arrivals to end quarantine on March 21

Fully-vaccinated travelers arriving in Korea over the next five days will have shorter quarantines, authorities announced Tuesday. According to Ko Jae-young, head of the Crisis Communication Team at the Central Disease Control Headquarters, the government will shorten quarantine for fully vaccinated people who have arrived and are under isolation, until quarantine is lifted completely for fully vaccinated people on March 21. We previously announced that the [quarantine exemption] would not be applied retroactively [to arrivals from before March 21], but changed the measures after speaking with related agencies, Ko said.

Work at North's airport suggests major missile launch

Satellite imagery of an airfield near Pyongyang suggests North Korea could be preparing another major missile launch, following two recent ballistic missile tests that South Korea and the United States said were experimental launches for an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system. The observation comes as U.S. and Chinese diplomats met in Rome to discuss the regime’s missile launches, in addition to discussing the Russian invasion of Ukraine and tensions over Taiwan.  A South Korean intelligence source told the JoongAng Ilbo Sunday that Seoul had detected signs that the North was gearing up to launch additional missiles from Sunan Airport, which was captured in the satellite photographs.


                                                                                             

 

The Dong-A Ilbo (http://english.donga.com/)

Concrete facilities identified at Pyongyang airfield suggest N. Korea missile launch

A concrete structure assumed to be used to launch missiles for ICBM has been identified at Sunan airfield in Pyongyang, raising concerns that North Korea’s new ICBM model, Hwasong-17, could be launched soon. Voice of America reported on Tuesday, citing photos taken by private satellite service Planet Labs on March 12, that two concrete slabs were identified at the Sunan airfield. The report said the structures are both 50 meters wide, 220 meters and 100 meters long and appears to have been built around March 8 and 9.

 

Korean airline companies suspend air routes over Russia

Korean Air, Asiana Air and Air Busan have decided to suspend routes to Russia as well as flights over Russia. Detour routes will be used for the airlines’ routes to Europe and the U.S., increasing flight time and burden for passengers and airliners. Korean Air announced on Tuesday that it would be suspending its Incheon- Moscow route that leaves from Incheon every Thursday and returns on Friday by the end of April.

 

COVID patients in 50s with pre-existing conditions should treat at home

Confirmed COVID-19 patients in their 50s with pre-existing conditions will be required to stay at home and treat themselves starting Wednesday. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency announced that patients in their 50s having pre-existing disease will be excluded from the remote monitoring program and transitioned to general monitoring program. So far, these patients have been monitored by the remote healthcare system twice a day, along with people aged older than 60. However, from now on, they will have to personally request hospital treatment in the event their symptom gets worse.

 

                                                                                                              

 

Maeil Business News Korea (http://www.pulsenews.co.kr/)

Korean corporate investment could sour from sharp currency weakening

The Korean won at its 22-month weakest versus the U.S. dollar from prolonged Russian war with Ukraine on top of sharp spike in import prices of commodities have led major Korean manufacturers and exporters to scale back or rethink their investments for this year. The U.S. dollar ended at 1,242.8 won on Tuesday, down 0.5 won from the previous session’s closing at 1,242.3 won. It is the weakest since 1,244.2 won on May 25 2020. On Monday, the U.S. dollar finished above the 1,240 won level for the first time in 22 months.

 

S. Korea’s HMM suspends all cargo transport to Russia, KAL unsure of resuming flight

South Korea’s sea flag carrier HMM Co. has suspended cargo transport services to all three routes to Russia after Russia-bound freight has plummeted following the U.S.-led export ban on Moscow over its attack on Ukraine and sole flights to the country will likely stay suspended as long as fueling remains restricted in the Mosco airport. HMM announced Monday that it has decided to temporarily stop receiving bookings on its routes to Vladivostok and Vostochny.

 

Kakao and Naver to bring rivalry to global under new leadership.

Rivalry between South Korea’s two internet giants Kakao Corp. and Naver Corp. is moving to the global stage as they are dashing to advance their business beyond mobile services and facilitate faster growth under new leadership. Kakao’s founder Kim Beom-su in a message sent out to employees on Monday said he will step down as board chairman to devote himself to the company’s global push “beyond Korea.” Upon announcing the change, he said CEO-elect Namgoong Hoon will lead the company’s growth “beyond mobile” through new business targets of metaverse, blockchain and non-fungible token (NFT).
 

                                                                                             

 

HanKyoReh Shinmun (http://english.hani.co.kr)

Democrats regroup after defeat, placing gender equality issues at top of agenda

In its objections to President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s repeated declarations of plans to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (MOGEF), the Democratic Party has focused on signaling a clear emphasis on gender equality in its policy. Its message is being read as an attempt to regroup in the wake of its election defeat, while representing the sentiments of younger women who have recently joined the party. Yoon’s plans for abolishing the MOGEF were denounced as being “rooted in exclusion and discrimination toward women” during a meeting of Democratic Party legislators held at the National Assembly Monday for “enacting legislation for livelihoods and reform.”


KDCA: COVID-19 wave to abate mid next week, critical cases peaking early April

The South Korean government is predicting that the number of new COVID-19 cases will peak by next week at the latest, with new infections expected to start declining around March 23. It’s forecasting that this wave of infections will peak at around 370,000 confirmed cases per day, with the number of critically ill patients reaching up to 2,120 between the end of March and early April, which will likely put further pressure on the country’s healthcare system. Compiling COVID-19 prediction models by researchers in the country, Korea’s disease control authorities announced Monday that the country is expected to record more than 320,000 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Wednesday

 

Yoon’s foreign policy agenda prioritizes ties with US, sows seeds of conflict with N. Korea, China

A conservative takeover of the Blue House is forewarning a paradigm shift in the policy direction maintained in South Korea by the Moon Jae-in administration. The Hankyoreh has compiled some of the changes to be anticipated in various fields such as diplomacy and security, energy, real estate, the prosecution service, gender, medical welfare, labor and education based on the promises and statements President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol made on the campaign trail.

 

                                                                                    

 

The KyungHyangShinmun (http://english.khan.co.kr/)

Confirmation Hearings: The First Test for President-elect Yoon and His Minority Government

President-elect Yoon Seok-youl’s appointment of his first cabinet will be a test determining the success of the new government in the early days following its inauguration. The appointment of the prime minister and ministers is a clear opportunity to reveal the new government’s philosophy in state administration, but if there is controversy in the process, it could weaken the new government’s drive to tackle state affairs. The outlook is not so bright. First, Yoon will have to overcome attacks in the confirmation hearing by the Democratic Party of Korea, which holds a massive 172 seats in the National Assembly.

 

President-elect Yoon Seok-youl to Propose Pardon of Lee Myung-bak in Meeting with President Moon Jae-in on March 16

President-elect Yoon Seok-youl will join President Moon Jae-in for a Cheongwadae luncheon on March 16, according to the spokespersons of both Yoon and Cheongwadae on March 15. Yoon will ask President Moon to pardon former President Lee Myung-bak. In a briefing at the People Power Party office in Yeouido this day, Kim Eun-hye, spokesperson for the president-elect said, “Yoon will attend a luncheon with President Moon at Cheongwadae tomorrow,” and explained, “The two will meet privately without anyone else in attendance and are expected to engage in a casual conversation.”

 

Gender and Unification Missing from Yoon Seok-youl’s Transition Committee

On March 13, President-elect Yoon Seok-youl released the organization chart of his presidential transition committee, which consists of seven subcommittees, one committee and two special committees. In addition to the seven subcommittees, Yoon installed three separate committees for national unity, COVID-19 and balanced regional development, which he cited as top priority in state affairs. What was characteristic about his transition committee was that unlike Park Geun-hye’s transition committee in 2012, gender and unification were missing from the subcommittees.

 

                                                                                                

 


KBS(http://world.kbs.co.kr/service)

Yoon-Moon Meeting Canceled due to Unfinished Working-level Discussions

A planned meeting between President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol and President Moon Jae-in has been canceled. Presidential spokesperson Park Kyung-mee and Yoon's office said on Wednesday that the meeting has been called off as working-level pre-meeting discussions have not yet been completed. Park said the meeting will be rescheduled. The two sides added they will continue working-level discussions. Yoon and Park were set to hold a one-on-one luncheon meeting at 12 p.m. on Wednesday at the top office in their first face-to-face meeting since the presidential election.

 

Yoon to Send Special Envoys to US, EU

President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol has reportedly decided to send special envoys to the United States and Europe. According to an official close to Yoon on Tuesday, Yoon is considering Rep. Park Jin of the People Power Party for chief of the delegation to the U.S. The official said the envoy to the EU has not been selected yet but Yoon is deliberating on potential candidates. Yoon will likely send the envoys in early or mid-April. The president-elect, however, will decide later whether to send special envoys to China, Japan and Russia. Yoon is reportedly considering not sending special envoys to these countries, particularly to Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine.

 

S. Korea Adds over 1 Million Jobs in February, Biggest Growth in 22 Years

South Korea added more than one million jobs in February to post its biggest job growth in 22 years. According to Statistics Korea on Wednesday, the number of employed people stood at 27-point-four million in February, up one-point-03 million or three-point-nine percent from a year earlier. This marks the largest on-year increase in the monthly job tally since February of 2000, when one-point-36 million jobs were added as the nation recovered from the preceding Asian financial crisis. The nation posted job growth for the 12th consecutive month and added more than one million jobs for the second straight month.


                                                                                                               

 

Yonhap (http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr)

Moon-Yoon meeting called off due to unfinished working-level consultation

A planned meeting between President Moon Jae-in and President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol has been called off as working-level, pre-meeting discussions have not been completed yet, both sides said. Moon and Yoon had been scheduled to hold a one-on-one lunch at Cheong Wa Dae on Wednesday in their first meeting since Yoon won the election last week, though the two spoke by phone a day after the election. "As working-level consultations have not been completed, we decided to reschedule the meeting," Moon's spokesperson Park Kyung-mee said in a statement. "We will continue working-level consultations."

 

Grain import prices soar 47 pct over 2 years

South Korea's import prices of grains have jumped nearly 50 percent over the past two years to a near nine-year high amid the prolonged coronavirus pandemic, data showed Wednesday. Prices of imported grains came to US$386 per ton in February, up 26 percent from a year earlier and 47.4 percent from two years earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service and industry sources. The February per-ton import price represented the highest level since it reached $388 in May 2013.

 

S. Korea reports all-time high of 441,423 daily COVID-19 cases

South Korea reported 441,423 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, setting a new daily record as the country battles through the worst wave of the virus sparked by the omicron variant. The all-time high was reported as of 9 p.m., with three hours left until the daily tally ends. The total will be announced the following morning. Earlier Tuesday, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said the country added 362,338 new COVID-19 infections the previous day, mostly locally transmitted, putting the total caseload at 7,228,550.

 

                                                                                  

 

The Korea Herald (http://www.koreaherald.com)

US warns China against helping Russia as sanctions mount

The United States warned China against providing military or financial help to Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine, as sanctions on Russian political and business leaders mounted and civilians sought to flee intense fighting on the ground.

Further talks between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators to ease the crisis were expected on Tuesday after discussions on Monday via video ended with no new progress announced.

 

Omicron’s BA.2 subvariant rising to dominance in Korea

An even more transmissible subvariant of omicron called BA.2 is soon to become the dominant strain in Korea, which could protract the current wave, experts say. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency’s weekly update on circulating variants of concern, posted Monday, the BA.2 strain accounted for 26.3 percent of all analyzed cases in the previous seven days. The share of BA.2 in Korea jumped from 4.9 percent in the third week of February to 10.3 percent in the last week of the same month and 22.9 percent in the first week of March.

 

Moon, Yoon to hold luncheon on Wednesday

President Moon Jae-in will hold a luncheon meeting with President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol at Cheong Wae Dae on Wednesday, the presidential office said Tuesday. Yoon will ask for a pardon for former President Lee Myung-bak. The meeting between the two is the first time in seven days since the presidential election and 21 months since Yoon visited Cheong Wa Dae to attend the Anti-Corruption Policy Council in 2020, when he served as the prosecutor general.

 

                                                                                    

 

The Korea Times (http://www.koreatimes.co.kr)

Moon-Yoon meeting called off due to unfinished working-level consultation

A planned meeting between President Moon Jae-in and President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol has been called off as working-level, pre-meeting discussions have not been completed yet, both sides said. Moon and Yoon had been scheduled to hold a one-on-one lunch at Cheong Wa Dae on Wednesday in their first meeting since Yoon won the election last week, though the two spoke by phone a day after the election. "As working-level consultations have not been completed, we decided to reschedule the meeting," Moon's spokesperson Park Kyung-mee said in a statement. "We will continue working-level consultations."

 

Ukrainians in Korea devastated by war-torn homeland

It was around midday on Feb. 24, when 23-year-old Kostiantyn Kozoriz, a Ukrainian resident in Seoul, saw on live broadcasts how Kyiv, the capital of his homeland, was being bombarded by Russian forces. Struck with horror, he immediately picked up his phone to call his family living in Uman, central Ukraine. "I told my mother to collect some documents, clothes and money and hide in a safe place. But she didn't realize what was going on at first," said Kozoriz, who currently works as a research assistant at Korea University.

 

Hyosung chairman convicted of illegally supporting affiliate

The Seoul Central District Court convicted Hyosung Group Chairman Cho Hyun-joon of unfairly financing a cash-strapped affiliate, Tuesday, providing another reason for investors to vote against him at the forthcoming general meetings of shareholders of the group's affiliates later this week. He was fined 200 million won ($161,000) for violating the Fair Trade Act, according to the court. "When Galaxia Electronics started suffering severe financial difficulties, Cho used Hyosung Investment & Development to support the company, which is virtually owned and run by the chairman himself," Judge Yang Hwan-seung said.


                                                                                                                  

 

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

Australia Brisbane Times www.brisbanetimes.com.au syndication@fairfaxmedia.com.au

Sydney Morning Heraldwww.smh.com.au

Colombia Reports http://colombiareports.com

Bogota Free Planet http://bogotafreeplanet.combfp@bogotafreeplanet.com

El Universal http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/english

Andes http://www.andes.info.ec/en

Ecuador Times http://www.ecuadortimes.net

The Jordan Times https://www.jordantimes.com

LSM.lv http://www.lsm.lv/en

The Baltic Times http://www.baltictimes.com lithuania@baltictimes.com, estonia@baltictimes.com, editor@baltictimes.com

El Pais http://elpais.com/elpais/inenglish.html

Philippine Daily Inquirer https://www.inquirer.net

Daily News Hungary http://dailynewshungary.com

Budapest Times http://budapesttimes.hu
                                                                                                                

 

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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