Headlines, June 5, 2019

The Korean daily media headlines and humor

Wednesday, June 5, 2019

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

The Korea Post media (www.koreapost.com) in English, (www.koreapost.co.kr) in Korean.

Body identified as S. Korean victim of Hungary boat sinking, death toll rises to 8

One of the two bodies retrieved from the Danube River was confirmed to be a South Korean missing in last week's deadly sinking of a sightseeing boat in Hungary, Seoul's foreign ministry said Tuesday. That raised the death toll in the May 29 sinking to eight with 18 others still unaccounted for. Work is under way to identify another body retrieved from underwater later that day, according to South Korea's quick response team dispatched to Budapest.

Consumer price growth stays below 1 pct for 5th month

South Korea's consumer price growth stayed below the 1 percent threshold for the fifth consecutive month in May due mainly to expanded social welfare schemes that helped rein in a rise in service charges, government data showed Tuesday. Consumer prices rose 0.7 percent in May from a year earlier, marking the lowest for any May since 2015, when the corresponding figure stood at 0.6 percent, according to Statistics Korea.

Pompeo says N.K. launches 'probably' violated U.N. resolutions

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday that North Korea "probably" violated United Nations resolutions with its missile launches last month, but that it's important to focus on the ultimate goal of denuclearization. The U.S. has sent mixed messages regarding the North's missile launches on May 9, with President Donald Trump saying he views them "differently" from his own national security adviser, John Bolton, who condemned them as a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions against Pyongyang.

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KBS (http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/news/)

Three More Bodies Recovered from Budapest Boat Collision

Three more bodies have been recovered from the Danube River in Hungary following a deadly two-boat collision in the downtown Budapest portion there last week. According to a South Korean response team on the ground in the capital city on Tuesday, a body was found 50 kilometers from the accident site at 3:30 p.m. local time during a helicopter search, confirmed later to be that of a South Korean man in his 20s.

S. Korea Posts First Current Account Deficit in 7 Years

South Korea has posted its first current account deficit in seven years. According to the Bank of Korea(BOK) on Wednesday, the country's current account deficit came to 660 million U.S. dollars at the end of April, a sharp turnaround from the four-point-82 billion surplus recorded a month before.

Samsung Electronics Executive Arrested in Accounting Fraud Scandal

A local court on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant for a Samsung Electronics executive charged with ordering the destruction of evidence related to alleged accounting fraud at the company's biopharmaceutical affiliate. The Seoul Central District Court granted the prosecution's warrant request for the senior executive vice president, surnamed Lee, citing the seriousness of the case and saying that the charges against him have been largely validated.

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

3 bodies recovered in Danube, 2 confirmed as S. Korean victims of boat sinking

Three more bodies have been retrieved from the Danube River, and two of them were confirmed to be South Koreans missing in last week's deadly sinking of a sightseeing boat, officials said Wednesday. Should all of them be confirmed to be Koreans, it would raise the death toll of the May 29 boat sinking in Budapest to 12 Koreans, with 14 others still unaccounted for. Two Hungarian crew members also remain missing. Seven other Korean passengers were rescued right after the accident.

N. Korea urges U.S. to change calculus, warns patience has limit

North Korea urged the United States to drop its "current way of calculation" and make a new proposal to resume their stalled denuclearization talks, warning that its patience is wearing thin. In a statement issued late Tuesday, a spokesperson for the North's foreign ministry said that the U.S. should think about what would be a "correct strategic choice" to keep alive the agreements they reached during their first-ever summit in June last year.

S. Korea suffers current account deficit in April, first in 7 years

South Korea's current account balance remained in the red in April, the first deficit in seven years caused by flagging exports and increased dividend transfers, the central bank said Wednesday. The country's current account deficit came to US$660 million in the month, marking a sharp turnaround from a $4.82 billion surplus a month before, according to the Bank of Korea. The country's current account balance had been in the black for 83 consecutive months.

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

Public appearance of North Korean leader’s sister dispels punishment rumors

Kim Yo-jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s younger sister, has appeared in public for the first time in nearly two months, dispelling speculation that she had been under probation over the breakdown of the second US-North Korea summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, in February. According to the Korean Central News Agency, Workers’ Party of Korea First Vice Director Kim Yo-jong and Kim Jong-un attended a mass gymnastics and artist performance called “The Land of the People” at the May Day Stadium on Monday.

Death toll in Danube sunken tour boat accident rises to 11

One by one, the Danube River is giving up its dead. Divers and rescue crews slowly are recovering the bodies of a growing number of people killed when a sightseeing boat and a long river cruise ship collided in Hungary's capital.

Consumer prices stay stagnant for 5th month

South Korea’s consumer price growth remained below the 1 percent level for the fifth consecutive month in May, due to a decline in price of petroleum products and increased welfare costs, government data showed Tuesday. The latest figures, which fell far below the Bank of Korea’s consumer price target of 2 percent, are once again seen as a signal that the central bank may consider a policy rate cut within the year.

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

Tiananmen Square massacre marked with Hong Kong candlelight vigil

Pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong gathered Tuesday night to mark 30 years since China's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, underscoring continuing concern for Chinese human rights in the semi-autonomous territory, even as its own civil liberties are under threat. Hong Kong is the only region under Beijing's jurisdiction that holds significant public commemorations of the 1989 crackdown and memorials for its victims. Hong Kong has a degree of freedom not seen on the mainland as a legacy of British rule that ended in 1997.

Worsening economic plight unlikely to lead North Korea back to talks: experts

The recent outbreak of African swine fever in North Korea added yet another woe to the impoverished nation's struggling economy and food shortages, but Pyongyang is unlikely to come back to talks just to seek assistance, experts said. Last week, Pyongyang reported to the World Organization for Animal Health the outbreak of swine fever at a farm in a region bordering China. The fatal disease to pigs, which has no known treatment, occurred at a time when the North is struggling to feed its people after its crop output fell to the lowest level since 2008.

Korea knocks off Japan to reach quarterfinals

South Korea advanced to the quarterfinals of the FIFA U-20 World Cup on Tuesday with a 1-0 win over Japan. Forward Oh Se-hun headed in the winner in the 84th minute at Lublin Stadium in Lublin, Poland, as South Korea made the final eight for the first time since 2013.

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Chosun Ilbo (http://english.chosun.com)

Kim Jong-un's Sister Resurfaces

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister reappeared in the state media on Tuesday. Kim Yo-jong vanished in April after the second U.S.-North Korea summit collapsed in Hanoi in February amid reports that she had been told to lie low.

Combined Forces Command to Move out of Seoul

The Defense Ministry on Monday authorized the relocation of Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command from the former U.S. military headquarters in Yongsan to the new one in Pyeontaek, south of Seoul. Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo made the announcement in a press release after meeting with acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan on Monday.

Most Korean Youngsters Want to Study Overseas

The majority of Korean youngsters wish to study abroad, but their Japanese counterparts want to stay in their own country, a study suggests. The Japanese government surveyed people in their teens and 20s in seven developed countries and found that Korea has the highest proportion who want to study abroad, while Japan has the lowest.

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

New CFC headquarters to be at Camp Humphreys, not MND

South Korea and the US have decided that the new location of the headquarters of the Combined Forces Command (CFC) — which is moving out of Yongsan, Seoul, along with the US garrison there — will be Camp Humphreys, the US military base in Pyeongtaek. In addition, they agreed that the commander of the future CFC, who will exercise wartime operational control (OPCON) of Korean forces after OPCON is transferred to South Korea, will not be the chair of the South Korean Chiefs of Staff but another four-star general in the South Korean military. These were some of the points made in a joint press statement released after a meeting between South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo and Acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan on June 3 at South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) in Seoul. “We approved the plan to relocate the headquarters of the Combined Forces Command to Camp Humphreys and to appoint as commander of the future Combined Forces Command a four-star general in the South Korean military who is not already serving as chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” the defense chiefs said.

Questions surrounding the CFC’s relocation to Camp Humphreys

The decision by South Korea and the US to relocate their Combined Forces Command (CFC) headquarters from Seoul’s Yongsan District to the US garrison Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, is raising questions about the impact this will have on the South Korea-led future CFC. The approach to date, which had focused on relocating the CFC headquarters within the Ministry of National Defense (MND) complex, had the aim of uniting the alliance’s military capabilities around the South Korean military. A relocation of the CFC headquarters to Camp Humphreys creates the exact opposite environment. Camp Humphreys is the current headquarters of the US Forces Korea Command and Eighth US Army command. It also houses the US 2nd Infantry Division and the ROK-US Combined Division headquarters. In effect, the CFC would be surrounded by the US military.

Moon confirms importance of SK-US alliance in Korean Peninsula peace process

South Korean President Moon Jae-in stressed on June 3 that the South Korea-US alliance is “of paramount importance in achieving the complete denuclearization and establishment of permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula through dialogue.” Meeting at the Blue House that day with Acting US Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, Moon expressed his hope for “support through a strong South Korea-US alliance so that the Korean Peninsula peace process is successful,” Blue House Spokesperson Ko Min-jung reported.

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

Pompeo says N. Korea ‘probably did violate’ UNSC resolutions

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that North Korea “probably did violate the UN Security Council resolutions” when they launched short-range missiles on May 4 and 9. In an interview with James Rosen of the Fox News Channel in Bern, Switzerland, on Monday (local time), Pompeo said that “there’s been lots of focus on this question” when asked by Rosen whether he regards the North’s recent missile tests as violations of relevant UN Security Council resolutions. The interview’s full transcript was published on the State Department’s homepage (state.gov). He said that “But what’s really important is that the campaign that we’ve been engaged in, not just the United States but that the world has been engaged in, ultimately delivers the outcome that we’re looking for.” “If you ask me the question, ‘Is Kim Jong Un rational in the sense of he’s working diligently to deliver the outcomes that he has articulated,’ I think it’s most certainly the case that he’s rational.”

LG Chem opens U.S. research center for drug development

LG Chem will accelerate the development of new drugs in the world’s largest biotechnology market. The South Korean chemical company said on Tuesday that it held an opening ceremony of its research center “Global Innovation Center” in Boston, Massachusetts with the presence of some 30 people, including LG Chem Vice Chairman Shin Hak-chul, and Son Ji-woong, head of the company’s life science division. With the participation of clinical experts, the research center will serve as a bridgehead for the introduction of innovative technology using Boston’s biotechnology infrastructure and the development of new drugs. Hong Sung-won, head of the company’s new drug development center, will double as the head of the new research center. The center plans to hire 15 local experts by the end of the year.

S. Korea to send 8 million dollars' worth of aid to N. Korea this week

The South Korean government will send 8 million U.S. dollars' worth of humanitarian aid to North Korea as early as this week. No progress has been made toward denuclearization but the Moon Jae-in administration is beginning its first government-level humanitarian assistance to North Korea. According to the South Korean Ministry of Unification on Tuesday, the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Promotion Council will deliberate documents regarding food aid to North Korea via an international agency by Wednesday and Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul will make a final approval after that. “(Funds) will be implemented immediately,” said a ministry official. “It usually takes three to four days to inform an international agency of our decision, receive a bank account, and transfer the money.”

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The KyungHyang Shinmun (http://english.khan.co.kr/)

Kim Yong-chol Stands Strong Despite Rumors of a Purge: The Press Needs to Refrain from Rash Reports on North Korea

Rumors had spread that Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea had been purged or sentenced to forced labor for his responsibility in the fruitless Hanoi summit, but an image of Kim enjoying a performance along with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was released. On June 3, the Korean Central News Agency released the picture along with a report of an outing by Chairman Kim and first lady Ri Sol-ju to an arts performance by military families on June 2. The report confirmed that Vice Chairman Kim Yong-chol watched the performance along with the senior officials who accompanied the North Korean leader. On May 31, the South Korean newspaper, the Chosun Ilbo published a front-page article with the headline, "Kim Yong-chol to Forced Labor, Kim Hyok-chol Executed." The article quoted the words of a North Korean source and claimed that Kim Yong-chol, who oversaw the negotiations with the United States, was subject to reeducation and disciplinary measures and was "doing forced labor at Jakangdo after being dismissed (from his post as the director of the United Front Department). The latest report by the North Korean media confirmed, after three days, that the Chosun Ilbo coverage was different from fact. The Chosun Ilbo published the problematic article along with information from a North Korean source claiming that Kim Hyok-chol, the special representative for the U.S. who was in charge of working-level negotiations for the Hanoi summit, was executed at the Mirim Airport in March. It also said that Kim Song-hye, the head of unification strategies at the United Front Department and Shin Hye-yong, Chairman Kim's interpreter, were sent to a political prison camp. The information stated in the articles has yet to be confirmed. There is a possibility that the report is true. There is a probability that the vice chairman was reprimanded during the fifty days that he was absent from major political events. But the display of the vice chairman's firm position just three days after the report about him enduring forced labor is enough to question the facts of the article in question. Even if the article had been about a senior official of a country other than North Korea, it would have been considered serious enough to trigger a diplomatic problem.

Japan Turns Its Back on Huawei, What About Korea?

Major Japanese mobile service providers have indefinitely postponed the release of a new smartphone by Huawei, spreading a move away from Huawei among domestic companies. Some electronics companies are even moving their production sites out of China, hinting at a possible suspension of trade with the country. After the U.S. blacklisted Huawei, Japan has been quick to support the U.S. sanctions on China, and this is adding pressure on the government and businesses of South Korea, another part of the tripartite security alliance in Asia and the Pacific. On June 3, the Institute of Information and Communications Technology Planning and Evaluation released a report titled, "Japan on the Way to Expanding Exclusion of Huawei," and stated, "Major Japanese telecommunications companies have excluded Huawei products when installing base stations for 5G mobile services and are now set to boycott Huawei smartphones for individual customers."

"Government to Ask U.S. to Release Confidential Information on May 18 Uprising

The South Korean government announced plans to ask the U.S. Trump administration to withdraw the confidential status of information on the May 18 Gwangju Uprising and to release relevant information. This is the first time that the government has officially mentioned discussions between the governments of South Korea and the U.S. following the statement by Kim Yong-jang, who claimed to be a former intelligence agent in the U.S. military, about "Chun Doo-hwan's visit to Gwangju just before the uprising" on May 13. According to the office of lawmaker Chun Jung-bae (Party for Democracy and Peace) on June 2, the lawmaker recently asked Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon about any intention to ask the U.S. to clear and provide confidential information, and the prime minister answered, "We are seeking possible measures at the government level. We will discuss the issue (the release of U.S. documents) with the U.S. through diplomatic channels."

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

Korea’s Q1 GDP on-quarter drop revised down to 0.4%

The South Korean economy in the first quarter performed worse than previously revealed, contracting 0.4 percent, not 0.3 percent, on quarter, according to revised gross domestic product (GDP) data from the Bank of Korea. According to the finalized data published on Tuesday, Korea’s GDP totaled 455.08 trillion won ($385 billion) in January-March period, adding 1.7 percent on year instead of 1.8 percent previously reported.

S. Korea’s venture investment accounted for 0.36% of GDP in 2018: private council

A total amount of 6.5 trillion won ($5.5 billion) was invested in startups and small businesses in South Korea last year, according to newly launched private sector-led venture capital council, a significantly higher figure than that announced earlier by the government. According to data released by a private venture capital council led by Korea Venture Capital Association and seven other organizations including Korea Technology Finance Corporation, Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, on Tuesday, the amount of new venture investment stood at 6.5 trillion won last year, more than 3 trillion won higher than the tally announced earlier by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. The gap comes as the latest total includes 2.5 trillion won worth of funds by new technology investment associations and companies.

Seoul stays committed to nuclear phase-out, to raise renewable share to 35%

The South Korean government remained committed to its plan to phase out nuclear and fossil fuel and replace power sourcing to renewables to maximum 35 percent by 2040. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Tuesday announced its third long-term energy roadmap until 2040, with specific targets set under five key factors including consumption, production, system, industry and infrastructure.

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