Headlines, August 16, 2019

The Korean daily media headlines and humor

Friday, August 16, 2019

N. Korea says it has no intention to talk with S. Korea

North Korea said Friday that Pyongyang has no intention to talk with South Korea again, calling it a "senseless" hope to expect talks to be resumed when Seoul's joint military exercise with the United States is over. The spokesperson of the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country issued a statement, calling South Korean President Moon Jae-in an "impudent guy rare to be found" and dismissing his Thursday speech to celebrate the liberation from the Japanese colonial rule as rhetorical and thoughtless remarks, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

S. Korea expresses 'deep concerns' over Abe's offering to controversial war shrine

South Korea on Thursday expressed "deep concerns" over Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ritual offering to a war shrine seen as a symbol of Japan's imperialistic past. Abe sent the offering to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine via an aide to mark the country's 1945 surrender in World War II, Kyodo News reported. It marked the seventh consecutive year for him to send an offering to the shrine on the Aug. 15 day of surrender since taking office in December 2012.

Activists rally outside Japanese Embassy in U.S. to demand apology over sex slaves

South Korean activists gathered outside the Japanese Embassy in Washington on Thursday amid a new low in bilateral ties to demand an apology for Tokyo's sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II. The rally underscored the deep resentment South Koreans have felt toward Japan since Tokyo began to curb key exports to the South last month.

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

JCS: N. Korea Fires Unidentified Projectiles into East Sea

North Korea fired two unidentified projectiles into the East Sea on Friday morning in an apparent show of protest against a joint military exercise between South Korea and the United States. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff(JCS) said the projectiles were fired toward the East Sea from an area in Tongchon in the North's Gangwon Province.

N. Korea Says 'No Intention' to Talk with S. Korea

North Korea said on Friday that it has no intention to talk with South Korea again, criticizing President Moon Jae-in's Liberation Day speech. According to the North's official Korean Central News Agency(KCNA), the spokesperson of the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country issued a statement, dismissing Moon's Thursday speech as futile, rhetorical and thoughtless remarks.

AFP: Chinese Military Personnel Parade Near Hong Kong Border

Thousands of Chinese military personnel waving red flags reportedly paraded at a sports stadium in a city across the border from Hong Kong on Thursday, raising concerns of China's possible military intervention in continued unrest in Hong Kong. AFP said that armored vehicles were also seen inside the stadium in Shenzhen City, and dozens of supply trucks and armored personnel carriers were parked outside the stadium, which is located seven kilometers from Hong Kong.

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

Moon: S. Korea will join hands with Japan if it chooses dialogue, cooperation

President Moon Jae-in said Thursday that South Korea will "gladly join hands" with Japan for East Asian prosperity if it chooses dialogue and cooperation to end an escalated trade row rooted in wartime history. In a Liberation Day address marking the end of Japan's colonial rule of Korea in 1945, Moon also laid out a vision to make South Korea an "unshakable, responsible economic powerhouse" and cooperate with Japan on an "equal" footing.

Typhoon Krosa passes over East Sea

Typhoon Krosa, the season's 10th typhoon, reached the East Sea after landing on the Japanese city of Hiroshima earlier in the day, Seoul's weather agency said Thursday. The typhoon, which reached Hiroshima at around 3 p.m., arrived over the East Sea as of 6 p.m., the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said.

S. Korea expresses 'deep concerns' over Abe's offering to controversial war shrine

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

N. Korea fires two unidentified projectiles into East Sea: JCS

North Korea fired two unidentified projectiles into the East Sea on Friday, South Korea's military said. The projectiles were fired from its eastern coastal county of Tongchon in Kangwon Province earlier in the day, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. No other details were immediately known, including their type, flight range and maximum altitude.

Moon urges Japan to choose ‘path of dialogue and cooperation’

President Moon Jae-in said Thursday that Seoul will cooperate with Tokyo if it retracts its recent trade restrictions, stressing the importance of international cooperation and free trade.“Within the realm of the international division of labor, if any country weaponizes a sector where it has a comparative advantage, the peaceful free trade order will inevitably suffer damages,” Moon said in his Liberation Day speech.

Anti-Abe rallies dominate central Seoul on Liberation Day

Thousands of citizens from South Korea and Japan on Thursday urged the Shinzo Abe administration to apologize to Korean victims forced to work for Japanese occupiers during a rally in central Seoul, marking the 74th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan.

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The Korea Times (http://www.kore––atimes.co.kr)

North Korea fires more projectiles into sea

South Korea's military said Friday North Korea fired more projectiles into the sea to extend a recent streak of weapons tests believed to be aimed at pressuring Washington and Seoul over slow nuclear diplomacy. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said projectiles were twice launched from an area on the North's eastern coast.

Sales of Japanese consumer goods sink on 'Boycott Japan' campaign

A voluntary campaign to boycott Japan-made goods has been confirmed to be "effective" as Seoul's imports of consumer goods from Tokyo fell more than 10 percent in July from a year ago, according to data provided by the Korea Customs Service (KCS), Thursday. The data showed Korea imported $74.6 billion worth of consumer goods in July, a 9 percent increase year-on-year, but the imports from Japan stood at $2.86 billion, a 13.8 percent decrease compared to July 2018 when it was at $3.32 billion. Compared to the previous month, the figure also declined by 5.8 percent.

'Improving human rights in North Korea can lead to unification'

A U.S. think tank chief stressed Thursday that resolving humanitarian issues and then lifting economic sanctions on the North can pave the way to achieve the unification of the Korean Peninsula. "If you resolve human rights issues in North Korea, only then you can begin to remove economic sanctions on North Korea. Once that's done, the second step is to look at the political system within North Korea on the Korean Peninsula at large. The second step will lead you to eventual unified Korea," William Parker, president and CEO at the East-West Institute, a New York-based global NGO committed to conflict prevention, said in an interview with The Korea Times.

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

Nearly 60% of Young People Say They're Unhappy

About a half of Korea's young people said they are unhappy, a poll suggests. The poll released early this week was conducted among 2,500 men and women nationwide aged between 15 and 34 by the Korea Labor Institute in September last year. Only 22 percent said they are happy, while another 22 percent said they are neither happy nor unhappy.

Steep Plunge in Korean Tourism Would Slash Japan's Growth

An 80 percent drop of Korean tourism would slash Japan's economic growth by 0.1 percentage point, according to one forecast. The Hyundai Research Institute forecast in a report Tuesday that the number of Koreans visiting Japan in 2020 will decline 81.2 percent. "Korean public sentiment toward Japan has worsened sharply, resulting in a very high cancellation rate for trips to Japan. The assumption is plausible considering the 75.1-percent drop in the number of Chinese visitors to Korea after China's unofficial boycott over the U.S.' deployment of a Terminal High Altitude-Area Defense battery in Korea."

Karaoke Rooms Go out of Fashion

Karaoke rooms are disappearing as the lifestyles of working people change. Once wildly popular with Koreans of all ages, the facilities are on their way out as Koreans increasingly go home early thanks to the shorter working week, gather over a mellow cup of coffee or spend time with their families. According to a report by the KB Financial Group on Sunday, the number of karaoke rooms in Korea peaked in 2011 with 35,316 and has been dwindling since. As of May this year, there were still 32,796, but while 295 new ones popped up between January and May, 675 shut down.

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

S. Korea’s role in the shifting Northeast Asian order

The conflict that was set off by Japan’s export controls on South Korea, imposed in retaliation for a South Korean Supreme Court ruling awarding damages to victims of forced labor, is rooted in the disconnect between Seoul’s efforts to bring peace to the Korean Peninsula and Tokyo’s strategy of making Japan a “normal” country.

S. Korean and Japanese NGOS and activists gather to discuss forced labor issue

Activists from NGOs in South Korea and Japan gathered together to resolve the issue of forced labor during the Japanese colonial occupation on Aug. 14, the day before Liberation Day, when Korea celebrates the end of the occupation. Japanese activists took the lead in castigating the Japanese government, under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, for imposing punitive economic measures on South Korea and ignoring the facts of history.

Ceremony held to commemorate for comfort women on Aug. 14

A ceremony for honoring the former comfort women was held at the Kim Koo Museum in Seoul on Aug. 14, a day that has been designated for commemorating the comfort women. The ceremony featured South Korean actress Han Ji-min, who read out loud a letter written by a former comfort woman. “When I heard my mother was a comfort woman for the Japanese military, I was too young to understand it," the letter read.

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

‘A country unshakable by no one,’ says Pres. Moon Jae-in

“We will strive to make a country that no one can shake, reminding ourselves of our people who bravely overcame any crisis that came to our way,” said South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Thursday. “We will walk towards building a responsible economic powerhouse against Japan’s unfair export regulations.”

New York stocks suffer steepest drop of the year

Fears over “recession” in the global economy are escalating amid sluggish economic indicators in Germany and China, the growth engines for Europe and Asia, respectively. Stocks tumbled big time in New York on Wednesday as long-term bond yields fell below short-term bond yields, which is a sign for a looming economic recession, for the first time in 12 years since June 2007. Stocks in major Asian markets also fell in tandem on Thursday. The Korean stock market closed due to National Liberation Day on the day.

Typhoon Krosa forecast to bring heavy rain along east coast

Typhoon Krosa, the season's 10th typhoon, is forecast to pass over the East Sea, bringing heavy rain and strong winds along the east coast to cause damage in affected areas. As of 3 p.m. on Thursday, the typhoon was moving north after passing between Japan’s Kyushu and Shikoku islands, about 290 kilometers west of Osaka, at a maximum speed of 27 meters per second, or 97 kilometers per hour, with central pressure of 975 hectopascal and a radius of maximum wind reaching 340 kilometers, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).

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

Interview with Nuclear Specialist Shaun Burnie, "Japan Releasing Radioactive Water Because It Can't Store It? They Have Space for 'Tanks.'"

"Last week, there was a report that all the storage tanks where Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) stored radioactive water would be full by 2022, right? That's not true." Shaun Burnie (pictured), chief nuclear expert at Greenpeace, an international environmental organization, sat for an interview with the Kyunghyang Shinmun on August 13 and also said that the claim that Japan did not have the capacity to store the contaminated water was a groundless belief.

Saito Witnessed the Miserable State of Koreans When He Was a Student Worker, “Severed Fingers Were Common.... One Person a Month Died of Electric Shock”

"Almost one person a month died of accidents like electric shock. There were a lot of accidents where people severed their fingers. The fingers abandoned behind the building became bird feed." This was the reality of the Koreans forced into labor during 1944-1945 described by Isao Saito (90). Saito wrote a contribution of his experience with workers forced into labor in the column, "Memories of War" in an insert published twice a month in the Asahi Shimbun (His contribution appeared on the edition published on the first week of August).

Min-hyeok’s Friends Write a Statement, “Rejecting Not Embracing Refugees…. We Cried”

On August 8, the friends of Kim Min-hyeok (16), a refugee from Iran, came back from the Seoul Immigration Office holding the long statement they had prepared. They returned because Min-hyeok's father, A, was denied refugee status this day. They could not release their statement, titled, "A Decade-Long Dream Comes True," which they had written expecting A to be recognized as a refugee. They could not deliver the words in the statement, either. "Congratulations on being recognized as a refugee." "He (Min-hyeok) finally found a place to lean on after ten years."

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

SK Pres Moon calls for dialogue with Japan to resolve trade row

South Korean President Moon Jae-in vowed to build an “unshakable” nation in the face of the escalating trade row with Japan but said he would “gladly join hands” with Tokyo if it chooses dialogue. In his Liberation Day speech Thursday marking Korea’s independence from Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule, Moon expressed his resolve to stand resolute in the trade war but was careful to avoid a full-out confrontation, saying he was open to talks with Japan to end the dispute.

South Korea commits $239 bn to 2020-40 national defense spending

South Korea will spend a total 290.5 trillion won ($239.4 billion) on defense over the next five years with plans to deploy a F-35B stealth fighter carrier and an arsenal ship amid growing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea and intensifying arms race in the Northeast Asian region.

Kumho Tire swings back to profit in Q2 in 10 quarters

South Korea’s Kumho Tire Co., which went under its smaller Chinese rival Doublestar Tyre after years of suffering with dwindling sales and ballooning loss, swung back to profit in the second quarter for the first time in 10 quarters thanks to its aggressive cost-cutting efforts and the weaker Korean won boosting overseas sales.

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Lee Kyung-sik edt@koreapost.com