Wednesday June 3, 2020
Round-up of important news from major Korean dailies and from international media today
The Korea Post (http://www.koreapost.com/)
“Yes, if he turns more toward the right wring after a Constitutional revision”
There are signs showing the possibility that President Moon Jae-in might have now turned his attention to take ‘better care’ of the Korean business world, which many Koreans have somewhat viewed with a sense of reservation.
President Moon, himself hailing from a common family, has been viewed as being somewhat inclined to have a ‘proletarian’ tendency.
UAE resumes economic activity, reopens gyms, cinemas, free movement
The UAE has taken another step to resume economic activity by reopening gyms, cinemas, and increasing free movement in Dubai from May 28. Restrictions will remain in place from 11 PM to 6 AM to continue the National Disinfection Program.
A new UAE-developed rapid COVID-19 laser test is showing promising results, with 85 to 90 percent accuracy. The test, which could enable more affordable mass tasting, is currently undergoing trials to further establish its effectiveness.
Special notice: The Korea Post is organizing a tour for the Ambassadors and Madams to the Pyeongkang Oriental Medicine Hospital on Tuesday June 9, 2010. Ambassadors and Madams are cordially invited to the Tour where an Oriental medicine pack against COVID-19 is presented to each Excellency. In the event of absence of Invitation, please advise the Editor at The Korea Post at 010-5201-1740.
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KBS (http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/news/)
1.78 Million More Students to Return to School
In the third phase of South Korea's school reopening, one-point-78 million students will return to school on Wednesday amid lingering concerns about the continued spread of the novel coronavirus.
The Education Ministry said that first-year high school students, second-year middle school students and third and fourth graders in elementary schools are returning to classrooms.
Court Denies Arrest Warrant for Fmr. Mayor over Alleged Sexual Harassment
A local court has denied an arrest warrant for former Busan Mayor Oh Kee-don over sexual harassment allegations.
The Busan District Court on Tuesday rejected the prosecution's request for the warrant to detain the former mayor on charges of sexual harassment by compulsion.
The court said that charges against Oh are very serious but it's hard to acknowledge the need to detain the suspect as all the necessary evidence has been secured.
Ex-USFK Chief: N. Korea Will Soon Launch Ballistic Missile Submarine
Former Commander of U.S. Forces Korea Walter Sharp has projected that North Korea will soon launch a new ballistic missile submarine.
Sharp on Tuesday expressed his concern while explaining the North's nuclear capabilities and long-range ballistic missile program during a virtual forum organized by the Korea Defense Veterans Association.
The former USFK chief said he continues to worry that North Korea will soon have a submarine capable of deploying ballistic missiles.
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Yonhap (http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr)
Schools to reopen to more pupils amid nagging concern over virus
More South Korean students will return to classrooms on Wednesday as part of the government's phased reopening plan, but worries linger over the continued spread of the new coronavirus.
The reopening comes at a time when the country is wrestling with a spike in infections traced to small churches and cram schools in Seoul and its adjacent areas despite a slowdown in cases tied to bigger clusters, such as a nightlife district and a logistics center.
Church-tied virus cases on steady rise ahead of further school reopenings|
South Korea's virus fight hit another snag Tuesday as church-linked cluster infections in the Seoul metropolitan area continued to rise ahead of further school reopenings, a key feature of eased social distancing.
The country identified 38 more cases of the new coronavirus, including 36 local infections, raising the total caseload to 11,541, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).
With 1.78 mln more pupils ready to return to school Wednesday, parental concerns remain unresolved
South Korea is geared up for its third phase of school reopening Wednesday, but parents and educators alike still have a low level of confidence for a return to school.
Since May 20, the government has run the phased school reopening program, first with 440,000 high school seniors and second with 2.37 million students in other year groups, including kindergartners.
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The Korea Herald (http://www.koreaherald.com)
Trump’s G-7 invite heralds new status for Korea: Cheong Wa Dae
South Korea being invited to the G-7 meeting is a step toward a new international order that will raise the country to a new level in international society, Cheong Wa Dae said Tuesday.
“In the words of President Trump, G-7 is outdated, and the possibility of G-7 becoming G-11 or G-12 has grown,” Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Kang Min-seok said at a press briefing about the previous day’s telephone conversation between President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump.
S. Korea to resume WTO complaint over Japan’s trade curbs
The South Korean government on Tuesday announced that it would resume a complaint filed with the World Trade Organization over Japan’s trade curbs placed on exports to South Korea last year, deeming the bilateral dialouge to resolve the issue is not seeing progress.
Another wave of mass infections feared in capital area: authorities
Another wave of COVID-19 infections might be on the horizon, health authorities warned Tuesday, as South Korea continues to see small-scale outbreaks tied to churches, private cram schools and workplaces.
Korea added 38 more cases of the novel coronavirus Tuesday, 37 of which were reported in Seoul, the adjacent areas of Incheon and Gyeonggi Province -- home to nearly half of the country’s population. One other case was detected at the airport, according to data by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Korea Times (http://www.koreatimes.co.kr)
Korea's per capita income sees biggest decline in 10 years
The nation's per capital gross national income (GNI) saw its biggest annual drop in a decade in 2019, as the United States-China trade dispute weakened the value of the Korean won against the dollar, the according to the Bank of Korea (BOK), Tuesday.
The GNI per capita last year came in at $32,115, down 4.3 percent from 2018. The central bank said this was the biggest decline since 2009 when the figure dropped by 10.4 percent from the previous year due to the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
'Hermes, Chanel, Louis Vuitton will not allow their duty free items to sell in local market'
The so-called "big three" of international luxury brands ― Hermes, Chanel and Louis Vuitton ― will not allow duty-free firms here to sell their products in the local market.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC), the country's top antitrust regulator, said it needs evidence like a "written contract" between a luxury brand and duty free company or a whistleblower's file of complaint to start an investigation on the three luxury brands' alleged breach of the Fair Trade Act.
G7 participation poses double-edged sword
President Moon Jae-in's acceptance of an invitation from U.S. President Donald Trump to join this year's expanded G7 Summit is expected to go down in history as one of the nation's diplomatic achievements.
Korea's attendance at the meeting of the seven largest advanced economies is seen as an opportunity to play a larger role on the international stage, which will further boost its global recognition that is now being raised by its successful handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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HanKyoReh Shinmun (http://english.hani.co.kr)
Moon says he’d “gladly accept” Trump’s G7 invitation
South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on June 1 that he would “gladly accept” US President Donald Trump’s invitation to the G7 summit.
Moon spoke with Trump by telephone for 15 minutes at the US president’s request that evening, Blue House Spokesperson Kang Min-seok said. Trump was quoted as calling the G7 an “old framework that does not reflect the current international situation” and asking for Moon’s thoughts on potentially “expanding it into a G11 or G12 system,” indicating his intention to include South Korea.
S. Korea to pump US$25 billion into New Deal program over 3 years
The South Korean government has decided to spend 31 trillion won (US$25.3 billion) over the next three years on a “Korean New Deal” that’s aimed at creating new growth following the COVID-19 crisis. The government’s plan is to strengthen the country’s data, networking, and AI ecosystem and build infrastructure for remote education and telemedicine while giving public facilities and leading manufacturers an eco-friendly makeover, a process that should create 550,000 sustainable jobs through 2022.
Samsung begins construction of NAND flash production line in Pyeongtaek
On June 1, Samsung Electronics announced that it has begun construction on an additional production line for sixth-generation NAND flash memory chips in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province. The South Korean electronics giant has embarked on construction for the production line’s cleanroom, a specialized facility used for industrial or scientific purposes designed to contain extremely low levels of particulates.
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Chosun Ilbo (http://english.chosun.com)
Moon to Attend Expanded G7 Summit
President Moon Jae-in has accepted an invitation by U.S. President Donald Trump to attend the G7 Summit in September.
Moon in a 15-minute telephone call with Trump on Monday said he would "gladly" accept the invitation, according to Cheong Wa Dae.
Trump earlier complained about the G7, which he hosts this year. "I don't feel that... it properly represents what's going on in the world. It's a very outdated group of countries," and added, "We want Australia, we want India, we want Korea. That's a nice group of countries right there."
Pompeo Presses Korea into China Wars
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last Sunday jumped the gun by mentioning Korea as one of the U.S.' "good partners" besides India, Australia and Japan in its cold war against China.
The claim came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump invited Korea, Australia and India to the normally exclusive G7 summit to discuss how to deal with future challenges posed by China.
Washington is stacking the summit with what it considers pliant allies as it battles China on multiple fronts.
Record Numbers of Koreans Own at Least 1 Home
Rising property prices have resulted in the highest proportion of homeowners in Korea on record.
According to a survey out on Monday by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, 61.2 percent of Korean households owned a home last year, up from 61.1 percent in 2018. The ratio of homeowners to total households has increased for the fourth year running.
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The Dong-A Ilbo (http://english.donga.com/)
S. Korea to become official member of G11 or G12, says spokesman
“South Korea will become an official – not one-off or temporary – member of a new international system, the G11 or G12,” the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said of South Korean President Moon Jae-In’s visit to the U.S. to participate in the G7-plus meeting, confirming the launch of a new multilateral platform to replace the G7.
S. Korea to resume WTO compliant over Japan’s trade curbs
With Tokyo’s continued silence on Seoul’s call to lift export curbs, the South Korean government announced on Tuesday that it will reopen a complaint to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
“Our government has decided to resume the dispute settlement process at the WTO over Japan’s export controls on three industrial items after temporarily halting the process on Nov. 22 last year,” said Na Seung-sik, deputy minister of Trade, Industry and Energy.
NYT: The Phantom of the Opera soldiers on in Korea
“I don’t think we should just be sitting on our hands and saying, it’s all doom and gloom,” said British musical theater composer Andrew Lloyd Webber to The New York Times (NYT). “We have got to make the theaters as safe for everybody as we possibly can.” And South Korea, he said, shows that it can work.
“The Phantom of the Opera” has gone on at the Blue Square cultural complex in central Seoul despite the COVID-19 crisis, and the NYT attributed it to “South Korea’s rigorous system of test, trace and quarantine.”
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The KyungHyang Shinmun (http://english.khan.co.kr/)
A “Red Light” Flares Up in Major Private Academies Attracting a Number of Nearby Students as Schools Prepare to Open Doors to More Students
Teachers and students at private educational institutions referred to as hagwon continue to be confirmed COVID-19-positive, triggering concerns that such private academies could trigger another cluster of COVID-19 transmissions. In Yeouido, Seoul, over 3,000 teachers and students from over 50 private academies densely located in the same building as the hagwon where a COVID-19 patient was confirmed are subject to diagnostic testing.
Quarantine Pushed Aside for “Rocket Delivery”
A number of workers claimed that quarantine guidelines were not properly followed at the Coupang Bucheon Logistics Center in Bucheon-si, Gyeonggi-do, where a cluster transmission of COVID-19 was confirmed. As of the night of May 27, 63 cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in connection to the Coupang logistics center.
A, who works at the Bucheon logistics center said over the phone on May 26, “You can’t say there was ever any physical (social) distancing (inside the logistics center).” Workers including A had their meals close together in the cafeteria--over a hundred workers at any given time--until recently and the center never told the workers to keep a physical distance.
Voices Call for a Bill to Punish Companies for Serious Industrial Accidents: A Pledge on Labor that the Moon Jae-in Government Did Not Keep
Kim Jae-sun, a worker aged 26, died while working at a site that treated waste wood in the metropolitan city of Gwangju on May 22. He slipped and was sucked into the disintegrator while working on top of the machine. In January 2014, another worker in this company also died after he was caught in the conveyor belt of the disintegrator for waste wood. At the time, authorities pointed out that the company failed to install safety devices, but no safety device, such as hand railings or covers, was found in the disintegrator where the fatal accident occurred this time either.
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Maeil Business News Korea (http://www.pulsenews.co.kr/)
S. Korean economy faces recession in Q2, with more than 2% fall: BOK
South Korea has entered a technical recession in the second quarter with the gross domestic product (GDP) expected to finish this month in a contraction of more than 2 percent against three month earlier, the Bank of Korea officially admitted on Tuesday.
“From data as of May 28, we expect the growth rate for first half to be negative 0.5 percent, which would put the second-quarter GDP at mid negative 2 percent range,” said Park Yang-soo, head of the data bureau at the central bank.
Korea’s inflation falls 0.3% in May, turning negative again in 8 months
South Korea’s consumer prices in May fell 0.3 percent on year, revisiting sub-zero territory for the first time in eight months amid subdued demand and weak oil prices under the pandemic.
The consumer price index (CPI) for May was 104.71, down 0.3 percent from the same month a year earlier, Statistics Korea data showed Tuesday.
Korean brokerages raise price target for Samsung Elec on upbeat chip demand
South Korean brokerage houses raised their price target for Samsung Electronics Co. as recovery in global chip demand revived foreign appetite in the bellwether blue-chip stock.
Heungkuk Securities Co. in a report released Monday upgraded its outlook on the world’s largest chipmaker after Micron Technology Inc. raised its earnings guidance for the fiscal third quarter ending May.
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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 Heraldwww.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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Morocco: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfFmp2sVvSE
And many other countries.
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