Tuesday June 23, 2020
Round-up of important news from major Korean dailies and from international media today
The Korea Post (http://www.koreapost.com/)
“Colombian troops in Korea add to friendship, brotherhood between the two countries”
Ambassador Juan Carlos Caiza Rosero of the Republic of Colombia in Seoul said, “The Embassy of Colombia in Seoul launches an online photo exhibition entitled, The Korean War through the Eyes of a Colombian Veteran, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Korean War Outbreak on June 25, 1950.
Speaking at a breakfast with Korean media representatives at the Four Seasons Hotel in Seoul on June 23, Ambassador Caiza Rosero said, “This year commemorates the 70th anniversary of the Korean War, an event that marked the establishment of special bilateral friendship and brotherhood relations between Colombia and Korea.”
Please visit: http://www.koreapost.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=20965
Korean firm accelerates COVID-19 rapid diagnostic kit, secures European CE certification
COVID-19 woes are gripping the world with a total of over nine million people confirmed affected as of June 22, of whom over 400,000 people died with a mortality rate estimated at 5.2%.
In Korea, the situation is much better off thanks to the government efforts and solutions put out by he pharmaceutical companies. In Korea as of that date, 12,438 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed, of whom, 280 persons died with a mortality rate of 2.25%.
Please visit: http://www.koreapost.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=20961
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KBS (http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/news/)
Defector Group Claims It Sent Anti-Pyongyang Leaflets across Border
Anchor: Amid rising cross-border tensions over anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns in South Korea, a defector group claimed it secretly sent over the border a fresh batch of propaganda materials Monday night. The group is widely expected to face criminal charges for their activity. Choi You Sun reports.
Report: Defector-led Fighters for a Free North Korea and its chief Park Sang-hak announced on Tuesday that they released balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets from Gyeonggi Province’s border city of Paju the night before.
Moon Calls For Swift Parliamentary Passage of 3rd Extra Budget
President Moon Jae-in called for the National Assembly's swift passage of the government's third extra budget to help the nation better cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, stressing it is urgent in protecting people's livelihoods.
At a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Moon urged the rival political parties to put their heads together to avoid having to "lock the stable door after the horse is stolen." The president said anything linked to the people's lives and livelihoods can not be delayed. Moon's remarks come just two days after he called for the budget to pass the parliament within this month.
S. Korea Reports 46 New COVID-19 Cases including 30 Imported Cases
South Korea’s daily COVID-19 cases have bounced back to over 40 amid a rise in imported infections.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(KCDC) said that 12-thousand-484 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the nation as of 12 a.m. Tuesday, including 46 cases compiled throughout Monday.
The resurgence from a four-week-low of 17 the previous day was partially attributed to fewer tests administered over the weekend, but also was affected by a resurgence in imported cases, which reached 30.
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Yonhap (http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr)
(2nd LD) N. Korean defectors' group says it sent leaflets to North overnight
SEOUL, June 23 (Yonhap) -- A group of North Korean defectors in the South claimed Tuesday it sent anti-North Korea leaflets across the border overnight from the western border city of Paju.
Police said one of the plastic balloons used for sending the leaflets was found in a town in the mountainous eastern province of Gangwon.
"(We) sent anti-North Korea leaflets over (to the North) between 11 p.m. and midnight on Monday (from a town) in Paju," Park Sang-hak, chief of Fighters for a Free North Korea, said. The group picked a very dark location to avoid police surveillance, he added.
(2nd LD) New virus infections bounce back on imported cases, community spread still at large
SEOUL, June 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's new virus cases bounced back Tuesday due mainly to a surge in imported cases, with most traced to sailors on a Russia-flagged ship docked in the southeastern city of Busan. The spread of the virus in the Seoul metropolitan area and outside the capital continued.
The country added 46 cases, including 16 local infections, raising the total caseload to 12,484, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).
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Korea Times (http://www.koreatimes.co.kr)
Why 'kid idols' stir debate
With K-pop's global ascent, more diverse groups are springing up on the Korean music scene.
One such example is "kid idols," a term which refers to young singers mostly aged between 9 and 14. Just like older K-pop acts, kid idols such as "Little Cheer Girl" and "Vitamin" put on fancy costumes and makeup and perform less-powerful, but still polished dance routines. The themes of their songs seem to be the only difference ― these young stars mostly sing about childhood crushes and stress from studying, captivating followers of comparable age.
North Korean defectors' group says it sent leaflets to North overnight
A group of North Korean defectors in the South claimed Tuesday it sent anti-North Korea leaflets across the border overnight from the western border city of Paju.
Police said one of the balloons used for sending the leaflets was found in a town in the mountainous eastern province of Gangwon.
"(We) sent anti-North Korea leaflets over (to the North) between 11 p.m. and midnight on Monday (from a town) in Paju," Park Sang-hak, chief of Fighters for a Free North Korea, said. The group picked a very dark location to avoid police surveillance, he added.
The Korean War: carnage, stalemate and ceasefire
As well as pitting North against South, the Korean War embroiled each side's communist and Western allies ― with the Soviet Union and China backing Pyongyang, and a US-led coalition under a United Nations banner supporting Seoul.
AFP traces the course of the conflict, which broke out on June 25, 1950 and ended with a ceasefire rather than a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas still technically at war.
- Two Koreas created –
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HanKyoReh Shinmun (http://english.hani.co.kr)
N. Korea prepares to launch its own propaganda leaflets into S. Korea
Over the weekend, South and North Korea continued their war of words over the dissemination of propaganda leaflets, with the North vowing to send its own propaganda leaflets into the South.
“The retaliatory campaign for scattering leaflets towards the South which is being planned as wished by all the Koreans will neither be bound to any agreement and principle nor be put into any consideration,” the spokesperson for the United Front Department of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) said in a statement on June 21.
Lee Do-hoon returns to S. Korea from Washington trip empty handed
Lee Do-hoon, South Korea’s special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, returned home on June 20 from a trip to Washington, DC. Lee had traveled to the US on June 17 to discuss ways to achieve a thaw in inter-Korean relations, which have deteriorated amid a series of belligerent statements by North Korea and the North’s demolition of the Inter-Korean Joint Liaison Office in Kaesong. Lee declined to respond to reporters’ questions about what had happened in his deliberations with the US.
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Chosun Ilbo (http://english.chosun.com)
N.Korea Reinstalls Propaganda Loudspeakers in DMZ
North Korea is reinstalling loudspeakers in the demilitarized zone that will blare propaganda across the border, the South Korean military said Monday.
The two sides dismantled their walls of loudhailers after President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met in Panmunjom 2018.
The North Korean equipment was always sub-par and the tinny waffle it broadcast could barely be understood a few hundred meters away, but like its decision to float propaganda leaflets across the border it signals a return to square one and end to any de-escalation agreements.
N.Korea Preparing Massive Parade to Mark Party Anniversary
North Korea is preparing a massive military parade on the 75th anniversary of the Workers Party on Oct. 10, according to the Defense Ministry here.
In a report to the National Assembly on Monday, the ministry said that the North Korean military has made preparations for events to mark the 75th party founding anniversary. "They are planning a military parade as they are building weapons depots near Mirim Airport in Pyongyang and getting Kim Il-sung Square ready."
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The Dong-A Ilbo (http://english.donga.com/)
Tensions intensify on Korean Peninsula after Bolton memoir is released
“The content is bad enough, but the timing is even worse,” a South Korean government official said about the memoir of John Bolton, the former national security advisor under the Trump administration. Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are further intensifying after Bolton divulged the sensitive insider stories concerning not only the heads of state but working-level officials of Seoul, Washington, and Pyongyang. Pundits in Seoul say that the political landscape of the peninsula has become even murkier as the North is refusing to talk and taking on a completely hawkish stance against the South.
Hyundai Motor, LG Chemical to establish battery joint venture
It has been confirmed on Monday that Hyundai Motor Group and LG Chemical are working to set up an electric vehicle battery joint venture in Indonesia. The two companies will build electric vehicle-only battery production lines in the country and utilize it as a hub to target the future electric car market in Southeast Asia.
The two South Korean companies are still discussing the detailed size and timing of the investment. Their original target was to sign a contract to set up a joint venture in July this year, but the discussion has been temporarily on hold since March due to business uncertainties caused by COVID-19. “The two companies have been in discussion for a while. We are currently working with the local authorities to discuss incentives, such as tax benefits for constructing a local plant,” said a member of LG Chemical.
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The KyungHyang Shinmun (http://english.khan.co.kr/)
“Domino Transmission” of COVID-19 from the Seoul Metropolitan Area to Daejeon, Chungnam, and Jeonbuk. “No Place Is Completely Safe”
COVID-19 has spread beyond the Seoul metropolitan area and into Daejeon, and the cluster of infections that began in Daejeon is spreading to Sejong, Chungcheongnam-do (Chungnam), Gwangju and Jeollabuk-do (Jeonbuk). The risk of infection in all regions has increased at such a rate that quarantine authorities are saying, “Now, there is no place around us that is completely safe from COVID-19.” Experts claim that the number of COVID-19 patients without any symptoms may be more than ten times the number identified by authorities, and advise authorities to secure hospital beds by easing standards for admitting and discharging patients in order to prepare for a secondary outbreak.
Japanese civilians participated in combats during the Korean War
It has been confirmed that at least 60 Japanese civilians came to the Korean Peninsula with the U.S. army during the Korean War in 1950 and 18 of them participated in combats.
The Mainichi Shimbun reported on Monday about Japan’s participation in the Korean War, citing a classified National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) document titled, “Unauthorized transportation and usage of Japanese nationals in Korea.”
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Maeil Business News Korea (http://www.pulsenews.co.kr/)
Nine out of 10 small firms in Korea fear disruption on foreign labor shortage
Nine out of 10 small businesses in South Korea fear disruption in their production lines as they face a graver problem from the coronavirus pandemic: dire shortage of migrant workers due to entry barriers.
Of the 1,062 companies that had signed up for overseas labor this year, 556 responded that they were “currently facing production setbacks,” according to a survey by the Korea Federation of SMEs on Monday.
Korean gov’t plans to proceed with sale of remaining stake in Woori Financial in H2
The South Korean government will divest the remaining state stake in Woori Financial Group in the second half if “conditions are right,” the Financial Services Commission said Tuesday after holding public fund management committee.
State-owned Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. (KDIC) retains 17.25 percent stake in Woori Financial Group, which it fully nationalized Woori Bank in the wake of the 1997-1998 financial crisis by merging multiple ailing lenders. Its stake in Woori Bank has been converted to shares in Woori Financial after it turned into a holding structure earlier this year.
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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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