Tuesday August 11, 2020

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

The Korea Post (http://www.koreapost.com/)
“We promote religious, cultural exchanges with many countries, including Japan, China”
Ven. Youngsan Hongpa, chief abbot of the Myogak-sa Buddhist Temple in Seungin-dong near the East Gate in Seoul, said, “We are making substantial efforts to promote the Buddhist and cultural exchanges between Korea and many countries of the world, especially with Japan and China.”
At a recent interview with The Korea Post media, publisher of 3 English and 2 Korean-language media outlets since 1985, Ven. Hongpa then said, “We had a special tripartite Buddhist program this year among Korea, China and Japan this year, but we had to postpone it to some other appropriate time due to the continuous spreading COVID-19 contagious disease.
The Korean Buddhist Gwaneum Order, of which Ven. Hongpa is the leader as chief abbot, ranks among the fourth or fifth largest among all Korean Buddhist orders, with the Chogye Order leading the Buddhist world in Korea with a 40 to 50 percent share.

“Korea’s spectacular development is for Côte d'Ivoire a model to emulate”
“Côte d'Ivoire was the first African country to establish diplomatic relations with the Republic of Korea (south) on July 23, 1961, and since that date, the two countries have continued to maintain relations of sincere friendship and frank cooperation.” So said Ambassador Sylvestre Kouassi Bile of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire in Seoul in an exclusive interview with The Korea Post media at his office in Seoul on Aug. 3, 2020.
Then he disclosed Korea’s spectacular development in the time span of half a century is for Côte d'Ivoire a model to emulate.” 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KBS (http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/news/)
S. Korea Adds 34 COVID-19 Cases
South Korea's daily COVID-19 cases have bounced back to over 30 amid growing clusters linked to Russian vessels and church meetings.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(KCDC) said on Tuesday that 34 people were newly diagnosed with the virus in the past 24 hours ending 12 a.m., bringing the nation's cumulative tally to 14-thousand-660.
Of them, 23 were local transmissions, including nine cases in Busan. Four of them were tied to a Russian vessel docked in the southeastern port city, while the five others came in contact with a woman who tested positive on Sunday after returning from a trip to Seoul.

S. Korea, US to Stage Joint Drill from Sunday
South Korea and the U.S. will reportedly begin a joint military exercise from Sunday.
According to a South Korean government official, the two sides were set to stage the Crisis Management Staff Training(CMST) for three days from Tuesday. The training is a prelude to the main joint drill slated to be held through August 28.
During the upcoming exercise, the allies had planned to undergo the second-stage Full Operational Capability(FOC) test as part of their planned transfer of wartime operational control(OPCON). The first-stage Initial Operational Capability(IOC) test was completed last August.

S. Korea's Exports Fall 24% in First 10 Days of August
South Korea's exports fell nearly 24 percent from a year earlier in the first ten days of August amid the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to data from the Korea Customs Service on Tuesday, the country's outbound shipments stood at eight-point-seven billion U.S. dollars in the cited period, down 23-point-six percent on-year.
Compared to the same period last year, there was one less working day this year. Given the decrease, the daily average exports during the period declined 12-point-seven percent. 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yonhap (http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr)
S. Korean central region under 49 days of rainy season, longest on record
South Korea's annual rainy season has continued for 49 days now, the longest on record, and is poised to set a fresh record as more rains are forecast to pour down until mid-August.
The monsoon season, which has begun on June 24, tied the previous record of 49 days set in 2013, the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said, and will continue until Aug. 16 in the capital Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and western Gangwon Province.
On the southern resort island of Jeju, the rainy season lasted for 49 days from June 10 to July 28, breaking the previous record of 47 days set in 1998.

N.K.'s official paper urges efforts to minimize flood-caused damage on farming
North Korea's official newspaper called Tuesday for stepped-up efforts to minimize flood-caused damage to the farming sector as the country is struggling to cope with recent heavy downpours.
North Korea has recently been hit hard by heavy rains in many regions, including rice-producing areas in its southern parts. On Monday, state media reported that the North received as much as 200 millimeters of rain in Hwanghae and Kangwon provinces and forecast around 70 mm of rain would fall overnight.

New daily virus cases bounce back to over 30 as church-linked infections rise
South Korea's new coronavirus cases bounced back to above 30 on Tuesday, as an uptick in church-traced infections shows no signs of letup.
The country identified an additional 34 virus cases, including 23 domestic infections, raising the total caseload to 14,660, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).
It marked a slight increase from the 28 new virus cases, including 17 local infections, the previous day.
Of the locally transmitted cases, six were reported in Seoul and seven in the surrounding Gyeonggi Province.
The southeastern city of Busan added nine more cases of COVID-19.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HanKyoReh Shinmun (http://english.hani.co.kr)
Moon in process of tendering resignations from six senior secretaries
South Korean President Moon Jae-in is in the process of finalizing his decision about the group resignation tendered by Chief of Staff Noh Young-min and five senior secretaries at the Blue House to take responsibility for public anger over the real estate market. The soaring real estate prices that motivated the secretaries to tender their resignations present a troubling similarity, Blue House officials say, to the 2016 real estate controversy that precipitated the lame duck period of Roh Moo-hyun, South Korea’s previous progressive president. In a strange coincidence, both the Moon and Roh administrations ran into trouble with the real estate market in the fourth year of their five-year terms. Throughout the day on Sunday, speculation was rife in the Blue House about whose resignations Moon would accept.

National Assembly lawmaker sparks controversy by wearing dress
“If I come to work in jeans, I hear about it. If I come wearing a skirt, they tell me, ‘You shouldn’t be wearing a short skirt with your figure.’”
“It’s not like I’m showing up for work in shorts or a miniskirt, but the comments are too much. If I wear a coat, they tell me not to. If I come with a handbag, they say things like, ‘That looks one of those market bags that middle-aged women carry.’”
The recent criticisms faced by Justice Party lawmaker Ryu Ho-jeong over a dress she wore at the National Assembly has sparked an outpouring of sympathy and solidarity from women who have also faced punishment for their workplace attire. On Aug. 9, social media posts were flooded by female users complaining about “comments” in the workplace over the clothes they wear.

LG Electronics tests robot waiters at Seoul’s Mayfield Hotel
On Aug. 9, LG Electronics announced that it has launched a trial service that uses two outdoor robots at Mayfield Hotel in Seoul’s Gangseo District. The robots will deliver food and beverages to customers in the hotel’s outdoor terrace as well as bus tables. The robots are self-driving carts equipped with lids, which open upon arriving at a customer’s table. Customers simply have to put their empty plates back into the cart after finishing their meal, and the robots will carry them back to the kitchen. LG added that it’s planning to dispatch a beer-serving robot to the hotel next month. (provided by LG Electronics)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chosun Ilbo (http://english.chosun.com)
More Well-Off Koreans Move Abroad
Korea is seeing the biggest emigration wave since the 2008 global financial crisis.
According to the Foreign Ministry on Monday, 1,590 Koreans moved overseas last year, up from a low of 273 in 2015. Their numbers started to surge in 2017 when some 1,294 Koreans left the country.
The figure does not cover Koreans who had already been living abroad and moved there permanently.
One wealthy 48-year-old woman who spoke with the Chosun Ilbo at a relocation agency in the affluent Gangnam area early this month has bought an apartment in New York and is making plans to move there.

Dozens Dead, Thousands Homeless in Torrential Rains
Torrential downpours have left at least 38 people dead and 12 others missing while thousands have become homeless.
This year's monsoon rains have drenched without respite for over a month, triggering around 1,000 landslides across the country that caused nearly half of the fatalities. Some 9,491 homes were reported damaged.
The heavy rains reached southern Korea over the weekend, bringing 500 mm of rainfall over a two-day period. Many small towns and villages became submerged as rivers spilled over their levee.

Most Schools to Return to Daily Classes
Most schools across the country are expected to teach daily classes when pupils return from their summer break.
The Education Ministry has decided to let schools use their own discretion to manage their academic schedules amid the spread of coronavirus but urged them to keep numbers in attendance below two-thirds per day.
Most schools across the country plan to let all students attend at least some classes every weekday.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Dong-A Ilbo (http://english.donga.com/)
S. Korean military announces plan to develop 3 4,000-ton submarines
The South Korean military strongly indicated the possibility of developing three 4,000-ton nuclear submarines during the Monday presentation of its 2021-2025 defense plan, which requires 300.7 trillion won of the defense budget in total. Nuclear submarines are considered as one of the key strategic weapons to address North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats and keep neighboring countries in check.

Hyundai Motor launches IONIQ as integrated e-vehicle brand
Hyundai Motor Company has chosen “IONIQ” as the name of its new electric car brand, an ambitious project for the South Korean carmaker. So far, Hyundai has retrofitted existing internal-combustion engine cars into an electric model, but starting from next year, it will start to use a platform dedicated to building e-vehicles.
Hyundai Motor announced Monday that it will call its e-vehicle brand “IONIQ,” which will be subsequently introduced for three years from next year. The term is a combination between “Ion,” an electric generator of energy, and “Unique” for the company’s ingenuity.

U.S., Brazil, India make up half of total COVID-19 infections
The cumulative number of COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide reached 20 million as of Monday, seven months after “pneumonia of unknown etiology” was first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) by China on December 31, last year.
According to Worldometers, a statistics website, the global cumulative confirmed cases stood at 20,026,186 with 734,020 deaths as of 3 p.m. on Monday. The figures are rising sharply: It took about 180 days for confirmed cases to reach 10 million on June 28 and only another 43 days to more than double.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The KyungHyang Shinmun (http://english.khan.co.kr/)
South Korea Forces Sam Okyere to Apologize for Pointing Out Racial Discrimination
Sam Okyere (pictured), a Ghanaian TV personality, formally apologized after igniting criticism when he expressed his discomfort over Korean students impersonating black characters. Okyere criticized the students of racial discrimination, but the public found his assessment of the students, who took the pictures for fun, to be excessive. But many people also argued that Okyere’s apology showed how prevalent racial discrimination was in South Korean society.
The controversy started when students of Uijeongbu High School posted their graduation photo, a parody of the Coffin Dance, on August 3. The Coffin Dance was a video of pallbearers bearing a coffin at a Ghanaian funeral. The students disguised themselves as the pallbearers, painting their faces black. On August 6, Okyere wrote on his Instagram account that the blackface was very unpleasant from a black person’s perspective.

A Typhoon to Invade the Nation as It Suffers the Worst Rain Damage in 9 Years: This Calls for Maximum Preparation
On August 9, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters announced that 39 people had died and 11 were missing due to the torrential rains, which fell for the 47th day, since the monsoon hit the central region in June. The rains have caused 5,971 refugees and damaged 9,491 facilities including roads and homes. This is the first time that the nation has suffered so many casualties due to rains and typhoons since 2011, when 78 people died or went missing (77 from rains, 1 from a typhoon). In short, the nation is suffering the worst ever rains in nine years. What’s more, Typhoon Jangmi is expected to land in the south coast on the afternoon of August 10. Authorities and citizens must all concentrate efforts to prevent additional damages.

“36% of Senior Officials Overseeing Real Estate and Financial Policies Own Multiple Properties Concentrated in Gangnam and Sejong”
Four out of ten senior officials in ministries and subsidiaries handling real estate and financial policies in South Korea, such as the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Ministry of Economy and Finance, owned multiple properties.
On August 6, the Citizens’ Coalition for Economic Justice held a press conference at their office building in Jongno-gu, Seoul and announced, “We analyzed the details of properties owned by 107 senior officials, grade-1 or higher, in ministries and subsidiary organizations that handled real estate and financial policies and confirmed that 39 (36%) owned two or more homes.” The latest analysis was based on the list of properties owned by civil servants released in March. Officials in ministries, subsidiaries and commissions handling real estate policies, such as the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Bank of Korea, and the Financial Services Commission were included in the latest analysis. 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maeil Business News Korea (http://www.pulsenews.co.kr/)
S. Korea’s export decline deepens, down 23.6% in Aug 1-10
South Korean exports dropped 23.6 percent in the first 10 days of August against a year earlier, dampening hopes of a recovery in the second half.
Outbound shipments totaled $8.7 billion in the August 1-10 period, down 23.6 percent from the same period a year ago, Korea Customs Service said Tuesday.
Average daily exports fell 12.7 percent, with the number of working days down one to seven from the year-ago period.
Exports in July had fallen 7.0 percent, the slowest decline in four months, raising expectations for a recovery in global demand.

S. Korea’s unemployment allowance hits fresh high of $1 bn in July
The amount of state unemployment benefits hit a renewed record monthly high in July as the country’s manufacturing industry continued to suffer from massive job losses in a protracted slump from the COVID-19 pandemic, data showed Monday.
According to data from the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the government paid out 1.19 trillion won ($1 billion) in unemployment allowance in July, setting a new record in one month after 1.10 trillion won in June.
State unemployment allowance has renewed record highs for a sixth straight month in July since February when the coronavirus outbreak massively hit the country.

Samsung Elec to start building third Pyeongtaek fab as early as Sept
Samsung Electronics Co. is ready to break ground on its biggest chip fab in Pyeongtaek, South Korea as early as next month to accelerate next-gen chip migration before cheap Chinese products flood into the market.
Its facility in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province has already started the groundwork for the third P3 chip production line and will begin putting up the plant in September, according to Samsung Electronics and the Pyeongtaek city government on Monday. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What are you waiting for?

Use us!
The Korea Post media are more than eager to be used, and to serve you—with the following five news outlets, 34 years old this year!

Korean-language Internet edition: http://www.koreapost.co.kr
English-language Internet edition: http://www.koreapost.com
Korean-language print newspaper:
http://pdf.koreapost.co.kr/49/4901.pdf
http://pdf.koreapost.co.kr/49/4902.pdf
http://pdf.koreapost.co.kr/49/4903.pdf
http://www.koreapost.co.kr/pdf/list.php?category=&syear=2018&smonth=03&sday=26&hosu=40
English E-daily : http://www.koreapost.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=21302

저작권자 © The Korea Post 무단전재 및 재배포 금지