Thursday August 27, 2020

 

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

The Korea Post (http://www.koreapost.com/)
Edison Motors supplies hundreds of electric buses to Suwon, other clientele
A leader in the electric bus industry in Korea
The following are excerpts from an interview with Chairman Youngkwon Kang of Edison Motors with its head office in Seoul and production facilities in Gyeongsangnam-do. Edison Motors is known to be a leader in the development and producution electronic buses in Korea and in an increasing number of other countries in the world.—Ed.
Question: Please give us a detailed introduction on your company's entry into India.
Answer: Edison Motors signed a contract with OBus, a transportation company in New Delhi, India, in May to supply 102 medium-sized electric buses. Edison Motors supplied the largest amount of electric buses to passengers in Suwon since its establishment last year. This is the result of the company's commitment to the domestic market and the development of overseas markets.

"Prayers at 'Gut' rites are offered for the benefit of troubled minds"
Traditional Korean folk religious practitioner Choyeon Yaksabosal
Korea has a time-honored folk religious rite named Gut which has been the target of criticism from some quarters of the Korean society but which continues to stay in the hearts of many strata of people in Korea. Gut, with the passage of time, has not become an important part of traditional Korean folk religion. And the religious rites, including the unique shaman dances, have become a part of traditional Korean art and culture. 
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KBS (http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/news/)
New COVID-19 Cases Top 400 for First Time in Almost 6 Months
The number of new COVID-19 cases in South Korea has surpassed 400 for the first time in almost six months.
The Central Quarantine Countermeasures Headquarters said as of 12:00 a.m. Thursday, there were 441 new cases, raising the accumulated total to 18-thousand-706.
Out of the new cases, 434 were community infections, while the remaining seven were imported.
The last time daily infections exceeded 400 was in late February to early March when clusters related to the Shincheonji religious sect in Daegu surged.

BOK Leaves Key Rate Unchanged at 0.5%
The Bank of Korea(BOK) has kept the key interest rate at point-five percent amid a resurgence of COVID-19 cases across the nation.
The BOK's monetary policy board announced the decision in a statement on Thursday.
The widely expected rate decision follows two major reductions earlier this year. The BOK slashed its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point to point-75 percent in March before cutting it by a quarter of a percentage point in May. 
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Yonhap (http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr)
New virus cases spike to over 400, toughest antivirus curbs in offing
The number of daily new coronavirus cases in South Korea spiked to a nearly six month high of over 400 on Thursday as sporadic cluster infections across the country continued to pile up, adding to calls for the adoption of the toughest antivirus curbs.
The country reported 441 new COVID-19 cases, including 434 local infections, raising the total caseload to 18,706, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).
Thursday's daily tally marks the first time that the country's daily virus cases surpassed the 400 threshold since March 7 when the country reported 483 cases following the massive outbreak in Daegu and its neighboring North Gyeongsang Province tied to followers of the minor religious sect Shincheonji.

Typhoon Bavi causes damage but no deaths in S. Korea's southern region
Damage was reported in South Korea's southern region on Thursday after the season's eighth Typhoon Bavi swept through the area, causing power disruptions and destroying facilities. But there was no human loss reported.
The tropical storm arrived on the Korean peninsula on Wednesday and passed through the Yellow Sea before moving northward to North Korea earlier in the day. It was moving at a speed of 45 kph over land some 70 kilometers southwest of Pyongyang at 7 a.m., according to the weather agency.

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HanKyoReh Shinmun (http://english.hani.co.kr)
Vaccine won’t completely vanquish COVID-19, experts say
Even if a COVID-19 vaccine is developed, the disease is unlikely to be completely vanquished, and there’s no guarantee that the vaccine will be more effective than wearing masks, health experts say.
“We won’t have a COVID-19 vaccine until next spring at the earliest, which means waiting for at least eight more months. Though we’re eagerly looking forward to a vaccine, we can’t assume that it will lower the fatality rate or completely prevent the disease,” said Oh Myoung-don, a professor of infectious diseases at the Seoul National University (SNU) College of Medicine, during a press conference at the National Medical Center in downtown Seoul on Aug. 25.

Schools in Greater Seoul area implement measures equal to Level 3 social distancing
As a renewed outbreak of COVID-19 has prompted discussions over whether to upgrade the country’s social distancing regimen to Level 3, all schools in the Seoul Capital Area (SCA) will suspend in-person classes until Sept. 11. It’s a case of schools taking the first step in applying what amount to Level 3 measures. High school seniors are to continue in-person classes, as the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT, also known as the “Suneung”) is scheduled for Dec. 3. Amid growing fears that the suspension of classes will result in a vacuum in terms of looking after children, some are suggesting the government should expand caregiving leave and other government support measures for family caregiving.
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Chosun Ilbo (http://english.chosun.com)
Coronavirus Infections Rise to Fresh H
Coronavirus infections rose above 300 again in Korea on Wednesday.
Health authorities said 320 new cases were reported, including 64 in the port city of Incheon and 33 more in the southwestern city of Gwangju.
The trend raises fears of a second nationwide lockdown that could cripple the economy and negate any progress toward normality the country had hoped to make.

Part-Timers Struggle to Find Work
A slowdown in private spending due to the protracted coronavirus epidemic has made it hard for part-timers to find jobs.
The drastic minimum-wage hike already prompted many store owners to cut down part-timers' hours, and now lockdown has led to more shopkeepers doing without staff altogether.
The latest data from Statistics Korea show a sharp decline in small businesses that employ at least one person by 54 percent or an average of 176,000 per month from January to July compared to the same month in 2019.

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The Dong-A Ilbo (http://english.donga.com/)
Prof. Wada: S. Korea-Japan relations will improve if Abe resigns
Emeritus Professor Haruki Wada of Tokyo University launched a petition called “Is South Korea an enemy of Japan?” July last year with other Japanese scholars, urging the Japanese government to lift the export ban to South Korea on three key high-tech materials.
“The real problems still remain although the relations between the two countries have turned a corner considering Prime Minister Shinzo Abe admitted South Korea is an important neighboring country that shares values and strategic interests with Japan,” he said in an interview with The Dong-A Ilbo on Wednesday when asked about how the bilateral relations have changed since the petition. “Japan should not see South Korea as an enemy.”

Hyundai Mobis to break ground for eco-friendly car part plant in Pyeongtaek
Hyundai Mobis announced on Wednesday that it will construct its third key part plant for electric cars in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, following its previous constructions in Chungju and Ulsan, North Chungcheong province. The construction of the 16,726m² Pyeongtaek plant to be located in the Business & Industry Complex (BIX) within the Yellow Sea Free Economic Zone will begin next month with an investment of 35.5 billion won. The plant will manufacture module parts for 150,000 electric cars per year from the second half of next year.

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The KyungHyang Shinmun (http://english.khan.co.kr/)
Nobel Laureate, Economist Paul Krugman, “Unemployment Benefits Should Come First in Efforts to Overcome COVID-19”
National and international experts including Dr. Paul Krugman, a distinguished professor at the City University of New York and a winner of the Nobel Prize in economics, claimed that it would be difficult for the global economy to recover from the shock triggered by COVID-19 in a short period of time and advised governments to actively support the vulnerable, who suffered a direct blow from the pandemic.
In his keynote address at the 2020 Kyunghyang Forum, “COVID-19 and Its Aftermath: Roadmap for Navigating the Post-Pandemic World Order” at the Lotte Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul on August 25, Dr. Krugman said that the U.S. administration had minimized the damage and successfully responded by providing coronavirus stimulus checks in the early stages of the pandemic. However, according to Krugman, the U.S. administration suspended the payment of such checks at a time when the risk of a second massive outbreak still existed, and pushed the economy into a very unstable situation. He argued that government funding was desperately needed to overcome COVID-19 and stressed that unemployment benefits should have top priority since the government had limited financial resources.

All In-Person Classes Suspended in the Greater Seoul Area: The CSAT Will Be Held as Scheduled
All schools in the Seoul metropolitan area will conduct classes remotely while suspending in-person classes for 3 weeks beginning August 26. The latest spread of COVID-19 has also infected students and teachers, and the measure was enforced to prevent a cluster of transmissions at schools. The education authorities repeatedly announced that they would hold the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) as scheduled on December 3, but they left the door open for possible postponements saying plans could change if physical distancing is tightened to level 3. 
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Maeil Business News Korea (http://www.pulsenews.co.kr/)
Korea’s central bank turns more negative on economy, projects 1.3% annual fall
The Korean central bank projected the economy to decline 1.3 this year, as a deeper contraction has become inevitable with the virus pandemic crisis posing as a menacing threat throughout the year.
The Bank of Korea on Thursday forecast the gross domestic product (GDP) to contract 1.3 percent this year, worse than its May estimate of 0.2 percent decline. The bank earlier projected the economy could shrink 1.8 percent at worst if virus crisis protracts into the second half.

BOK stands pat on policy rate due to limited stimuli impact vs broadening virus woes
The Bank of Korea on Thursday stood pat on its policy rate, already at a record low as widely expected, due to policy bind from limited aid from ultra-loose easing amid protracted virus crisis and bubbly asset prices.
The central bank’s rate-setting committee on Thursday kept policy rate unchanged at 0.5 percent, a bottom after an emergency cut of 50 basis points in March and additional 25 basis points in May.

S. Korea opens tax probe into Netflix
South Korea’s tax officials have launched a probe into U.S. streaming giant Netflix on alleged tax evasion.
Regulators from the National Tax Service began a tax audit at the offices of Netflix Services Korea in Jongno, central Seoul, according to industry sources on Wednesday.
The investigation will focus on whether the company has a fixed physical presence in the country. Some global tech companies have avoided paying taxes in Korea by arguing that they run a “liaison office” and not a proper business entity in the country as their servers are located overseas.

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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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