Tuesday, July 12, 2022
Round-up of important news from major Korean dailies and from international media today

The Korea Post ( www.koreapost.com )

We mark a new anniversary of our declaration of independence in 1816”
Ambassador Alfredo Carlos Bascou of the Argentine Republic in Seoul said, "On July 9th, we commemorate a new anniversary of the declaration of independence that happened in 1816, which marked the end of the dependence of the united provinces of the Rio De La Plata from the Spanish Monarchy.” 
Speaking at a reception Ambassador and Mrs. Bascou hosted at the Grand Hyatt Seoul on July 7

 

KR holds a K-railway promotion event for visiting CABEI delegation
Korea National Railway (KR) held a test drive for high-speed railways and a promotion event for Korean railways on the train for the Central American Bank of Economic Integration (CABEI) delegation visiting Korea on July 6. CABEI is a multilateral development bank established in 1960 by five Central American countries to support public and private investment that contributes to balanced regional development and economic integration, and currently has 15-member countries.

 

Trade Minister Ahn attends Global Investment Summit

Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun attended the Global Investment Summit held at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul on July 6 and gave a congratulatory message. The event was attended by approximately 200 persons from various foreign-invested companies and relevant local government bodies, including Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) President Yu Jeong-yeol and LG-Ericsson South Korea & Taiwan Operations CEO Håkan Cervell.

 

                                                                                             

 

Chosun Ilbo (http://english.chosun.com)
Realtors, Removals Firms Close as Home Sales Plummet

Plummeting home transactions are forcing removals companies and realtors out of business, while those who manage to hang on are cutting costs drastically. Interior decorators and home appliance retailers, who enjoyed bumper sales in lockdown, are also suffering from waning demand and rising raw material costs. According to the Korea Real Estate Board on Thursday, only 155,987 apartments were sold nationwide in the first five months of this year

Yoon to Pay Respects to Abe at Memorial Altar in Seoul
President Yoon Suk-yeol will visit a memorial altar at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul to pay his respects to former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated last Friday. Presidential spokeswoman Kang In-sun said Sunday that Yoon is also sending a delegation of Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and People Power Party lawmaker Chung Jin-suk to Tokyo for the funeral.

Korean Air Flight Makes Emergency Landing in Azerbaijan
A Korean Air passenger plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Azerbaijan due to engine problems en route from Turkey to Korea on Saturday. None of the 225 passengers and crew on flight 9956 were injured. According to the carrier, one of the engines on the right wing of the A330-200 aircraft began vibrating violently and gave off sparks an hour and 50 minutes after takeoff

                                                                                             

Joongang Ilbo (https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com )

Mourning for Abe gives Yoon diplomatic opportunities
The assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last Friday is giving diplomatic outreach opportunities to the Yoon Suk-yeol administration. 
President Yoon plans to send a special delegation led by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo to Tokyo to attend Abe's official memorial service. The delegation will include People Power Party (PPP) deputy speaker Chung Jin-suk and other senior lawmakers.

 

New U.S. ambassador Philip Goldberg arrives in Seoul
Philip Goldberg, the new American ambassador to Korea, arrived in Seoul on Sunday to fill a position that has been vacant for nearly two years. "I'm honored to represent the American people and President [Joe] Biden at this very important moment in our relations," Goldberg told the press upon his arrival at Incheon International Airport on Sunday.Relations between the U.S. and the Republic of Korea were forged in conflict, a great alliance, and now we're moving, thanks to agreements between our two presidents, to a global partnership.”

 

Top envoy says China policy is Korea's own, not the West's
Korea will have its own policy on its neighbor, China, based on mutual respect and trust, said Foreign Minister Park Jin on Monday -- not driven by the West. 
It’s not about tailoring our policies to the West’s,” Park told the press at the ministry headquarters in Seoul on Monday, in response to a question about the Yoon Suk-yeol government’s policy toward China.I could only imagine our relationship developing further when China respects Korea and when Korea understands where China is coming from,” Park said

 

                                                                                               

 

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

Health experts stress more elderly should be vaccinated
The Korean government is mulling over a plan to include those in their 50s to get the fourth COVID-19 vaccination along with the current target of those aged 60 or over. Health experts, however, warn that convincing the elderly target groups who are refusing their fourth vaccination to get vaccinated is a more urgent and serious issue than including people in their 50s.

 

S. Korea, US to Hold Combined Military Drill from Aug. 22
The South Korean and U.S. military have tentatively agreed to conduct annual combined military exercises from Aug. 22 to Sept. 1. With the combined command post-training (CCPT) - a computer simulation-based training exercise - field training exercises (FTX) could also resume after a four-year hiatus.

 

Over half of experts in OECD members expect GDP decline
The economic prospects of the latter half of the year presented by economic institutes and organizations OECD member states have reportedly worsened year on year. According to the Federation of Korean Industries on Monday, the survey by OECD Business and Industry Advisory Committee found that more than half of the member states responded that their GDP would decrease by 0.5 to 1 percentage points due to the war in Ukraine.

 

                                                                                                              

 

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

Labor strife brewing at S. Korea’s biggest auto manufacturing site
Labor strife brews in South Korean industrial sites starting with the auto lines as wage hikes become stronger demand for unions in the usual summer bargaining season amid inflation running at its strongest in 24 years. Strikes are looming in the biggest manufacturing sector of automobiles despite waning sales.

 

Korean lender turn wary of consumer loans and stricter with new loans in Q3
Concerns for the risk of household loans turning sour have increased for both the non-banking and banking sector in South Korea amid fast rises in interest rates, data showed. According to a Bank of Korea (BOK) survey on loan outlook by financial institutions for the second and third quarter that was released on Monday

 

Korea Inc. turning more to US and Europe than Asia for new investment
South Korea is weaning off China as it builds a greater economic alliance with the U.S. and European Union amid changes in the global trade order over supply bottleneck and protectionist trade barriers. In the first quarter ended March 2022, North America was the top destination for Korea Inc. in foreign direct investment with $9.3 billion

 

                                                                                             

 

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

Shinzo Abe, prime minister who dreamed of a war-ready Japan, dead at 67
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was fatally shot during a streetside campaign rally on Friday, July 8. He was 67 years old. Abe occupied the premiership for eight years and eight months, during two separate stints, longer than any other prime minister in Japan’s constitutional history. While in office, he spearheaded a rightward shift in Japanese politics.

 

In wake of Abe’s death, LDP landslide win lends impetus to remilitarization of Japan
It was 2:40 pm on Friday. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had made a hasty return to his official residence in Tokyo after hearing the news that former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had been shot. His face stiff with nervousness, Kishida stood in front of cameras, avoiding a direct answer to reporters asking about the kind of effect the shooting would have on Japan's political landscape by stating that “life-saving measures” would be prioritized.

 

Yoon to visit memorial for Shinzo Abe in Korea
President Yoon Suk-yeol will visit a memorial altar in Korea for former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot and killed on Friday. "President Yoon will visit a memorial altar prepared by the Japanese Embassy in Korea soon to pay his respects to former Prime Minister Abe,” a key official of the presidential office told reporters on Sunday afternoon.

 

                                                                                     

 

The KyungHyangShinmun (http://english.khan.co.kr/)

President Yoon Stops “Doorstepping” to Prevent COVID-19
On July 11, the Office of the President canceled President Yoon Suk-yeol’s meeting with the press on his way to work at the presidential office in Yongsan. The decision came after another wave of the novel coronavirus seemed likely with new daily cases of the virus exceeding 20,000 for the first time in 45 days on July 9.

 

Teacher Forced Students to Dye Her Hair for Years: Student Rights Abuse at a Meister High School
The Meister high school was established in 2010 in the Lee Myung-bak government with the goal of fostering master craftspeople who could go to work at industrial worksites straight after graduation. Meister is a German word for master. In Germany, many young people opt to follow the path of a craftsperson or a technician instead of advancing to university. They receive wages equal to or higher than that of university graduates and are socially respected as well.

 

Lee Jun-seok’s Party Membership Suspended: An Unusually Heavy Penalty for a Ruling Party Leader
On July 8, the People Power Party (PPP) central ethics committee decided to suspend the party membership of leader Lee Jun-seok for six months. During the suspension, Lee will not be able to attend to the duties of the party leader.  The decision is seen as a severe penalty. The ethics committee believed that Lee ordered his close aide and political affairs director, Kim Cheol-geun, to destroy evidence in order to conceal his alleged sexual bribery and decided that this violated his obligation to maintain dignity.


                                                                                                


KBS(http://world.kbs.co.kr/service)

Rival Parties, National Assembly Speaker to Meet to Discuss Parliamentary Formation
The ruling and main opposition parties will meet with the assembly speaker on Tuesday to reach a compromise on the formation of the second half of the 21st National Assembly. Ruling People Power Party(PPP) floor leader Kweon Seong-dong and main opposition Democratic Party(DP) floor leader Park Hong-geun are set to hold a meeting chaired by National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo on Tuesday morning.

 

US State Department Counselor to Visit S. Korea to Discuss Alliance, N. Korean Threat
A special adviser from the U.S. Department of State will visit South Korea this week to discuss the North Korean threat and other issues. The department said in a press release that Department of State Counselor Derek Chollet is scheduled to visit Seoul on Monday and Tuesday to meet with South Korean government officials, academia, and civil society.

 

Foreign Scholars Call for Permanent Installation of Statue of Peace in Germany
A group of scholars from Germany, France and Japan recently sent a letter to a regional government in Berlin calling for the permanent installation of a statue symbolizing Korean victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery. Steffi Richter, a professor at Leipzig University, Elissa Mailander, a professor at the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po), Sven Saaler, a Japanese history professor at Sophia University in Tokyo, asked the borough of Mitte in the German capital to permanently preserve the statue of peace.

 

                                                                                                               

 

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

PPP rules out national convention after chief's suspension
The ruling People Power Party (PPP) has concluded that it cannot hold a national convention to elect a new leader after Chairman Lee Jun-seok was suspended over a sexual bribery scandal, the party's floor leader said Monday. Rep. Kweon Seong-dong, who serves as acting chairman after Lee was suspended last week, told reporters that the party's secretariat reached the conclusion after a review of the party charter and regulations, and the party's Supreme Council endorsed the conclusion.

 

S. Korean minister seeks 'convenient' timing for Japan trip after Abe's death
South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin was rather guarded Monday about the schedule for his widely expected visit to Japan, a potential opportunity for a breakthrough in efforts to mend ties between the neighboring countries, speaking during a press briefing in Seoul. Some media outlets here and in Japan had reported that he was likely to make his first trip to Japan next week since taking office in May in a bid to explore ways to resolve longstanding disputes between the two sides especially over shared history.


Atmospheric concentration of CO2 hits all-time high in S. Korea in 2021
The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in South Korea hit an all-time high last year, with the atmospheric methane level also registering a sharp increase, a meteorological institute said Tuesday. The CO2 level in the air, measured from the country's longest-running observation station on Anmyeon Island, 124 kilometers southwest of Seoul, averaged at 423.1 parts per million in 2021, according to a climate report by the National Institute of Meteorological Sciences.

 

                                                                                  

 

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

China, N. Korea to upgrade ties to new level against US-led ‘encirclement campaign’
China and North Korea will constantly strengthen and develop their bilateral relations to a new and higher level in “unprecedented harsh circumstances,” including the US-led campaign to encircle China, the North Korean media said Monday. It also highlighted the significance of the close bond between North Korea and China.

 

Japan’s ruling party victory, Abe’s death could slow progress on Tokyo ties: experts

The recent turn of events in Japan -- the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the ruling party winning the majority of seats in the upper house -- could delay efforts to resolve bilateral relations with South Korea, experts here said on Monday. The former premier died on Friday after a lone gunman shot him while he was delivering a campaign speech on a street in the city of Nara in central Japan.

 

Yoon's symbolic in-office interviews put on pause. Why?
President Yoon Suk-yeol‘s symbolic efforts to communicate with the press every morning have been temporarily suspended. The presidential office said the halt is due to coronavirus resurge, but some critics say the recent plunge in Yoon’s approval ratings and his unprepared remarks could have affected the decision.

 

                                                                                    

 

The Korea Times (http://www.koreatimes.co.kr)

Yoon's confidant to lead ruling party as acting chairman
Chairman Lee Jun-seok's defiance against a decision by the ruling People Power Party's (PPP) ethics committee to suspend his party membership for six months ended up being a storm in a tea cup. Earlier, he had threatened not to approve the ethics committee's decision in the party's decision-making Supreme Council meeting, saying that he was in charge.

 

Unification Church confirms mother of Abe's suspected killer was former member
The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, more commonly known as the Unification Church, confirmed on Sunday that the mother of the suspect in the fatal shooting of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had been a member. The 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami ― who was arrested at the scene of the crime in Nara, Japan, after opening fire with his handmade weapon during Abe's campaign speech on Friday

 

South Korea determined to bring ties with Japan back on track
Foreign Minister Park Jin expressed the government's intent, Monday, to repair relations with Japan as Seoul's efforts to find a breakthrough in frayed ties with Tokyo could be dampened by the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot and killed at a campaign event in Nara, Friday. He also said the new South Korean government's policy toward China was not blindly based on the U.S.-led move to contain Beijing, and added that bilateral ties should develop based on an equal partnership.


                                                                                                                  

 

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

Australia Brisbane Times www.brisbanetimes.com.au syndication@fairfaxmedia.com.au

Sydney Morning Heraldwww.smh.com.au

Colombia Reports http://colombiareports.com

Bogota Free Planet http://bogotafreeplanet.combfp@bogotafreeplanet.com

El Universal http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/english

Andes http://www.andes.info.ec/en

Ecuador Times http://www.ecuadortimes.net

The Jordan Times https://www.jordantimes.com

LSM.lv http://www.lsm.lv/en

The Baltic Times http://www.baltictimes.com lithuania@baltictimes.com, estonia@baltictimes.com, editor@baltictimes.com

El Pais http://elpais.com/elpais/inenglish.html

Philippine Daily Inquirer https://www.inquirer.net

Daily News Hungary http://dailynewshungary.com

Budapest Times http://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.
 

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