Tuesday, October 4, 2022
Round-up of important news from major Korean dailies and from international media today
The Korea Post ( www.koreapost.com )
President Yoon meets with visiting U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris
President Yoon Suk-yeol held talks with visiting U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on issues of common interest and regional and global issues on Sept. 29, the presidential office said. In his introductory speech at the presidential office in Seoul's Yongsan-gu District in the morning, President Yoon said, "The Korea-U.S. alliance is developing into a global alliance going beyond the Korean Peninsula and expanding from a military alliance to an economic and technological alliance." "President Biden and I met several times last week in London and New York to reach a consensus on the direction of developing our alliance," he added. "We will continue to develop the Korea-U.S. alliance as a strong pillar that protects the freedom, safety and prosperity of our people."
Nigerian artist Nike Okundaye appointed as the Goodwill Amb. for the Busan 2030 World Expo
Ahead of final voting in November 2023 for hosting rights for 2030 World Expo, the Embassy of Republic of Korea in Nigeria has appointed notable Nigerian artist, Ms. Nike Okundaye as a goodwill ambassador to drum up support for the country’s bid to host the global event. The Nigerian iconic artist, Ms. Okundaye is expected to be leading voice for global business and cultural festival to be hosted by port city of Busan, South Korea with the theme: “Transforming Our World, Navigating Toward a Better Future”
Deputy Trade Minister Jeong seeks energy cooperation with European nations' ambassadors
Deputy Trade Minister Jeong Dae-jin of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) attended a conference in Seoul to discuss ROK-EU industrial and energy cooperation measures with European nations' ambassadors to South Korea, the ministry said on Sept. 29. A total of 18 European countries’ ambassadors attended the event, including the Ambassador of the European Union to the Republic of Korea Maria Castillo Fernandez, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the Republic of Korea Gustav Slamečka and Ambassador of the French Republic to the Republic of Korea Philippe Lefort.
Chosun Ilbo (http://english.chosun.com)
U.S. Vice President Pays Flying Visit to Korea
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris met with President Yoon Suk-yeol on Thursday and visited the inter-Korean border before heading back to Washington. "In the North, we see a brutal dictatorship, rampant human rights violations and an unlawful weapons program that threatens peace and stability," Harris said. "And we are reminded that the alliance between the United States and [South] Korea stands ready to address any contingency." Arriving at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province at around 10 a.m., Harris spent just eight hours in South Korea. In her meeting with Yoon, she "condemned [North Korea's] provocative nuclear rhetoric and ballistic missile launches,"
N.Korea Fires Missiles for 3rd Time in 5 Days
North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles from South Pyongan Province toward the East Sea on Thursday evening. The latest missile launch was a further show of force as U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris paid a flying visit to South Korea and the two allies conducted massive maritime drills. It was the North's third missile provocation in five days. It fired one short-range ballistic missile from North Pyongan Province on Sunday, and two more from the Sunan area of Pyongyang on Wednesday.
Ex-Education Minister to Reprise Role in Yoon Administration
President Yoon Suk-yeol has named former Education Minister Lee Ju-ho, who served a decade ago in the Lee Myung-bak administration, to come back to his old job. The presidential office said on Thursday that Lee "is the right person to lead the Yoon administration's education reforms... based on his rich experience both in education and politics." Lee is a seasoned lawmaker and economist, serving as education minister from 2010 to 2013. The post has been vacant for 50 days since his predecessor, Park Soon-ae, stepped down when her leftfield proposal to lower the school age to five sparked an outcry.
Joongang Ilbo (https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com )
Russians in Korea fear long arm of Putin's mobilization
Fears of being called up for war are spreading among Russians residing in Korea as the ripples of fear generated by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s mobilization order reach distant shores. Vitaly, a 34-year-old Russian who declined to give his surname to avoid any problems for his family at home, is currently living in Guro District, southwestern Seoul, on a 60-day visa. He's been aiming for a while to get a longer term visa, but that has become a matter of urgency. Vitaly says he is unable to sleep properly due to anxiety about being called up to fight in Ukraine.
DP cries foul over probe of Moon in 2020 murder at sea
The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) has told former President Moon Jae-in that it wants to question him about the handling of a South Korean fisheries official killed by North Koreans in 2020. Moon's Democratic Party (DP) said President Yoon Suk-yeol is going after his predecessor and vowed Monday to file a complaint with the state anticorruption agency for abuse of power. DP officials revealed Sunday that Moon had been notified by phone and email in late September about an investigation into his administration's handling of the murder of a 47-year-old fisheries official by North Korean soldiers in the Yellow Sea in September 2020.
Seoul rejects Putin's annexation of Ukraine territories
Seoul said on Saturday it does not recognize Russia’s annexation of parts of Ukraine. “The Korean government does not recognize the referenda held in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson and Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian territory as legitimate,” Seoul’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement issued in Korean and English.“Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence should be respected,” the statement continued. The ministry stressed that the Korean government “strongly condemns” Russia’s armed “invasion” of Ukraine, calling it a violation of the principles of the UN Charter.
The Dong-A Ilbo (http://english.donga.com/)
OPEC+ considers cutting production by 1 million barrel a day
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies, known as Opec+, is considering an output cut to help prop up falling oil prices caused by concerns over a possible economic recession. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude, which once had reached the peak of 123 U.S. dollars per barrel a day (bpd), plunged to 78 dollars bpd at the end of last month. Its prices decreased by 25 percent in the third quarter alone. Therefore, OPEC+ decided to trim output last month by 100,000 bpd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. predicted that OPEC+ might cut output by more than 500,000 barrels a day to stabilize prices to 90-100 dollars bpd.
Moon says state audit office is being ‘very rude’
Former President Moon Jae-in said it is “very rude” for the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) to call him for a written questionnaire about a South Korean fisheries official killed in the Yellow Sea. The liberal Democratic Party (DP) cried foul over the agency’s attempt to question Moon, saying it was “a political plot by the Yoon Suk-yeol administration in an attempt to catch the former president in a trap of political retaliation.” The main opposition party also warned of a full-scale offensive, including filing a complaint with the audit agency, passing a revised bill of the Board of Audit and Inspection Act, and urging citizens to join in a nationwide resistance movement.
Nursing homes open for on-site visits
Effective from Tuesday, face-to-face visits will be permitted at nursing hospitals, nursing homes, and facilities for the disabled. Visitors will be allowed in these facilities in two months since on-site visits were banned on July 25, during the sixth wave of COVID-19. According to the Central Disaster Management Headquarters on Monday, on-site visits will be allowed at nursing hospitals/facilities, psychiatric hospitals/facilities, and facilities for the disabled. Until recently, only non-contact visits were permitted, allowing families to visit, but contact was shut off by a plexiglass shield.
Maeil Business News Korea (http://www.pulsenews.co.kr/)
SoftBank chief in Seoul tapping M&A deals and alliance with Samsung Elec and others
Masayoshi Son, founder and chief of Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. in Seoul since Saturday, is said to be discussing various partnerships with South Korean businesses including tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. over potential alliance in its sale of British chip design house Arm Holdings Ltd. According to multiple sources from the industry sector on Monday, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee is expected to meet with Son and discuss various cooperative relationship issues. The two could have already met, sources noted, although no official confirmation by Samsung Electronics.
U.S. and Korea hold fin min call to agree on liquidity facilities if FX instability worsens
Washington has confirmed to Seoul that it could supply liquidity support to South Korea and other key allies if financial instabilities from super-strong greenback worsen, according to the Korean Ministry of Finance and Economy Saturday.“The two countries are ready to work closely together to implement liquidity facilities when necessary, such as when financial instability is aggravated by the spread of liquidity crunch in major economies including Korea,” the ministry said in a press release after Korean deputy prime minister Choo Kyung-hold held a conference call with U.S. Secretary of Treasury Janet Yelllen Friday evening in U.S. time.
Korea’s worst-ever trade deficit nears $30 bn by Sept
South Korean exports added less than 3 percent, while imports kept up a double-digit gain in September against a year-ago period to cause a six-month trade deficit streak for the first time in 25 years and an unprecedented annual red of near $30 billion. According to trade data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy on Saturday, exports grew 2.8 percent on year to $57.46 billion last month – a record high for September – but they were paled by a 18.6 percent jump in imports to $61.23 billion.
HanKyoReh Shinmun (http://english.hani.co.kr)
Today’s balance of terror between US, NK more unstable than Cold War
Is a “balance of terror” scenario a possibility for the Korean Peninsula? It’s a question that arises when we look at the way the peninsula seems to be sliding irreversibly into a nuclear era. A popular phrase during the Cold War between the US and Soviet Union, the “balance of terror” amounts to a minimum appeal to human self-preservation instincts and reason — the idea that both sides should refrain from any foolish actions that would get everybody killed. In practice, this was a precarious approach. This is why some people refer to the Cold War era as a “long peace.”
Could UK’s destabilizing tax cuts offer lesson for Korea?
These are the titles of reports pouring out of Korean securities companies following the announcement of large-scale tax cuts by the British government. These massive cuts have been a double whammy for the UK in terms of bonds and its currency, causing global financial markets to fluctuate during a time of high inflation and high interest rates. Former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who has warned of the risk of high inflation globally, said that “Britain will be remembered for having pursued the worst macroeconomic policies of any major country in a long time.”
Seoul pushes to restore SK-US-JP military cooperation to pre-2017 level, despite little progress on historical issues
On Thursday, the South Korean Navy announced that it would be conducting anti-submarine warfare exercises with the US and Japan in the international waters off the peninsula’s eastern coast Friday.“These exercises are designed to strengthen our ability to respond to the increasing threat of North Korean submarines, such as by upgrading submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) capabilities, amidst North Korea’s consecutive ballistic launches and the continued North Korean nuclear and missile threat,” the Navy explained in a statement on Thursday.
The KyungHyangShinmun (http://english.khan.co.kr/)
The Presidential Office Received a Report on the IRA Before the President’s Phone Call with Speaker Pelosi
On Thursday, it was confirmed that the South Korean Embassy in the United States had sent a report on key details of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) just before President Yoon Suk-yeol spoke on the phone with Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, on August 4 when she was visiting South Korea. The phone call took place eight days after the Inflation Reduction Act was released, which was before the U.S. Congress had passed the bill. The Office of the President announced, “At the time of her (Speaker Pelosi) visit, discussions on the IRA had just begun in the Senate, so it was difficult to discuss details with the U.S.”
PPP Ethics Committee Begins Procedures for Disciplinary Action Against Kweon Seong-dong for Having a “Drinking Party”
On September 29, the People Power Party (PPP) central ethics committee launched procedures for disciplinary measures against former floor leader Kweon Seong-dong, who enjoyed a drinking party during a party workshop despite the party’s ban on drinking. Kweon is expected to stand before the ethics committee on October 6 along with former party leader Lee Jun-seok, who was the subject of an earlier review. The party’s ethics committee also decided to enforce a six-month suspension of member rights for lawmaker Kim Sung-won, who said, “I wish it would rain,” at a flood recovery site.
Office of the President Asks MBC President to Explain the “Foul Language Coverage”
On September 27, MBC announced that on Monday, the Office of the President sent a notice to the president of MBC, Park Sung-jae, asking about the details behind the coverage of the president’s foul comment. MBC expressed regret claiming that the presidential office sending a notice to the president of a public broadcasting company and demanding an explanation for a news report threatened the freedom of the press. In the notice, the presidential office asked, “On what grounds did you specify the pronunciation, which even voice analysts found difficult to interpret?”
KBS(http://world.kbs.co.kr/service)
JCS: N. Korea Fires Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missile Eastward
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff(JCS) said that North Korea fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile(IRBM) eastward Tuesday morning. The JCS said that it detected the launch from the area of Mupyong-ri in Jagang Province at 7:23 a.m. Military authorities said the missile is believed to have been an IRBM that flew over Japan and are conducting a detailed analysis of the launch, including the range and speed. The North appears to be raising the level of provocation by launching a presumed IRBM for the first time in about nine months after firing an IRBM at a steep angle from the same area in January.
First Parliamentary Audit under Yoon Administration Begins
The first parliamentary audit under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration will begin on Tuesday against a heated partisan backdrop likely to spark clashes on various issues. More than 780 government agencies and institutions are subject to the audit, which will run for a month until November 3, with 12 parliamentary standing committees kicking off their reviews on the first day. In the audit by the Legislative and Judiciary Committee, the parties are likely to lock horns over the state auditor's attempt to investigate former President Moon Jae-in over his administration's handling of the death of a South Korean fisheries official killed by North Korea in western waters in 2020.
Visits at Nursing Homes to Not Require Dividing Screens from Tuesday
Visits at nursing homes will no longer be obstructed by a dividing screen from Tuesday. The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters said that partitions will no longer be required during visits at high-risk facilities in light of the recent improvement in the pandemic situation and the high rate of second booster vaccinations among the residents and workers at such facilities. Under the move, people who test negative with COVID-19 self-test kits will be allowed to visit relatives at long-term care facilities in person without a prohibition on physical contact.
Yonhap (http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr)
Yoon's approval rating drops after hot mic incident: poll
President Yoon Suk-yeol's approval rating fell for the first time in four weeks after his remarks caught on a hot mic in New York caused an uproar here, a survey showed Monday. In the poll of 2,522 voters conducted by Realmeter from Monday to Friday last week, 31.2 percent positively assessed Yoon's job performance, down 3.4 percentage points from the previous week. Yoon's disapproval rating was 66 percent, up 3.8 percentage points.
Gov't planning math fellowship inspired by Fields Medal winner Huh
The government is planning to set up a math fellowship program inspired by Korean American mathematician June Huh, officials said Tuesday. The program is aimed at nurturing young mathematicians under 40 through an annual stipend of around 120 million won (US$84,000) for up to 10 years, according to officials at the presidential office. The fellowship, which will be run by the Ministry of Science and ICT, will ensure research freedom by having only one progress evaluation in the fifth year. The ministry plans to select six participants for a trial run and then consider expanding the program.
N. Korea supports Russia's proclaimed annexation of Ukrainian territory
North Korea expressed support Tuesday for Russia's latest annexation of Ukrainian territory, while accusing the United States of "abusing" the U.N. Security Council (UNSC). Russia on Friday vetoed the UNSC resolution denouncing Moscow's proclaimed annexation of four regions in Ukraine, including the People's Republic of Donetsk, following referendums in the territory late last month. Jo Chol-su, director general of the international organization department at North Korea's foreign ministry, defended Russia's latest annexation, claiming the referendums were held in line with the principles of the U.N. Charter.
The Korea Herald (http://www.koreaherald.com)
After flurry of missile launches, N.Korean media dismiss allies’ moves to sharpen deterrence
North Korea’s propaganda outlets have continued to dismiss South Korea and the US’ move to reinforce their deterrence and military readiness as “bravado” against a “nuclear weapons state,” arguing that North Korea merely sees a US aircraft carrier as a “lump of scrap metal.” Multiple propaganda outlets have simultaneously launched a flurry of attacks on the Yoon Suk-yeol government’s defense strategy to reinforce the South Korea-US combined defense posture and enhance the viability of the US extended deterrence against mounting threats from North Korea.
S. Korean envoy on NK human rights to visit US this week
South Korea's new envoy for North Korean human rights will make her first visit to the United States this week since taking office, officials said Sunday. Lee Shin-hwa plans to meet officials of the State Department and the White House, as well as experts and activists, in Washington, DC, during her four-day trip starting Wednesday to discuss various pending issues, including Pyongyang's nuclear threat and missile provocations.
Hyundai Mobis completes 5G tech essential for autonomous driving
South Korean auto parts and mobility solution maker Hyundai Mobis said Monday that it has developed a 5G-based communication module for cars, a core part for autonomous driving and connected car systems that enables real-time, large-volume data processing. According to Mobis, the new module combines communication and memory functions, as well as a radio frequency circuit and GPS, based on ultra-high speed, ultra-low latency and hyper connectivity technology.
The Korea Times (http://www.koreatimes.co.kr)
Moon says audit office's attempt to question him is 'very rude'
Former President Moon Jae-in said the state audit agency's recent attempt to question him over a South Korean fisheries official killed by North Korea in 2020 is "very rude," according to Rep. Youn Kun-young, his former aide. The lawmaker of the main opposition liberal Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) told reporters at the National Assembly, Monday, that Moon said it was "very rude" and improper for the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) to call him and send him an official email regarding the case.
Yoon's poor support rate burdens his foreign policy agenda
A presidential job approval rating is considered to be the benchmark in measuring the job execution ability of a country's leader. A low approval rating can undermine how much an incumbent president can achieve during his or her time in office. Within that context, the difference between maintaining a solid job approval rating and a weak one could be the difference in getting things done. Since his inauguration in May, President Yoon Suk-yeol's job approval rating has plunged to a new low of 24 percent amid concerns about the economy as well as controversy over his remarks on a hot mic in New York, according to a weekly survey released last week by Gallup Korea.
Gov't goes all out to curb won's sharp fall against dollar
The government is making all-out efforts to curb the won's sharp fall against the U.S. dollar, in a desperate bid to prevent a massive outflow of capital. This move comes as the value of the Korean won has dropped by about 20 percent against the dollar this year and concerns are growing over a possible shortage of foreign currency. The fiscal and monetary authorities as well as financial regulators are taking measures aimed at stabilizing the stock and bond markets using trillions of won in taxpayers' money.
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Daily News Hungary http://dailynewshungary.com
Budapest Times http://budapesttimes.hu
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