Wednesday, March 29, 2023
Round-up of important news from major Korean dailies and from international media today
The Korea Post ( www.koreapost.com )
“Korea is now a key economic/development partner of Bangladesh”
“The Republic of Korea is now a key economic and development partner of Bangladesh and the bilateral trade crossed the US$2 billion mark for the first time in 2021 and then surpassed US$3 billion mark in 2022.” So said Ambassador Delwar Hossain of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh in Seoul in a speech he delivered at a gala reception he hosted at the prestigious grand ballroom of the Lotte Hotel in Seoul on the evening of March 27.
GCEL actively promotes cooperation, friendship among many countries of the world
GCEL (Global Culture Economy Link) is an organization established with an aim of opening a place to exchange cultures and businesses of each country through a global network to promote mutual understanding and empathy and engage in various activities to recognize and solve problems in the global society. Under the philosophy of mutual understanding, interest, people, sharing, service, and respect, the GCEL conducts and plans various cultural events and activities to promote mutual understanding and encourage many people and institutions to participate in global issues such as global environmental issues, international disputes, and human rights issues.
Chinese automaker builds intelligent factory for customized production
The integrated development of a new generation of information technologies and advanced manufacturing technologies has become a distinctive feature of a new round of industrial reform. So far, over 2,100 high-standard digital workshops and intelligent factories have been built across China. In particular, 209 demonstration factories, after going through intelligent transformation, have shortened R&D cycle by 20.7 percent, improved production efficiency by 34.8 percent, lowered defect rate by 27.4 percent and reduced carbon emissions by 21.2 percent.
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Chosun Ilbo (http://english.chosun.com)
Kim Jong-un Calls for Nuclear Arms Use 'Anywhere'
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called for the country's nuclear weapons to be ready for use "any time and anywhere," state media said Tuesday. Kim "called for efforts to expand the production of weapons-grade nuclear materials and continue to produce powerful nuclear weapons in a bid to meet the goal of an exponential increase in the nuclear arsenal," according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency. "Only when we perfectly prepare the ability to use nuclear weapons at any time and from any place will we ensure that we will forever not have to use nuclear weapons," he said.
Retail Investors Still Flock to Flagging Bourse
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index plunged 25 percent and the junior Kosdaq 35 percent in 2022, but the number of small shareholders in listed companies rose 4.1 percent to more than 14 million. The most popular stock remained Samsung Electronics, whose small stockholders mushroomed 14 percent to 6 million. According to the Korea Securities Depository, 14.41 million Koreans held shares in 2,509 listed companies as of the end of last year. Some 14.24 million of them were retail investors, up 3.6 percent. On average they owned stocks in 5.85 companies, down 1.8 percent from 2021, while the total number of shares per investor edged down 0.8 percent to 7,688.
Japan Continues Whitewash of Colonial Crimes in School Books
Japan is expected to remove the word "forced" from any references to the mobilization of Korean laborers in colonial times when it announces revisions of school textbooks on Tuesday. The textbooks are also likely to stress the island country's bogus claim to Korea's Dokdo islets, diplomatic sources said Monday. The whitewash was already enshrined in high school textbooks last year. News of the plan have taken the Korean government by surprise after President Yoon Suk-yeol traveled to Japan to meet Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida earlier this month in a historic attempt at reconciliation.
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Joongang Ilbo (https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com )
Japan claims Dokdo, soft-pedals forced labor in textbooks
Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed regrets to Japan on Tuesday after Tokyo approved history textbooks that claim the Dokdo islets as its own and contain diluted descriptions of forced labor. The Japanese move has returned two red flag issues to the agenda of Korea-Japan relations despite a recent détente. "The Korean government expresses deep regret that the Japanese government approved the contents of elementary school textbooks that continue to make the unreasonable claims they have made over the past several decades," Lim Soo-suk, spokesperson of the ministry, said in a statement.
Yoon warns that North won't get a 'single penny' while it builds nukes
President Yoon Suk Yeol instructed the Unification Ministry to halt giving handouts to Pyongyang as long as the Kim Jong-un regime continues to pursue its nuclear weapons program on Tuesday. Yoon told Unification Minister Kwon Young-se in a Cabinet meeting to "make it clear that in a situation where North Korea is pursuing nuclear development, the South Korean government will be not be giving it even a single penny," according to presidential spokesman Lee Do-woon in a press briefing.
Yoon government reveals new strategy to raise birth rates
The Yoon Suk Yeol government revealed a "select and concentrate" strategy to tackle Korea's dismally low birth rates as the president presided over a meeting on responding to the fertility problem Tuesday afternoon. This comes as Korea's total fertility rate, or the average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime, came to a 0.78 last year, the lowest ever. Yoon presided over a meeting of the Presidential Committee on Ageing Society and Population Policy at the Blue House, attended by experts and ministers of health and welfare, economy and finance, education and other related agencies.
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The Dong-A Ilbo (http://english.donga.com/)
Patients adrift in emergency rooms, going as far as 152 kilometers to find hospital beds
Dr. Kang Gyung-guk, chief of emergency medicine at Yeosu Jeonnam Hospital, looked at the test result in shock. The patient’s WBC count was three times higher than normal, indicating serious health problems with an unknown cause. Dr. Kang hurriedly placed a phone call to transfer the patient to another hospital for hemodialysis treatment. Even if a patient makes it to the emergency room, he may still have to stay afloat to see a doctor finally. This was the case with Jang Boo-gwi, aged 74, who was moved to the emergency room at Yeosu Jeonnam Hospital in Yeonsu, South Jeolla Province.
Possibility of replacing national security advisor reportedly reviewed
South Korea's Presidential Office is reportedly considering replacing its National Security Advisor Kim Sung-han, who has been overseeing the policies of foreign affairs and national security for the Yoon Suk Yeol Administration. The news draws much attention as it is only a month away from the president’s summit meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden. Following Chief of Protocol Kim Il-bum, President Yoon replaced his secretary Lee Moon-hee, who managed working-level issues on foreign and national security. Yoon is purportedly considering reshuffling his foreign policy and defense aides lineup ore the U.S.-ROK summit meeting in April.
State dinner event nearly canceled owing to lack of response
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s upcoming state visit to the United States next month was nearly derailed due to a delay in the response from the diplomatic and security team at the presidential office to a proposed special cultural program by the Biden administration. According to sources, President Yoon had to rectify the situation after belatedly getting informed of it through alternative channels instead of the presidential office. This, coupled with other missteps by the diplomatic team, has led to discussions within the presidential office about a possible reshuffle of key officials, including National Security Office Chief Kim Seong-han.
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Maeil Business News Korea (http://www.pulsenews.co.kr/)
Flights to and from China, Japan increase on hopes for travel surge
South Korea has resumed more international flights to China and Japan that had ceased due to the pandemic, raising hopes that an influx of tourists from the neighboring countries will help Korea get out of its chronic travel deficit. According to Incheon International Airport Corp. and Korea Airports Corp. on Monday, Korean Air Lines Co., the country’s largest carrier, resumed its late-night flights between Seoul’s Gimpo International Airport and Haneda Airport in Tokyo, three years after they were suspended due to Covid-19.
Korean executives paid 16 times more than employees in 2022
A survey found that the average annual salary gap between executives and ordinary employees at major Korean companies last year was about 16 times, narrowing from a year ago as the amount received by the highest-paid decreased and the average salary of employees increased from the previous year. The average annual salary of the highest earners at 282 companies was 1.41 billion won ($1.09 million), a 26.7 percent decline from 1.93 billion won the previous year, according to data from Leaders Index, a corporate analysis institute, which analyzed top companies by sales last year that disclosed annual salaries of 500 million won or more through business reports.
South Korea to convert bonded warehouse into forward base for chip exports
The South Korean government will convert a bonded warehouse near Incheon International Airport into a complex logistics facility to use it as a forward base for semiconductor exports to help spur shipment of the country’s key items, such as semiconductors. Korea Customs Service is responding to requests from local and foreign companies who are seeking to secure warehouse space to ease some of the bottleneck in the supply chain caused by an increase in inventories. The agency will simplify the process of moving goods in and out of the 18,000-square-meter facility next month, Commission TaeSik Yoon said in a recent interview with Maeil Business Newspaper.
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HanKyoReh Shinmun (http://english.hani.co.kr)
China is reinventing itself as a peace broker — how will America respond?
On Feb. 21, I was a virtual participant in the Lanting Forum, which was co-hosted by the Chinese Public Diplomacy Association and Peking University. (Lanting, meaning Blue Room, is a conference room in the press center of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.) The forum’s keynote speaker was Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who presented six core concepts and 20 priorities for cooperation from a concept paper about the Global Security Initiative (GSI) proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Boao Forum for Asia in April 2022.
N. Korea fires off 2 more short-range ballistic missiles after US carrier enters Korean waters
North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the waters off its eastern coast on Monday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff reported. The show of force came four days after Pyongyang tested a nuclear-capable underwater attack drone last week. The same day, the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz took part in maritime exercises held by South Korea and the US in international waters south of Jeju Island. “We detected two short-range ballistic missiles being launched toward the East Sea from the area of Chunghwa County, in North Hwanghae Province, between 7:47 am and 8 am on Monday.
What Yoon could learn from Kim Dae-jung’s dealings with Japan
There’s a certain “trump card” that the Yoon Suk-yeol administration and People Power Party (PPP) keep playing to justify their capitulatory diplomatic approach with Japan: the declaration issued in October 1998 by then-serving South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi. Yoon has been especially active in mentioning how Kim’s actions in 1998 “opened up new horizons for South Korea-Japan relations after their previous turbulence,” and stressing how he himself learned from his predecessor’s historic decision.
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The KyungHyangShinmun (http://english.khan.co.kr/ )
“Daughters” Disappear from “Daughters of a Revolution”: A Symbol of Lee Jae-myung’s Hardline Supporters, From Their Beginning to the Present
The word gaeddal, which refers to the strong supporters of Democratic Party of Korea leader Lee Jae-myung, comes from the TV drama “Reply” (1997, 1994, 1988) series. The word--which means “a bitch of a daughter”--was used to describe a daughter who appeared to be rough on the outside but who in her heart loved her father. The word gaeddal entered Korean politics as a Korean abbreviation for “daughters (ddal) of a revolution (gaehyeok)” during the presidential election on March 9, 2022. Some female voters in their twenties and thirties gathered to support Lee Jae-myung in opposition to Yoon Suk-yeol’s efforts to attract twenty-something male voters and began calling themselves gaeddal.
“A Personal Opinion Difficult to Accept,” Kim Gi-hyeon’s Opinion on Kim Jae-won’s Claim that Jeon Kwang-hoon “Unified the Right Wing”
People Power Party (PPP) leader Kim Gi-hyeon shared his view on a controversial remark by Kim Jae-won, a senior member of the party’s Supreme Council. Kim Jae-won said, “Pastor Jeon Kwang-hoon unified the entire right wing,” but the party leader said, “I think it was his personal opinion, which was difficult to accept.” The PPP leader visited Kyunghee University in Seoul Tuesday morning and had a “1,000 won breakfast” with the students. After breakfast, he met with reporters and when a reporter asked his opinion on Kim Jae-won’s lecture in the United States, the conservative party leader said, “I saw the media coverage without a clear understanding of the context surrounding his remark, but I think it was his personal opinion, which was difficult to accept.”
PPP Criticized for Being Rich-Friendly after Considering Tax Exemptions for Gifts of Up to 400 Million Won for People with 3 Children
On March 26, it was confirmed that the People Power Party (PPP) had considered graded tax deductions for gifted property as a way to resolve the nation’s low birth rate. The policies reviewed by the ruling PPP included tax exemptions for couples with multiple children when they received gifts of property from their parents. This triggered criticism that the PPP’s perspective on the problem of the low birth rate leaned in favor of the rich. According to the coverage by the Kyunghyang Shinmun Sunday, in February and March, the People Power Party considered expanding tax exemptions by providing differential exemptions for gifted property according to the number of children one had.
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KBS(http://world.kbs.co.kr/service)
Yoon to Co-Host US-Led Summit for Democracy
President Yoon Suk Yeol will co-host the U.S.-led Summit for Democracy with the leaders of the United States, Costa Rica, the Netherlands and the Republic of Zambia. The second Democracy Summit will be held on Wednesday and Thursday, with President Yoon hosting a session on prosperity with economic growth on the first day. Yoon's office said that it is meaningful that South Korea is taking the lead in resolving the global issue of the regression of democracy.
Inflation Expectations Edge down to 3.9% in March
Inflation expectations for March edged below four percent on the back of dropping oil prices. According to the Bank of Korea(BOK) on Wednesday, expected inflation, which measures consumers’ estimates on price increases over the next 12 months, stood at three-point-nine percent this month, down one-tenth of a percentage point from February. It marks the first fall in three months after rising by zero-point-one percentage point for two straight months in January and February.
Gov't Voices Deep Regret over Japanese School Texts, Summons Embassy Official
South Korea has lodged a protest over the Japanese government's approval of school textbooks that dilute the forced nature of wartime labor by Koreans and intensify territorial claims to the Dokdo islets. Vice foreign minister Cho Hyun-dong on Tuesday summoned Naoki Kumagai, deputy chief of mission at the Japanese embassy, to the foreign ministry to protest the matter. The deputy chief was called in as Japanese ambassador Koichi Aiboshi is currently in Japan. After meeting with Cho, Kumagai left the ministry building without responding to reporters' questions about how the latest issue may affect bilateral relations.
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Yonhap (http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr )
Ex-military commander arrested upon return from U.S. over martial law scandal
Prosecutors arrested Cho Hyun-chun, a former head of the now-defunct Defense Security Command, upon his arrival in South Korea on Wednesday, more than five years after he fled to the United States over suspected masterminding of a martial law plan. Officials from the Seoul Western District Prosecutors Office apprehended the 64-year-old former commander at Incheon International Airport and transferred him to the office for investigation. Cho allegedly instructed a task force he formed in February 2017 to draw up a contingency plan based on an illegal declaration of martial law to crack down on candlelight protesters by force and reported it to the then Defense Minister Han Min-koo.
U.S. will continue building defense capabilities against N. Korean nuclear threats: Kirby
The United States will continue to build its defense capabilities against North Korea's evolving nuclear threats, a U.S. National Security Council (NSC) spokesperson said Tuesday, noting the North continues to ignore U.S. overtures for dialogue. John Kirby, NSC coordinator for strategic communications, also highlighted the importance of joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises. "We are well aware that Kim Jong-un continues to fire off missiles and he continues to try to improve the capabilities of his ballistic missile program and continues to pursue nuclear ambitions as well," Kirby told a virtual press briefing when asked what the U.S. was doing to curb advancements in North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
S. Korea voices 'deep regrets' over Japan's controversial history textbooks
South Korea lodged a strong protest against Japan on Tuesday over its new school textbooks apparently watering down the coercive nature of its wartime wrongdoings and intensifying its sovereignty claim to Dokdo. Earlier in the day, Tokyo's education ministry announced the approval of the 149 textbooks for elementary school students for use in 2024, a move that came in spite of Seoul's efforts to improve its bilateral ties with the neighbor amid Washington's campaign for bolstering the trilateral security partnership.
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The Korea Herald (http://www.koreaherald.com )
Kim Jong-un reveals nuclear warhead, calls for more weapons-grade material
For the first time, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un revealed his country’s nuclear warhead in person alongside a system meant to manage such operations, saying the regime needs an “exponentially bigger” nuclear arsenal amid potential preparations for a nuclear test. The North’s official Korea Central News Agency said Tuesday that on the previous day, Kim inspected new tactical nuclear weapons as well as technologies needed to make compatible all weaponry, including nuclear warheads.
2024 budget to boost defense, welfare spending
South Korea will continue to tighten its belt by reducing more than 10 percent of its discretionary expenditure while planning to funnel the budget into boosting national security and creating jobs for young people. Next year's budget plan is expected to remain at around 670 trillion won ($515.9 billion), up about 4.8 percent from this year's 638.7 trillion won, which was proposed as a mid- to long-term plan by the government.
China backs summit with South Korea, Japan: envoy
Chinese Ambassador Xing Haiming said Tuesday that Beijing supports a possible trilateral summit with South Korea and Japan. “We have continued to say so, and we will cooperate with South Korea’s efforts. South Korea is making a lot of efforts right now, and we hope that these efforts will lead to a good result,” the ambassador said. Xing’s remarks came during a meeting with the South Korean ruling People Power Party’s chair Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon, who was the first to suggest that the summit of the three neighboring countries resume.
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The Korea Times (http://www.koreatimes.co.kr )
Revised Japanese textbooks distort wartime forced labor, catching Korea off guard
The Japanese government on Tuesday approved school textbooks whitewashing the forced mobilization of Koreans to labor in factories during World War II. The latest move appears to be a stab in the back for the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, which has been hailing the restoration of bilateral ties with Tokyo. In response, the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs lodged protests over Japan's latest attempt to whitewash its history, which came less than two weeks after a breakthrough summit between Yoon and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
Civic groups in Gwangju await meeting with Chun Doo-hwan's grandson
Civic groups connected with the Gwangju Democratic Uprising said Tuesday that they will accept a proposed visit by the grandson of former authoritarian leader Chun Doo-hwan, as he has vowed to apologize to the bereaved families and victims of the government's deadly suppression of the pro-democracy movement. Members of the groups said they are willing to wait for the younger Chun even if his visit is postponed indefinitely due to an ongoing police investigation into his suspected use of illegal drugs.
Financial industry opposes gov't's move to revamp reward system
Financial industry players here are expressing regret over what they call "unrelenting and unilateral" government demands to revamp reward systems. After banks chalked up record earnings last year on global interest hikes, President Yoon Suk Yeol and his administration stepped up pressure on lenders, criticizing their excessive earnings growth driven mostly by their widened loan-to-deposit margins. The latest pressure centers on what financial watchdogs consider "excessive incentives" delivered recently by banks to their employees and executives.
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
Gwangmyeong Daily 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.com, bfp@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
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