The Korean daily media headlines and humor

Monday, April 16, 2018

Your Excellency:

Here are The Korea Post notices and a roundup of important headlines from all major Korean-language dailies, TV and other news media of Korea today:

If the Headlines are no longer desired, please advise us at: edt@koreapost.com or pub@koreapost.com.

Very Respectfully Yours

/s/

Lee Kyung-sik

Publisher-Chairman

The Korea Post Media

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The Laotian New Year's Day celebration. Visit www.koreapost.com for full story and pictures (embargoed 3p.m.)

Our coverage of the colorful Laotian New Year’s Day celebration last event hosted by the Embassy of Laos in Seoul and extensively covered by The Korea Post media last Friday. The story and pix will appear on its English Ineternet this afternoon. Please visit www.koreapost.com this afternoon for the story and pictures. To the host and attendees, please send your feedback, if any, in photos and text to edt@koreapost.com or pub@koreapost.com for publication.—Ed.

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Round-up of important news stories from major Korean dailies today:

The Korea Post media (www.koreapost.com) in English, (www.koreapost.co.kr) in Korean.

Police to quiz KT chief in illegal political fund probe

Police said Monday they plan to question the chairman of mobile carrier KT Corp. this week over his suspected involvement in illegal donations to lawmakers.Hwang Chang-gyu has been asked to come to the National Police Agency at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, officials said.Police have been investigating suspicions that former and incumbent KT executives paid some 90 legislators a combined 430 million won (US$402,000) in illegal donations, with company funds, between 2014 and 2017.

Korean Air heiress returns home amid probe into violent tantrum

The second daughter of the chairman of Korean Air Lines Co. returned home from an overseas trip on Sunday amid controversy over claims that she hurled water into the face of an advertising firm employee last month.Police launched a preliminary inquiry into Cho Hyun-min, a senior executive at the country's largest air carrier, on Friday after media reports that she yelled and threw water at a manager of the company's advertising agency during a business meeting in her office in Seoul on March 16.Cho is the sister of Cho Hyun-ah, who was jailed in 2014 in the so-called nut rage scandal, in which she ordered her flight back to an airport gate in New York because she was upset about the way her nuts were served on the plane.

Moon vows to get to the bottom of ferry tragedy ahead of 4th anniversary

President Moon Jae-in pledged Sunday to find the truth about the deadly sinking of the Sewol ferry, on the eve of the fourth anniversary of one of the nation's worst maritime disasters.The ship capsized in waters off the country's southwestern island of Jindo on April 16, 2014, killing 304, mostly teenagers on a school trip. A joint funeral service for 11 victims will be held on Monday. They are among the 43 non-student casualties."Before the bereaved families and the nation, who are in for deep sorrow once again in the joint funeral service, I pledge to uncover the truth of Sewol completely," Moon said on Facebook.

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KBS (http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/news/)

Moon Vows Thorough Investigation into Sewol Sinking

President Moon Jae-in has vowed a thorough investigation into the sinking of the Sewol ferry ahead of the fourth anniversary of the maritime disaster, which killed 304 people, mostly teenagers on a school trip.

Moon made the vow on Sunday in a post on his social network site, saying that before the bereaved families and the nation, who will once again be in deep sorrow in the joint funeral service, he pledges to completely uncover the truth of the tragedy. A joint funeral service for eleven non-student victims is set for Monday afternoon. They are among 43 non-student casualties. The president also said that the search for the remains of five victims who are still missing will resume as soon as the ship is erected.

Ruling Party Lawmaker Denies Involvement in Opinion Rigging Scandal

A ruling Democratic Party lawmaker has denied his involvement in an alleged rigging of online comments by party members.Rep. Kim Kyoung-soo on Saturday held a news conference at the National Assembly, expressing regret over groundless media reports that he was involved in the scandal.Three party members, who have regularly paid membership fees to the party, allegedly used a computer program to rig the number of "like" clicks for some online comments critical of the government on news stories.The news conference came after a newspaper report raised suspicions that the three had contact with Kim and exchanged hundreds of text messages.The lawmaker said that he came to know the party members around the presidential election last year, and they offered help for the elections.

Samyang Foods' Chairman, President Indicted for Embezzlement

The top executives of local food company Samyang Foods will stand trial on charges of embezzlement and breach of trust.The Seoul Northern District Prosecutors' Office on Sunday indicted Chairman Chun In-jang and President Kim Jung-soo without physical detention.Chun and his wife Kim are accused of embezzling five billion won from Samyang Foods for ten years since August 2008 through paper companies they established. The prosecution said that the two spent the money for personal purposes to pay for their credit card use.The chairman is also accused of causing a loss to a Samyang Foods affiliate, by having the affiliate lend two-point-nine billion won to its subsidiary although he was aware of the subsidiary's inability to repay the loan.

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

Police to quiz KT chief in illegal political fund probe

Police said Monday they plan to question the chairman of mobile carrier KT Corp. this week over his suspected involvement in illegal donations to lawmakers. Hwang Chang-gyu has been asked to come to the National Police Agency at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, officials said. Police have been investigating suspicions that former and incumbent KT executives paid some 90 legislators a combined 430 million won (US$402,000) in illegal donations, with company funds, between 2014 and 2017. Police suspect that Hwang either instructed them to do so or was briefed about it. The local political fund law bans a registered firm or group from donating any funds to lawmakers. Donations made with company money is also forbidden. Police have carried out raids at KT headquarters and its affiliates based on evidence that KT executives bought large amounts of gift vouchers with company funds and cashed them out for donations.

Casino industry's sales improving from increase in Japanese visitors

Foreigners-only casinos are showing better sales this year after a big dip last year caused by China's retaliation over a diplomatic row, industry data showed Monday.Sales in January and February reached 204.78 billion won (US$191.56 million), up 15.9 percent from the same period last year, according to the Korea Casino Association. The local gambling industry took a hard fall in 2017 after China restricted its nationals from going on package tours to South Korea to protest the latter's hosting of a U.S. missile defense system on its soil. Casino operator Paradise suffered a 3.9 percent decline in its consolidated sales last year, while the state-run Grand Korea Leisure Co. showed a 8.6 percent fall in its sales.Data showed that the number of visitors to the foreigners' casinos increased 1.6 percent in the first two months of this year to 366,000, mostly due to more customers from Japan.

Samsung 5th-most admired firm in Canada

Samsung Electronics Co. was named the fifth-most admired firm in Canada, an industry tracker said Monday, recovering its reputation tainted by the suspended production of the Galaxy Note 7 in 2015.According to the report announced by Canadian researcher Leger, Samsung Electronics earned a reputation score of 75 to rank at fifth place in the 2018 Ranking of Canada's Most Admired Companies.U.S. IT giant Google topped the list, followed by Canada's Shoppers Drug Mart and Canadian Tire. Japan's Sony Corp. ranked at fourth place.The South Korean tech giant, which ranked at seventh in 2015 and 2016, slipped to 24th place in 2017 after suffering from the safety scandal involving batteries used on the Note 7 phablet released a year earlier.

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

NK leader meets senior Chinese official ahead of key summits

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met senior Chinese diplomat Song Tao and discussed “matters of mutual concern,” the North’s state media said Sunday, indicating closer ties between Pyongyang and Beijing ahead of Kim’s planned summits with South Korea and the United States.Kim met Song, head of the international liaison department of at the Central Committee of the Communist Party, on Saturday, according to the Korean Central News Agency. A Chinese art troupe, led by Song, arrived in Pyongyang on Friday to participate in the April Spring Friendship Art Festival held in honor of North Korea’s founder Kim Il-sung.

S. Korea denounces alleged chemical attack in Syria

South Korea on Sunday denounced an alleged chemical attack by the Syrian government on rebels.“We strongly condemn (Syria‘s suspected action) under the position that the proliferation and use of chemical weapons cannot, under any circumstances, be tolerated because they threaten the peace and security of the international community,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.“We strongly support the international community’s effort to prevent the use of chemical weapons and the loss of innocent lives because of it,” the statement added.

Korean Air heiress returns home to barrage of criticisms, probe for violence

Cho Hyun-min, the second daughter of the chairman of Korean Air Lines, returned to South Korea on Sunday in the face of mounting controversy over the allegation that she assaulted a manager of a local advertising firm by throwing water at his face.Cho, a senior vice president at the airline, arrived at Incheon Airport at 5:26 a.m. via the Korean Air flight KE464, from Danang, Vietnam, where she had been on vacation. At the airport, the 35-year-old Korean Air heiress apologized for her “foolish behavior.” She said she had not thrown water at the face of the ad agency employee, but admitted to pushing him.

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

What does US strike on Syria mean for North Korea?

The U.S.-led air strike on Syria, Saturday, may put pressure on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ahead of his planned summit with President Donald Trump in May or June.In a joint operation with the U.K. and France, the three countries air forces' launched 105 cruise missiles at Syrian chemical weapons facilities after Trump mulled military options in response to an alleged poison gas attack.The measure came as Trump's new team of hawkish security advisers, who engineered the Syria strike, remain skeptical about Kim's true intentions behind the summit, and insist they will use military options against North Korea if necessary.CIA Director and Secretary of State Nominee Mike Pomeo warned that he could not rule out a military strike or even a ground invasion against North Korea, while National Security Adviser John Bolton said North Korea was "just buying time" to build nuclear-tipped missiles.

With 'nut rage' sisters, Korean Air is nowhere to be seen

Another case of a Korean Air "heiress rage" is casting doubts on the ethics of the Cho family, with observers noting that their tantrums are one of the major risks to the flag carrier's reputation.Cho Hyun-min, a marketing executive at Korean Air and the second daughter of Chairman Cho Yang-ho, returned home from what appears to be an overseas vacation Sunday, several days after she angered the public over allegations that she yelled and threw a water bottle at a manager of an advertising agency during a business meeting at her office in Seoul March 16.Upon her arrival, she briefly told MBC, a local broadcasting service, "I was foolish and I am sorry," denying the allegation by saying she threw water on the floor, not in the face of the manager.

'KAIST to get on a watchlist over AI weapons'

Prof. Toby Walsh, who organized a boycott of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) because of its cooperation with a defense company to develop AI-embedded weapon systems, said AI researchers around the world will keep monitoring the university even after halting the action.In an email interview with The Korea Times, the professor of the University of New South Wales, said researchers will monitor the university's work to see if its pledges not to develop AI weapons that lack "meaningful human control" are being honored."My colleagues and I will keep watch on all parts of their work," he said, adding he still has questions as to why KAIST would be partnering with "a major arms manufacturer."Earlier this month, more than 50 researchers from the University of Cambridge, Cornell University and other institutions threatened to stop all contact and academic collaboration with KAIST, until it assured them that the weapon systems it develops with Hanwha Systems will have meaningful human control.

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Chosun Ilbo (http://english.chosun.com)

USFK Practices Evacuating Civilians to American Mainland

The U.S. Forces Korea is practicing evacuating American civilians to the U.S. mainland on Monday and Tuesday in preparation for a war on the Korean Peninsula. The USFK carries out the exercise twice a year, but normally volunteers are only taken to Japan rather than all the way to the U.S. The Stars and Stripes military newspaper first reported the change last month.The civilian volunteers will be transported to a U.S. military base in Japan first and then all the way to the U.S. mainland, a USFK source said.A military aircraft is on standby at Osan Air Base in Gyeonggi Province, and the USFK has selected about 100 volunteers, mostly families of service personnel.

Human Rights Kept off Inter-Korean Summit Agenda

Human rights will not be on the agenda of a historic inter-Korean summit in two weeks' time. The meeting in the border truce village of Panmunjom is expected to lay the groundwork for a solution to the North Korean nuclear standoff. But the North's gross human rights abuses will be passed over in silence.Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other international human rights organizations sent a letter to President Moon Jae-in on Monday calling on him to include human rights on the agenda. Last month, around 30 human rights groups in South Korea also sent a petition to Cheong Wa Dae. Former vice unification minister Kim Suk-woo said, "There can be no genuine peace without resolving the human rights problems in North Korea."

Defector Pianist Skeptical If Music Can Help Cross-Border Ties

Can music change the course of history? The government seems to think so, organizing a flurry of cross-border concerts where North and South Korean harmonies ring out to a handpicked audience. Pianist Kim Cheol-woong (44), a North Korean defector who teaches at Seoul National University, is skeptical. After graduating from Pyongyang University of Music and Dance, Kim went to Russia to study at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. He went on to become the youngest lead pianist in the North's State Symphony Orchestra until he defected to South Korea in 2001.

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

New funeral culture taking hold in South Korea

“I will return to heaven / This day is the end of my sojourn to this beautiful world / Go and say it was beautiful” – The final passage of the poem, “Return to Heaven,” by Cheon Sang-byeongEveryone comes back to the place where they came from. No matter if one is rich or poor, beautiful or ugly, the sojourn ends for everyone. Like Cheon Sang-byeon’s poem, death can be said to be beautiful. Death is a painful, fearful, and difficult thing, but at the end, it includes a portion of beauty as well.

Collection of handwritten letters from Sewol victims’ families published as a book

“My baby . . . I miss you so much. I want to touch you. I want to hold you.”“It won’t be much longer before your mom and dad can see you and hold you and love you all we want.”“You won’t forget, will you? You will remember? Your mother will find you.” (letter excerpts)“To the One I Miss,” a collection of letters by 110 surviving family members of victims in the 2014 Sewol ferry sinking, was published on Apr. 9 by Humanitas. According to Kyobo Books, a total of 78 volumes on the Sewol tragedy had been published as of Apr. 11. “To the One” is the first to planned and written by the parents of the victims, most of whom were high school students.

Chung Eui-yong returns from visit to Washington, D.C.

Returning on Apr. 13 from a meeting with newly appointed White House National Security Advisor John Bolton in the US, Blue House National Security Office director Chung Eui-yong said the two had “agreed on both sides making efforts for the successful staging of the inter-Korean and North Korea-US summit.”Chung added that they had “agreed to have close cooperation between the two sides’ National Security Councils.”Meeting with reporters at Incheon International Airport that afternoon, Chung said his visit had “confirmed that there are no differences between the two sides on the basic course we need to pursue to achieve the basic goal of establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula through denuclearization.”

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JoongAng Ilbo (http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/)

In sign of thaw, Kim meets senior Chinese diplomat

North Korea’s leader met a senior Chinese diplomat in Pyongyang on Saturday and “earnestly discussed crucial issues” regarding the two countries’ relations, the North’s state-run media reported Sunday.The meeting suggests stronger bilateral ties after Kim Jong-un made a surprise visit to Beijing last month and met Chinese President Xi Jinping in his first trip outside the country as North Korea’s leader.In its report Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) did not specify what Kim discussed with the Chinese diplomat, Song Tao, but Kim was reportedly “pleased” with the recent improvement of Pyongyang-Beijing relations and expressed hope that ties would improve further.

For first time, gov’t holds Sewol memorial

President Moon Jae-in pledged to prioritize safety in a statement on Sunday commemorating four years since a ferry sinking killed 304 in the country’s worst maritime disaster.Most of the victims aboard the fated Sewol ferry, which capsized on April 16, 2014, were high school students on a field trip to Jeju Island.“All of the students are our own children, children who have become stars in the sky,” Moon said in a statement posted to his Facebook profile on Sunday. “They have changed South Korea. After the tragedy of the Sewol ferry, we have changed, changed to put life first and to share the burden and hurt of our neighbors.”

Unemployment benefit payout hits record high

The number of people who received unemployment benefits and the amount they received hit a record high in the first quarter of 2018, a testament to the worsening job market. According to Korea Employment Information Service statistics Sunday, the number of people who received unemployment benefits hit 628,000 during the January-March period, a 6.9 percent year-on-year jump. It is the highest figure since the state-run service started aggregating quarterly data about unemployment in 2010.The agency estimates that 1.49 trillion won ($1.39 billion) of unemployment benefits was distributed in the first quarter, a 16 percent year-on-year growth. This is also a record amount since quarterly data on unemployment benefits started to be aggregated in 2007.People who lose their jobs receive unemployment benefits to maintain their living until they are re-hired.

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The KyungHyang Shinmun (http://english.khan.co.kr/)

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AJU Business Daily (http://eng.ajunews.com/korea)

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

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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.cnkf@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.comlithuania@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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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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