The Korean daily media headlines and humor

The Korean daily media headlines and humor

Thursday, May 24, 2018

Your Excellency:

What’s ticking in Korea and around the world today?

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:

Very Respectfully Yours

/s/

Lee Kyung-sik

Publisher-Chairman

The Korea Post media

Cartoon by Artist Kwon Beom-cheol on Hankyoreh Shinmun, May 24, 2018

An Extremely Hard Work…

(President Moon is trying hard to bring Trump and Kim closer together, who are obviously trying to use a chicken game.)

President Moon Jae-in (center) is having a hard time trying to bring President Donald Trump of the United States to Chairman Kim Jong-

Un of North Korea (left). Neither Trump nor Kim look interested in meeting, but Moon is sweating trying to bring the two men closer together.

Kim is obviously using a ‘hard-to-get’ tactic and so appears to be Trump.

However, both Trump and Kim must use Moon because a clash between the two would mean a war that would wipe out North Korea,

leave a substantial portion of South Korea damaged by a limited nuclear strike from North Korea and Guam, Hawaii and the East Coast

of mainland United States sustaining some damages from North Korean nuclear bombs.

Perhaps, this is why Moon is trying so hard to bring Trump and Kim closer to making peace.

It appears that Trump and Kim, too, know the eventual outcome of failed US-NK talks, but are obviously trying a chicken game tactic.

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N. Korea threatens to walk away from planned summit with U.S.

North Korea will reconsider the planned summit with the United States if Washington sticks to "unlawful and outrageous acts," its vice foreign minister said Thursday.In a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency, Choe Son-hui, a North Korean vice foreign minister, said that whether the June 12 summit between its leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump will happen as scheduled entirely rests on the decision and behavior of the U.S. "Whether the U.S. will meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown is entirely dependent upon the decision and behavior of the United States," Choe said. "In case the U.S. offends against our goodwill and clings to unlawful and outrageous acts, I will put forward a suggestion to our supreme leadership for reconsidering the DPRK-U.S. summit," she added.

(For further details, visit: http://www.koreapost.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=6779.)

N. Korea likely to demolish nuclear test site soon

North Korea looks set to destroy its only known nuclear test site in front of international journalists probably later Thursday, given their itinerary and local weather conditions.A group of reporters and television crews from South Korea, the United States, China, Russia and Britain are apparently still on their way to the remote northeastern area of Punggye-ri after leaving Wonsan, an eastern port city, by train Wednesday evening. The train left Wonsan at around 7 p.m. for a journey expected to take 11-12 hours to be followed by a four-hour bus ride and a more than an hour mountain hike to the venue, according to a pool report sent by South Korean journalists there Wednesday night. There has been no update yet.

(For further details, visit: http://www.koreapost.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=6776.)

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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.

N. Korea likely to demolish nuclear test site soon

North Korea looks set to destroy its only known nuclear test site in front of international journalists probably later Thursday, given their itinerary and local weather conditions. A group of reporters and television crews from South Korea, the United States, China, Russia and Britain are apparently still on their way to the remote northeastern area of Punggye-ri after leaving Wonsan, an eastern port city, by train Wednesday evening.The train left Wonsan at around 7 p.m. for a journey expected to take 11-12 hours to be followed by a four-hour bus ride and a more than an hour mountain hike to the venue, according to a pool report sent by South Korean journalists there Wednesday night. There has been no update yet.The North earlier said it would dismantle the underground tunnels and other facilities at the Punggye-ri complex by exposition between May 23-25.

Pompeo says he raised human rights issue with Kim

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday that he raised the issue of North Korea's human rights abuses when he met leader Kim Jong-un.Pompeo traveled to Pyongyang twice -- once in April and again in May -- to lay the groundwork for a June 12 meeting in Singapore between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim.The focus of that summit would be the dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear weapons program, but many also see it as an opportunity to address grave human rights abuses purportedly carried out by the regime."The issue was raised directly between me and Chairman Kim, and it will be part of the discussions as we move forward," Pompeo told lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, when asked if the human rights issue could be part of a nuclear deal with Pyongyang.

S. Korean journalists in N. Korea to cover nuke-testing site demolition

Eight South Korean journalists arrived in North Korea on Wednesday by government plane to cover the dismantlement of its nuclear test facilities expected later this week.The reporters and television crews joined the other journalists from the United States, China, Russia and Britain in Wonsan, as they wait for a special train to the Punggye-ri test site in the northeastern mountainous area. The media visitors from the four countries flew in to the North's eastern coastal city Tuesday from Beijing.It remains uncertain when the train will depart for the nuclear-testing site in Kilju, North Hamgyong Province.The distance between Wonsan and the Jaedok Station, adjacent to the venue, is known to be about 416 kilometers. Given the North's railway conditions, it will likely run at a speed of about 35 kph, according to observers here. It means a 12-hour train journey for the international journalists.

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

N. Korea Threatens to Reconsider US Summit

A North Korean diplomat has threatened to reconsider the planned summit between the U.S. and North Korea, blasting recent remarks by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence. According to a report by the North's official Korean Central News Agency(KCNA) on Thursday, North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui said that she could suggest North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reconsider the summit if the U.S. insults the North's good will.The vice minister said that the future of the summit is entirely up to the U.S. and condemned a media interview by Pence in which he compared the North to Libya.She lashed out at the vice president for saying that North Korea could end up like Libya if it fails to make a nuclear deal with Washington and that a military option for the North was never excluded. In a recent interview with Fox News, Pence also said the U.S. will not offer concessions to North Korea until it sees verifiable and irreversible denuclearization initiated.

Foreign Journalists Depart for Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site

A group of foreign journalists on Wednesday set off on a long journey to a remote location in North Korea to cover Pyongyang’s dismantling of its Punggye-ri nuclear test site. The Associated Press reported that a train carrying the journalists left the North's port city of Wonsan on Wednesday night. The report said that the journalists were put in sleeping cars on the train, four bunks to a compartment, adding the compartments had windows covered with blinds, and the journalists were told not to open the blinds throughout the journey. The journalists reportedly paid their own costs for the trip, with the train fare being 75 U.S. dollars per person round trip and each meal costing 20 dollars.

Finance Minister Says No Plan to Revise 3% Growth Target

Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon says that the government has no plan to revise its three percent growth target for this year.Kim made the remarks on Thursday during an interview with a radio program, saying that the situation is not so bad as the economy grew one-point-one percent in the first quarter. Vowing upmost efforts to achieve the three percent growth, the top economic policymaker stressed the quality of economic growth. He pledged efforts to ensure balanced growth in diverse industrial areas and equal distribution of the growth.Kim also assessed that the nation is going in the direction of achieving the three percent growth in general, but there are mixed signals in the recent economic indicators.

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

S. Korea to provide massive financial cooperation package to Africa

South Korea has decided to provide a financial cooperation package worth US$5 billion to African nations over two years starting in 2019 in order to help stimulate their industrialization, the country's finance ministry said Thursday.The decision was included in a joint declaration and an economic cooperation action plan adopted at the roundtable of the Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation (KOAFEC) meeting on Tuesday. The minister-level biennial meeting was held on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the African Development Bank (AfDB) that kicked off Monday for a five-day run in the South Korean port city of Busan. The package includes investments in six fields: infrastructure, human resources, rural areas, climate change and sharing of development experiences.

Pompeo says he raised human rights issue with Kim

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday that he raised the issue of North Korea's human rights abuses when he met leader Kim Jong-un.Pompeo traveled to Pyongyang twice -- once in April and again in May -- to lay the groundwork for a June 12 meeting in Singapore between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim.The focus of that summit would be the dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear weapons program, but many also see it as an opportunity to address grave human rights abuses purportedly carried out by the regime."The issue was raised directly between me and Chairman Kim, and it will be part of the discussions as we move forward," Pompeo told lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, when asked if the human rights issue could be part of a nuclear deal with Pyongyang.

'Nut rage' Korean Air heiress to be quizzed over suspected illegal hiring of foreign housekeepers

Cho Hyun-ah, the infamous "nut rage" heiress to Korean Air Lines Co., will undergo questioning by the immigration office Thursday over fresh allegations that she illegally hired housekeepers from the Philippines. Cho, the daughter of Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho, was summoned to appear at the Seoul office of the Korea Immigration Service at 1 p.m., the office said. She faces allegations that she has recruited more than 10 Filipino maids by sponsoring them with traineeship visas against the law. It will be another inglorious public appearance for the former vice president of Korean Air Lines Co. and heiress to the conglomerate that has businesses ranging from the air carrier to hotels. She was released from jail in May 2015 after the top court suspended her sentence over the 2014 nut rage case.

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

N. Korea threatens to walk away from planned summit with US

North Korea will reconsider the planned summit with the United States if Washington sticks to "unlawful and outrageous acts," its vice foreign minister said Thursday.In a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency, Choe Son-hui, a North Korean vice foreign minister, said that whether the June 12 summit between its leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump will happen as scheduled entirely rests on the decision and behavior of the US. "Whether the US will meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown is entirely dependent upon the decision and behavior of the United States," Choe said.

S. Korean reporters in NK to cover dismantling of nuclear test site

Eight South Korean reporters on Wednesday took a train to Punggye-ri, North Korea, to watch the dismantling of the major nuclear test site, after the regime accepted them into the country at the last minute. The special train departed from Wonsan for Punggye-ri at around 7 p.m., carrying reporters from South Korea, the US, China, Russia and the UK. The closing of the nuclear site could happen on Thursday, depending on weather, a North Korean official said.

Ex-President Lee denies corruption charges at first hearing

Former President Lee Myung-bak denied the charges against him at the first hearing of his trial Wednesday, accusing the prosecution of conducting “unreasonable” investigations. At the Seoul Central District Court, the 77-year-old former leader made his first public appearance to attend his hearing held at 2 p.m., 62 days after he was arrested in March 22 over a series of charges including bribery and embezzlement. “I stand here today with grief. I could not take in the claim (of allegations), as I am a person who served as a president of a nation. I had vowed to the people that I would obey the Constitution,” Lee said in a 10-minute speech at the beginning of the trial.

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

Korean Air 'nut rage' heiress to be grilled over illegal hiring of foreign housekeepers

Cho Hyun-ah, the infamous "nut rage" heiress to Korean Air Lines Co., will undergo questioning by the immigration office Thursday over fresh allegations that she illegally hired housekeepers from the Philippines.Cho, the daughter of Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho, was summoned to appear at the Seoul office of the Korea Immigration Service at 1 p.m., the office said.She faces allegations that she has recruited more than 10 Filipino maids by sponsoring them with traineeship visas against the law.It will be another inglorious public appearance for the former vice president of Korean Air Lines Co. and heiress to the conglomerate that has businesses ranging from the air carrier to hotels. She was released from jail in May 2015 after the top court suspended her sentence over the 2014 nut rage case.

Questions raised over increase in illegal housemaids from overseas working in Korea

Following investigations of the owner family of Korean Air allegedly illegally hiring overseas housemaids, questions have arisen over whether there has been a big increase in illegal migrants working as housemaids in Korea.Immigration offices have not kept track of how many migrants are working as housemaids without proper visas, according to the Ministry of Justice, Wednesday. Korea only approves foreigners with F-4 (Koreans with permanent residence or citizenship status of other countries) or F-6 (those who married to Koreans) visas to work as maids. The ministry said illegal migrants in Korea numbered over 200,000 in 2016, a 17.4 percent jump from five years ago. But non-governmental migrant experts said the latest figure could be between 300,000 and 400,000 and that includes housemaids mostly from the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries, the Korean-Chinese ethnic group or Chinese.

Rohatyn criticized for exploiting BHC franchisees

U.S.-based investment management company The Rohatyn Group (TRG), which holds the largest stake in BHC, is facing criticism from franchisees of Korea's No. 2 fried chicken franchise.Over 780 franchised restaurant owners, who began an organization Wednesday to protest against unfair practices of the foreign company and the franchise headquarters, also urged the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) to reinvestigate the allegations of BHC unfairly pricing its ingredients, such as sunflower oil and raw chicken."They have ostensibly emphasized mutual growth with their franchisees, but the headquarters have only sought profits for itself," BHC Ulsan Ok-dong store owner Jin Jeong-ho, head of the franchisees' organization, said at a press conference in front of the National Assembly that day. "As a result, the franchise headquarters have achieved rapid growth in a short period of time, but we have faced heavier workloads and empty wallets."

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

Chinese Sanctions Against N.Korea Weaken
Chinese trucks are the latest of a slew of small signs that China is relaxing sanctions against North Korea. Although banned for export to North Korea under UN sanctions, Chinese trucks were on prominent display at a trade fair in Pyongyang, NK News reported Tuesday.The report comes a day after U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted, "China must continue to be strong and tight on the Border of North Korea until a deal is made. The word is that recently the Border has become much more porous and more has been filtering in."China rebutted the charge, saying it is "strictly fulfilling its international obligations." The trucks' display does not mean North Korean customers can buy them for immediate delivery but sends a worrying message.

N.Korean Human Rights Violations Continue
North Korea continues to send people to political prison camps for trying to defect to South Korea or aiding others to escape despite a recent détente, a report says. People caught distributing or watching South Korean TV shows are still sometime publicly executed to make an example of them. The information comes from this year's White Paper on North Korea published last week by the Korea Institute for National Unification. While the human rights situation in the North remains bleak, the institute issued no press release about the publication as it had in previous years, apparently for fear that any widely publicized criticism of the North here could agitate the regime and jeopardize the détente. Last week, North Korea abruptly canceled cross-border talks and unleashed a stream of invective after a highly publicized book launch by a prominent defector in the National Assembly.

Combat Robots to Make up for Manpower Downsizing
The military expects to make up for dwindling troop numbers with unmanned equipment and combat robots by the mid-2020s. Seoul's defense reform program envisages dwindling service personnel over the next decade due to the low birthrate, downsizing the standing army from 618,000 this year to 500,000 in 2022. It hopes to make up for any shortfall with state-of-the-art automated equipment. For the Army, the slack can be taken up by unmanned reconnaissance vehicles, surveillance drones, unmanned turrets for K-9 self-propelled howitzers, mine detection robots, and chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear reconnaissance vehicles. Unmanned surveillance vehicles are expected to be combat ready around 2025, and the military says they can replace some 570 ground troops. Technology for unmanned K-9 artillery turrets that will load and aim the howitzers is expected to be complete in three years' time and can substitute for some 1,900 infantrymen and Marines. Mine detection robots will be perfected by around 2027 to do the dangerous work of 1,140 personnel.

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

Trump says he has “great confidence” in Moon’s role as mediator

During a press conference with South Korean President Moon Jae-in prior to their tête-à-tête at the White House on May 22, US President Donald Trump responded to a question by a South Korean reporter by saying that he has “great confidence” in Moon’s role as a mediator.“I think that he's brought a different perspective to the talks with North Korea. He wants to be able to make a deal,” Trump said. “Now you've had some very hardline administrations, and you have President Moon.”“I think he's a very capable person. I think he's an extremely competent man. I think he's a very good person, and I think he wants to have what's good for the Korean Peninsula. Not just North or South,” Trump said, referring to President Moon.“So I have tremendous confidence in President Moon. And I think that his way [. . .] really is helping us to potentially make a deal,” Trump emphasized.

Moon and Trump agree to do best for June 12 NK-US summit

South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a summit at the White House with US President Donald Trump around noon on May 22, with the two leaders holding a discussion focused on resolving the North Korean nuclear issue and establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula.During their fourth summit since taking office, the two leaders also shared thoughtful opinions on the difficulties facing the Korean Peninsula after Pyongyang’s recent change in attitude. In remarks before their one-on-one meeting, President Moon pledged to offer his unstinting support for the success of an upcoming North Korea-US summit, which is predicted to have crucial implications for the future of the Korean Peninsula.

North Korea accepts credential for South Korean reporters at last minute

On the morning of May 23, North Korea accepted the credentials of South Korean reporters who had applied to cover the closing of the North’s “northern nuclear test site,” located in Punggye Village, Kilju County, North Hamgyong Province.

Thanks to this dramatic reversal, the South Korean reporters who had been forced to stay behind while other foreign reporters in Beijing departed for Wonsan the day before will finally be allowed to join the press coverage at Punggye Village.

“When we initiated a phone call at Panmunjeom today, our government provided North Korea with a list of eight reporters from two South Korean media outlets [MBC and News 1] who are planning to report from the scene of the closing of North Korea’s nuclear test site in Punggye Village, and North Korea accepted that list,” said a senior official from the Unification Ministry.

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

Trump has a ‘strong’ denuclearizing plan

U.S. President Donald Trump said he has a “strong idea” of how to denuclearize North Korea and that he preferred the process to be “all-in-one,” as he headed into a summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in Tuesday in Washington.Trump pledged he would “guarantee” the safety of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and the prosperity of his country should he agree to complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization (CVID) during a question and answer session with reporters in the Oval Office on the sidelines of his summit with Moon.“He will be safe,” said Trump about Kim. “He will be happy. His country will be rich. His country will be hardworking and very prosperous.” Borrowing from his famous campaign slogan, Trump said “very large sums of money” would be poured into North Korea from China, Japan and South Korea to “make North Korea great” if a denuclearization deal is reached. He said he’s “spoken to all three” of these countries.

Pyongyang relents, Seoul gov’t flies 8 reporters to Wonsan

A group of eight South Korean journalists flew into North Korea on Wednesday afternoon after Pyongyang, at the last minute, accepted Seoul’s list of reporters to cover the dismantling of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site.Eight journalists from two media outlets departed at around 12:30 p.m. from Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, on a South Korean government plane and flew directly to Kalma Airport in North Korea’s eastern port city of Wonsan. After arriving in Wonsan, they joined journalists from four other countries - China, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States - to board a special train to head to the site of the demolition of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site to take place on Thursday or Friday.
The overnight train trip to the mountainous Punggye-ri area in northeastern North Hamgyong Province was expected to take at least 12 hours. The train is expected to travel a distance of 416 kilometers (258 miles) northward, at a speed averaging around 35 kilometers per hour, from Wonsan to Chaedok Station in Kilju County, which leads into the nuclear test site, according to Seoul experts.

Duty-free operators to get licenses for a decade

Retail giants like Lotte and Shinsegae don’t have to worry about getting their duty-free licenses renewed every five years anymore. A task force on improving duty-free regulations decided on Wednesday to propose the government extend duty-free licenses for conglomerates to a maximum 10 years. Additionally, duty-free stores managed by small and medium-sized companies will be allowed to have their licenses renewed two times. Under the current law, conglomerate have to bid for duty-free licenses from scratch every five years. Small and medium-sized duty-free operators are allowed to renew their licenses once. If the government and lawmakers accept the proposal, it will undo the regulation changes made by the previous Park Geun-hye administration in November 2013, which cut the contract terms from 10 years to five.

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

"We Are 'Workers,' Not 'Hey,' or 'High School Grads'" Yi Eun-ah, Head of Labor Union for Specialized High School Graduates
In May 2016, a teenager repairing a platform screen door at Guui Station in Seoul died in an accident. In January 2017, a teenager who had worked at a call center of a telecommunications service provider's partner firm in Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do committed suicide. That year in November, another teenager died in an accident while training on-site at a mineral water company in Jeju-do. All these teenagers died while working or receiving field training at a company after graduating from a specialized (vocational) high school. Yi Eun-ah (19), head of the National Union for Specialized High School Graduates said, "No one who graduated from a specialized high school would think of them as someone else's affairs."

"Remember Us" Five Comfort Women Victims Publish a Series of Autobiographies, Remember Her
"Once a day, it rained, and oh, it was just so hot. On a flat ground in the muddy and smelly jungle, they pitched a tent and inside made three or four cubicles with plywood. The soldiers swarmed to this place. My back would ooze fluids due to mosquito bites and prickly heat, and there would be a pool of blood below." Gazing at the pouring stars in the night sky from a crack in the ceiling, the fourteen-year-old girl Kim Bok-dong murmured, "Where is Mother?" Kim Bok-dong (92), who harshly suffered while being dragged to Japanese military brothels in Sumatra and Java, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, hid her past from even her family. Then in 1992, while watching TV, she found out that the government was receiving reports by comfort women victims, and she made a decision.

In Line with Family Tradition, Eldest Son Koo Kwang-mo to Succeed the Late Chairman: Temporary Management by the Group’s CEOs
LG is now set to have the fourth generation of the owner family take over management. Koo Kwang-mo (40), an executive director of LG Electronics, will follow in the footsteps of Koo In-hwoi, founder of the LG Group; Koo Ja-kyung, honorary chairman; and Koo Bon-moo and succeed management according to a family tradition of succession by the eldest son. An advisory board of the chief executive officers of the group's major subsidiaries is expected to be very busy as it will handle Koo Kwang-mo's succession of management and assist him in building his capacity as a leader. Koo Bon-joon, vice chairman of LG Corp., who had managed the group, is expected to acquire some of the group’s businesses and go his separate way.

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

SK Telecom forms map alliance with partners China, Europe and Japan

South Korea's top mobile carrier SK Telecom formed an alliance with three partners in China, Europe and Japan to produce global standard high definition digital maps used by autonomous car makers and location-based service companies.
The OneMap Alliance involving SK Telecom, NavInfo of China, Pioneer of Japan and HERE Technologies, an Amsterdam-based mapping service provider, will produce HD maps for clients in North America, Europe and Asia, based on one standard by 2020.With the alliance's super precision maps, autonomous mobile operators will save time and money on building individual HD maps which contain precision information on positioning, lanes, surrounding objects, guard rails, and traffic light. The alliance will include a real-time update solution needed to upload the change of surroundings recognized by vehicles through 5G networks.

Former N. Korean diplomat offers to leave state security institute

Thae Yong-ho, an outspoken former North Korean diplomat, has offered to leave a state research institute sponsored by South Korea's spy agency in an apparent bid to help the two Koreas resume stalled inter-Korean talks.The ex-minister at the North Korean embassy in London has been involved in active public activities to deliver testimony on the North Korean regime since he arrived in Seoul with his family in August 2016. He works at the Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS) run by the National Intelligence Service (NIS).The defector has offered to quit his job as an INSS adverser, saying his action would help the two Koreas promote reconciliation and cooperation, Yonhap News Agency reported, adding the institute would accept his resignation probably on Thursday.

S. Korean journalists set to visit nuclear test site aboard special plane

South Korean journalists flew across the inter-Koran border to participate in a showcase event for the dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear test site that would mark the start of denuclearization ahead of a historic summit between North Korean and U.S. leaders.North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed to shut down the Punggye-ri test site at his summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on April 27. Pyongyang has promised to invite foreign journalists who would witness dismantlement.On Wednesday, Pyongyang accepted the list of eight South Korean pool reporters, the South's unification ministry said. A special plane carried them from an airport near Seoul to the northeastern port city of Wonsan through a direct inter-Korean flight route.

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

Hyundai Glovis raided by prosecutors on suspicion of tax evasion

South Korean prosecutors raided the headquarters of Hyundai Glovis Co., a logistics unit of South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group which had been at the heart of a nixed reorganization plan to transform the conglomerate’s structure to a holding entity and set the grounds for hereditary succession, on suspicion of illicit accounting cushioning. The Incheon District Prosecutors’ Office on Monday said it has seized accounting books and computer files upon police arrest of former Hyundai Glovis employees and executives of two subcontractors on charges of tax evasion and other criminal activities of inflating numbers on tax bills.

GM Korea following bailout launches The New Spark

GM Korea has released The New Spark compact model, the first of 15 new or upgraded cars the Detroit-based automaker plans to introduce to Korean consumers in show of commitment to the market following a $7.1 billion deal to strengthen struggling Korean operation. The company is accepting preorders from Wednesday. The New Spark is an upgraded version of its compact vehicle The Next Spark launched in 2015 with new design and improved safety functions. It is equipped with Chevrolet`s signature dual-port grille with chrome surrounds, projector headlights and additional daytime running lamps.

Korean life insurers’ Q1 net dn 22% on weak saving-type insurance sales

South Korean life insurers’ combined net profit shrank 21.7 percent in the first quarter compared to a year earlier as they cut sales of saving-type insurance policies ahead of the introduction of a new accounting standard. According to preliminary data released by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) on Wednesday, Korea’s 24 life insurance companies including eight foreign life insurers operating in the country earned a combined 1.23 trillion won ($1.14 billion) in net income during the first three months this year, down 21.7 percent from the same period last year. Operating loss from insurance sales stretched 11 percent on year to 5.7 trillion won. Income from saving-type insurance sales slipped 23.6 percent on year to 8.6 trillion won while income from sales of protection-type insurance grew marginally by 2.0 percent to 10.3 trillion won in the first quarter from a year earlier. Payouts on insurance claims expanded 1.9 trillion won over the cited period.

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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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English monthly magazine The Korea Post http://www.koreapost.com/cover/coverList.html

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The publisher-chairman of The Korea Post media is serving the Diplomatic Community for more than 40 years, 32 years with The Korea Post and 10 years with The Korea Herald as the Cultural Editor who covered the Diplomatic Community.