Headlines, November 20, 2018

Tuesday, November 20, 2018

States Amb. Alharthy of Oman in Seoul on the 48th National Day of Oman

'Korea Oman’s major partner in trade and various other areas of economic cooperation'

President Moon Jae-in of the Republic of Korea (left) and H.M. Sultan Qaboos bin Said, Sultan of Oman

By Publisher Lee Kyung-sik with Editors Ms. Kim Jung-mi, Uhm Jeen-ho

Ambassador Mohamed Salim Alharthy of the Sultanate of Oman in Seoul said, “Oman regards Korea as a major trading partner and the two countries engage in numerous economic exchanges and cooperation, where Oman provides large quantities of oil and LNG to Korea.” Then he said, “On the other hand, Korea exports many industrial products, including automobiles, vessels, construction materials, hi-tech electronics and electric goods and appliances to Oman.” Ambassador Alharthy made the statement at an interview with The Korea Post on the occasion of the National Day of Oman on November 18, which is celebrated with a grand reception at one of the top-notch deluxe hotels in Seoul on November 22.

(For further details, visit:http://www.koreapost.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=7972)

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Round-up of important news from major Korean dailies and from international media today:

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

ROK, U.S. to launch a working-level work for N.K. denuclearization program

South Korea and the United States will launch a working group this week to aid coordination in their efforts to rid North Korea of its nuclear weapons program, a top South Korean official said on Nov. 19, 2018. Lee Do-hoon, South Korea's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, told reporters upon arriving in Washington that he plans to hold the inaugural session Tuesday with his U.S. counterpart, Stephen Biegun.

Police to refer Govn Lee’s wife to prosecution for slandering election rival

Police said on Nov. 19, 2018 they are referring Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung's wife to the prosecution, recommending an indictment for slandering election rivals of the influential liberal politician. Police last week identified the owner of the Twitter ID "Hyekyunggung Ms. Kim," who left numerous defamatory comments before and during elections in recent years, as Lee's wife, Kim Hye-kyung.

Vietnamese consumers view Korean design, image positive but prices too high

The bulk of Vietnamese consumers are positive about the design and image of South Korean goods, but many feel burdened by their high prices, a poll showed on Nov. 20, 2018. The survey of 2,000 Vietnamese people, taken by the Ho Chi Minh City office of the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), showed 84 percent of the respondents think South Korean products have good designs.

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

Workers at SNU Hospital to Launch Indefinite Strike

The labor union of Seoul National University Hospital plans to launch an indefinite walkout from Tuesday. The union’s move comes after it staged two rounds of warning strikes against the management, calling for better working conditions such as more hires and reducing working hours. Around 500 unionized members are expected to join the walkout or around seven percent of all employees at the hospital.

Foreign Officials Invited to Learn S. Korea's Intellectual Property System

A group of foreign government officials are in Seoul to learn about South Korea’s policies on intellectual properties. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said that from Monday the Seoul office of the Korea Copyright Commission is offering a five-day training course to foreign officials handling related policies in 18 countries, including China, Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia.

Gov't Promotes Drive to Extend Flextime System's Duration

The government is speaking out about the need to extend the unit period of operating flexible work hours. Ahn Kyung-duk, a senior official handling labor policy of the Ministry of Employment and Labor, relayed the government’s stance on Monday in a media briefing at the government complex in Sejong City.

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

Judges' council favors impeachment of senior justices involved in power abuse scandal

A council of representative judges from district courts agreed Monday that it is necessary to seek impeachment of sitting judges implicated in a ballooning power abuse scandal involving the previous Supreme Court chief justice. "We agree that the alleged acts (of the judges under probe) are a serious breach of the Constitution, which calls for impeachment procedures as well as disciplinary action," the council said in a statement adopted at the end of a regular meeting.

Samsung expected to adopt 'punch hole' display for Galaxy S10

Samsung Electronics Co. is expected to adopt a full-screen display for the upcoming flagship Galaxy S10 smartphone that will come with a "punch hole" at the top for the camera, industry sources said Tuesday. According to the sources, including popular tech blogger Evan Blass, Samsung's Galaxy S10 smartphone is anticipated to come with the new feature for its front-facing selfie shooter.

Hyundai, Kia vehicle sales in China improve after THAAD woes

Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. posted improved sales in China in the January-October period after a diplomatic row over a U.S. missile defense system last year, the companies said Tuesday. From January to October, Hyundai sold 631,171 vehicles in China, up 11 percent from 569,356 units a year earlier. Kia's sales rose 9.1 percent to 278,382 autos from 255,182 during the same period, the carmakers' sales data showed.

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

Teenager arrested in death of father, alleged attack on mother

The police on Monday arrested a teenager on allegations that he strangled his father to death and stabbed his mother. The Daegu Dalseo Police Station said an 18-year-old had been arrested at the scene on Monday and will be charged in the death of his father and the alleged attack on his mother.

Thai woman jailed for drug dealing in Korea

A Thai woman received a prison term for illegally importing, distributing and injecting the psychotropic drug Ecstasy in Korea. The Chuncheon District Court said Monday that it sentenced the Thai national to three years in prison and a 2.28 million won ($2,000) fine for violating the Narcotics Control Act.

Abuse of judiciary power a serious violation of Constitution: judges

In the wake of a massive judiciary power abuse scandal, a group of judges on Monday said the judges involved in the irregularities have “seriously violated the Constitution,” and addressed the need for their impeachment. The National Judges Representative Meeting kicked off its second regular meeting at 10 a.m. to discuss a resolution demanding the impeachment of judges involved in the power abuse of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Seung-tae. Of 119 total judge representatives across the country, 108 participated in the meeting.

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

Finance minister nominee to face grilling over income growth

Nominee for finance minister Hong Nam-ki is expected to face intense grilling from opposition lawmakers over President Moon Jae-in's key economic policies during his upcoming confirmation hearing. After documents were submitted to the National Assembly, Nov. 16, requesting the hearing, it has to take place within 20 days.

IASB's decision to delay IFRS17 relieves insurers

The recent decision by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) to delay the implementation of the so-called IFRS17 is expected to relieve the nation's insurers, especially small- and medium-size ones, industry officials said, Monday. According to the IASB, Wednesday, the organization's 14 committee members have unanimously decided to delay the implementation of the IFRS17, a new international accounting standard for insurance contracts, by a year to January 2022, in order to give the industry more time to prepare for such a major overhaul.

Seoul, Washington to launch working group on NK coordination

The government's top nuclear envoy and other officials departed for the United States, Monday, for talks on North Korea's denuclearization and inter-Korean affairs. Lee Do-hoon, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, will meet with his counterpart Stephen Biegun in Washington during the three-day visit.

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

Gov't to Sue Koreans Who Failed to Pay for Bali Airlift

The government is minded to sue 17 people who failed to pay for emergency charter flights out of volcano-stricken Bali in November last year. A Foreign Ministry official said, "We continued to tell the 17 passengers by telephone, e-mail and official notice urging them to pay for the charter flight but receive no responses and decided to consider legal steps."

Poor, Undereducated Workers Feel Brunt of Minimum Wage Hike

Poor and uneducated workers are feeling the brunt of the minimum wage hike, which has backfired by putting many temporary employees out of work altogether. In the first 10 months of this year after the minimum wage was hiked 16.4 percent, the number of zero-hour contracts grew at the fastest clip ever, while the number of mid- and long-term jobs fell at the biggest rate since the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

U.S. Expert Calls for N.Korea's Spy Bureau to Be Neutralized

A U.S. expert has expressed alarm at the cyber threat from North Korea and called for its General Bureau of Reconnaissance to be incapacitated. Mathew Ha at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington made the remarks in an interview with Radio Free Asia last Friday.

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

Moon and Xi agree to cooperate toward success of N. Korea-US summit

On Nov. 17, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed that the time is ripening for resolving issues on the Korean Peninsula and promised to work together closely for the success of the second North Korea-US summit, the Blue House announced. The two leaders believe that this summit and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s reciprocal visit to Seoul will represent a major watershed in resolving Korean Peninsula issues.

KCGI announces acquisition of Hanjin KAL shares, becoming 2nd largest shareholder

While the South Korean public’s attention was focused on revelations of fraudulent accounting at Samsung BioLogics, another significant event occurred in the domestic capital market. For the first time in history, a South Korean activist fund threw down the gauntlet with an announcement of plans to take part in a chaebol group’s management.

Intl. non-profit proposes joint civilian-military effort to remove mines from DMZ

“Clearing the mines allows the creation of sports fields where children can run and play. Towns will return, and people will live together again,” said Valon Kumnova, 42, chief of staff of HALO Trust, on Nov. 16. HALO Trust is a British-based nonprofit organization that has worked to remove mines in a range of countries such as Iraq, Somalia and Laos.

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

Seoul: N. Korean leader’s reciprocal visit next month is still possible

The South Korean government said Monday that it is still possible that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un could visit Seoul before the end of this year as agreed back in September, despite the postponement of Kim’s visit to Russia and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s scheduled trip to North Korea.

KAI recruits 700 employees this year

Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) has announced that it has been hiring 700 new employees across all sectors including research and development (R&D) from April to the year’s end, the largest recruitment since its establishment in 1999. Kim Jo-won, CEO and President of KAI who was appointed in October last year, has stressed the importance of talents, saying that the company could continuously grow only when its members grow and develop themselves together.

Japan struggles to dispose adult diapers

Japan, one of the world’s super aged societies, finds it difficult to treat a growing amount of used diapers of the elderly. More than 7.83 billion diapers for adults were produced last year, 74 percent up from 4.5 billion 10 years ago, according to the Japan Hygiene Products Industry Association on Monday. The number of elderly Japanese, aged 70 or above, has increased so considerably that one out of five Japanese citizens are categorized into this demographic group.

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

Judges vote to impeach some brethren

Judges from courts across the country gathered Monday and voted to recommend impeachment of any judges implicated in a major power abuse scandal from the past administration that has rocked one of the country’s three branches of government. A total of 114 sitting judges convened at the Judicial Research and Training Institute in Goyang, Gyeonggi, as part of a regular meeting of representatives from all courts in Korea.

Mortgages contained but riskier loans are on the rise

Thanks to the government’s tightening of rules on mortgages in late September, borrowing has been cooling off. However, with access to bank loans tightened, many Koreans are turning to lenders charging sky-high interest rates. In a meeting about household loan management Monday, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and the Financial Supervisory Service concluded that banks’ lending for real estate has stabilized thanks to the tougher restrictions.

U.S. calling for high-level talks with North soon

Washington is suggesting to Pyongyang a high-level negotiation in New York between late November and early December, a source with knowledge of the situation exclusively told the JoongAng Ilbo Sunday. For the Donald Trump White House, the high-level meeting would be a litmus test to determine whether to hold a second summit with the Kim Jong-un regime, the source said on the condition of anonymity.

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

Controversial "Hyegyeonggung Kim": Revealing the Truth Is Top Priority

A police investigation revealed that the owner of the Twitter account, @08__hkkim, also known as Hyegyeonggung Kim, was Kim Hye-gyeong, the wife of Gyeonggi-do governor, Lee Jae-myung. However, Lee refuted, "The police investigation result was based totally on speculation and we find it difficult to accept the results." It's difficult to even guess at the truth about Governor Lee. The leader of the nation's largest local government, overseeing a population of 13 million, has been at the center of various allegations for four months since he entered office. It is questionable as to whether he could properly tend to the affairs of the province.

BTS in a Documentary Film

"In a way, the band BTS could be a fantasy created by the existence of these people (fans), and I'm grateful to them for letting us to dream that dream together.... In the end, we (singers and fans) are connected like destiny." These were the words of RM, the leader of BTS, as he looked back on the year 2017 in the final scene of Burn the Stage: The Movie, a documentary film about the band. Some of the fans in the audience wiped away tears as they listened to the honest words of the singer on the screen.

Is the Liberty Korea Party Preparing the Private School Act Season 2?

On November 15, the Liberty Korea Party began to defend private kindergartens. In a debate co-organized with the Korea Kindergarten Association the previous day, lawmakers Hong Moon-jong and Kim Soon-rye asked, "What did you do wrong?" and said, "We will not forget your pain and struggle." Then this day, the party's leadership stepped forward and said, "We cannot condemn all private kindergartens as a corrupt group" and clearly expressed their opposition to the three “Park Yong-jin bills.”

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

Thai coloring agent used in glass beads from ancient Korean kingdoms

Decorative glass beads discovered in the tombs and ruins of two ancient kingdoms on the Korean peninsula were found to have used colorants from a mining area in Kanchanaburi in west Thailand, according to South Korean archeologists. "Thai coloring agents may have been widely distributed in Southeast Asia and East Asia in ancient times," the archeologists from the state-run National Museum of Korea said in a research paper in an academic journal published by the Korean Society of Conservation.

KakaoPay and Alipay to launch cross-border payment service first in Japan

KakaoPay, a digital payment wing of South Korea's largest web service operator Kakao, will join hands with China's biggest digital payment service Alipay to release a "global cross-border payment system" in the first quarter of next year in Japan.

U.S. company Mundipharma wins contract to launch Kolon's Invossa in Japan

Mundipharma, a U.S.-based multinational company, won an exclusive technology export contract from Kolon Life Science, the biosimilar arm of South Korea's Kolon Group, to launch Invossa, the world's first cell-mediated gene therapy for degenerative arthritis, in Japan.

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

Starbucks Korea recycles 97% of coffee grounds this year

Starbucks Korea Co., the local subsidiary of global coffee giant Starbucks Corp., has recycled more than 5,500 tons of its used coffee grounds so far this year, raising an expectation that the rate of reusing its coffee ground waste would reach 97 percent this year, the company said on Monday.

U.S. FDA approves Celltrion’s HIV-1 treatment Temixys

South Korea’s leading bio-pharmaceutical company Celltrion Inc. said on Monday that it has received marketing authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its oral antiviral medication Temixys tablets used for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection treatment.

Switzerland ranked Koreans’ favorite travel place for this year

Switzerland, Spain, and Croatia made this year’s favorite travel destinations for South Koreans, a survey showed. Switzerland became top favorite to move up from third last year and followed by Spain whose ranking was unchanged from last year. Croatia, New Zealand and Austria followed suit in the survey by Sejong University’s tourism industry research institute and market researcher Consumer Insight.

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