The Korean daily media headlines and humor

Monday, April 19, 2019

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.

Moon has message from Trump for N.K. leader: CNN

President Moon Jae-in could deliver a message from U.S. President Donald Trump to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un if a new inter-Korean summit takes place, a presidential official said Sunday. CNN reported earlier, citing unidentified sources, that Moon has a message from Trump to relay to the North's leader. Moon met with Trump at the White House earlier this month to discuss ways to get the stalled denuclearization talks between Washington and Pyongyang moving again.

Moon marks return of remains of Korean independence fighters from Kazakhstan.

Amid his hectic schedule while on a state visit to Kazakhstan that includes summit talks, South Korean President Moon Jae-in attended a highly emotional ceremony on Sunday to observe and celebrate the return of the remains of two former anti-Japanese independence fighters back to their native country. S. Korea's exports drop 8.7 pct in first 20 days of AprilThe ceremony was held shortly after Moon arrived here on a three-day visit that began earlier in the day in Almaty.

S. Korea's exports drop 8.7 pct in first 20 days of April

South Korea's exports fell 8.7 percent in the first 20 days of April from a year earlier on decreased overseas shipments of semiconductors, customs data showed Monday. The country's exports stood at US$29.7 billion in the April 1-20 period, compared with $32.5 billion in the same period last year, according to the Korea Customs Service. The customs office said daily average exports -- which reflect working days -- declined 11.5 percent on-year to $1.8 billion.

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

3.8 Magnitude Quake Strikes off S. Korea's Eastern Coast

A three-point-eight-magnitude earthquake struck off the country's eastern coast near Uljin County in North Gyeongsang Province. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, the quake occurred at 5:45 a.m. on Monday in waters 38 kilometers east-southeast of the county. The depth of the tremor is estimated at 21 kilometers. An analyst from the weather agency said the quake is thought to have resulted in no damage, but added that reports from residents are coming in as the tremor was relatively large in magnitude even though the quake occurred in water.

More than 200 Killed in Easter Sunday Bombings in Sri Lanka

Hundreds of people were injured or killed in bombings that rocked churches, luxury hotels and other sites in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday. Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that 228 people were killed and 450 wounded in a series of explosions that ripped through congregations and gatherings in and around the capital city Colombo. The prime minister said police have arrested 13 suspects all of whom are Sri Lankan. Defense Minister Ruwan Wijewardene described the blasts as a terrorist attack by religious extremists, adding that most of the bombings were believed to have been suicide attacks

Japanese Warship Enters Chinese Port Flying Rising Sun Flag

A Japanese destroyer arrived in the eastern Chinese port city of Qingdao to attend a naval review, flying the controversial Rising Sun flag. According to Kyodo News, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's destroyer Suzutsuki sailed into the port on Sunday flying the national flag of Japan at the bow, the Chinese flag above the bridge, and the Rising Sun flag at the stern. It marks the first visit of a Japanese naval ship to China since December 2011. The report said China gave silent approval to the hoisting of the controversial Rising Sun flag.

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

N.K. leader's protocol chief visits possible venue for summit with Putin

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's protocol chief was seen visiting a university in Russia's Far East city of Vladivostok on Sunday, apparently as part of preparations for a summit between Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kim Chang-son, the protocol chief, and other North Korean officials toured various facilities at Far Eastern Federal University on Russky Island off Vladivostok. The university is widely expected to be the venue for what would be Kim's first summit with Putin.

N. Korea condemns Bolton for 'nonsense' on denuclearization talks

North Korea condemned U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton on Saturday, calling his recent remarks on denuclearization talks "nonsense" possibly stemming from a lack of understanding of their leaders' intentions. North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui accused Bolton of saying in a recent interview that the United States needs to see a "real indication" that Pyongyang is ready to give up its nuclear weapons before any third summit between their leaders. Her remarks were carried by the Korean Central News Agency in answer to a question about Bolton's interview.

BTS becomes 1st band since Beatles to score 3 Billboard No. 1 albums in single year

K-pop boy band BTS has scored its third No. 1 on the main Billboard 200 album chart, becoming the first group since the Beatles to earn three No. 1s in less than a year, Billboard said. "Map of the Soul: Persona," BTS' latest seven-track album released April 12, debuted atop the Billboard 200 for the week of April 27, after earning 230,000 equivalent album units in the United States, the online music magazine said Sunday (U.S. time), citing data from Nielsen Music.It was the band's "career-best week," it said. The Billboard 200 and other charts will be fully updated on the Billboard website Tuesday.

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

Global tech firms face-off over foldable mobile displays

The Korea Herald is publishing a series of articles to review South Korea’s position in industry-specific intellectual property rights, in the light of mounting challenges. This is the second installment. The seven-year patent dispute between smartphone giants Samsung Electronics and Apple has thrown the spotlight on intellectual property rights -- the big elephant in the room that will likely determine the fate of market front-runners. The next big buzzword now is “foldable smartphones,” kick-started by Samsung, which is slated to roll out the first-ever foldable smartphone model Galaxy Fold this week.

Easter blasts at Sri Lanka hotels and churches kill at least 207

A series of eight devastating bomb blasts ripped through high-end hotels and churches holding Easter services in Sri Lanka on Sunday, killing at least 207 people, including dozens of foreigners. The apparently coordinated attacks were the deadliest to hit the country in the decade since the end of a bloody civil war that killed up to 100,000 people and evoked painful memories for many Sri Lankans. They also marked a devastating escalation of violence against the country's Christian minority that has been targeted in the past, but never to such brutal effect.

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

Moon to deliver Trump messages to Kim Jong-un

President Moon Jae-in plans to deliver "messages" from U.S. President Donald Trump to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un once a fourth inter-Korean summit happens, a senior presidential aide said Sunday. "Yes, President Moon Jae-in has messages given by U.S. President Donald Trump, which he plans to deliver directly to North Korean leader Kim at a proper time when the leaders of the two Koreas meet again," the Cheong Wa Dae official told reporters at the presidential office's press center."If a fourth inter-Korean summit happens, it's been widely expected President Moon also plans to share with North Korean leader Kim key observations and other background information (regarding the denuclearization talks) discussed at a recent U.S.-South Korea summit in Washington, D.C."

More than 200 people killed in Sri Lanka church blasts

More than 200 people were killed and hundreds more wounded in nine bombings that rocked churches, luxury hotels and other sites in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday _ the deadliest violence the South Asian island country has seen since a bloody civil war ended a decade ago. Defense Minister Ruwan Wijewardena described the blasts as a terrorist attack by religious extremists, and police said 13 suspects were arrested, though there was no immediate claim of responsibility. Wijewardena said most of the bombings were believed to have been suicide attacks.

Korea's tax burden soars to record-high in 2018

The government's tax revenues soared to an all-time high in 2018 on rising corporate income, fueled by stronger semiconductor sales and heavier home transactions, data showed Sunday. The tax-to-GDP ratio rose to 21.2 percent last year from 20 percent in 2017. Korea's GDP reached 1,782 trillion won in 2018. The pace of the increase was the steepest since 2000 when it jumped 1.6 percentage points from the year before. The ratio is on a steady rise from 17.9 percent 2013, 18.5 percent in 2015 and 20 percent in 2017. Korea's tax revenue stood at 378 trillion won ($332 billion) in 2018, a 9.3 percent increase from a year earlier. Of the total, 293.6 trillion won, or 77 percent, was levied by the central government while the remaining 84.3 trillion won by municipal governments. The central government collected 28.2 trillion won more than in 2017, while local administrations earned 3.9 trillion won more.

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

BOK Slashes Growth Projection Again

The Bank of Korea on Thursday kept the base interest rate frozen at 1.75 percent but again slashed its economic growth outlook for this year from 2.6 to 2.5 percent. That would mark the lowest GDP growth for Korea since 2012's 2.3 percent. A year ago, the BOK still expected the economy to grow 2.9 percent, but that has gradually been whittled down as exports, investment and private consumption all slowed. Korea's exports have been falling for four months due to a slump in the semiconductor market and the U.S.-China trade dispute, while businesses here are reluctant to invest.

U.S. Spy Plane Scrambled as N.Korea Tests Weapon

A U.S. spy plane was scrambled over the Seoul metropolitan area after North Korea tested what it said was a new tactical guided weapon last week. A South Korean military officer on Sunday said the reconnaissance plane, which was also scrambled in 2017 when the North conducted a series of missile tests, also flew over the West Sea and other areas. Over two days, the RC-135W Rivet Joint covered an area from Seongnam in Gyeonggi Province and Incheon to Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, south of the no-fly zone set up under a cross-border military agreement signed in September last year.

Hyundai's Sales in China Fall Further

Hyundai's sales in China in the first three months of this year were even worse than during an unofficial boycott in 2017 and the lowest first-quarter figures in 10 years. Hyundai said Thursday that it sold just 132,678 cars in China from January to March of this year, down 18.4 percent on-year. Sales of key models like the Elantra compact (sold as the Avante in Korea) and Tucson small SUV were both slow. Sales of commercial buses and trucks were even the worst ever at just 1,210 vehicles, so the division was forced to eat into its capital reserves to stay afloat. Hyundai has decided to halt production at its oldest Beijing plant with a capacity for 300,000 cars a year and started drastic downsizing. Affiliate Kia will also halt production at one plant in Yancheng next month.

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

The petitions of civilian victims of massacres during the Vietnamese War
National Route 1A is a major transportation artery running down the spine of Vietnam. About halfway down this highway, near the road, are the villages of Phong Nhị and Phong Nhat. A 20-minute drive to the east brings one to Ha My village, while a 15-minute drive to the west leads to Thuy Bo village. A three-hour drive south from Quảng Nam Province leads to the villages of An Phước, Cầu, Diên Niên, Phước Bình and Thọ Tây, in Quảng Ngãi Province, which are within a 15-minute drive to the east or west of the highway. The villages of Văn Quật, Sơn viên, Thuận Trì, Trảng Trậm, No. 5, La Thọ, Hà Tây, Khánh Lâm and Tây Sơn Tây are also located about an hour to either side of that same highway.

103 Vietnamese victims want investigation, apology and compensation
Nguyen Thị Thanh, 59, a victim of civilian massacres by South Korean troops during the Vietnam War, visited Korea to participate in a “citizens’ peace tribunal” held to uncover the truth about the massacres. The tribunal was organized by MINBYUN-Lawyers for a Democratic Society and the Korea-Vietnam Peace Foundation. A plaintiff in the citizens’ tribunal, Nguyen claimed that she’d been shot on the left side of her body by Korean troops near her home in the village of Phong Nhị, Dien Ban District, Quang Nam Province, on Feb. 12, 1968. After the massacre, she received an operation to reconnect her severed intestine and still suffers from the aftereffects of her injury today. Five of her family members were killed in the massacre, and her 14-year-old older brother was grievously injured.

"Bulldozing over the victims’ graves"
Every year on Jan. 24 (lunar calendar), the association of family members of Hà My massacre victims holds a collective service to commemorate the victims of the Hà My massacre. On Feb, 24, 1968, I too lost my mother Lê Thị Thoại (then 46), my younger brother Nguyễn Văn Đạt (six), my aunt Phạm Thị Sự (50), and my cousins Nguyễn Văn Tâm (eight) and Nguyễn Thị Xí (two). My younger sister Nguyễn Thị Thanh, 11, and my cousin Nguyễn Văn Định, eight, were seriously wounded by a grenade thrown by South Korean troops. On that day, the South Korean soldiers herded my family and neighbors into an air raid shelter at our home and threw a grenade in it to massacre them.

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

Samsung launches global campaign to celebrate Earth Day

Samsung Group has announced that it will launch a global campaign to raise awareness about environmental protection celebrating Earth Day (Apr. 22). The campaign is in line with the group’s efforts to seek sustainability management by enhancing not only economic values but also social and environmental values. A total of 13 Samsung affiliates including Samsung Electronics, Samsung C&T, Samsung Heavy Industries, and Samsung Life Insurance will start the six-week-long campaign to collect outdated cell phones across 37 places of business on Monday, according to industry watchers Sunday. The campaign was first introduced in 2015 to collect some 27,000 old cell phones until last year.

Four-fifth of single women okay with divorce in case of unresolved marriage conflicts

It has been surveyed that women are more open-minded than their male counterparts to getting divorced. A survey of 1,324 unwed men and women aged between 20 and 44, carried out last year by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, showed that 80.9 percent of women respondents think it is better to break up with a spouse if a couple fails to resolve differences while only 64.5 percent of men find it a better choice to do so, according to the institute’s announcement on Sunday.

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

Bank of Korea Lowers Economic Growth Forecast to 2.5%

The Bank of Korea lowered its forecast for this year's domestic economic growth to 2.5%. The central bank lowered expectations by 0.1% from the previous forecast. However, the bank expected the economy to start off slow in the first half of the year and accelerate in the second half, so it froze the base interest rate at an annual 1.75%. The base rate has been frozen for five consecutive months since it was last raised in November 2018. Lee Ju-yeol, the governor of the Bank of Korea announced these details when announcing a revised economic forecast for 2019 at the central bank office in Taepyeong-ro, Seoul on April 18. Lee said, "This year's gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to grow by 2.5%, slightly less than the forecast in January (2.6%)," and added, "We reviewed the export and investment trends of the first quarter and noticed that they were lower than the original expectation, so we reflected this in the latest forecast."

Hana Financial emerges as strong candidate for $1 bn Lotte Card M&A

The bidding war for Lotte Card Co. has tilted in Hana Financial Group’s favor as its strongest contender Hanwha Group is rumored to have shifted its attention to buying Korea’s second-largest carrier Asiana Airlines Inc. The bid for Lotte Card opened Friday, with Citigroup Global Markets as the lead manager. The preferred bidder is expected to be announced in late April or early May. Its parent Lotte Group is reportedly seeking a minimum 1.5 trillion won ($1.32 billion) from the divesture of the country’s fifth-largest card company. Hanwha Group and Hana Financial Group are said to be the favorites. Prospective buyers from private equity funds include MBK Partners, IMM PE, Hahn & Company and Orix PE.

Korean finance and monetary policy chiefs wave off redenomination talk

Korea’s top economic policymaker agreed with the central bank governor in waving off political call for redenomination to better reflect Korea’s economic scale and jump-start the stubbornly slow-motion economy. “This is absolutely no time to study redenomination when the government is going all-out to stimulate the economy,” said deputy prime minister and finance minister Hong Nam-ki. He added a major and important work of changing the nominal value of the Korean won demands a lengthy study and buildup of social consensus, given the massive repercussions across the society.

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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.cn kf@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 Herald http://www.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.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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The Korea Post is running video clips from the different embassies.
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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