ID :
184820
Fri, 05/27/2011 - 09:06
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/184820
The shortlink copeid
Yonhap News Summary
The following is the first summary of major stories moved by Yonhap News Agency on Friday.
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(2nd LD) S. Korea's current account surplus hits 4-month high in April
SEOUL -- South Korea's current account surplus rose to the highest level in four months in April as robust exports overshadowed an increase in dividend payouts by local firms to foreign investors, the central bank said Friday.
The current account surplus reached US$1.88 billion in April, up from a revised $1.33 billion the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The current account is the broadest measure of cross-border trade.
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Kim returns home amid conflicting forecasts for China-N.K. economic ties
SEOUL -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il returned home Friday after concluding a weeklong trip to China reportedly designed to promote bilateral economic and diplomatic relations.
Kim's special train crossed the China-North Korea border into the North's border city of Sinuiju earlier in the day after a 6,000-kilometer-long journey that took him to China's northeastern and prosperous eastern areas and Beijing.
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U.S. repeats call on N. Korea to improve ties with S. Korea ahead of 6-way talks' reopening
WASHINGTON -- The United States Thursday repeated calls on North Korea to mend ties with South Korea before resuming the long-stalled international talks on the North's nuclear weapons ambitions.
"The first steps need to be between North Korea and South Korea," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told a daily news briefing. "They need to make a good faith effort to improve those relations, to cease their belligerent behavior. Then as that progresses, we can talk about other things."
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(LEAD) S. Korea, U.S. to collect groundwater samples in Agent Orange probe
SEOUL -- South Korean and U.S. officials on Friday geared up to collect groundwater samples near a U.S. army base in the South, widening their probe into the alleged burial of the toxic defoliant Agent Orange by American troops about three decades ago.
The investigation began after former U.S. soldiers told a U.S. television station early this month that they buried large amounts of the dangerous chemical in 1978 at a heliport inside Camp Carroll in Chilgok, 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul.
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Japanese upper house agrees to return Korean books
TOKYO -- The upper house in the Japanese Diet on Friday ratified an agreement on the return of ancient Korean texts to Seoul, completing a legal process for the transfer considered key to improving bilateral relations.
The House of Councillors in Tokyo approved the ratification bill on a 145-86 vote, about a month after the House of Representatives, the lower house, passed the bill. It is expected to take effect next Tuesday, following a Cabinet meeting.
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Prosecutors say former Lee aide received bribe from troubled savings bank
SEOUL -- Prosecutors said Friday they are trying to determine whether a former state auditor and aide to President Lee Myung-bak received a bribe from a corruption-ridden savings bank in return for lax inspection into the bank.
The prosecution obtained a statement that Eun Jin-soo, 50, received hundreds of millions of won from a close confidant to the vice chairman of Busan Savings Bank in exchange for overlooking the bank's illegal lending and other wrongdoings early last year, they said.
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Ruling party chief hints at parliamentary probe into savings bank scandal
SEOUL -- South Korea's ruling party chief said Friday he believes a parliamentary probe should be launched, if necessary, to look into the snowballing savings bank corruption scandal after fresh allegations surfaced that an official at the top state auditor took bribes in exchange for his influence.
The official, Eun Jin-soo, who had served as legal adviser on President Lee Myung-bak's transition team, offered to resign as a top member of the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) Thursday following suspicions that he received bribes from Busan Savings Bank as it sought his influence.
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(2nd LD) S. Korea's current account surplus hits 4-month high in April
SEOUL -- South Korea's current account surplus rose to the highest level in four months in April as robust exports overshadowed an increase in dividend payouts by local firms to foreign investors, the central bank said Friday.
The current account surplus reached US$1.88 billion in April, up from a revised $1.33 billion the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The current account is the broadest measure of cross-border trade.
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Kim returns home amid conflicting forecasts for China-N.K. economic ties
SEOUL -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il returned home Friday after concluding a weeklong trip to China reportedly designed to promote bilateral economic and diplomatic relations.
Kim's special train crossed the China-North Korea border into the North's border city of Sinuiju earlier in the day after a 6,000-kilometer-long journey that took him to China's northeastern and prosperous eastern areas and Beijing.
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U.S. repeats call on N. Korea to improve ties with S. Korea ahead of 6-way talks' reopening
WASHINGTON -- The United States Thursday repeated calls on North Korea to mend ties with South Korea before resuming the long-stalled international talks on the North's nuclear weapons ambitions.
"The first steps need to be between North Korea and South Korea," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told a daily news briefing. "They need to make a good faith effort to improve those relations, to cease their belligerent behavior. Then as that progresses, we can talk about other things."
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(LEAD) S. Korea, U.S. to collect groundwater samples in Agent Orange probe
SEOUL -- South Korean and U.S. officials on Friday geared up to collect groundwater samples near a U.S. army base in the South, widening their probe into the alleged burial of the toxic defoliant Agent Orange by American troops about three decades ago.
The investigation began after former U.S. soldiers told a U.S. television station early this month that they buried large amounts of the dangerous chemical in 1978 at a heliport inside Camp Carroll in Chilgok, 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul.
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Japanese upper house agrees to return Korean books
TOKYO -- The upper house in the Japanese Diet on Friday ratified an agreement on the return of ancient Korean texts to Seoul, completing a legal process for the transfer considered key to improving bilateral relations.
The House of Councillors in Tokyo approved the ratification bill on a 145-86 vote, about a month after the House of Representatives, the lower house, passed the bill. It is expected to take effect next Tuesday, following a Cabinet meeting.
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Prosecutors say former Lee aide received bribe from troubled savings bank
SEOUL -- Prosecutors said Friday they are trying to determine whether a former state auditor and aide to President Lee Myung-bak received a bribe from a corruption-ridden savings bank in return for lax inspection into the bank.
The prosecution obtained a statement that Eun Jin-soo, 50, received hundreds of millions of won from a close confidant to the vice chairman of Busan Savings Bank in exchange for overlooking the bank's illegal lending and other wrongdoings early last year, they said.
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Ruling party chief hints at parliamentary probe into savings bank scandal
SEOUL -- South Korea's ruling party chief said Friday he believes a parliamentary probe should be launched, if necessary, to look into the snowballing savings bank corruption scandal after fresh allegations surfaced that an official at the top state auditor took bribes in exchange for his influence.
The official, Eun Jin-soo, who had served as legal adviser on President Lee Myung-bak's transition team, offered to resign as a top member of the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) Thursday following suspicions that he received bribes from Busan Savings Bank as it sought his influence.
