ID :
194720
Wed, 07/13/2011 - 08:25
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/194720
The shortlink copeid
Yonhap News Summary
The following is the first summary of major stories moved by Yonhap News Agency on Wednesday.
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Lee meets with GNP leaders amid looming row over move to name aide as justice minister
SEOUL -- President Lee Myung-bak met with the new leaders of the ruling Grand National Party on Wednesday amid a looming row over Lee's move to name one of his senior secretaries as justice minister.
It was the first time that Lee has met with GNP Chairman Rep. Hong Joon-pyo and the four other new members of the GNP's Supreme Council since they were elected at the party's national convention last week.
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Investigators say 'anomalies' found at U.S. base not necessarily metallic
SEOUL -- A joint South Korea-U.S. investigation team said on Wednesday "anomalies" recently discovered at a U.S. military base aren't necessarily metallic.
The clarification came on the heels of an announcement last Friday that the joint team had detected unidentified metal objects buried under a helipad at Camp Carroll in Chilgok, about 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul. U.S. veterans who served here decades ago claimed they had dumped containers of toxic defoliant.
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Banks' household loans surge in June
SEOUL -- South Korean banks' household loans continued to grow in June as still-low borrowing costs and banks' efforts to expand lending spurred demand for home-backed loans, the central bank said Wednesday.
Local banks' home loans, including home-backed lending, reached 443.2 trillion won (US$416.3 billion) as of the end of June, up 3.4 trillion won from the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
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S. Korea seeks budget cuts for N. Korea denuclearization efforts
SEOUL -- South Korea's foreign ministry has asked to dedicate a smaller portion of its budget next year to efforts to resolve the standoff over North Korea's nuclear program, a lawmaker said Wednesday, as diplomacy with the North has come to a standstill.
Multilateral negotiations aimed at dismantling the North's nuclear program, involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan, have been stalled since late 2008. The North claims to be willing to return to the talks without preconditions, but South Korea and the U.S. say Pyongyang must show its sincerity in denuclearizing before resumption of the stalled talks could take place.
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(LAED) Koreas discuss fate of South Korean assets in North
SEOUL -- South and North Korea were preparing to hold a crucial meeting on the fate of seized South Korean assets at a scenic mountain resort in the isolated country, an official said Wednesday.
The two sides made contact to discuss how to proceed with the meeting, Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said, without elaborating.
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Samsung Everland workers apply to start labor union
SEOUL -- Workers at Samsung Everland Inc., the amusement park arm of South Korea's largest conglomerate Samsung Group, applied Wednesday to establish the first Samsung trade union in more than three decades.
Four workers, including Park Won-woo, 39, submitted an application to form a trade union with the country's labor ministry earlier in the day. After three days of review, the ministry will formally recognize the first worker-led Samsung trade union, they said.
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S. Korea to raise minimum wage 6 percent in 2012
SEOUL -- A trilateral council comprised of the government, labor and management on Wednesday agreed to raise the country's minimum wage 6 percent to 4,580 won (US$4.3) an hour next year.
Representatives of the Minimum Wage Council reached the deal in a 12-4 vote with 3 abstentions at the end of an overnight negotiation, the council said.
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(2nd LD) S. Korea's jobless rate falls to 3.3 pct in June
SEOUL -- South Korea's jobless rate declined in June from a year earlier as the nation added more jobs, helped by robust exports and expanded industrial output, a government report showed Wednesday.
The jobless rate stood at 3.3 percent last month, down from 3.5 percent a year earlier, according to the report by Statistics Korea. It was, however, slightly higher than 3.2 percent in May.
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(Yonhap Interview) PyeongChang's Olympic bid chief credits teamwork, new marketing strategies
SEOUL -- They say there's no "I" in team. PyeongChang, a South Korean alpine town, overwhelmed two European rivals to win the bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics last week due to a team effort and effective delegation of responsibilities, said the chief of the bidding committee.
"At the end of the day, it wasn't just one person, but many individuals who came together and worked hard behind the scenes," Cho Yang-ho, chairman of the bidding team, said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency on Tuesday.
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Navy to expand base on East Sea island
SEOUL -- The Navy will expand its air base on an East Sea island in a bid to ensure better protection of the nation's territorial waters surrounding the easternmost islets of Dokdo, a lawmaker said Wednesday.
According to Rep. Song Young-sun of the minor opposition Future Hope Alliance, the Navy recently inked a project to expand its base on Ulleung Island by about threefold to cover 5,040 square meters of land over the next two years.
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(Yonhap Feature) Films on wide range of sports to hit local screens this summer
SEOUL -- A well-worn cliche says sports is drama without a script. And one of the reasons people love sports is because its improvisational theater exposes a full range of human emotions, from the exuberant joy of victory to the excruciating pain of defeat.
This summer, South Korean moviegoers will be able to experience that roller-coaster ride from the comfort of their seats in air-conditioned multiplex theaters, instead of on sun-drenched bleachers at baseball parks or football stadiums.
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N. Korea wants to co-host Winter Games with S. Korea: official
TOKYO -- North Korea would like to co-host the 2018 Winter Olympics to be held in South Korean alpine town of PyeongChang, a senior North Korean sports official said Wednesday.
Jang Ung, a North Korean member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said it was "positive" for Asia to host only its third Winter Games. When asked about the possibility of sharing some events with PyeongChang, Jang replied, "I hope so."
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(LEAD) U.S. eyes top-level talks with S. Korea, Japan next week
WASHINGTON -- The United States announced Tuesday that it plans to hold a tripartite foreign ministerial meeting with South Korea and Japan next week in Bali on the sidelines of an annual security forum.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to visit the Indonesian resort island to attend the ASEAN Regional Forum, her department said. ASEAN stands for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
--------------
Lee meets with GNP leaders amid looming row over move to name aide as justice minister
SEOUL -- President Lee Myung-bak met with the new leaders of the ruling Grand National Party on Wednesday amid a looming row over Lee's move to name one of his senior secretaries as justice minister.
It was the first time that Lee has met with GNP Chairman Rep. Hong Joon-pyo and the four other new members of the GNP's Supreme Council since they were elected at the party's national convention last week.
---------------
Investigators say 'anomalies' found at U.S. base not necessarily metallic
SEOUL -- A joint South Korea-U.S. investigation team said on Wednesday "anomalies" recently discovered at a U.S. military base aren't necessarily metallic.
The clarification came on the heels of an announcement last Friday that the joint team had detected unidentified metal objects buried under a helipad at Camp Carroll in Chilgok, about 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul. U.S. veterans who served here decades ago claimed they had dumped containers of toxic defoliant.
---------------
Banks' household loans surge in June
SEOUL -- South Korean banks' household loans continued to grow in June as still-low borrowing costs and banks' efforts to expand lending spurred demand for home-backed loans, the central bank said Wednesday.
Local banks' home loans, including home-backed lending, reached 443.2 trillion won (US$416.3 billion) as of the end of June, up 3.4 trillion won from the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
---------------
S. Korea seeks budget cuts for N. Korea denuclearization efforts
SEOUL -- South Korea's foreign ministry has asked to dedicate a smaller portion of its budget next year to efforts to resolve the standoff over North Korea's nuclear program, a lawmaker said Wednesday, as diplomacy with the North has come to a standstill.
Multilateral negotiations aimed at dismantling the North's nuclear program, involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan, have been stalled since late 2008. The North claims to be willing to return to the talks without preconditions, but South Korea and the U.S. say Pyongyang must show its sincerity in denuclearizing before resumption of the stalled talks could take place.
---------------
(LAED) Koreas discuss fate of South Korean assets in North
SEOUL -- South and North Korea were preparing to hold a crucial meeting on the fate of seized South Korean assets at a scenic mountain resort in the isolated country, an official said Wednesday.
The two sides made contact to discuss how to proceed with the meeting, Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said, without elaborating.
---------------
Samsung Everland workers apply to start labor union
SEOUL -- Workers at Samsung Everland Inc., the amusement park arm of South Korea's largest conglomerate Samsung Group, applied Wednesday to establish the first Samsung trade union in more than three decades.
Four workers, including Park Won-woo, 39, submitted an application to form a trade union with the country's labor ministry earlier in the day. After three days of review, the ministry will formally recognize the first worker-led Samsung trade union, they said.
---------------
S. Korea to raise minimum wage 6 percent in 2012
SEOUL -- A trilateral council comprised of the government, labor and management on Wednesday agreed to raise the country's minimum wage 6 percent to 4,580 won (US$4.3) an hour next year.
Representatives of the Minimum Wage Council reached the deal in a 12-4 vote with 3 abstentions at the end of an overnight negotiation, the council said.
---------------
(2nd LD) S. Korea's jobless rate falls to 3.3 pct in June
SEOUL -- South Korea's jobless rate declined in June from a year earlier as the nation added more jobs, helped by robust exports and expanded industrial output, a government report showed Wednesday.
The jobless rate stood at 3.3 percent last month, down from 3.5 percent a year earlier, according to the report by Statistics Korea. It was, however, slightly higher than 3.2 percent in May.
---------------
(Yonhap Interview) PyeongChang's Olympic bid chief credits teamwork, new marketing strategies
SEOUL -- They say there's no "I" in team. PyeongChang, a South Korean alpine town, overwhelmed two European rivals to win the bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics last week due to a team effort and effective delegation of responsibilities, said the chief of the bidding committee.
"At the end of the day, it wasn't just one person, but many individuals who came together and worked hard behind the scenes," Cho Yang-ho, chairman of the bidding team, said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency on Tuesday.
---------------
Navy to expand base on East Sea island
SEOUL -- The Navy will expand its air base on an East Sea island in a bid to ensure better protection of the nation's territorial waters surrounding the easternmost islets of Dokdo, a lawmaker said Wednesday.
According to Rep. Song Young-sun of the minor opposition Future Hope Alliance, the Navy recently inked a project to expand its base on Ulleung Island by about threefold to cover 5,040 square meters of land over the next two years.
---------------
(Yonhap Feature) Films on wide range of sports to hit local screens this summer
SEOUL -- A well-worn cliche says sports is drama without a script. And one of the reasons people love sports is because its improvisational theater exposes a full range of human emotions, from the exuberant joy of victory to the excruciating pain of defeat.
This summer, South Korean moviegoers will be able to experience that roller-coaster ride from the comfort of their seats in air-conditioned multiplex theaters, instead of on sun-drenched bleachers at baseball parks or football stadiums.
---------------
N. Korea wants to co-host Winter Games with S. Korea: official
TOKYO -- North Korea would like to co-host the 2018 Winter Olympics to be held in South Korean alpine town of PyeongChang, a senior North Korean sports official said Wednesday.
Jang Ung, a North Korean member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said it was "positive" for Asia to host only its third Winter Games. When asked about the possibility of sharing some events with PyeongChang, Jang replied, "I hope so."
---------------
(LEAD) U.S. eyes top-level talks with S. Korea, Japan next week
WASHINGTON -- The United States announced Tuesday that it plans to hold a tripartite foreign ministerial meeting with South Korea and Japan next week in Bali on the sidelines of an annual security forum.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to visit the Indonesian resort island to attend the ASEAN Regional Forum, her department said. ASEAN stands for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
