ID :
195167
Fri, 07/15/2011 - 08:31
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/195167
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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) BOK ups 2011 inflation forecast, cuts growth outlook
SEOUL -- South Korea's central bank on Friday revised up its 2011 inflation outlook on high oil and food prices, but downgraded the economy's growth projection due to persistent uncertainties at home and abroad.
The Bank of Korea (BOK) said consumer prices are likely to grow 4 percent this year, slightly up from an earlier 3.9 percent estimate made in April, underscoring the difficulty in taming high inflation.
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Lee to nominate justice minister, chief prosecutor
SEOUL -- President Lee Myung-bak on Friday is expected to nominate one of his senior secretaries and the head of a local prosecutor's office as the new justice minister and the chief prosecutor, respectively.
On Thursday, Lee notified the leadership of the ruling party of his plan to nominate Kwon Jae-jin, a prosecutor-turned-presidential secretary on civil affairs, as justice minister, and Han Sang-dae, head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, as prosecutor general, presidential officials said.
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S. Korea weighs options against Japan over ban on Korean Air
SEOUL -- South Korea's foreign ministry is ready to take "various countermeasures" against Japan unless Tokyo lifts its planned ban on diplomats' bookings with Korean Air in protest over the airline's flight last month above the Dokdo islets, officials said Friday.
The latest diplomatic tension between South Korea and Japan over Dokdo erupted this week as Japan's foreign ministry has instructed its officials to refrain from taking Korean Air flights for one month starting on Monday.
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Minimum wage for N. Koreans in Kaesong likely to rise 5 pct
SEOUL -- The minimum wage for workers at the inter-Korean industrial park in the North Korean border town of Kaesong is likely to rise 5 percent this year, the same annual rate of increase since 2007, industry sources said Friday.
More than 46,000 North Koreans work at about 120 South Korean firms operating in the complex, despite the South's suspension of all other economic ties with the North over the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship last year. The local workers currently earn a minimum monthly income of US$60.775 following a 5 percent increase that took effect last August.
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Gold prices in S. Korea hit record high
SEOUL -- Domestic gold prices have rallied to all-time highs on the back of recent surges in international prices of the precious metal and the weak U.S. dollar, industry sources said Friday.
The retail price of 1 don (3.75 grams) of pure gold in the country stood at 217,200 won (US$205) on Thursday, after breaking the 200,000-won mark in June last year, according to the Korea Gold Exchange, a local gold dealer. Don is a unit used in Korea to measure gold.
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S. Korea's import price growth hits 7-month low in June
SEOUL -- South Korea's import prices grew at the slowest clip in seven months in June as the local currency's ascent to the dollar overshadowed an on-year gain in oil prices, the central bank said Friday.
In local currency terms, the country's import prices rose 10.5 percent in June from a year earlier, slowing from a 13.2 percent on-year expansion tallied in May, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
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S. Korea, U.S. start talks on renewing nuclear accord
WASHINGTON -- Senior South Korean and U.S. diplomats began a new round of negotiations here Thursday on Seoul's pursuit of expanding its peaceful nuclear technology.
The two-day meeting, the third of its kind, will focus on fine-tuning the wording of a draft agreement presented in the previous round, according to officials.
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(2nd LD) BOK ups 2011 inflation forecast, cuts growth outlook
SEOUL -- South Korea's central bank on Friday revised up its 2011 inflation outlook on high oil and food prices, but downgraded the economy's growth projection due to persistent uncertainties at home and abroad.
The Bank of Korea (BOK) said consumer prices are likely to grow 4 percent this year, slightly up from an earlier 3.9 percent estimate made in April, underscoring the difficulty in taming high inflation.
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Lee to nominate justice minister, chief prosecutor
SEOUL -- President Lee Myung-bak on Friday is expected to nominate one of his senior secretaries and the head of a local prosecutor's office as the new justice minister and the chief prosecutor, respectively.
On Thursday, Lee notified the leadership of the ruling party of his plan to nominate Kwon Jae-jin, a prosecutor-turned-presidential secretary on civil affairs, as justice minister, and Han Sang-dae, head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, as prosecutor general, presidential officials said.
-----------------
S. Korea weighs options against Japan over ban on Korean Air
SEOUL -- South Korea's foreign ministry is ready to take "various countermeasures" against Japan unless Tokyo lifts its planned ban on diplomats' bookings with Korean Air in protest over the airline's flight last month above the Dokdo islets, officials said Friday.
The latest diplomatic tension between South Korea and Japan over Dokdo erupted this week as Japan's foreign ministry has instructed its officials to refrain from taking Korean Air flights for one month starting on Monday.
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Minimum wage for N. Koreans in Kaesong likely to rise 5 pct
SEOUL -- The minimum wage for workers at the inter-Korean industrial park in the North Korean border town of Kaesong is likely to rise 5 percent this year, the same annual rate of increase since 2007, industry sources said Friday.
More than 46,000 North Koreans work at about 120 South Korean firms operating in the complex, despite the South's suspension of all other economic ties with the North over the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship last year. The local workers currently earn a minimum monthly income of US$60.775 following a 5 percent increase that took effect last August.
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Gold prices in S. Korea hit record high
SEOUL -- Domestic gold prices have rallied to all-time highs on the back of recent surges in international prices of the precious metal and the weak U.S. dollar, industry sources said Friday.
The retail price of 1 don (3.75 grams) of pure gold in the country stood at 217,200 won (US$205) on Thursday, after breaking the 200,000-won mark in June last year, according to the Korea Gold Exchange, a local gold dealer. Don is a unit used in Korea to measure gold.
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S. Korea's import price growth hits 7-month low in June
SEOUL -- South Korea's import prices grew at the slowest clip in seven months in June as the local currency's ascent to the dollar overshadowed an on-year gain in oil prices, the central bank said Friday.
In local currency terms, the country's import prices rose 10.5 percent in June from a year earlier, slowing from a 13.2 percent on-year expansion tallied in May, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
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S. Korea, U.S. start talks on renewing nuclear accord
WASHINGTON -- Senior South Korean and U.S. diplomats began a new round of negotiations here Thursday on Seoul's pursuit of expanding its peaceful nuclear technology.
The two-day meeting, the third of its kind, will focus on fine-tuning the wording of a draft agreement presented in the previous round, according to officials.
