Yonhap News Summary

The following is the first summary of major stories moved by Yonhap News Agency
on Thursday.

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(LEAD) Chinese president's special envoy in North Korea
SEOUL -- China's State Councilor Dai Bingguo visited North Korea on Wednesday in
his capacity as a special envoy of Chinese President Hu Jintao, holding talks
with the North's First Vice Foreign Minister Kang Sok-ju, Pyongyang's Korea
Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
"Dai Bingguo who is special envoy of Hu Jintao arrived in Pyongyang by plane,
together with Wu Dawei, vice minister of Foreign Affairs and Fu Ziying, vice
minister of Commerce," the KCNA said in a brief dispatch from the North Korean
capital, monitored here.
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U.S. not yet made decision on Bosworth's Pyongyang trip: State Dept.
WASHINGTON -- The United States said Wednesday it has not yet made any decision
on whether to accept North Korea's proposal for the U.S. point man on North Korea
to visit Pyongyang on its nuclear weapons programs.
"We have received communication from North Korea, and we have discussed this
invitation and the way forward with our partners in this, with our multilateral
partners," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said. "But as Secretary Clinton
said, no decisions have been made whether or not to accept that invitation."
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U.S. expected to decide soon on direct talks with N.K.: Seoul minister
SEOUL -- The United States is expected to decide soon on whether to hold
bilateral talks with North Korea on its denuclearization, based on consultations
with other partners in the six-party framework, Seoul's foreign minister said
Thursday.
The U.S. announced last week that it will soon undertake negotiations with North
Korea as part of efforts to bring the communist state back to the suspended
multilateral talks. Pyongyang has boycotted the forum, claiming it was being used
to infringe on its sovereign right to develop nuclear and space technology.
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S. Korean economy makes 'stunning' rebound: Moody's Economy.com
SEOUL -- South Korea's economy is making a "stunning" rebound as the government's
swift stimulus measures helped ease the worst downturn in more than a decade,
Moody's Economy.com said Thursday.
"South Korea is staging a stunning rebound after a close brush with a full-blown
financial crisis. Its economy is now experiencing one of the sharpest recoveries
among the world's major economies," said Alaistair Chan, an associate economist
at Moody's Economy.com, a division of Moody's Corp., which also holds the credit
ratings agency Moody's Investors Service.
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S. Korean president to hold summit with new Japanese premier next week
SEOUL -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak will hold his first summit with new
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama next week to discuss ways to improve the
bilateral relationship, an official at Seoul's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae
said Thursday.
The Lee-Hatoyama meeting will be held Wednesday (New York time) on the sidelines
of the U.N. General Assembly, according to the official.
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(LEAD) Korean blockbuster pirated by movie maker for the handicapped: police
SEOUL -- A producer of audio descriptive movies for the visually impaired led the
illegal file-sharing of South Korean summer blockbuster "Haeundae," police said
Thursday, taking into custody three people on charges of digital piracy.
An illegal copy of the big-budget disaster flick was uploaded onto a local
file-sharing site earlier this month and downloaded by hundreds of thousands of
people within minutes, causing massive damage to the film's creators and
distributors ahead of its overseas release.
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S. Korea must consider 'preemptive' measures for short-term liquidity: KDI
SEOUL -- South Korea must consider "preemptive" measures aimed at adjusting the
amount of liquidity unleashed to stimulate the slumping economy as part of
efforts to stave off a possible overheating of the nation's asset market, a
state-run think tank said Thursday.
The recommendation by the Korea Development Institute (KDI) comes amid growing
debate over when and how to roll back stimulus measures undertaken by the
government and the central bank to ease the nation's steep economic downturn.
(END)