ID :
32828
Fri, 11/28/2008 - 19:14
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/32828
The shortlink copeid
Yonhap News Summary
Yonhap News Summary
The following is the first summary of major stories moved by Yonhap News Agency
on Friday.
-----------------
(News Focus) Banks rushing to raise capital amid more bad loans
SEOUL -- South Korea's major banks are selling stocks and bonds in a hastened
effort to firm up their fundamentals as they anticipate more assets will turn
sour down the road, industry sources said Friday.
Local lenders have been hard hit by the financial turmoil and the ensuing
economic slowdown, as they rely heavily on short-term credit. The spiraling
economy has increased expectations that extended loans may default.
-----------------
(LEAD) Current account surplus to continue in 2009: minister
SEOUL -- South Korea's current account surplus will amount to around $1 billion
in November and widen further in the following month, with the surplus expected
to continue into 2009, Finance Minister Kang Man-soo said Friday.
The current account surplus reached $4.91 billion last month, compared with a
deficit of $1.35 billion the previous month, the central bank said in a recent
report. The monthly surplus is the biggest since 1980 when the central bank began
to compile related data.
-----------------
(LEAD) S. Korea delays Somalia mission amid financial difficulties
SEOUL -- Seoul will delay a costly plan to send naval ships to pirate-infested
Somali waters, officials said Friday, as South Korea continues to reel from the
global financial crisis.
The government had initially planned to seek parliamentary approval before the
year's end for the motion, which calls for the dispatch of a stealth destroyer
and navy forces to patrol the dangerous coastal waters off the African country.
Several South Korean commercial ships have fallen victim to piracy in Somali
waters in recent years.
-----------------
(LEAD) Hyundai Asan in final day of tours to Kaesong
SEOUL -- A group of South Korean tourists left for North Korea's ancient border
city of Kaesong, a South Korean tour operator said Friday, in the final
sightseeing tour to the North as Seoul was forced to suspend the tour project
amid deteriorating inter-Korean ties.
About a year after the first South Korean tourists began visiting historic sites
in Kaesong, about 70 kilometers northwest of Seoul, the tour program, the second
for South Koreans, has become the latest victim of escalating tensions between
the two Koreas.
-----------------
Presidential office pledges consistent N. Korea policy
SEOUL -- South Korea's presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae, said Wednesday that
its existing North Korea policy won't be swayed by the communist state's latest
provocative moves, including its planned overland border closure.
"The South Korean government will deal with the series of hard-line measures by
North Korea with a genuine and consistent attitude. We will never be swayed by
the changing circumstances imposed by the North," said Cheong Wa Dae spokesman
Lee Dong-kwan in his media briefing.
-----------------
Taekwang Industry chief's home, office raided in corruption probe over Roh associates
SEOUL -- Prosecutors raided the home and the company office of Park Yen-cha, a
key sponsor for former President Roh Moo-hyun, on Friday, intensifying an
investigation into corruption allegations surrounding Roh associates over the
2006 sale of an ailing securities firm.
Park, head of Taekwang Industry Co., a leading shoemaker and Nike's outsourcing
firm, was suspected of tax evasion and insider trading in the process of the
takeover of Sejong Securities Co. by the state-run mega firm for farmers,
Nonghyup.
-----------------
(LEAD) Court grants right to die for first time in S. Korea to comatose woman
SEOUL -- A court accepted a family's request on Friday to stop treatment for a
woman lying in a vegetative state in an unprecedented ruling that acknowledged an
individual's right to die.
The Seoul Western District Court ordered feeding and ventilator tubes be removed
from the 75-year-old woman, identified only by her surname Kim, saying she has no
chance of recovery and her desire to stop treatment can be inferred.
(END)
The following is the first summary of major stories moved by Yonhap News Agency
on Friday.
-----------------
(News Focus) Banks rushing to raise capital amid more bad loans
SEOUL -- South Korea's major banks are selling stocks and bonds in a hastened
effort to firm up their fundamentals as they anticipate more assets will turn
sour down the road, industry sources said Friday.
Local lenders have been hard hit by the financial turmoil and the ensuing
economic slowdown, as they rely heavily on short-term credit. The spiraling
economy has increased expectations that extended loans may default.
-----------------
(LEAD) Current account surplus to continue in 2009: minister
SEOUL -- South Korea's current account surplus will amount to around $1 billion
in November and widen further in the following month, with the surplus expected
to continue into 2009, Finance Minister Kang Man-soo said Friday.
The current account surplus reached $4.91 billion last month, compared with a
deficit of $1.35 billion the previous month, the central bank said in a recent
report. The monthly surplus is the biggest since 1980 when the central bank began
to compile related data.
-----------------
(LEAD) S. Korea delays Somalia mission amid financial difficulties
SEOUL -- Seoul will delay a costly plan to send naval ships to pirate-infested
Somali waters, officials said Friday, as South Korea continues to reel from the
global financial crisis.
The government had initially planned to seek parliamentary approval before the
year's end for the motion, which calls for the dispatch of a stealth destroyer
and navy forces to patrol the dangerous coastal waters off the African country.
Several South Korean commercial ships have fallen victim to piracy in Somali
waters in recent years.
-----------------
(LEAD) Hyundai Asan in final day of tours to Kaesong
SEOUL -- A group of South Korean tourists left for North Korea's ancient border
city of Kaesong, a South Korean tour operator said Friday, in the final
sightseeing tour to the North as Seoul was forced to suspend the tour project
amid deteriorating inter-Korean ties.
About a year after the first South Korean tourists began visiting historic sites
in Kaesong, about 70 kilometers northwest of Seoul, the tour program, the second
for South Koreans, has become the latest victim of escalating tensions between
the two Koreas.
-----------------
Presidential office pledges consistent N. Korea policy
SEOUL -- South Korea's presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae, said Wednesday that
its existing North Korea policy won't be swayed by the communist state's latest
provocative moves, including its planned overland border closure.
"The South Korean government will deal with the series of hard-line measures by
North Korea with a genuine and consistent attitude. We will never be swayed by
the changing circumstances imposed by the North," said Cheong Wa Dae spokesman
Lee Dong-kwan in his media briefing.
-----------------
Taekwang Industry chief's home, office raided in corruption probe over Roh associates
SEOUL -- Prosecutors raided the home and the company office of Park Yen-cha, a
key sponsor for former President Roh Moo-hyun, on Friday, intensifying an
investigation into corruption allegations surrounding Roh associates over the
2006 sale of an ailing securities firm.
Park, head of Taekwang Industry Co., a leading shoemaker and Nike's outsourcing
firm, was suspected of tax evasion and insider trading in the process of the
takeover of Sejong Securities Co. by the state-run mega firm for farmers,
Nonghyup.
-----------------
(LEAD) Court grants right to die for first time in S. Korea to comatose woman
SEOUL -- A court accepted a family's request on Friday to stop treatment for a
woman lying in a vegetative state in an unprecedented ruling that acknowledged an
individual's right to die.
The Seoul Western District Court ordered feeding and ventilator tubes be removed
from the 75-year-old woman, identified only by her surname Kim, saying she has no
chance of recovery and her desire to stop treatment can be inferred.
(END)
