Yonhap News Summary

The following is the second summary of major stories moved by Yonhap News Agency
on Friday.

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Grief, anger grow as Pyongyang remains silent on detained S. Koreans
SEOUL -- North Korea remained silent on the fate of South Koreans held there in
the latest inter-Korean exchange Friday, as family members and politicians here
demanded their immediate release following Pyongyang's pardoning of two American
journalists.
The release of the journalists soon after North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's
meeting Tuesday with former U.S. President Bill Clinton in Pyongyang renewed
despair and outrage in South Korea, as an engineer and four fishermen continue to
be held in the North without any word on their condition or whereabouts.
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S. Korean won seen to gain more to dollar
SEOUL -- The South Korean currency is expected to continue its ascent against the
U.S. dollar in the second half of the year on increasing trade surpluses and more
inflows of foreign stock funds, a state-run lender said Friday.
The local currency will likely average 1,180 won to the dollar in the
July-December period and rise as high as 1,150 won in the fourth quarter, the
Korea Development Bank (KDB) said in a report.
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Gov't to designate Ssangyong factory city "employment promotion zone"
SEOUL -- The government plans to designate Pyeongtaek as an "employment promotion
zone" to relieve a potential job crisis in the city where Ssangyong Motor Co.
workers have just ended an over two-month-long strike, the Labor Ministry said
Friday.
If designated, it would be the first application of the country's law introduced
in 1997 that allows the government to designate a "disaster area" due to job
conditions and implement measures to help the unemployed.
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S. Korea's first space rocket safe for launch: official
SEOUL -- South Korea can move forward with its first space rocket within the
month after a "technical issue" discovered in the engine has been clarified, a
government official said Friday.
Moon Hai-joo, the official in charge of coordinating the launch, said Russian
engineers checked the data anomaly in the engine test carried out late last month
and confirmed the spike in the support booster pump was the result of a
diagnostic glitch and not a structural problem.
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NCsoft posts over 5-fold increase in Q2 net
SEOUL -- NCsoft Corp., South Korea's leading online game company, said Friday
that its second-quarter earnings rose more than five-fold on-year largely due to
strong overseas sales.
Net income amounted to 33.5 billion won (US$27.3 million) in the April-June
period, up 451 percent from 6.1 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a
regulatory filing.
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Samsung Securities' Q1 net gains 4.3 pct
SEOUL -- Samsung Securities Co., South Korea's No. 3 brokerage house, said Friday
its first-quarter earnings gained 4.3 percent from a year earlier on increased
fee income.
Net profit stood at 79.8 billion won (US$65.1 million) in the April-June period,
compared with 76.5 billion won the same period last year, the company said in a
regulatory filing.
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N.K. media's anti-Lee rhetoric drops 40 pct in July
SEOUL -- North Korea's bashing of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak waned in
July compared to two previous months, according to a government count on Friday.
The number of North Korean media reports and commentaries critical of Lee
amounted to 275 last month, down approximately 40 percent from 454 in June,
according to the Unification Ministry.
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(LEAD) Seoul shares end up 0.13 pct on foreign buying
SEOUL -- South Korean stocks closed 0.13 percent higher Friday as foreign
investors continued their buying streak, analysts said. The local currency lost
against the U.S. dollar.
After moving in a tight range, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index
(KOSPI) rose 10.96 points to a near one-year high of 1,576. Volume was moderate
at 4.62 million shares worth 5.57 trillion won (US$4.55 billion), with gainers
outpacing losers 497 to 300.
(END)