S. Korea tightens export, import controls for strategic materials to and from Japan 2019-09-18 16:29:20 KST
News Keywords Nat'l/Politics North Korea Economy IT/Science Foreign Policy World Life/Culture Sports Weather Pyeongyang Declaration, one year-on 2019-09-18 Pres. Moon says fake news, inaccurate information damage freedom of sp 2019-09-18 S. Korea's stance on Japan trade curbs published in Japanese 2019-09-18 Yeongbyeon nuclear reactor shut down for enough time for re-fuelling: 2019-09-18 Russia seizes 2 N. Korean boats and 80 crew for illegally fishing in R 2019-09-18 One year since Pyeongyang Declaration, denuclearization talks see litt 2019-09-18 Total number of households in Korea expected to start shrinking from 2 2019-09-18 S. Korean semiconductor prices go up in August for first time in 13 mo 2019-09-18 In-depth: Global market wrap-up 2019-09-18 S. Korea, Saudi Arabia sign MOU to establish joint nuclear energy rese 2019-09-18 S. Korea delays launch of lunar orbiter until July 2022 2019-09-11 Scientists behind first blackhole photograph win $3 mil Breakthrough p 2019-09-06 South Korea urges action over radioactive Fukushima water 2019-09-17 S. Korea, U.S. gear up to begin negotiations on defense cost-sharing p 2019-09-16 Brexit uncertainties and impact on global economy 2019-09-10 74th session of UN General Assembly kicks off in New York 2019-09-18 Trump says he will not meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani at U 2019-09-18 Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg receives Amnesty International's 2019-09-18 'Koreators' share their love for Korea 2019-09-18 Seoul runs 'car-free week' through Sunday 2019-09-18 Seoul to give free tours of Joseon Dynasty city wall in Sept. and Oct. 2019-09-18 Hwang Hee-chan becomes second youngest S. Korean to score in UEFA Cham 2019-09-18 S. Korea defeats Japan 3-1 for their first win of 2019 Women's Volleyb 2019-09-17 Son Heung-min scores two goals before interval, helping Tottenham Hots 2019-09-15 Weather starts to get chillier during nights 2019-09-18 Fine autumn weather but gets cooler this afternoon 2019-09-18 Autumn weather sets in 2019-09-18
Issue Now S. Korea-Japan Trade Row Sales of Japanese cars in S. Korea dropped by 56.9% y/y in August 2019-09-18 S. Korea's stance on Japan trade curbs published in Japanese 2019-09-18 Tokyo expresses regret over S. Korea's decision to remove Japan from trade whitelist: NHK 2019-09-18 S. Korea tightens export, import controls for strategic materials to and from Japan 2019-09-18 Abe's new cabinet and Seoul-Tokyo relations 2019-09-17 South Korea urges action over radioactive Fukushima water 2019-09-17 N. Korea & U.S. Yeongbyeon nuclear reactor shut down for enough time for re-fuelling: IAEA 2019-09-18 74th session of UN General Assembly kicks off in New York 2019-09-18 N. Korea says it tested a 'super-large multiple rocket launcher' 2019-09-11 N. Korean media reports N. Korea's launch of projectiles on Tuesday 2019-09-11 N. Korea fires projectiles only several hours after proposing talks to U.S. 2019-09-11 N. Korea fires 2 unidentified projectiles toward the East Sea 2019-09-10
Most Popular Trump says he is not ready to visit N. Korea yet U.S. President Donald Trump says he's not yet ready to visit North Korea to hold summit talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Speaking at the White House on Monday,Trump said it's not yet the right time to visit Pyeongyang. "Probably not. I don't think it's ready, I don't think we are ready for that. I would do it sometime, at sometime at a later future, and depending on what happens I'm sure he'll love coming to the United States also. But no, I don't think it's ready for that. I think we've got ways to go yet." His remarks come as Kim reportedly invited Trump to visit Pyeongyang in a letter sent in August. Citing an unidentified source, Reuters explained that in his letter, Kim spoke of his desire for a third summit, while extending an invitation for Trump to visit North Korea. On a related note, the U.S. State Department said Monday that it's ready to resume denuclearization talks with Pyeongyang. This was in response to a statement issued by North Korea's foreign ministry that called on Washington to remove all threats and hurdles to resuming working-level talks. The statement came after an offer by the North's First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui to resume talks at the end of September. A State Department spokesperson told South Korea's Yonhap News Agency that Washington welcomes Pyeongyang's commitment to resume talks, adding the U.S. is ready to sit down at a time and place to be agreed. During a phone call with Japan's new foreign minister on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reiterated their shared goal of achieving North Korea's final and fully verified denuclearization. Pompeo also emphasized Washington's determination to cooperate with Tokyo on a wide range of regional and global issues. Kim Hyo-sun, Arirang News. 2019-09-17 First official case of African swine fever reported in South Korea Following the government's confirmation of the first case of African swine fever in South Korea on Tuesday morning, detected at a farm in Paju near the inter-Korean border, a different pig farm located in Yeoncheon county, near the border with North Korea and about 48 kilometers away from Paju, reported a suspected case of the highly contagious disease. Inspections are currently underway, and the results are expected to be out as early as Wednesday. The agriculture ministry previously gave a press briefing at 9 AM to announce that a 48-hour lockdown has been imposed on all pig farms across the nation. (Korean ) "Immediately after the confirmation of African swine fever, the ministry upgraded the warning to the highest level of severity. As of 6:30 AM Tuesday, the ministry has placed a 48-hour lockdown on all pig farms in the entire country, and blocked cars from entering the affected area." While it is speculated that the disease spread from North Korea, authorities are currently working to discover the exact cause of the outbreak. Almost 4 thousand pigs--including around 2,five hundred pigs from the farm where the fever was detected-- were culled to prevent the virus from spreading. President Moon Jae-in ordered the thorough management of the situation to prevent the spread of the disease, and Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon also held an emergency meeting at 11AM on Tuesday with related ministers, and gave specific countermeasures to related departments to tackle the issue. The case comes only four months after North Korea revealed its own outbreak of African swine fever in late May. African swine fever is a disease highly fatal to pigs, with a near 100 percent mortality rate. The incubation period in nature is 4 to 19 days, but symptoms generally appear within 7 days. It's highly contagious in pigs and no vaccine currently exists, but it's important to stress that the disease is harmless to humans. (Korean ) "African swine fever is known to be harmless to all animals except for pigs and wild boars." Experts say people can consume the infected meat without it causing any problems. But the disease has already had an effect on pork prices. According to Korea Institute for Animal Products Quality Evaluation, the average auction price of pork traded at 14 major wholesale markets across the nation had increased by nearly 33 percent at 3 pm Tuesday, compared to the day before. When African swine fever broke out in China, wiping out a third of the country's pigs, pork prices soared. Prices in China last month were almost 47 percent higher than they were in August 2018 when the first cases of African swine fever were detected in the country. Kim Jae-hee, Arirang news. 2019-09-18 S. Korea tightens export, import controls for strategic materials to and from Japan South Korea's trade ministry has revised its export and import measures for strategic materials to better control exports to countries that violate global export control systems. The most prominent change in the recent revision is the classification change of export partners into group A1, group A2, and group B. Japan for instance has been placed in group A2, meaning that it will face tighter export controls like those in group B. This means that local companies shipping strategic materials to Japan or other countries listed in group A2 will have to submit five different documents instead of three for individual items. The approval process that used to take 5 days will now take 15 days in addition to a separate approval regarding every export. The revised measures can, however, affect around 100 local companies. To minimize the impact, the South Korean government promised to ensure transparent monitoring of exports and provide customized counseling for affected companies. Another concern is that adopting such export curbs could backfire on Seoul especially when it filed a complaint against Tokyo's trade restrictions to the World Trade Organization. But the ministry's Director General for International Trade Policy, Lee Ho-hyeon, says there is nothing to worry about. "Our revision was based on evaluations of export control systems that go against international export control agreements, but Tokyo's export curbs were politically motivated. We have enough evidence to prove that." So far, Japan hasn't made any requests for talks. But the South Korean government has emphasized that even after the revision of export and import measures for strategic materials, they are ready for talks with Japan to resolve the trade dispute between the two countries. Hong Yoo, Arirang News. 2019-09-18 Seoul classified as 'aged society' for 1st time as proportion of senior population surpasses 14% The people of Seoul are getting older. The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Tuesday that the capital's overall population, including locals and foreigners, stood at ten.four million last year. Among them,… people over 65 years old amounted to around one.four million or 14.four percent of Seoul's population. This means Seoul has, for the first time, become an "aged society" according to standards set by the United Nations. According to the UN, if the proportion of senior citizens in an area exceeds seven percent, it's an "aging society", more than 14 percent is an "aged society" and over 20 percent is a "super-aged society." Seoul was already an "aging society" in 2005,… and the South Korean capital is expected to be classified as a "super-aged society" in 2026 based on current projections. However, this aging trend is not a problem exclusive to Seoul. Recent data released by Statistics Korea shows people over 65 make up about 15 percent of South Korea's total population this year. This means the whole country is an "aged society",… and is projected to become "super-aged" in 2025. This is because people in South Korea are having fewer babies and are living longer. South Korea's fertility rate for the past five years was at 1.11 the lowest in the world. On top of that, people in South Korea are expected to live ten years longer than the global average. Several other countries are experiencing similar trends. According to Japan's Kyodo News Agency, Japan has the highest proportion of senior citizens of any country in the world, with around a third of Japanese people aged over 65. Even the urban center of Japan, Tokyo became a "super-aged society" some nine years ago, with around a fifth of the city's population made up of seniors according to Japan's National Census. Countries like Italy, Portugal, Finland and Greece, with around 22% of citizens aged over 65, are also already "super-aged societies". New York City is also seeing a big shift. Today, nearly one in six New Yorkers is 65 or above. When it comes to the entire U.S. population, people over 65 made up 15 percent of the overall population in 2014, making the U.S. an “aged society.” It is expected to become “super-aged” by 2050, according to the World Population Review. As fewer people start families in certain parts of the world, urban centers once known to be cities of youthfulness are turning grayer by the day. Kim Bo-kyoung, Arirang News. 2019-09-17
