Focus on Headline

1. The U.S Federal Reserve on Wednesday took a giant step lifting the benchmark rate by 0.75% percentage points at the FOMC meeting. The latest rate hike is the biggest in 28 years. 2. Foreign Minister Park Jin held an introductory meeting with Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo on Wednesday. Park suggested holding a 2+2 diplomatic and economic meeting with the U.S, and Raimondo reportedly agreed...

1. The launch of South Korea's Nuri space rocket has been delayed to an unspecified date. The latest delay is unrelated to the weather conditions, as the rocket will be moved to the assembling pad again. 2. Foreign Minister Park Jin said Tuesday that South Korea and the U.S will push for new UN Security Council sanctions against North Korea should Pyeongyang go ahead with its feared nuclear test....

1. The Presidential office is set to decide the new name for the Yongsan presidential office this afternoon. 2. South Korea’s benchmark Kospi closed at the 2,500 points range on Monday, the lowest level in one year and 7 months. At the same time, the Korean Won value also weakened to 1,286.4 per Dollar today. 3. Foreign ministers of South Korea and the U.S said Monday, after holding a meeting in W...

1. The Joint Chief of Staff said Sunday that North Korea fired multiple artillery shots off the West Sea.  The move came right after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for enforcing the internal disciplines during the three-day key Workers’ Party meetings.  2. South Korea saw another price hike in both gasoline and diesel prices, both up over 2,070 Korean Won per liter. Meanwhile, th...

1. The Shangri-La dialogue took place in Singapore today marking a three-day schedule. The U.S and China are expected to confront on the Indo-Pacific strategy. 2. The presidential office picked up 10 changes in a month since the Yoon administration took office. The main changes include the Yongsan-era, and enhanced communication. 3. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said Friday that the authorities will...

1. The North’s Korean Central News Agency said Thursday that the regime kicked off a key Workers’ Party meeting on Wednesday with leader Kim Jong-un presiding over the session. 2. President Yoon appears to have broken away from his predecessors in terms of communication style... and has put much efforts for a stronger Seoul-Washington alliance, economy and social integration. 3. The number of new...

1. Top senior diplomats from South Korea, the U.S., and Japan held a trilateral meeting in Seoul on Wednesday, and reaffirmed their strong security ties regarding North Korea’s continuing provocations. 2. The World Bank on Tuesday lowered the global growth forecast to 2.9% this year, a drop by 1.2 percentage point from its January forecast. It also warned of stagflation risk worldwide. 3. The KDCA...

1. Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said Tuesday, after having a meeting with her South Korean counterpart, Cho Hyun-dong in Seoul, that North Korea would face a “swift and forceful” response for its nuclear test. 2. President Yoon Suk Yeol completed appointing four major ambassadors to the U.S, China, Russia, and Japan as of Tuesday. All four candidate ambassadors are known as career...

1. President Yoon Suk Yeol said, during a Memorial day ceremony, that his administration will firmly and sternly respond to any North Korean provocations, adding it will build practical security capability. 2. Inflation rate of processed food in South Korea reached 7.9%, the highest in a decade.. Out of 73 items, the price of the 69 items, including noodles, wheat flour, and salt increased by 33.2...

1. President Yoon Suk Yeol said, during a Memorial day ceremony, that his administration will firmly and sternly respond to any North Korean provocations, adding it will build practical security capability. 2. Inflation rate of processed food in South Korea reached 7.9%, the highest in a decade.. Out of 73 items, the price of the 69 items, including noodles, wheat flour, and salt increased by 33.2...

1. The ruling People Power Party won an overwhelming victory in the June 1st local elections, sweeping 12 out of 17 main races for big city mayors and provincial governors. As a result, the PPP entirely replaced the regional powers followed by central power. 2. The U.S State Department announced on Wednesday that special representative for North Korea, Sung Kim, will visit Seoul from June 2nd to 4...

1. Voting for June 1st local election and parliamentary by-election were held nationwide today. The result of this local election may determine the newly inaugurated Yoon administration’s power to push its agendas in the first year of its presidency term. 2. South Korean boy band, BTS met with U.S president Joe Biden at the White House on Tuesday to discuss Anti-Asian crimes issues. BTS emphasized...

1. The data from Statistics Korea on Tuesday showed that South Korea’s industrial production, consumption, and investment in April declined all together for the first time in 26 months. 2. The South Korean navy will deploy its largest ever armed forces to the Rim of the Pacific Exercise, which is set to take place in Hawaii from June 29th through August 4th. Rear Admiral. An Sang-min will guide th...

1. Park Chan-wook and Song Kang-ho received Best Director and Best Actor awards respectively at this year’s Cannes Films Festival last Saturday, marking the first time South Koreans receive two awards in a single year at the Cannes. 2. The parliament passed 62 trillion won worth of the extra budget bill on Sunday. Compensation of the maximum 10-million won to each small merchant began this afterno...

1. Early voting for June 1st local elections and parliamentary by-election started early this morning. Voters can cast their ballots at any of 3-thousand 5-hundred-51 polling stations nationwide until Saturday. 2. China and Russia on Thursday used their vetoes against a U.S-draft UN Security Council resolution to strengthen sanctions on North Korea. 3. The White House announced on Thursday that So...

1. South Korean and the U.S defense ministers said Wednesday that the two countries will strengthen the extended deterrence to firmly and effectively respond to North Korea’s provocations. 2. The Bank of Korea increased its benchmark rate by 0.25 percentage point to 1.75% after the monetary meeting today. Central bank’s two straight months of rate hikes is the first in 15 years. 3. South Korea saw...

1. North Korea launched three ballistic missiles this morning, including one suspected to be the Hwasong-17 ICBM. In response to North Korea’s provocation, President Yoon Suk-yeol called to implement extended deterrence, while the South Korean military fired two surface-to-surface missiles. 2. The Bank of Korea is expected to increase the base rate by 0.25 percentage point on Thursday, following l...

1. President Yoon Suk-yeol told CNN on Monday that the age of appeasing North Korea is over, adding that this approach has proven to be a failure over the past five years. He also said that China is overly sensitive to South Korea’s participation in the IPEF. 2. The Quad summit was held a day after the IPEF launching summit in Japan. The four leaders of Quad nations gathered in Tokyo to discuss wa...

1. President Yoon Suk-yeol and U.S president Joe Biden wrapped up their first summit over the weekend. Yoon also participated in the first IPEF summit virtually today, which was held in Tokyo. 2. Newly appointed Prime minister Han Duck-soo vowed during his inauguration remarks on Monday, that he will take the lead in “national unity and cooperation of politics.” 3. South Korea saw 9-thousand 9-hun...

1. U.S president Joe Biden is going to kick off his three-days visit to South Korea with a tour of Samsung Electronics’ Chip complex, located in Pyeongtaek. Biden is slated to hold a summit with his counterpart, President Yoon Suk-yeol tomorrow.  2. South Korea tallied 25-thousand 1-hundred-25 new COVID-19 cases on Friday. The authorities decided to maintain the current seven-day quarantine m...

1. The Presidential office said Thursday that there is a low possibility of a North Korean nuclear test during U.S. president Joe Biden’s visit to South Korea, but a missile launch could to be imminent. 2. North Korea tallied 262-thousand 2-hundred-70 people with “unknown fever” as of Wednesday, making the total caseload to nearly 2 million since it acknowledged its first COVID-19 outbreak late la...

1. President Yoon Suk-yeol visited the city of Gwangju on Wednesday to celebrate the 42nd anniversary of the pro-democracy movement. He stressed that the spirit of May itself shows the spirit of the constitution for liberal democracy, and it served as a foundation stone of integration. 2. President Yoon Suk-yeol officially confirmed on Wednesday in joining the U.S proposed Indo-Pacific Economic Fr...

1. North Korea reported nearly 270-thousand new suspected COVID-19 cases on Monday. Meanwhile, the North Korean regime has not responded to the South Korean government’s proposal to hold a working-level meeting.  2. The Japanese government announced on Monday that it will lift its mandatory quarantine measure starting from Tuesday, for South Korean visitors who have received their 3rd COVID-1...

1. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un convened a meeting on Sunday and placed an order to mobilize its army to stabilize the supply of medicines to its people. Meanwhile, the number of people with “unknown fever” was about 390-thousand, while eight people died as of Sunday. 2. President Yoon Suk-yeol, during his first National Assembly address on Monday, called for bipartisan cooperation to swiftly p...

1. President Yoon Suk-yeol said Friday that he will provide North Korean people  with COVID-19 vaccines and other medical supplies, a day after North Korea confirmed its COVID-19 outbreak. 2. The Yoon government has submitted the extra budget bill to the National Assembly on Friday. The bill, that aimed to compensate the small merchants 6 million Won each, is likely to be passed by the end of...