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East Asia
South Korea: income affects senior households’ spending more than assets
Income has a greater impact than assets on consumption by South Korean households comprised of seniors, a parliamentary report said Tuesday. A 1 percent increase in elderly households’ earned income made their consumption expenditure go up 0.09 percent between 2006-2016, according to the report by the National Assembly Budget Office.…
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East Asia
Seoul seeks to widen cooperation with Beijing to fight fine dust pollution
South Korea’s government said Thursday it will push to team up with China to take emergency measures on reducing fine dust. Environment Minister Cho Myung-rae, announcing the government’s special measures to fight fine dust pollution, said Seoul will ask Beijing to conduct a joint artificial rain experiment over the sea…
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East Asia
N. Korean media airs documentary film on Trump-Kim summit
North Korea aired a documentary film on leader Kim Jong-un’s summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, reaffirming its willingness to continue negotiations despite the talks’ breakdown without a deal. The 75-minute feature, aired on Korean Central TV on Wednesday, said the two countries can write a new history and future…
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East Asia
N. Korea, Russia sign MOU on tourism cooperation
North Korea and Russia have signed an agreement to cooperate in the tourism industry, the North’s official news agency said Wednesday. The memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed in Moscow on Friday, according to the Korean Central News Agency. The report did not elaborate on the details of the agreement.…
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East Asia
Signs of N. Korea reassembling part of Dongchang-ri missile site detected: source
South Korea has detected signs of North Korea restoring an ancillary building of its Dongchang-ri long-range missile launch site that it partially disassembled last year, a government source in Seoul said Wednesday. On Tuesday, Beyond Parallel, a project of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said that…
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East Asia
Gov’t to limit operation of coal power plants to curb fine dust pollution
South Korea’s industry ministry said Wednesday it will regulate the operation of coal power plants to reduce emissions of fine dust as the country faced its worst level of pollution in recent days. The Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy said it will move to have 60 coal power…
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East Asia
S. Korean banks’ household lending grows faster in February
Household lending extended by South Korea’s major banks picked up the pace in February due to the growth in credit loans, market data showed Tuesday. The country’s five major lenders — KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Woori, KEB Hana, and Nonghyup — had 573.91 trillion won (US$509.87 billion) in outstanding household loans…
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East Asia
President Moon calls for joint action with China to reduce fine dust
South Korean President Moon Jae-in ordered his government Wednesday to work together with China to fight fine dust pollution, his office Cheong Wa Dae said. South Korea has suffered from the worst particulate matter pollution this week with a large portion of the fine dust believed to be blown…
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East Asia
After Singapore, Can Sizzle Be Replaced With Steak?
WHAT can face-to-face diplomacy between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un achieve? It is wisest not to expect a revolutionary change in Trump’s approach and instead for him to play to his strengths: ceremony and personal relationships. On substance, the South Korean-led process should be…
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East Asia
Moody’s revises down 2019, 2020 economic growth outlooks for S. Korea
Global credit rating setter Moody’s Investors Service revised down its outlook for South Korea’s economic growth for 2019 and 2020, its latest report showed Monday. “We forecast real GDP growth in South Korea slightly above 2 percent in both 2019 and 2020, markedly lower than the 2.7 pct growth in…
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