Yonhap News Summary

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

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Latest U.S. food aid to arrive in N. Korea in mid-January: report
SEOUL -- The latest U.S. shipment of food aid will arrive in North Korea in
mid-January, completing the delivery of a third of its pledged assistance,
according to the Voice of America on Friday.
Washington in May promised Pyongyang 500,000 tons of food aid over the span of a
year as relations warmed with some progress in multilateral efforts to
denuclearize North Korea.
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Seoul offers loans to help stem losses from N. Korea tour suspension
SEOUL -- South Korea will extend government loans to investors in tours to a
North Korean mountain resort to help stem mounting losses from the suspended
project, officials said Friday.
The Unification Ministry handling inter-Korean affairs approved a motion to
provide the loans worth 7 billion won (US$5.4 million) out of its inter-Korean
cooperation fund for investors in the Mount Kumgang tour project, ministry
spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun said.
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S. Korea, Japanese vice FMs to discuss security issues
SEOUL -- South Korea and Japan will hold "strategic dialogue" between their vice
foreign ministers in Seoul next week on the North Korean nuclear program and
other issues of mutual concern, Seoul's foreign ministry said Friday.
In the meeting between Vice Foreign Minister Kwon Jong-rak and his counterpart
Mitoji Yabunaka on Monday, they will have "in-depth discussions on the North
Korean nuclear issue, the regional security condition, and ways to cooperate in
the international community as well as measures to follow up on the South
Korea-Japan summit held in Fukuoka on Dec. 13," the ministry said.
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S. Korea's export sentiment hits record low for Q1 of next year
SEOUL -- Export sentiment in South Korea sank to its lowest-ever level for the
first quarter of next year as the deepening global downturn weakens demand for
goods, a survey showed Friday.
The export business sentiment index dropped to 33.4 for the January-March period
next year, compared with 82.8 in the current quarter, a research unit of the
Korea International Trade Association (KITA) said in its survey of 802 exporters.
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Gov't sets 2009 export target at US$450 bln
SEOUL -- The government said Friday it will try to modestly increase exports in
2009 by implementing a full range of support measures despite a deepening global
economic recession.
In a policy report to President Lee Myung-bak, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy
said it is aiming to achieve exports of US$450 billion next year, up from the
$420 billion expected for 2008 but sharply down from its earlier goal of $500
billion.
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Opposition party seizes main Assembly hall over reform bills
SEOUL -- South Korea's rival parties on Friday escalated their disputes over a
dozen media and economic reform bills, with lawmakers of the main opposition
Democratic Party (DP) forcibly seizing the National Assembly's plenary session
hall to block voting on the disputed bills.
In a blitzkrieg style move, about 50 DP legislators rushed into the Assembly's
plenary session hall early Friday morning after an intra-party meeting and shut
down all entrances to the hall, insisting that the ruling Grand National Party
(GNP) may attempt to unilaterally pass all the contested bills before the year's
end.
(END)