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About this Episode
The latest news from home and abroad, with a close eye on Northeast Asia and the Korean Peninsula in particular
Hosts & Guests
Transcript
From Seoul, Korea, KBS World Radio News today starts right now.
On today's broadcast, President E.J.
U.S. government to prepare responses to every foreseeable issue as the Middle East crisis
worsens to global economic and security environments.
South Korean stocks rebound sharply, jumping nearly 10 percent on the back of intense bargaining,
after seeing the steepest decline in history amid the Middle East crisis.
And the U.S. government says its attacks on Iran will sever its path to nuclear weapons
and send plenty of signals to nations that have criticized the operation, including North Korea.
This is KBS World Radio News, I'm Daniel Che.
President E.J.
U.S. government to prepare responses to every foreseeable issue as the Middle East crisis
worsens to global economic and security environments.
While presiding over a cabinet meeting at the presidential office on Thursday, E.J. said
financial markets around the world face great uncertainty and that he expects considerable
difficulties in the energy, economic and industrial sectors.
The president called for an immediate response to fluctuations in the stock in foreign exchange
markets in order the implementation of a market stabilization program worth $111, or
around $68 billion U.S. dollars.
He ordered officials to pay heed to energy supply, demand and price instability affecting
bread and butter issues, to stabilize supplies of crude oil, gas and naphtha, and to diversify
imports and added that those seeking benefits from fake news and price manipulation should
be held strictly to account.
He also asked a government to prepare an emergency evacuation plan for South Koreans
currently in the Middle East coordinate with allies and mobilize all available transportation.
South Korean stocks rebounded sharply on Thursday, jumping nearly 10 percent on the bag of intense
bargain hunting a day after the bore saw its steepest decline in history amid the Middle
East crisis.
At a benchmark Korea composed a stock price index on Thursday gained 490.69 points or 9.63
percent to close at 5,584.23, partially making up for Wednesday's 12.06 percent tumble
amid investor fears that the Iran crisis could weigh heavily on the export-driven South
Korean economy.
After opening 3.09 percent higher, the benchmark index shot up by as much as 12.2 percent
intraday trading, but later narrowed its gains.
The Korea Exchange, the country's main force operator halted program by orders of cost
fee futures for 5 minutes, starting at 9.06 a.m.
The tech heavy cosnag also gained 137.97 points or 14.1 percent to close at 1,1116.41.
A group of 79 South Korean tourists is scheduled to return home from Dubai as the Middle East
crisis continues to disrupt airport operations.
According to sources in South Korea's tourism industry, 36 people traveling on Hanah
tour packaged tours departed from Dubai and Wednesday and returned home Thursday afternoon
via Taipei.
Other motor tour tours to boarded a plane early Thursday are also scheduled to arrive
at Inchant International Airport on Thursday night after a stopover in Taipei.
Travelers from Qatar and other countries in the region are returning home without any
disruptions.
An estimated 330 people remain stranded in Dubai due to cancel flights and travel agencies
are scrambling to book replacement transportation via Taiwan or Southeast Asia.
The US government said its attacks on Iran will sever its path to nuclear weapons and
send plenty of signals to nations that have criticized the operation, including North Korea
and China.
During a press briefing at the Pentagon on Wednesday, US Secretary of War Pete Hagseth said
other nations' reactions don't really bear on the United States dealing with Iran.
When asked if he had a message for Iran's allies, namely Russia and China, that have
called for an immediate end to hostilities, Hagseth said those nations did not factor into
the matter and that the US takes issue with the nuclear ambitions of Iran.
The remarks come after North Korea condemned the military strikes as an unlawful act of
aggression and gross violation of sovereignty in a statement on Sunday.
Iran is also called on the United States to respect Iran's sovereignty, security, and territory.
Amid rising tensions in the Middle East, the Iranian and Israeli ambassadors to solve
respectively held news conferences on Thursday on the latest conflict in the region.
Iranian ambassador to South Korea, Saeed Kuzechi, called on the US-Israeli attacks on
his country as a war crime committed before the eyes of the world while warning that Iran
will not hide and boldly face its aggressors.
He said the aggressors have embarked on a dangerous military adventure in West Asia while ignoring
international laws and regulations as well as facing moral principles.
In his news conference held around the same time, Israeli ambassador to South Korea stressed
that the latest attacks were a preemptive defense measure for national security.
You are now listening to the news from KBS World Radio's new center in Seoul, Korea.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un oversaw a new destroyer's test firing of strategic cruise
missiles and inspected the vessel for the second day in a row of its commissioning.
The state-run Korean central news agency said on Thursday that came at checked up on the
5,000-class Cheyhen at a shipyard in the western port city of Nampo on Tuesday and Wednesday.
After reviewing the troops' vessel management and operational capabilities, Kim determined
that the destroyer had satisfied operational requirements and called it a new symbol of
the regime's maritime defense power.
They ordered the construction of two vessels of the same class or higher each year under
the regime's new five-year development plan and said the Navy's nuclear armament was proceeding
satisfactorily.
The regime leader also observed the firing of strategic cruise missiles from the destroyer.
Apartment prices in Seoul's affluent Yongsan District and three Kangnam areas have fallen
for the second consecutive week amid government efforts to quell the heated housing market.
According data from the Korea Real Estate Board released Thursday, the average on-week
rise in Seoul slowed for the fifth straight-week from 0.11% to 0.09% in the first week of March.
Moreover, prices in the three affluent areas south of the river, Pakangnam, Sokcho, and
Songpa districts fell for the second straight-week with Songpa seeing the biggest slide at 0.09%.
Those in the popular Yongsan District also dropped 0.05%.
Prices in other areas of Seoul slowed with a margin of increase in Kuro narrowing from
0.17% to 0.09% that of no one district down from 0.16% to 0.12% and Kangbuk from 0.07%
to 0.04%.
Tsawade will open the Mount Bougague area behind the presidential compound to 24-hour
public access.
The Presidential Security Service said in a statement Thursday that the move aimed to provide
more convenience for people wishing to visit the area by removing the time restrictions
on hiking trails which it only allowed access to certain areas during big daylight hours.
The Security Service said it plans to maintain tight security and surveillance in the area
in cooperation with the Capital Defense Command.
In line with the move, the National Heritage Administration plans to set up six information
centers this month at trail entrances around Mount Bougague.
The mountainous area behind the presidential compound had been heavily restricted for more
than five decades following the so-called Blue-Hazade or the January 21 incident in 1968
during which North Korean commandos infiltrated the south and tracked through Mount Bougague
in an attempt to assassinate then-president Park Jong-hee.
And that's the news from KBS World Radio's new centering soul, Sassman Daniel Che.
KBS World Radio.
