Yonhap News Summary

The following is the second summary of major stories moved by Yonhap News Agency on Thursday.

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(LEAD) N. Korea's launch of Musudan missile ends in failure: military

SEOUL -- North Korea fired off what appeared to be its Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) early Thursday, but the launch seems to have ended in failure, a military official said.

The missile appears to be the same model that North Korea tried to launch on April 15, according to the insider.

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Park Tae-hwan wins 4th race at local meet

GWANGJU -- Former Olympic swimming champion Park Tae-hwan won his fourth race at a local meet on Thursday.

Park captured the men's 100m freestyle race in 48.91 seconds at the 88th Dong-A Swimming Competition in Gwangju, some 330 kilometers south of Seoul. It was the 30th-fastest time of the season, and well short of Park's personal best of 48.42 seconds set in February 2014.

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S. Korea to sell 7.7 tln won worth of state bonds in May

SEOUL -- The South Korean government plans to sell 7.7 trillion won (US$6.76 billion) worth of Treasury bills next month, the finance ministry said Thursday.

The new government Treasurys will be sold in five separate biddings, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.

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Samsung SDI's loss widens to over 700 bln won in Q1

SEOUL -- Samsung SDI Co. said Thursday it posted 703 billion won (US$ 614 million) in operating loss in the first quarter this year.

Its total revenue, however, grew 7.6 percent on-year to 1.3 trillion won during the period, the battery-making arm of Samsung Group said in a regulatory filing.

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(2nd LD) LG Electronics' net soars in Q1 on premium products

SEOUL -- South Korea's No. 2 tech giant LG Electronics Inc. said Thursday its first-quarter net profit jumped nearly five-fold from a year earlier, apparently helped by improved sales of premium home appliances and TV products.

Net profit came to 198.1 billion won (US$174 million) in the first quarter, compared to the 38.4 billion won posted a year earlier, the company said in its regulatory filing.

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(4th LD) Samsung Q1 net up 13.55 pct on strong Galaxy S7 sales

SEOUL -- South Korean top tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. said Thursday its net profit advanced 13.55 percent on-year in the first quarter, apparently helped by robust sales of its flagship smartphones.

Net income came to 5.25 trillion won (US$4.56 billion) in the January-March period, compared with 4.62 trillion won from a year earlier, Samsung said in its regulatory filing.

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Gov't to offer highest tax credits to new growth industries

SEJONG -- The South Korean government said Thursday that it will offer the highest tax credits available for research and development investment in new selected industries as part of its efforts to sophisticate the country's industrial structure to higher value-added lines and shift its policy focus to the service sector.

According to the plan endorsed by an economy-related ministers' meeting held in Seoul, companies that make R&D investment in new future industries such as Internet of Things, smart car and bio-medical technologies will be granted a 30-percent tax credit, the highest rate that the local tax code allows, up from the current 20 percent.
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