Yonhap News Summary

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

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(LEAD) Former U.N. chief Ban exchanges New Year's greetings with Park

SEOUL -- Former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday called impeached President Park Geun-hye to offer a New Year's greeting and express his gratitude for her support of the international organization's activities during his 10 years of service.

In the two-minute telephone conversation, Ban also voiced hopes that Park could "cope well" with the alleged corruption scandal involving her and her longtime friend, which led to parliament stripping her of her executive power early last month.

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THAAD site acquisition may be delayed for administrative reasons

SEOUL -- The military's acquisition of a site from Lotte Group for the deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defense system may be delayed due to administrative reasons involving the retail conglomerate, the defense ministry said Monday.

"The administrative process is underway to secure a golf course from the business group in exchange for a piece of state-owned military land. But the swap deal originally scheduled to be completed by January may be pushed back a bit due to the need to follow a set process by Lotte," Defense Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-gyun said in a press briefing.

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Korean shares down 0.52 pct in late morning trade

SEOUL -- South Korean shares traded lower late Monday morning as investors sold tech and chemical stocks for profit-taking.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 10.73 points, or 0.52 percent, to hit 2,066.06 as of 11:20 a.m.

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S. Korea's home transactions inch up in Dec.

SEOUL -- South Korea's home transactions continued to increase from a year earlier last month, the government said Monday, amid a move to limit the supply of new homes as a way of reducing household debt.

The number of home transactions came to 88,601 in December, up 0.8 percent from the same month in 2015, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

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Exports of industrial parts, materials shrink in 2016

SEJONG -- South Korea's exports of industrial parts and materials slipped last year from a year earlier due to weak global demand, government data showed Monday.

Outbound shipments of industrial parts and materials fell 4.8 percent on-year to US$251.9 billion, accounting for a record 50.8 percent of the country's overall exports last year, according to the data collected by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

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No indications of imminent ICBM launch at N. Korean launch site: 38 North

WASHINGTON -- Recent satellite imagery shows no indications that North Korea is close to carrying out its threat to test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile, but the communist nation is capable of conducting a launch at any time, a U.S. website monitoring the North said.

"While North Korea threatens to test an intercontinental ballistic missile ... commercial satellite imagery from November 2016 through January 2017 of the Sohae Satellite Launching Station provides no evidence of an imminent launch or engine test," 38 North said in a recent report.
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