Yonhap News Summary

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

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(LEAD) Moon-Ahn gap shrinks to 3 pct points: survey

SEOUL -- Runner-up presidential hopeful Ahn Cheol-soo of the center-left People's Party further narrowed his gap with front-runner Moon Jae-in to only 3 percentage points in a hypothetical multiple-candidate race, a survey showed Friday.

In the weekly survey, conducted between Tuesday and Thursday by local pollster Gallup Korea, Ahn garnered a support rating of 35 percent, up 16 percentage points from a week earlier. Moon posted 38 percent, a gain of 7 percentage points.

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(3rd LD) Samsung Electronics' Q1 operating profit estimated at 9.9 tln won

SEOUL, April 7 -- Samsung Electronics Co. predicted Friday that its first-quarter operating profit for this year advanced 48.2 percent on-year, apparently helped by the robust performance of its chip business.

Operating profit is estimated at 9.9 trillion won (US$8.76 billion) in the January-March period, compared with 6.68 trillion won posted a year earlier, the South Korean tech giant said in its regulatory filing.

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(LEAD) U.N. Security Council adopts statement condemning N.K. missile launch

NEW YORK/SEOUL, April 6 (Yonhap) -- The U.N. Security Council on Thursday unanimously adopted a statement strongly condemning North Korea's latest missile launch.

It was the fourth time this year the Security Council has adopted a press statement on North Korea.

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(Yonhap Interview) Naturalized half-Korean hockey player confident S. Korea can win at PyeongChang Olympics

GANGNEUNG, South Korea -- South Korea may have lost all seven games against Japan in women's hockey -- by a whopping margin of 106-1 at that -- but in the minds of Randi Griffin, a naturalized half-Korean forward, those numbers won't mean much at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

South Korea, ranked 23rd in the world and still a fledgling program for the most part, has only earned an automatic Olympic berth as the host. Japan, ranked seventh, played its way into the competition, taking down Germany, France and Australia in the final qualification tournament two months ago.

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(LEAD) Hyundai, Kia to recall 171,348 vehicles in S. Korea for potentially faulty engines

SEOUL -- Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. will recall more than 170,000 vehicles in South Korea for potentially faulty engines to ensure the safety of their customers, the transport ministry and the companies said Friday.

Hyundai and Kia, South Korea's two biggest carmakers, will voluntarily begin the engine checks on 171,348 units in five different vehicles starting May 22, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement. The cars that may need the change are the Grandeur (HG) and the Sonata (YF) sedans by Hyundai, and Kia's K7 (VG) and K5 (TF) sedans along with Sportage (SL) sport-utility vehicles.

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(3rd LD) Trump says friendship developed with China's Xi, anticipates 'very, very great relationship'

WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday he has already developed a friendship with Chinese President Xi Jinping and looks forward to their "very, very great relationship," as he kicked off a series of crucial first meetings with Xi expected to focus on North Korea and trade.

"It is a great honor to have the president of China and his incredibly talented wife, a great, great celebrity in China, a great singer. It's a honor to have you in the United States," Trump said at the start of state dinner he hosted for Xi at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

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(Yonhap Feature) House remodeling booms as people liven up old homes

SEOUL -- Every block of drab, identical-looking high-rise apartments may be the first impression people get about homes in South Korea.

While that might be true to some extent, what looks about the same on the outside is never quite so on the inside, as these monolithic residences are being transformed into sleek and modern living spaces.

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