Yonhap News Summary

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

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(LEAD) S. Korea to maintain Level 1 social distancing under revised restriction measures

SEOUL -- South Korea will maintain Level 1 social distancing regulations under a revised five-tier scheme as the number of new cases remains below 100 this week, the health authority said Friday.

The new five-tier scheme, which takes effect Saturday, breaks the current three levels into five -- 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5 and 3 -- based on the average number of daily infections per week, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

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(LEAD) After-school child care workers launch strike over working conditions

SEOUL -- Hundreds of after-school child care workers at elementary schools began a one-day strike Friday, raising concerns about a void in child care for young students with working parents.

More than 6,000 after-school child care workers, about half their total number in the country, plan to take part in the strike, according to a national rights advocacy group for non-regular school workers.

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(2nd LD) New virus cases above 100 for 3rd day on chains of cluster infections

SEOUL -- South Korea's new coronavirus infections rose by triple digits for a third straight day Friday, due to an increase of cluster infections across the country, putting the country's virus fight at risk amid the approaching winter season.

The country added 145 more COVID-19 cases, including 117 local infections, raising the total caseload to 27,195, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

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S. Korea calls for U.S.-N. Korea talks in high-level security consultations

SEOUL -- A top South Korean national security official stressed the need Friday for the resumption of dialogue between North Korea and the United States, pointing out that the U.S. presidential election has come to an end.

Suh Hoon, director of national security at the presidential office, made the call during a virtual consultation session with his American and Japanese counterparts, Robert O'Brien and Shigeru Kitamura, Cheong Wa Dae said.

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Jeju Gov. Won urges Japan to treat Fukushima water as 'human, environmental security issue'

SEOUL/JEJU -- Jeju Gov. Won Hee-ryong called Friday for Japan to deal with the contaminated radioactive water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant as a "human, environmental security issue."

The governor made the remarks during the opening ceremony of the Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity, amid public concerns over Tokyo's possible discharge of the tritium-laced water in the ocean.

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S. Korea investigating 4 more suspected cases of bird flu

SEOUL -- South Korea said Friday that it is looking into four suspected cases of avian influenza found from wild bird droppings.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said it could take about five days to determine whether the virus is a highly pathogenic strain of bird flu.

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(2nd LD) KT's Q3 net up 8 pct on cost reduction

SEOUL -- KT Corp., a major South Korean telecom operator, said Friday its net income rose 7.9 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier due to cost reduction.

Net income reached 230.1 billion won (US$204 million) in the July-September period, compared with a profit of 213.3 billion won the same quarter a year earlier, according to a regulatory filing.

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(2nd LD) (US election) Biden inches closer to possible victory amid slow vote counting

WASHINGTON -- The United States -- and the rest of the world -- continued to wait Thursday for the outcome of the presidential election as vote counting progressed at a snail's pace two days after the polls closed, with Democratic candidate Joe Biden holding razor-thin leads in key states.

Both Biden and President Donald Trump still had a chance to win, but the former vice president was nearing a surprise victory in at least three of the six key battleground states that were all won by Trump in the 2016 election.

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Man sentenced to life in prison for brutally murdering two women

JEONJU, South Korea -- A man has been sentenced to a life imprisonment for brutally murdering two women and abandoning their bodies, a local court said Friday.

The Jeonju District Court delivered the life sentence to Choi Shin-jong, 31, convicting him of murder and robbery, as well as rape and abandonment of dead bodies, according to court officials.
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