Yonhap News Summary

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

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(LEAD) Ruling party leaders resign en masse for election defeat

SEOUL -- The leaders of the ruling Democratic Party (DP) resigned en masse Thursday to take responsibility for the shocking rout in this week's by-elections.

"Taking responsibility for the results of the elections, all (members of) the DP leadership are stepping down," Rep. Kim Tae-nyeon, the party's acting chairman and floor leader, said in a press conference at the National Assembly.

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Main opposition interim leader steps down after steering party to election victory

SEOUL -- Kim Chong-in, the interim leader of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), resigned Thursday after steering the biggest conservative party to a landslide victory in the latest by-elections.

Kim took office as the caretaker leader of the biggest conservative party in June last year, following the party's crushing parliamentary election defeat in April.

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(LEAD) S. Korea set to resume AstraZeneca jabs amid lingering safety woes

SEOUL -- South Korea's health authorities on Thursday said they will resume administering AstraZeneca vaccines one day after suspending the vaccination program for certain groups over its safety, saying they will officially decide the issue over the weekend.

On Wednesday, the country suspended the use of vaccines by the British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant and Oxford University for people under age 60, special education instructors and school nurses.

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More than 80 percent of Koreans call for recalibration of Moon's policy direction

SEOUL -- More than 80 percent of South Koreans share the view that the Moon Jae-in government needs to recalibrate the direction of its key state administration policies, a poll showed Thursday.

According to the poll of 1,004 people earlier this week, 86 percent said the Moon government's policy direction should be partially or entirely changed after Wednesday's mayoral by-elections in Seoul and Busan.

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(LEAD) Key member of sexual blackmail ring gets 34 years in prison

ANDONG -- A court on Thursday sentenced a key member of an online sexual blackmail ring to 34 years in prison for coercing dozens of women and girls into sharing sexually explicit videos of themselves.

A district court in the southeastern city of Andong convicted Moon Hyung-wook, 24, of operating the sexual exploitation chatrooms on Telegram and producing and distributing thousands of obscene videos of female victims.

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Tests on 5,002 people find only 26 have coronavirus antibodies: KDCA

SEOUL -- Only 26 of 5,002 people in the greater Seoul area have antibodies against the novel coronavirus, a test showed Thursday, reinforcing views that the nation's aggressive containment efforts might have curbed the prevalence of the virus.

However, the antibody rate of 0.52 percent among those in the wider Seoul area, which includes Gyeonggi Province and Incheon City, was higher than a rate of 0.15 percent in last year's antibody test, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

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(LEAD) LG to support smartphone OS updates for up to 3 yrs even after closure

SEOUL -- LG Electronics Inc. said Thursday it will offer extended software upgrades for its smartphones as the company is set to depart from the mobile business.

LG's mobile operating system (OS) update guarantee will be extended by one year. LG's premium smartphone users can now get OS updates for three years, while people using LG's budget handsets can receive upgrades for up to two years.

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