Yonhap News Summary

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

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(2nd LD) S. Korea to closely monitor market after Fed's aggressive monetary tightening

SEOUL -- South Korea will keep close tabs on the financial market following the Federal Reserve's overnight rate hike decision as worries are growing over heightening volatility from the U.S.' aggressive monetary tightening, the country's top financial policymaker said Thursday.

On Wednesday (U.S. time), the Fed decided to hike its interest rate by 0.75 percentage point in the latest move to tighten monetary policy and tame soaring inflation. It marked the first such steep rate increase since November 1994.

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(LEAD) Coast Guard apologizes over controversial speculation on death of fisheries official

SEOUL -- The Coast Guard on Thursday apologized for having previously presumed a South Korean fisheries official killed by North Korea's military near the western sea border in 2020 was attempting to voluntarily defect to the North.

Reversing its own previous assumption of the fisheries official's possible intention to defect to North Korea, the Coast Guard said that it has not found any circumstances suggesting he was attempting to defect.

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(News Focus) Tax cut drive feared to worsen fiscal health; focus on rich, biz circles draws criticism

SEOUL -- South Korea's plan to cut taxes is aimed at supporting private sector-led economic growth, but could conflict with the government's avowed goal of improving its fiscal health.

The tax cuts are mostly made up of corporate and property tax reductions, and are expected to stir controversy over the policy effect as some critics worry that they would benefit only the rich and conglomerates.

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Top court strikes down 8-yr prison term for woman in mysterious child death case

SEOUL -- The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down an eight-year prison term for a woman charged in the mysterious disappearance and deaths of two 3-year-old girls, citing the lack of concrete evidence proving her culpability.

The top court sent the case back to the Daegu District Court for a retrial on the grounds that more court hearings are necessary to illuminate the motive and methodology of her alleged crime amid the lack of evidence.

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Ministry to form environmental assessment body for THAAD unit 'normalization'

SEOUL -- South Korea's Defense Ministry plans to form a government-civilian consultative body for the long-delayed environmental impact assessment of a U.S. THAAD missile defense unit here to expeditiously push for its "normalization," ministry officials said Thursday.

The ministry requested that related environmental organizations and provincial authorities recommend members of the envisioned body for the assessment of the unit in Seongju, some 300 kilometers south of Seoul.

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Seoul stocks snap 7-day losing streak on eased Fed policy uncertainty

SEOUL -- South Korean stocks rebounded slightly Thursday, ending their seven-day losing streak, as uncertainty over the future course by the U.S. Federal Reserve eased somewhat after its sharpest rate hike in almost three decades. The local currency rose against the U.S. dollar.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 4.03 points, or 0.16 percent, to close at 2,451.41, after erasing most of its earlier gains. The index hit an intraday high of 2,500.36.

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(LEAD) K League 1 season resumes as contenders clash for 2nd time

SEOUL -- After more than two weeks off during the FIFA international match window, the top South Korean football league will be back in action on the weekend, with two title contenders set for their second showdown of the season.

Ulsan Hyundai FC entered the break atop the K League 1 tables with 36 points, 10 ahead of Jeju United. Ulsan are undefeated in their past five matches.

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