Yonhap News Summary

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

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Monetary policy should focus on anchoring inflation expectations at stable point: BOK report

SEOUL -- South Korea's monetary policy needs to focus on anchoring inflation expectations at a stable point in a bid to preemptively prevent unstable sentiment among economic players from causing already high inflation to further rise, a central bank report said Thursday.

In the report submitted to the parliament to explain past monetary policy decisions and provide future policy directions, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said that high inflation will likely continue for a longer-than-expected period since recently elevated inflation expectations could result in accelerating price growth.

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Seoul shares trim earlier gains amid recession woes

SEOUL -- Seoul stocks trimmed earlier gains late Thursday morning on continued foreign selling amid concerns over the Federal Reserve's aggressive rate hikes to tackle inflation and a possible global recession.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 0.35 percent, or 8.22 points, to 2,384.68 as of 11:20 a.m.

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(LEAD) Unification minister proposes talks with N. Korea on separated families

SEOUL -- South Korea's unification minister publicly proposed talks with North Korea to discuss the issue of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, stressing the urgency of resolving it Thursday.

Kwon Young-se issued a statement offering inter-Korean dialogue on the eve of the Chuseok holiday, which is one of the biggest annual celebrations for both South and North Koreans.

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POSCO aims to restart stalled furnaces in Pohang on Saturday

SEOUL -- POSCO, South Korea's top steelmaker, said Thursday it aims to restart stalled furnaces in Pohang this weekend, which have remained shuttered due to damage from Typhoon Hinnamnor.

POSCO suspended operations of three blast furnaces in Pohang, an industrial city located 272 kilometers southeast of Seoul, as the typhoon caused flooding of power supply stations and other related facilities earlier this week.

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S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases hit 7-week low for Thursday as virus wanes

SEOUL -- South Korea's COVID-19 pandemic continued its downward trend, with the daily cases falling to the lowest for a Thursday figure in seven weeks.

The country reported 72,646 new COVID-19 infections, including 229 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 23,864,560, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

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Yoon to meet with U.S. Vice President Harris in Seoul on Sept. 29

SEOUL -- President Yoon Suk-yeol will meet with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris in Seoul on Sept. 29 and discuss the bilateral alliance, North Korea and other issues of mutual interest, his office said Thursday.

Harris's visit comes four months after U.S. President Joe Biden visited Seoul for a summit with Yoon shortly after the South Korean president took office.

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(LEAD) S. Korea, U.S. agree to launch high-level talks on U.S. Inflation Reduction Act

WASHINGTON -- South Korea and the United States have agreed to quickly launch ministerial level talks on ways to minimize damage from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) on South Korean carmakers, South Korean Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun said Wednesday.

Ahn made the remarks after meeting with U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai.

"We will discuss specific dates and other details (of the launch) as quickly as possible, but I plan to meet USTR Tai every week, including next week and week after that," the South Korean official told reporters.

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S. Korean players victorious in 1st UEFA Champions League group matches

SEOUL -- Son Heung-min of Tottenham Hotspur and Kim Min-jae of Napoli, the only two South Koreans in the UEFA Champions League this season, each enjoyed a win in their first group stage matches at the top European club competition.

In his Champions League debut, Kim played the full match at center back, as Napoli hammered Liverpool 4-1 in their Group A opener at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in Naples, Italy, on Wednesday (local time).

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