Yonhap News Summary

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

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Yongsan police, ward chiefs, 2 others booked for probe over Itaewon crowd crush

SEOUL -- The now-suspended police chief in the district of Yongsan has been booked for an investigation, along with the head of the Yongsan Ward office and two others, on charges of professional negligence resulting in death in connection with the deadly Itaewon crowd crush, officials said Monday.

Police and fire authorities, and the Yongsan Ward office have been under fire following revelations that there had been warning signs before the deadly accident, but they did little to prevent it or to respond in a timely manner.

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Interior minister, police chief apologize again over Halloween crowd crush

SEOUL -- The interior minister and the police chief apologized again Monday over the deadly Halloween crowd crush amid criticism of the way the government and police responded to the tragedy, and vowed to devise measures to prevent similar disasters.

Interior Minister and Safety Lee Sang-min told a parliamentary meeting he apologizes for "hurting people's hearts" with his remarks that the Halloween crowd in Itaewon was not "worryingly large" compared with previous years and the accident would not have been avoidable even if police officers and firefighters had been deployed to the area in advance.

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U.N. refugee agency chief to visit Seoul this week to discuss global refugee issue

SEOUL -- The chief of the United Nations refugee agency will visit South Korea this week to meet with scholars and government officials and call for their continuous attention and support for the global humanitarian crisis, its Seoul office said Monday.

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi is scheduled to arrive in Seoul on Wednesday for a three-day trip for meetings with officials from the foreign and justice ministries on the situation of global refugees.

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Regulator to intensify monitoring of property-related financing, punish firms bent on short-term profits

SEOUL -- South Korea will beef up monitoring of the money market for property development in a way that instability in the area will not spill over and undermine the health of the overall financial industry, the top official of the country's financial regulator said Monday.

Lee Bok-hyun, head of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), also said he will hold financial firms accountable that have been bent only on making short-term profits without making proper efforts for risk management.

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Opposition leader calls for China's 'constructive' role amid N.K. threats

SEOUL -- Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung met with Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming on Monday and stressed the importance of China's "constructive" role for regional peace in the wake of a series of North Korean missile launches.

"The tension on the Korean Peninsula has escalated to a grave situation as North Korea's military provocations continue," Rep. Lee of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) told the top envoy during their meeting at the National Assembly.

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(News Focus) 'Korean paper' hit hard by insurer's uncalled bonds

SEOUL -- Foreign currency-denominated securities sold by South Korean financial institutions have taken a big hit from a local insurer's recent decision not to exercise a call option for long-term hybrid bonds, which is widely feared to negatively affect their future overseas issues.

A week ago, second-tier insurer Heungkuk Life Insurance Co. decided to delay exercising a Nov. 9 call option for hybrid bonds worth US$500 million issued in 2017, citing unfavorable market conditions stemming mainly from the U.S. Federal Reserve's continued hawkish stance.

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S. Korea's Navy retrieves suspected debris of NK missile that flew over NLL last week

SEOUL -- South Korea's Navy said Monday it has retrieved what is presumed to be the debris of a ballistic missile that North Korea fired southward last week past its de facto maritime border with the South in the East Sea.

"The South's Navy on Sunday collected what is presumed to be the debris of the North's short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) in waters south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL)," Col. Kim Jun-rak, spokesperson for the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), said at a regular press briefing.

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Seoul shares advance for 2nd straight session on tech, auto gains

SEOUL -- South Korean stocks advanced for a second straight session Monday, as institutions and foreigners picked up tech, auto and other issues oversold in the wake of the Legoland fiasco. The Korean won jumped against the U.S. dollar.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 23.36 points, or 0.99 percent, to close at 2,371.79 points.
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