Yonhap News Summary

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

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(2nd LD) Suspected N. Korean drones trespass across border with S. Korea: Seoul officials

HOENGSEONG/SEOUL -- Suspected North Korean drones crossed the inter-Korean border Monday without South Korea's permission, officials here said, prompting the deployment of fighter jets, choppers and other assets to shoot them down.

The South's military detected multiple "unidentified objects," presumed to be unmanned aerial vehicles, in border areas of Gyeonggi Province from 10:25 a.m., according to an official at the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

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(LEAD) S. Korea expedites transition to low-carbon structure over EU's carbon tax scheme

SEOUL -- South Korea vowed Monday to extend support to achieve a low-emission production structure in an effort to minimize the impact of envisioned European Union carbon import regulations and to strengthen industry competitiveness.

The EU recently decided to implement the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) that calls for levying an import charge on steel, cement, electricity, fertilizer, aluminum and other related items equivalent to their carbon emissions from production.

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Yongsan Ward office chief attends court hearing on arrest warrant over Itaewon crush

SEOUL -- Yongsan Ward office chief Park Hee-young on Monday attended a court hearing on an arrest warrant sought against her on charges of failing to take steps to prevent and promptly respond to the deadly crowd crush in Seoul's Itaewon neighborhood.

Park was accused of professional negligence resulting in death for failing to draw up sufficient accident prevention measures for Halloween crowds and to promptly respond to the Oct. 29 crowd crush in Yongsan's Itaewon district that killed 158 people.

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Front lawn of presidential office to open to public in spring

SEOUL -- The front lawn of the presidential office is expected to open to the public as early as April after the required budget passed through parliament last week, officials said Monday.

The land surrounding the presidential office was previously used as a U.S. military base and is currently in the process of being transformed into a large public park, or Yongsan Park, following its return to the South Korean government.

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Flights temporarily suspended at Incheon, Gimpo airports for unknown reason

SEOUL -- South Korea's transport ministry said Monday it temporarily suspended flights at the Gimpo and Incheon international airports, but it didn't specify the reason.

At the request of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said it had banned flights at the country's two major airports for about an hour Monday afternoon.

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BIGBANG's Taeyang signs with YG-affiliated label

SEOUL -- Taeyang of boy group BIGBANG has signed a management contract with The Black Label headed by K-pop producer Teddy, his former agency said Monday.

"BIGBANG's Taeyang came to work as an artist of The Black Label affiliated with YG Entertainment," YG said in a press release.

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Jeju draws all-time high of 13.59 mln domestic tourists this year

JEJU, South Korea, Dec. 26 (Yonhap) -- An all-time high of 13.59 million South Koreans visited the southern resort island of Jeju this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Jeju Tourism Association said Monday.

A total of 13.68 million people from home and abroad visited Jeju between Jan. 1 and Dec. 25, up about 16 percent from the same period last year, and more than 99 percent, or 13.59 million, of them were local tourists, according to the association.
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