Yonhap News Summary

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

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(LEAD) (CES) LG CEO vows to drive growth with diversified business portfolio

LAS VEGAS -- LG Electronics Inc. will continue to diversify its business portfolio well beyond home appliances and seek new ways to drive growth, its top executive said Wednesday.

"While continuing to invest in its core business technologies like artificial intelligence and 6G, LG is expanding its business into electric vehicle charging, digital health and webOS-based content service," CEO Cho Joo-wan said during a press event one day ahead of the opening of CES 2023.

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U.S. concerned about N. Korea's disregard of military agreement with S. Korea: State Dept.

WASHINGTON -- The United States is concerned about North Korea's disregard of a tension-reduction agreement it signed with South Korea in 2018, a state department official said Wednesday.

"We are concerned about the DPRK's apparent disregard of the 2018 comprehensive military agreement, and we call on it to end its irresponsible and escalatory behavior," department press secretary Ned Price said during a daily press briefing.

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(CES) Samsung presents connected home as future way of life

LAS VEGAS -- Samsung Electronics Co. on Wednesday brought attention to its efforts to make connected and sustainable homes a future way of life.

During a press conference held a day before the official opening of the annual CES in Las Vegas, the South Korean tech giant shared its vision to create a future where all home gadgets are connected and seamlessly communicate with each other to make people's lives easier and more convenient.

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(LEAD) Son Heung-min ends drought in Spurs' rout of Crystal Palace

SEOUL -- Tottenham Hotspur's South Korean star Son Heung-min has found the back of the net for the first time in nine Premier League matches.

Son scored off his left foot in the 72nd minute of Spurs' 4-0 victory over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in London on Wednesday (local time).

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Yoon's office considers suspending 2018 inter-Korean summit agreement

SEOUL -- The office of President Yoon Suk Yeol is considering suspending a 2018 inter-Korean summit agreement if North Korea violates the South's territory again, officials said Thursday.

The Pyongyang Joint Declaration was signed by then President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un after their September 2018 summit in Pyongyang.

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Seoul lifts citywide 35-story limit on apartment buildings

SEOUL -- The city government of Seoul on Thursday lifted a citywide 35-story limit on apartment buildings to allow more flexible city planning and more colorful landscapes, officials said.

The city will abolish the blanket cap that had been applied to Grade-3 residential buildings across Seoul and permit the maintenance of skylines befitting conditions of each district, according to a long-term basic city design plan announced earlier in the day.

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(LEAD) N. Korean drone penetrated no-fly zone around S. Korea's presidential office: official

SEOUL -- A North Korean drone briefly entered a 3.7-kilometer-radius no-fly zone around the office of President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul last month, a military official belatedly confirmed Thursday, reversing the defense authorities' announcement that there was no such incident.

The drone was among the five unmanned aerial vehicles that the North sent across the Military Demarcation Line separating the two Koreas on Dec. 26. The South Korean military failed to shoot them down, raising questions over its air defense posture.

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Hyundai, Kia U.S. sales fall 1 pct amid chip shortage in 2022

SEOUL -- Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Corp. said Thursday their combined sales in the United States fell 1 percent in 2022 from a year earlier amid a prolonged chip shortage.

Hyundai and Kia sold a total of 1.47 million vehicles in the world's most important automobile market last year, down from 1.49 million units the previous year, according to the companies' sales data.

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S. Korea secures world's No. 1 spot in high-priced vessels construction in 2022

SEOUL -- South Korean shipbuilders received the largest orders in four years in 2022, and the country ranked the world's No. 1 in terms of the construction of high-priced and eco-friendly vessels, the industry ministry said Thursday.

Local shipbuilders won orders of a total of 15.59 million compensated gross tons last year, accounting for 37 percent of the orders placed worldwide, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said, citing data from Clarkson Research Services Ltd.
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