Yonhap News Summary

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

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Opposition leader Lee lashes out at gov't, calls for talks with Yoon

SEOUL -- Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung lashed out at the government of President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday for what he called an attempt to "annihilate" the opposition party amid a prosecution investigation into bribery allegations involving him.

Lee, chair of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), also renewed his calls for one-on-one talks with Yoon as he held his first official press conference, just two days after he was questioned by prosecutors over the bribery allegations.

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Samsung Biologics to invest 7.5 tln won to build new production facilities

SEOUL -- Samsung Biologics Co., the biotech arm of South Korea's Samsung Group, said Thursday it will invest 7.5 trillion won (US$6 billion) to build a new biomedicine production complex west of Seoul.

Samsung Biologics CEO John Rim said in the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco that the new bio complex, named Bio Campus II, will be built in Songdo, west of Seoul, where the company is headquartered, housing massive production facilities and an open innovation center to foster biotech firms.

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S. Korea's COVID-19 cases dip to lowest Thursday tally in 11 weeks

SEOUL -- South Korea's new COVID-19 cases fell to the lowest Thursday tally in 11 weeks, with rising imported cases putting health authorities on high alert.

The country reported 43,953 new COVID-19 infections, including 135 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 29,698,043, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

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(LEAD) Biden hails US$2.6 bln investment plan by S. Korea's Hanwha Solutions as 'big deal'

WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday welcomed Hanwha Solutions' plan to build a solar panel production facility in the U.S., calling it a "big deal" for American workers and the U.S. economy.

The U.S. leader insisted the planned investment is a "direct result" of his economic plan and the recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act.

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Appellate court upholds 25-year imprisonment for man in brutal murder

SEOUL -- An appellate court on Thursday upheld 25-year imprisonment for a 42-year-old man charged with brutally killing one of his employees by inserting a 70-centimeter rod into the victim's rectum.

The Seoul High Court approved a district court's earlier sentence for the man, only identified by his surname Han, for murdering the employee at a children's gym in Seoul with the plastic stick, which ruptured his organs and caused his death in December 2021.

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(Movie Review) 'Phantom' features stylish spy action with distinctive characters

SEOUL -- "Phantom" is a gripping, action-packed spy action flick set in Korea under the Japanese colonial rule in the 1930s, featuring director Lee Hae-young's stylish mise-en-scene and compelling characters.

Inspired by Chinese writer Mai Jia's 2009 novel "The Wind," the story begins with an underground anti-Japanese organization's failed attempt to assassinate the new Japanese resident-general on his first day in Seoul.
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