Yonhap News Summary

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

-----------------
Yoon orders complementary measure on proposed longer workweek

SEOUL -- President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered the government to take a complementary measure on a proposed longer workweek, a senior presidential official said Thursday, amid backlash from young people who complain it could deteriorate their work-life balance.

The government has proposed a revision allowing the legal cap on weekly work hours to be raised to 69 hours from 52 hours on the condition that the total work hours in a month or longer periods do not exceed the limit in the current 52-hour workweek system.

-----------------
(LEAD) Yoon leaves for Japan for summit with Kishida

SEOUL -- President Yoon Suk Yeol left for Japan on Thursday for a summit with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on a trip signaling a significant warming of long-strained relations following the resolution of a row over wartime forced labor.

The two-day visit is South Korea's first bilateral presidential trip to the neighboring nation in 12 years, an illustration showing how long the relations between the two countries have been frayed over historical disputes.

-----------------
Forced labor victims file lawsuit to collect compensation from Mitsubishi's Korean firm

SEOUL -- Two victims of wartime forced labor by Japan have filed a lawsuit seeking to collect compensation from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' affiliate in South Korea, their legal representatives said Thursday.

One surviving victim and bereaved family members of the other victim lodged the suit against Mitsubishi on Wednesday, asking the Seoul Central District Court to allow them to collect compensation from MH Power Systems Korea, a sub-subsidiary of the Japanese firm.

-----------------
(3rd LD) N. Korea fires one apparent ICBM ahead of S. Korea-Japan summit

SEOUL -- North Korea fired a long-range ballistic missile toward the East Sea on Thursday, Seoul's military said, hours before summit talks between the leaders of South Korea and Japan on pending bilateral issues and regional security.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch from the Sunan area in Pyongyang at 7:10 a.m., and the missile, fired at a lofted angle, flew some 1,000 kilometers before splashing into the sea. A month earlier, the North test-fired a Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Observers have raised the possibility of Pyongyang launching a solid-fuel ICBM, which is faster to fire and harder to spot in advance of take-off.

-----------------
Banks urged to brace for fallout from 2 bank failures in U.S.

SEOUL -- South Korea's financial authorities called on local banks to ramp up efforts to prepare for possible crises amid the fallout from the collapses of two U.S. banks, officials said Thursday.

The call came after the recent failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, which sparked concerns over their impact on the global financial market and America's monetary tightening.

-----------------
SK Inc. to sell stake in U.S. car-sharing platform with eyes on Southeast Asia

SEOUL -- SK Inc., the holding company of South Korea's SK Group, said Thursday it is selling its entire stake in a U.S. car-sharing company as it seeks to make further inroads into the fast-growing mobility market in Southeast Asia.

SK Inc. will sell its 2.98 percent stake in Turo, a San Francisco-based peer-to-peer vehicle car-sharing company, to an existing shareholder, G Squared, for US$67.5 million, the Seoul-based company said in a release.

-----------------
Marriages in S. Korea hit fresh low in 2022

SEJONG -- The number of marriages in South Korea crashed to yet another record low in 2022, data showed Thursday, adding to concerns over the country's already plunging birth rate.

Around 192,000 couples tied the knot in Asia's No. 4 economy last year, slipping 0.4 percent from 2021, according to the data from Statistics Korea.

(END)