Yonhap News Summary

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

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DP orders inspection on lawmaker over cryptocurrency trading during parliamentary meetings

SEOUL -- Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung on Friday ordered an ethics inspection of fellow lawmaker Kim Nam-kuk over his suspected cryptocurrency transaction during parliamentary meetings, according to the party's spokesperson.

Kim of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) has been under intense media and public scrutiny following revelations he had owned around 800,000 Wemix coins in 2021, worth around 6 billion won (US$4.5 million), a significant amount inconsistent with his frugal image.

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(2nd LD) Top-notch experts to inspect Japan's crippled Fukushima power plant: gov't

SEOUL -- Top-notch experts will comprise an inspection team South Korea plans to send to Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant later this month for safety checks ahead of the planned release of radioactive water from the plant, the government said Friday.

The team plans to carry out on-site inspection activities on May 23-24 over the controversial water release, as agreed upon during a summit between President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Sunday.

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(LEAD) 'Patience, diplomatic skill' necessary in Korea-Japan talks about Fukushima visit: U.S. amb.

SEOUL -- South Korea and Japan should exercise "patience and diplomatic skill" during talks about details of a planned inspection visit by South Korean experts to Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg said Friday.

Goldberg made the remark during a Q&A session after a lecture at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, as South Korea and Japan opened a working-level meeting in Seoul to determine specifics of the inspection, stressing that the overall objective of such an inspection is to make bilateral relations better.

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City Hall to conduct test flights of 'flying vehicles' over Seoul next year

SEOUL -- The Seoul city government will conduct test flights of "flying vehicles" on a route between Yeouido and Jamsil next year as part of a project to commercialize new means of transportation in urban areas around 2025, officials said Thursday.

Flying vehicles, known as urban air mobility (UAM), use highly automated aircraft for passengers or cargo transport at lower altitude within urban and suburban areas without the necessity of runways. South Korea aims to put such vehicles into service in metropolitan areas around 2025.

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(LEAD) KEPCO Q1 net losses narrow on electricity rate hikes

SEOUL -- The state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) said Friday its net losses narrowed in the first quarter from a year earlier on the back of the government's electricity rate hikes for the first quarter and milder increases in the global energy prices.

Net losses fell to 4.91 trillion won (US$3.6 billion) in the January-March period from 5.92 trillion won during the same period last year, KEPCO said in a regulatory filing.

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Yoon's brother-in-law to be referred to prosecution over suspected development-related forgery

SUWON, South Korea -- Police said Friday they have decided to refer a brother-in-law of President Yoon Suk Yeol to the prosecution on charges of document falsification connected to an apartment development project by first lady Kim Keon Hee's family-owned firm.

The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police plans to refer the 53-year-old Kim, the elder brother of the first lady and the de facto owner of their family-owned firm, ESI&D, to the prosecution for further investigation and potential indictment, along with four other company officials.

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Gov't cancels SK Telecom's license for 28 GHz spectrum

SEOUL -- South Korea's ICT ministry said Friday that it has canceled the license for the new 28 gigahertz spectrum of high-speed 5G network owned by SK Telecom Co., South Korea's No. 1 wireless carrier, citing a lack of investment.

SK Telecom had been given the right to use the high-speed 5G network frequency band in 2018 and was required to install 15,000 units of related network equipment by May this year.

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