Yonhap News Summary

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

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Yoon meets with Ukraine's first lady Zelenska

SEOUL -- President Yoon Suk Yeol met with Ukraine's first lady Olena Zelenska at the presidential office on Tuesday, his office said.

Zelenska is in Seoul as a special envoy of her husband, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

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Ruling party calls for ex-opposition lawmaker's permanent exit from politics

SEOUL -- The ruling People Power Party (PPP) on Tuesday urged former opposition lawmaker Kim Nam-kuk to permanently exit politics over his dubious cryptocurrency dealings, accusing him of evading responsibility by leaving his party.

Kim departed from the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) earlier this week after revelations that he owns a significant amount of coins, fueling questions about the source of the funds and whether the independent lawmaker had access to insider information.

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(LEAD) Hyundai to launch Kona Electric, IONIQ 5 N in Japan

SEOUL -- South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. said Tuesday it will introduce two all-electric models in Japan by early next year in efforts to gain a share in the neighboring market.

Hyundai Motor plans to launch the Kona Electric this fall and the high-performance IONIQ 5 N model early next year, the company said in a statement.

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Amnesty Int'l categorizes S. Korea as death penalty 'abolitionist in practice'

SEOUL -- Amnesty International, a non-governmental organization focused on human rights, categorized South Korea as a death penalty abolitionist in practice in its annual report released Tuesday and urged the country to completely do away with capital punishment.

Since its last execution on Dec. 30, 1997, South Korea has not carried out any death penalties, although handing out the capital punishment is still permissible under the law. Sixty people were serving time in prison at the end of 2020 after getting the death penalty.

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(LEAD) Seoul shares nearly flat amid worse-than-expected China data

SEOUL -- South Korean stocks ended nearly unchanged Tuesday amid China's worse-than-expected economic data. The Korean won fell against the U.S. dollar.

After starting a tad higher, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index finished up 0.89 point, or 0.04 percent, to 2,480.24.

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S. Korean startup Upstage unveils AI-powered solutions for businesses

SEOUL -- Upstage, a South Korean startup, on Tuesday unveiled its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered solutions for businesses that provide automated document processing and individually-tailored search services.

The Document AI Pack is Upstage's flagship no-code program based on the optical character recognition (OCR) technology that converts scanned documents into editable and sharable text files.
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