Yonhap News Summary

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

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1 of 3 surviving forced labor victims agrees to accept Seoul's compensation scheme

SEOUL -- One of three surviving victims of Japan's wartime forced labor has agreed to accept the government's third-party reimbursement plan warranting compensation through a fund created by a Seoul-based foundation, according to a public foundation Thursday.

According to the Foundation for Victims of Forced Mobilization by Imperial Japan, the victim, whose identity remained withheld, submitted paperwork to receive compensation on Wednesday. The foundation held a board meeting earlier in the day and decided to deliver the compensation.

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S. Korea to battle Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar for spots in Olympic men's football qualifying tournament

SEOUL -- South Korea will take on Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan and Qatar in a battle for spots in the 2024 Olympic men's football qualifying tournament.

South Korea ended up in Group B of the qualification event for the 2024 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup, following a draw at AFC House in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.

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(LEAD) S. Korea approves plan to mass-produce more K2 main battle tanks

SEOUL -- South Korea on Thursday endorsed a mass production plan for additional K2 main battle tanks to bolster the military's readiness against enemy threats, the state arms procurement agency said.

The Defense Project Promotion Committee approved the 1.94 trillion-won (US$1.46 billion) project set to run over the next five years, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).

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2 top election watchdog officials resign over alleged hiring favors for children

SEOUL -- The secretary general of the National Election Commission (NEC) and his deputy resigned Thursday following allegations of favoritism in the hiring of their children by the election watchdog.

NEC Secretary General Park Chan-jin and Deputy Secretary General Song Bong-sup have been dogged by allegations that their children were hired as NEC employees stationed in regional offices in 2022 and 2018, respectively.

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Pyongyang denounces sharing of N. Korea's missile data among S. Korea, U.S., Japan

SEOUL -- North Korea on Thursday criticized a recent agreement by the leaders of South Korea, the United States and Japan to share real-time data on the North's missile launches, saying it will only expose them to a "security crisis."

The criticism came after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida agreed to deepen security cooperation in various areas, including in the sharing of missile warning data, during their trilateral talks held Sunday on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan.

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Constitutional Court dismisses petition against THAAD deployment

SEOUL -- The Constitutional Court on Thursday rejected a petition to outlaw the deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defense system in a southeastern county.

The petition was lodged in February last year by a group of 392 people who claimed that some clauses of the South Korean-American mutual defense treaty and the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which served as the basis for the installation of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in Seongju, 214 km southeast of Seoul, in 2017, were unconstitutional.

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(LEAD) Parliament passes special bill aimed at supporting home rental scam victims

SEOUL -- The National Assembly on Thursday passed a special bill aimed at assisting victims of a series of home rental scams, including offering them interest-free and low-interest loans.

The revision was approved in a 243-5 vote with 24 abstentions, as rival parties agreed to provide support measures for the victims of a series of massive frauds abusing the country's unique rental system, called "jeonse."

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Transgender surgery should not be criteria for legal sex status change: watchdog

SEOUL, May 25 (Yonhap) -- Granting a change of legal gender solely based on whether the petitioner had sex reassignment surgery constitutes a grave human rights violation, the state human rights watchdog said Thursday.

The National Human Rights Commission issued the opinion on a petition lodged by Rainbow Action Against Sexual-Minority Discrimination of Korea, a civic advocacy group for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people, in 2021.

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Yoon to host inaugural Korea-Pacific Islands Summit next week

SEOUL -- President Yoon Suk Yeol will host the first summit between South Korea and Pacific island nations in Seoul next week, his office said Thursday.

The summit will be held Monday and Tuesday under the theme "Navigating towards Co-Prosperity: Strengthening Cooperation with the Blue Pacific," with the participation of leaders and senior officials from all 18 members of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), an intergovernmental body aimed at enhancing cooperation among island countries in the region.
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