Yonhap News Summary

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

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(LEAD) S. Korea to invest US$218 mln to develop improved bunker-buster missile

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- South Korea will invest about 290 billion won (US$218 million) to develop an improved version of a homegrown bunker-buster missile capable of striking underground enemy targets, the state arms procurement agency said Monday.

The project comes as South Korea's military has been seeking to reinforce its deterrence capabilities against North Korea's evolving missile and nuclear threats.

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(2nd LD) N. Korea's Kim heads home after 'successful' visit to Russia: state media

SEOUL -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has left the Far Eastern city of Vladivostok for home after "successfully" completing a visit to Russia that will open up a "new chapter" in their bilateral relations, Pyongyang's state media reported Monday.

During the six-day trip, Kim held a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday and toured a series of key military sites amid growing concern about possible military cooperation between the two countries.

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S. Korea to expand emergency seawater radiation tests amid Fukushima woes

SEOUL -- South Korea will strengthen emergency seawater radiation tests by adding more coastal spots to ease public concerns about Japan's release of contaminated water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean, Seoul's oceans minister has said.

In July, South Korea began emergency radiation tests on samples from a total of 75 coastal locations in the east, west and south of South Korea, as well as the waters off the southern island of Jeju, about a month ahead of Japan's release of "treated" radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant, which was crippled by a massive 2011 earthquake and tsunami, into the sea.

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(2nd LD) Opposition leader taken to hospital on 19th day of hunger strike

SEOUL -- Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung was taken to a hospital on Monday due to deteriorating health as his hunger strike entered the 19th day, officials said.

Lee was almost unconscious after showing a sharp drop in blood sugar levels and was brought to a nearby hospital at 7:10 a.m., according to his main opposition Democratic Party (DP).

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Anti-corruption office demands indictment of ex-Defense Minister Song over suspected power abuse

SEOUL -- The anti-corruption investigation office has demanded the prosecution indict former Defense Minister Song Young-moo over suspicions of abuse of power, officials said Monday.

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) has been investigating Song on suspicions of forcing then senior ministry officials to make and endorse documents refuting a media report that he had said a controversial contingency martial law plan authored by the previous Park Geun-hye government "legally had no problem."

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(LEAD) Yoon departs for New York to attend U.N. General Assembly

SEOUL -- President Yoon Suk Yeol embarked on a five-day visit to New York on Monday to attend the U.N. General Assembly and meet with world leaders amid signs of growing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia.

During the annual U.N. gathering, Yoon is also set to hold a flurry of bilateral summits on the sidelines in a last-minute push to win support for South Korea's bid to host the 2030 World Expo in its southeastern port city of Busan.

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(LEAD) S. Korea to invest 2.2 tln won in advanced factory clusters through 2028

SEJONG -- South Korea plans to invest around 2.2 trillion won (US$1.65 billion) through 2028 to establish industrial clusters for cutting-edge technologies, the finance ministry said Monday.

The country will initially allocate 400 billion won in 2024 for industrial zones specialized in strategic and medical industries, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

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Rail workers' 4-day strike comes to end; train services to normalize by night

DAEJEON -- Unionized rail workers were returning to work Monday after a four-day general strike staged to demand better working conditions and an expansion of the KTX bullet train service.

The Korean Railway Workers' Union began the first walkout in about four years on Thursday, demanding the expansion of the KTX bullet train route to Suseo Station in southern Seoul, the starting point of another high-speed rail service SRT, as well as the full implementation of the four-team two-shift system.
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