Local paper headlines

1. Chosun Ilbo

- Kwon Ho-ung, North Korea’s head of delegation, said in his keynote speech, “(Kim Jong-il’s) military-first politics safeguards South Korea and South Koreans benefit from it.” South Korean counterpart Lee Jong-seok bluntly rejected the remark and countered “who asked North Korea to protect the safety of South Korea? Helping our safety doesn’t harmonize with your missile and nuclear development.”

- On the request of 500,000 tons of rice by North Korea, Unification Ministry made it clear that it was not willing to do so for now.

- It is belatedly reported that three judges in Gunsan district court, resigned on allegation of receiving bribes from the suspect who had been arrested by the prosecution and helping him be released.

- Three hours of flash downpours were enough to literally paralyze the planned city ‘Ilsan.’ Subway was totally inundated, roads were impassable, and a vast swathe of the city was flooded. Lee Young-jong, office worker, complained “it is ludicrous a few hours of rain can flood subways and roads.”

- Ajinomo, Japanese Food Company, has successfully launched instant ‘bibimbap,’ and Nobu, also Japanese up-end restaurant chain, is making great strides into the world food market with Korean galbi and bulgogi. Taiwan MacDonald pulled off more than W1.8 bn for two month by developing and offering ‘kimchi burger.’ Korea, however, trails far behind its Asian rivals.

2. Maekyung

- Amid criticism for lack of preparation and research, the government decides to scale down the size of the ‘Innovative City’ by 25 per cent to 13,060,000 pyoung from 17,590,000 pyoung.

- Economic experts voice concerns over internal disputes on the on-going Korea-US FTA negotiations. The government isn’t demonstrating its capability to control the negotiations, which in turn aggravates public opinions for the FTA. President Roh ordered July 10 to organize ‘local team’ to deal with the lack of ‘control.’

- A Maekyung poll suggests nine out of ten people are concerned about security system of the government and 65 per cent of people take North Korea’s missile launches seriously. 61.2 per cent agree with the government’s decision to withhold further assistance to North Korea for the time being.