Other important headlines _ September 8

- In a press conference in Finland, President Roh said of North Korean missile test, “I think they launched missiles not to stage military aggression but to use it for political purposes.” “The fact that many media see it as military threats is one of the reasons that make things more difficult,” Roh said.

- It is reported that US General Accounting Office released a report saying Korea can’t be included in a list of Visa Waver Program owing to a high rate of visa rejected cases.

- The court acquitted a netizen of the charge that he defamed former GNP leader Park Geun-hye. The netizen had distributed a post through internet claiming that the incident in which Park’s face was slashed with a box cutter was a premeditated political stunt by the Grand National Party and its leader.

- Moves to promote Insam worldwide are increasing. Insam, along with Kimchi, is a Korea’s best-known traditional food product, but under the Japanese colonization, Insam was wrongly pronounced by Japanese to become known as ‘Ginseng.’

- US beef is to be re-imported. The agricultural ministry said this morning it approves the resumption of US beef import after a rigorous safety check.

- The Supreme Court sets up criteria for sex change recognition in part to block man from exploiting sex change in dodging draft. In case of changing sex from man to woman, the person should have served in the army or exempted from military service to be legally recognized as woman.

- It is reported that the number of cases of technology leakage to overseas for the last four years amounts to 70, causing an estimated W90,000 bn in losses. Though the cases is reported to be increasing, insufficient punishment encourages more illegal leakage.