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 anticipates good results from talks to pave the way for video reunions: ministry
(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with unification ministry briefing; CHANGES headline)

SEOUL -- South Korea anticipates "good results" from discussions to pave the way for the two Koreas to hold video reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, the unification ministry said Monday.

Ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun made the remark after a source said earlier that the U.N. Security Council decided last week to grant a sanctions exemption for video conferencing equipment to be shipped to the North for reunions.

Baik said, however, that an exemption has yet to be granted.

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Seoul shares trade 0.34 pct higher late Monday morning

SEOUL -- South Korean stocks traded higher late Monday morning as investors moved to pick up tech bargains following sharp losses in the previous session.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 7.48 points, or 0.34 percent, to reach 2,202.92 as of 11:20 a.m.

The index opened higher on bargain hunting, but some of the earlier gains were pared back as foreign investors shifted to a selling mode.

Top-cap tech shares rose to buttress the index.

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S. Korea's per capita income to reach US$30,000

SEJONG -- South Korea's per capita income is expected to surpass US$30,000 for the first time, the finance minister said Monday, a dramatic rags-to-riches success story that has no parallel in contemporary history.

Hong Nam-ki, the minister of economy and finance, said the country's per capita gross national income (GNI) in 2018 likely topped the milestone as the central bank is set to release a preliminary data on Tuesday.

South Korea would be the seventh country in the world to join the so-called 30-50 club of economic powerhouses with a population of over 50 million and per capita income exceeding $30,000.

The development is a dramatic increase from 1970, when South Korea's per capita gross national income stood at just $257.

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Doosan Infracore wins orders from Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan

SEOUL -- Doosan Infracore Co., South Korea's top construction equipment maker, said Monday that it has clinched a series of deals from Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan to provide excavators and wheel loaders.

Recently, Doosan Infracore bagged a deal to provide 47 excavators and wheel loaders to a firm in Saudi Arabia.

Doosan Infracore did not reveal the value of the latest deal.

The construction equipment maker also clinched a deal to provide 46 specialized excavators and wheel loaders to Uzbekistan.

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SHINee's Key, 2AM's Jeong Jin-woon, VIXX's N join military

SEOUL -- SHINee's Key, 2AM's Jeong Jin-woon and VIXX's N will enlist in the Army on Monday.

The members of the three different K-pop boy groups will serve in active duty in the Army after finishing eight weeks of basic military training.

All able-bodied South Korean men are required to serve in the military as the country is technically at war with North Korea.

Key posted a photo of himself with military-style hair, and a handwritten letter, on Instagram on Sunday, a day before he joins the army, to bid farewell to his fans.

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(LEAD) S. Korea, U.S. launch new Dong Maeng exercise
(ATTN: ADDS more info in paras 11-13)

SEOUL -- South Korea and the United States on Monday kicked off a new weeklong combined exercise that replaced their major springtime Key Resolve drills under an alliance decision to spur peace efforts with North Korea.

The Dong Maeng command post exercise will run through Tuesday next week, excluding the weekend. Dong Maeng means alliance in English and the exercise is seen as a truncated replacement for the usually two-week Key Resolve exercise.

In phone talks Saturday, Seoul's Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo and acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan decided to abolish the Key Resolve and the Foal Eagle field training program to support diplomacy for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Their decision reaffirmed the allies' willingness to keep the door open for dialogue with Pyongyang despite the breakup of last week's summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi.

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Samsung, SK hynix dominate global chip market in 2018

SEOUL -- South Korean chip giants Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc. retained their combined leading spot in the global semiconductor market in 2018, an industry tracker said Monday.

Samsung's sales of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chips came to US$43.75 billion last year, taking up 43.9 percent of the world market, according to DRAMeXchange.

SK hynix came in second with $29.41 billion, posting a global market share of 29.5 percent. U.S chipmaker Micron Technology placed third with a 22.1 percent share.

Last year, global DRM sales soared 39 percent on-year to an all-time high of $99.66 billion.

DRAMeXchange further predicted Samsung and SK hynix will see their market shares inch up this year, despite a decrease in overall sales.

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N.K. leader wasn't ready to accept Trump's 'big deal': Bolton

WASHINGTON -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un wasn't prepared to accept U.S. President Donald Trump's "big deal" at their summit in Hanoi last week, U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said Sunday.

Bolton refused to characterize the summit as a failure although it was cut short without an agreement on dismantling the North's nuclear weapons program.

"I don't consider the summit a failure," he said in an interview with CBS. "I consider it a success defined as the president protecting and advancing American national interest."

After the summit, Trump told a press conference that North Korea had wanted the removal of all sanctions in exchange for partial denuclearization.

The North Koreans later rebutted that they had proposed partial sanctions relief.

(END)