Yonhap News Summary

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

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(LEAD) Moon to meet Pope Francis at Vatican next week

SEOUL -- President Moon Jae-in will meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican next week to discuss peace on the Korean Peninsula and efforts to end the COVID-19 pandemic, the presidential office said Friday.

The Oct. 29 meeting will take place as Moon is scheduled to visit Rome to attend the G20 Leaders' Summit before traveling to Glasgow to join the global summit of the COP26 climate change gathering, according to presidential spokesperson Park Kyung-mee.

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U.S. spy plane dispatched to Korea following S. Korea's rocket launch: tracker

SEOUL -- A U.S. spy aircraft flew over the Korean Peninsula on Friday, an aviation tracker showed, in what appears to be a sortie to monitor North Korea's military activities following South Korea's launch of a space rocket.

The United States Air Force's RC-135W Rivet Joint was spotted flying between the west and east coasts of the peninsula, according to Flightradar24, a real-time flight tracker.

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S. Korea seeking clues after nearly successful space mission

SEOUL -- South Korea said Friday it will set up a committee to closely look into what went wrong in a mission to put a dummy satellite into orbit with its first homegrown space rocket.

The committee -- to be composed of researchers of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) and other aerospace experts -- will comb through data to fix technological glitches ahead of a second launch in the coming months, officials of the state-run institute said.

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Poll says 3 in 4 Koreans support shift to 'living with COVID-19'

SEOUL -- Three quarters of South Koreans agree with the need to shift to the "living with COVID-19" scheme, a poll said Friday, as the government is moving to phase out coronavirus restrictions under the new policy next month.

According to the survey conducted early this month on 1,083 people aged 19 to 69, 76.5 percent expressed support for the government's planned transition to the coexistence with the coronavirus pandemic.

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BOK likely to raise rate twice next year amid sound recovery, spiking household debt: analyst

SEOUL -- South Korea's central bank will likely raise its policy rate at least twice next year as it will continue to normalize its eased monetary policy intended to prop up the pandemic-stricken economy, an analyst said Friday.

Last week, the Bank of Korea kept the rate unchanged at 0.75 percent for October after conducting a quarter-percentage hike in August from 0.5 percent, a record low level put in place for years to bolster the economy under heavy strain from the coronavirus pandemic.

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Edison Motors aims to turn around SsangYong in 3-5 years

SEOUL -- Edison Motors Co., the likely preferred bidder for financially troubled SsangYong Motor Co., said Friday it aims to turn around SsangYong in three to five years by focusing on transforming it into an electric vehicle-focused carmaker.

On Wednesday, SsangYong and its court-appointed lead manager recommended a local consortium led by Edison Motors as the preferred bidder for the debt-laden carmaker.

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BTS set to host online concert this weekend

SEOUL -- K-pop superband BTS will hold an online concert, "BTS Permission To Dance On Stage," this weekend, featuring fresh up-to-date viewing technologies, its management agency said Friday.

The seven-piece act's performance on a scale equivalent to an offline concert will be livestreamed from a local stadium Sunday, according to Big Hit Music. It is BTS' first global online concert in about a year.

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