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Yonhap News Summary

All News 17:09 January 21, 2022

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

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(LEAD) S. Korea's tech trade logs second-highest tally of US$29 bln in 2020: data

SEOUL -- South Korea's technology trade reached the second-highest tally ever of US$29.9 billion in 2020, down 5.5 percent from the previous year, amid the global pandemic, government data showed Friday.

The technology trade refers to the country's international technology transactions, such as the use of patents, licenses and technical services, as opposed to tech products, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT.

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(LEAD) Lee proposes meeting with other candidates to discuss increasing extra budget to 35 tln won

SEOUL -- Ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung on Friday proposed an emergency meeting between all presidential candidates to discuss increasing an extra government budget under consideration to 35 trillion won (US$29.3 billion) to support pandemic-hit merchants.

Lee of the liberal Democratic Party (DP) made the proposal only hours after the Cabinet endorsed a 14 trillion-won extra budget for the same purpose to be submitted to the National Assembly for approval.

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(2nd LD) Daily cases over 6,000 for 2nd day amid omicron woes

SEOUL -- South Korea's daily coronavirus cases stayed over 6,000 for a second straight day Friday amid concerns over the spread of the omicron variant ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.

The country added 6,769 new COVID-19 infections, including 6,482 local infections, raising the total caseload to 719,269, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

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(LEAD) 1 person remains trapped inside burning battery factory in Cheongju: firefighters

CHEONGJU, South Korea -- A battery factory in the southern city of Cheongju caught fire Friday, leaving one person trapped inside, firefighters said.

The fire broke out at the auto battery factory at around 3 p.m. in the city, 140 kilometers south of Seoul.

Two people were immediately rescued, but one other is believed to be trapped inside the building, firefighting authorities said.

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(LEAD) Seoul stocks at over 1-yr low on rate hike concerns

SEOUL -- South Korean stocks retreated nearly 1 percent Friday, marking the lowest closing since December 2020, due to inflation woes amid heightened expectations of rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. The Korean won fell against the U.S. dollar.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) declined 28.39 points, or 0.99 percent, to close at 2,834.29 points.

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Thousands of Buddhist monks hold rally to demand apology from president for 'anti-Buddhist bias'

SEOUL -- Thousands of Buddhist monks held a rally in Seoul on Friday, demanding President Moon Jae-in apologize for what they called the government's anti-Buddhist bias after a ruling party lawmaker accused temples of collecting admission fees from visitors to national parks.

The lawmaker, Rep. Jung Chung-rai of the Democratic Party, has been under a firestorm of criticism from South Korea's largest Buddhist sect, the Jogye Order, since he compared temples collecting "cultural asset viewing fees" to a legendary swindler known for selling river water for money.

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Court allows YouTube outlet to broadcast most of Yoon's wife's taped conversations

SEOUL -- A court on Friday allowed a YouTube-based media outlet to broadcast most of its recordings of phone conversations between one of its staffers and the wife of main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol.

In an injunction suit launched by Kim Keon-hee, Yoon's wife, the Seoul Southern District Court allowed Voice of Seoul to disclose the recordings, except for parts that delve into private matters of Kim's family and conversations between Kim and third party entities.

(END)

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