Yonhap News Summary

The following is the first summary of major stories moved by Yonhap News Agency on Tuesday.

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(3rd LD) 7 dead, 6 missing in heaviest rainfall in 80 years

SEOUL -- The heaviest rainfall in 80 years has pounded Seoul and surrounding regions, leaving seven people dead and six others missing, as well as flooding homes, vehicles, buildings and subway stations, officials said Tuesday.

Parts of Seoul, the western port city of Incheon and Gyeonggi Province that surrounds Seoul received heavy rains of over 100 millimeters per hour Monday night, with per-hour precipitation in Seoul's Dongjak district surpassing 141.5 mm at one point, the highest downpour per hour since 1942.

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(LEAD) Yoon calls for all-out efforts to minimize damage from heavy rains

SEOUL -- President Yoon Suk-yeol instructed officials Tuesday to make all-out efforts to minimize damage from the country's heaviest rainfall in 80 years, as seven people were reported dead and six others missing.

Yoon gave the order during an emergency meeting held in the disaster and safety situation room of the government complex in Seoul, a day after heavy rains pounded the capital and its surrounding areas while flooding homes, vehicles, buildings and subway stations.

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Seoul districts battered by month's worth of rain in one day

SEOUL -- Residents in some districts of Seoul were dumbfounded by the unusually strong torrential rain this week, as a month's worth of precipitation fell in just one day.

The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said a total of 422 mm of rain fell in Shindaebang-dong of the southern Seoul district of Dongjak from 6 a.m. Monday to 8 a.m. Tuesday.

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Assembly speaker steps up arms sale campaign in Romania

BUCHAREST/SEOUL -- National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo promoted South Korean arms and nuclear reactor exports to Romania in his meeting with the country's Senate leader, his office said Tuesday.

Kim held talks with Alina-Stefania Gorghiu, acting speaker of Romania's Senate, in Bucharest on Monday. Romania is the second leg of a two-nation trip that has also taken him to Poland.

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S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases rise to nearly 4-month high

SEOUL -- South Korea's new COVID-19 cases jumped to a nearly four-month high Tuesday amid a resurgence of infections driven by a highly infectious omicron variant.

The country added 149,897 new COVID-19 infections, the highest since April 13 when the tally hit 195,387, bringing the total caseload to 20,694,239, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The tally includes 588 cases from overseas.

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(LEAD) S. Korea, 20 other countries joining U.S.-led anti-WMD exercise in Hawaii

SEOUL -- South Korea, the United States and 19 other countries are conducting a U.S.-hosted exercise in Hawaii with an aim to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), the U.S. State Department has said.

The five-day Fortune Guard 22 kicked off in Honolulu on Monday. It is part of the exercises for the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) launched in 2003 to stop or impede transfers of WMDs and related items flowing to and from states and non-state actors of proliferation concern.

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(LEAD) N. Korea reports no new suspected COVID-19 cases for 11th day: state media

SEOUL -- North Korea's new suspected COVID-19 cases have remained at zero for over a week, according to its state media Tuesday.

No new fever cases were reported over a 24-hour period until 6 p.m. the previous day, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, citing data from the state emergency epidemic prevention headquarters.
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