NEWS BRIEF

[Anchor Lead]

Starting today, all Korean and non-Korean nationals arriving from abroad for long-term stay in Korea must isolate themselves for 14 days. Consequently, the two-week self-quarantine rule applied to those arriving from Europe or the United States will now be applied to all arrivals and they must pay for the expenses if they stay at the central or local government quarantine facilities.
Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki said the daily average export for March is expected to fall due to disruptions in production and export caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. He added that the disease's impact on the world economy has not been fully shown yet and that Korea will do its best to remove obstacles for Korean exporters and prevent the depreciation of their global values.
Corporate assessment site CEO Score tabulated last year's operational profits of 358 conglomerate affiliates and found it to be around 66.5 trillion won, a 46.5% fall from the previous year. Meanwhile, their sales dropped only 2.1% to a little over 1.33 quadrillion won.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor surveyed 911 employers and workers from March 11th to 19th, during the COVID-19 pandemic, about their childcare options and found that the highest percentage of respondents at 42.6% relied on grandparents or relatives for childcare, while 36.4% answered that parents took care of their children and 14.6% used childcare centers or schools' emergency childcare services.