NEWS BRIEF

[Anchor Lead]

According to Statistics Korea employment data for April released today, the number of the newly employed people stood at roughly 2.65 million, 476,000 fewer than a year ago, to record the largest decrease in 21 years and two months. The economically active population, the sum of employed people and job seekers, also fell by a record 550,000 since year 2000.
Minister of Economy and Finance Hong Nam-ki wrote in his Facebook posting today that a severe job crisis is coming due to COVID-19 and the ways to rapidly create more than 55,000 new jobs will be at the top of the agendas at the emergency economic meeting slated for tomorrow and next week.
The Hyundai Motor Group announced that its Vice Chairman Chung Eui-sun visited Samsung SDI's plant in Cheonan to meet with Samsung Vice Chair Lee Jae-yong to exchange ideas about developing batteries for next-generation electric vehicles. This marks the first time that the leaders of two largest conglomerates in Korea has met to discuss the EV project promoted as the country's new growth industry.
LG Chem Ltd. said today that an on-site support team was sent to the city of Visakhapatnam in southern India, where a deadly gas leak occurred at the LG Polymers plant there, in order to ensure plant safety, identify the cause of the accident, and assist with damage control.