NEWS BRIEF

[Anchor Lead]

The newly appointed Chinese ambassador to Korea, Xing Haiming, held his first press briefing today at the Chinese embassy in Seoul. He said the Chinese government is taking all-out measures to fight the coronavirus and asked for mutual support and understanding between Korea and China as two friendly neighbors whose citizens often travel between the two nations.
The Korean air travel industry says eight domestic airlines had suspended 41 flights to China as of Monday due to the coronavirus outbreak. This means 41 percent of 100 flights operated by Korean airlines to mainland China have been halted.
To contain the spread of the coronavirus, the Seoul City government has launched disinfection operations in taxis in addition to subway trains and buses operated in the city. So far, taxi drivers in the city of Seoul had to disinfect their vehicles on their own, but starting from today the Seoul Private Taxi Association will begin to disinfect taxis using its charging stations.
According to a real estate think tank, the ratio of vacant medium-sized and large stores nationwide recorded 11.7 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, the highest since 2009. A growing number of stores are closing down due to low domestic consumption and the rising popularity of social commerce, delivery and flea market apps.