NEWS BRIEF

[Anchor Lead]

Some 400 South Korean tourists who had been denied entry to Israel on February 23rd because of the coronavirus outbreak have returned to Korea on two charter flights provided by the Israeli government. The decision to deny their entry was made unexpectedly and as the tourists were experiencing inconvenience, the Isareli government decided to levy the cost to return them to Korea.
The ruling Democratic Party, the government and the presidential office held a meeting this morning and agreed to push for a supplementary budget for fighting against COVID-19. The government is to announce emergency economic measures this week.
U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper told journalists after his meeting with his South Korean counterpart that the joint military drills slated for next month could be affected by the coronavirus outbreak. South Korea's Defense Minister Jeong Kyung-doo also said that holding the joint military exercises as scheduled could be difficult because of the spread of the virus.
South Korea's National Assembly has been closed for quarantine after it became known that a person infected with the novel coronavirus attended a conference at the parliament on February 19. The National Assembly is to re-open tomorrow morning.