NEWS BRIEF

[Anchor Lead]

According to the employment data for May released by Statistics Korea today, Korea showed the highest unemployment figures since record-keeping started in 1999 and only about 27 million Koreans had jobs last month, 392,000 fewer than a year ago.
Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha proposed at yesterday's Ministerial Coordination Group on COVID-19 teleconference to step up the efforts to maintain essential exchanges between nations for the preservation of global supply chains and economic recovery while implementing stable disease control measures. She also said that Korea has been making bilateral diplomatic efforts to allow movements of essential personnel for economic and humanitarian purposes by keeping Korea's borders open.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced that this year's Special Travel Week, originally scheduled to begin on June 20th, has been postponed to July 1st after discussing the latest surge of new COVID-19 cases in the Seoul metropolitan area with the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters.
The Seoul government plans to provide free wi-fi at all public places, such as subway stations, parks and bus stops, to ensure people's basic communication rights. The city has selected Seongdong, Dobong, Eunpyeong, Gangseo and Guro Districts to carry out the first phase of the project.