NEWS BRIEF

[Anchor Lead]

North Korea is urging the U.S. not to meddle in inter-Korean relations. Kwon Jong-gun, director of the North America Bureau at the North's Foreign Ministry, said today that Washington has no standing to comment on inter-Korean affairs. This came a day after the U.S. expressed disappointment over Pyongyang's recent acts and called on it to return to diplomacy and cooperation.
South Korea's exports increased during the first ten days of this month. According to the Korea Customs Service, the nation's shipments of semiconductor chips and wireless communication devices jumped over 20 percent year on year to 12.3 billion U.S. dollars between June 1 and 10. During the same period, South Korea imported 13.6 billion dollar worth of chips, machinery and automobiles, which is up nearly nine percent from last year.
South Koreans think that the government should top priority on resolving fine dust pollution among environmental issues. According to a 2019 survey by the Environment Ministry, nearly 38 percent of the 1,200 respondents answered that creating a fine dust-free environment is the most pressing task.
Newly built apartments in Seoul will be equipped with separate faucets letting people drink water directly from the tap, in addition to kitchen sinks. The Seoul city government will require public housing builders to include such faucets in architectural designs. For civilian constructors, it will attach a condition of installing the drinking taps when issuing construction permits.