NEWS BRIEF

[Anchor Lead]

Presidential primary candidate for the ruling Democratic Party Chung Sye-kyun repeated his call in a local radio program on Friday that presidential contenders must be verified in advance by the party. He said verification procedures are in place for all public office positions such as parliamentary confirmation hearings for Cabinet ministers. And he wondered why such vetting did not exist for presidential hopefuls. Chung also rejected remarks by primary rival Lee Nak-yon’s camp concerning a possible merger with his side, saying he has no plans to field a unified candidate.
According to Voice of America, the United Nations has decided to extend its sanctions exemption on the World Food Programme’s aid provision to North Korea by another year in consideration of the pandemic. Since January last year, the WFP planned for aid activities in North Korea to address food shortage and malnutrition concerns after gaining approval by the UN sanctions committee. However they could not materialize due to the North’s pandemic-triggered border closure. Farming supplies including 7,500 handcarts and ten-thousand shovels and pickaxes could neither be delivered.
According to Bloomberg, Kim Beom-soo, the founder of messaging giant Kakao, is South Korea’s richest man, overtaking Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong. Kim claimed the top spot in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index among South Koreans with a wealth of 13.4 billion dollars. The Samsung heir trails with a net worth of 12.1 billion. Kim’s fortune reportedly jumped by more than six billion dollars this year alone on the back of soaring Kakao shares.