NEWS BRIEF

[Anchor Lead]

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said a plan to build a new airport on Busan’s Gadeokdo Island was approved during a Cabinet meeting today. The government will even seek to exempt a preliminary feasibility survey to accelerate the project’s implementation. The exemption issue will be finalized later this month through a decision by a finance ministry deliberations committee. The total budget assigned for the airport construction is 13.7 trillion won. It is set to open in 2035 as the country’s first offshore airport.
The import price of palm oil surpassed 14-hundred dollars per metric ton last month, hitting a record high. The Korea Customs Service said Tuesday that over 62-thousand tons of palm oil were imported last month at a cost of over 90 million dollars, equivalent to one-thousand-453 dollars a ton. The price has surged 95% compared to March 2020, the early days of the pandemic. But prices are expected to rise even further following Indonesia’s ban on palm oil exports, which could negatively affect local food costs on top of high inflation.