NEWS BRIEF

[Anchor Lead]

Statics Korea's employment data for June shows that last month's number of employed people stood at a little over 27 million, 352,000 fewer than a year ago. This marks the fourth straight month, since March, that Korea has seen the figure decline and the highest June unemployment count tabulated since the country started keeping unemployment data in 1999. People lost jobs most in the lodging and restaurant industries, wholesale and retail sectors, and manufacturing, while employment grew in public health and social welfare services and agriculture, forestry, and fisheries.
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said at today's Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures meeting, that more countries will be added to the list of high-risk countries subject to tougher disease control measures. The Philippines and Uzbekistan are known to be included in the list of countries being reviewed. The measures include visa restrictions, fewer flights, and submission of documents proving negative PCR test results. Currently on the list are Bangladesh, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
Vice Minister for Land and Infrastructure Park Sun-ho said in a radio show today that there will likely be no sudden increases in monthly rent or lump-sum lease amount following the enforcement of the revised Housing Lease Protection Act because enough new housings will be provided in the Seoul metropolitan area in the second half of this year. He explained that the prices of leased properties are largely determined by supply and demand in the market and 110,000 new apartments in Seoul and surrounding areas will be ready for move-in in the latter half of the year alone. He added that no such extreme concern is warranted as the government has secured about 1.6 million public rental housings.