NEWS BRIEF

[Anchor Lead]

The WTO announced that 1,211 people tested for COVID-19 in North Korea and all of them were negative. In an email to U.S.-based Radio Free Asia, WHO Representative to the DPRK Edwin Salvador wrote that 696 North Korean nationals are currently in isolation, and they are laborers who worked at Nampo Port or in the border town of Dandong, China. RFA also reported that foreign diplomats and humanitarian workers in Pyongyang cannot travel outside of the North Korean capital and must wear a mask even when traveling by car within the city limits.
The Bank of Korea reported today in its July consumer survey that the composite consumer sentiment index for this month registered 84.2, a 2.4 point higher than in June. The central bank explained the increase can be attributed to favorable consumer responses to such aggressive policies as nationwide retail sales, the Korean-style New Deal, and a third additional budget plan, as well as to the fact that most communities are still governed by level one social distancing rules despite a flareup of COVID-19 cases.
In a survey of 1,000 consumers who had conducted international online transactions in the past year, the Korea Consumer Agency found that 500 respondents had purchased goods from overseas and 11% of them had experienced some sort of trouble, mostly from direct transactions. 468 respondents who had reserved overseas lodgings online, 16% experienced problems with the most complaints coming from being charged more than the amount provided before payment.