NEWS BRIEF

[Anchor Lead]

The Joint Chiefs of Staff announced that the JCS Chairman General Won In-choul left today for the Tri-Chiefs of Defense meeting and the inauguration of the new U.S. Indo-Pacific Commander in Hawaii on Friday. The JCS said that General Won plans to discuss multilateral cooperation to promote peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asian region. The Korea, American and Japanese Joint Chiefs of Staff are likely to discuss tripartite military cooperation efforts and exchange security and political information on North Korea and surrounding areas.
Justice Minister Park Beom-kye reiterated to the reporters today that, as a justice minister in charge of executing the law, had never considered pardoning Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong. Cheong Wa Dae also said yesterday that the presidential office has not reviewed the official pardon request made by the heads of five economy-related groups nor has a plan to do so. Minister Park made it clear that the recommendation for the vacant Prosecutor General position had nothing to do with the investigation findings on Lee Seong-yun, the head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office.
Statistics Korea reported today that the number of births in February fell to 21,461, 1,306 fewer births than the same time last year and the lowest for the month of February since 1981 when record-keeping began. The number of deaths in February also decreased by 1,656 compared to February 2020 to stand at 23,774. The data-keeping agency explained that the number of deaths dropped significant in th 65 through 84 age bracket because the pandemic forced older people to refrain from outside activities.