K-News Bulletin

Baedal Minjok, Korea's largest food delivery app, started a robot delivery service in three apartment buildings in Yeongdeungpo District, western Seoul.
 
For lucky residents, their meals will be delivered by Dilly Tower, a 1.08-meter tall robot with a face like an excited emoji.   
 
Woowa Brothers, which runs Baedal Minjok, said Monday that Dilly Tower had started deliveries to almost 300 residents in Yeongdeungpo.
 
One Dilly Tower is on duty in each of the three buildings, and they operate without any human help. Delivery times are supposed to be 5 to 16 minutes shorter than before, according to the company. 
 
Here is how Dilly Tower works. 


Full article: https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2021/07/12/business/industry/dilly-tower-baemin-woowa-brothers/20210712184414119.html

SsangYong Motor, the debt-laden automaker in court receivership, is selling its Pyeongtaek factory, its only facility for auto assembly.
 
The company has been making cars there for 42 years.
 
Both the land and the factory are being unloaded, according to an announcement Sunday by the troubled automaker and the city of Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi.


Full Article: https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2021/07/11/business/industry/ssangyong-motor/20210711180116792.html

South Korea's main nuclear research institute was reportedly exposed for over 12 days to hacking attacks probably by North Korea, but no important data was leaked, according to a parliamentary intelligence committee member on Thursday.
 
People Power Party (PPP) lawmaker Ha Tae-keung, a member of the parliamentary intelligence committee, told reporters on Thursday, “A probe is underway after the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute filed a damage report on June 1. It was possibly exposed to North Korea for about 12 days.” Ha said he was given the information in a briefing by the National Intelligence Service (NIS).
 
The first hacking attempt on the institute reportedly occurred on May 14.


Full Article: https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2021/07/08/national/northKorea/North-Korea-hacking-nuclear/20210708190700374.html

Samsung Electronics provisionally reported a 12.5 trillion won ($11.0 billion) operating profit in the second quarter, up 53.4 percent on year, on strong demand for computer chips.

It is a record for the company for a second quarter and higher than expectations. Analysts forecast second-quarter operating profit at 10.9 trillion won, according to FnGuide.


Full Article: https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2021/07/07/business/industry/Samsung-Electronics-Q2/20210707113400375.html

Torrential rain in the southern regions led to floods and landslides that killed at least two people Tuesday.
 
Following some 201.5 millimeters (7.9 inches) of rainfall in Gwangyang, South Jeolla, from Monday to Tuesday morning, a landslide around 6:04 a.m. in a mountainous area of the city tore through two homes and a warehouse, killing an 82-year-old woman, police said.
 
There were reports earlier Tuesday that the woman was alive, because when the Fire Department called her cellphone, the line appeared to be busy. 


Full Article: https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2021/07/06/national/socialAffairs/floods-landslides-kill-two/20210706191100390.html

Korea has signed on to the global tax plan designed to rein in the tech companies and get them to pay their fair share. It is also trying to make sure its major companies don’t get caught up in the rush to tax. 
 
“We will respond thoroughly from the point of national interest,” said Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki on Monday.
 
In total, 130 countries have agreed in principle to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development-led agreement that will seek to tax multinational companies at a rate of 15 percent regardless of where they are headquartered and regardless of where they operate.


Full Article: https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2021/07/05/business/economy/global-tax-reform-Google-Korea-Samsung-Electronics/20210705160400375.html

Facemasks will remain mandatory in the greater Seoul area — even for vaccinated people — due to a recent surge in virus cases.
 
In addition, drinking will be banned outdoors after 10 p.m. in parks and riversides in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi.
 
A planned relaxation of measures has been called off as health authorities deal with a spike in new Covid cases.


Full Article: https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2021/07/04/national/socialAffairs/Covid19-masks-vaccination/20210704181500783.html

President Moon Jae-in's secretary for civil affairs was indicted Thursday for abuse of power for allegedly masterminding a travel ban on a top official from the previous administration. 
 
The Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office’s Criminal Department III indicted Presidential Secretary for Civil Affairs Lee Kwang-cheol, a key member of the Blue House inner circle, for arranging an illegal travel ban on former Vice Minister of Justice Kim Hak-eui in 2019. The indictment was filed with the Seoul Central District Court so Lee can be tried with other government officials indicted earlier in the case. 
 
Lee said the indictment was unjust, according to a Blue House statement, but still tendered his resignation to Moon.


Full Article: https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2021/07/01/national/socialAffairs/Lee-Kwangcheol-Kim-Hakeui-travel-ban/20210701181200294.html

The government and ruling party agreed on a 33-trillion-won ($29 billion) supplementary budget, the sixth since the start of the pandemic and second this year, but the Democratic Party failed to get relief grants for all.
 
Emergency relief grants will be given to all households except those in the top 20 percent income bracket.
 
Including the emergency grants, nearly half of the supplementary budget -- or between 15 and 16 trillion won -- will be Covid-19-related stimulative spending. That includes a one-time subsidy of 100,000 won for roughly 3 million low-income households and struggling single parents. 


Full Article: https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2021/06/29/business/economy/supplementary-budget-emergency-relief-grant-Covid19/20210629153100348.html

Choe Jae-hyeong, head of the Board of Audit and Inspection [BAI], tendered his resignation amid speculation that he will run for president.
 
"I concluded that it is inappropriate for me to continue serving as the chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection amid growing speculations about my fate," Choe told reporters on his way to the office Monday morning. "I, therefore, expressed my intention to step down to the president."
 
President Moon Jae-in appointed Choe, a 64-year-old former judge, to head the audit agency in January 2018. "I apologize to the people, Moon and the members of the Board of Audit and Inspection that I could not complete my tenure," Choe said. His four-year tenure ends next year. 


Full Article: https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2021/06/28/national/politics/Choe-Jaehyung-Yoon-Seokyoul-presidential-election/20210628180500331.html