Welcome to Arirang News.
This is Key Kim.
We start with the top headlines at this hour.
1.
The nationwide doctors' strike continued for a third day on Thursday, with doctors protesting against the expansion of South Korea's medical school quota by 2 thousand to over 5 thousand starting in 2025.
Over 9-thousand trainee doctors,... more than 74 percent of the country's interns and residents,... had submitted letters of resignation as of 10 PM Wednesday, though none have been accepted.
Out of these, over 8-thousand have not shown up for work.
The total number of leave-of-absence letters from medical students announced on Thursday surpassed 11-thousand nationwide, which is more than 60 percent of the total number of medical students.
About two-thirds of trainee doctors have walked out of hospitals, meaning medical services have been disrupted and patients are being affected.
The focus of large hospitals has shifted to prioritize critical and emergency care, causing outpatient appointments to be postponed, while some patients recovering from surgery were discharged earlier than scheduled.
The government has also issued return-to-work orders to the majority of the doctors who've walked out and are asking to discuss the issue with them.
In a briefing on Thursday, the government stood firm on its plan to take strong measures, including license suspensions and legal action against those who do not return to work immediately.
2.
South Korea's central bank kept its benchmark interest rate steady at 3-point-5 percent as widely expected.
The decision was announced on Thursday following a monetary policy committee meeting.
This is the ninth consecutive meeting that the BOK has decided to freeze the rate since it was raised to 3-point-5 percent in January last year following ten consecutive rate hikes in a bid to tackle inflation.
Also, according to recent data household debt in the final quarter of 2023 increased to its highest level ever – rising by nearly 6 billion U.S. dollars on-quarter.
In January this year, mortgage loans surged by over 3-point-6 billion dollars compared to the previous month, which is the second-largest increase seen since January 2021.
3.
22 months since first going on the run, and 11 months on from his arrest... a Montenegro court ruled that crypto entrepreneur and Terraforms Labs co-founder Do Kwon should be extradited to the United States.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday,... the Podgorica High Court ruled that Kwon is to be extradited to the U.S., where he has been indicted on charges of crimes committed in the field of financial operations.
In 2023,... Kwon and Terraform were charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over a multibillion-dollar fraud.
Kwon was arrested at an airport in Montenegro last March,... after being caught with fake passports.
4.
President Yoon Suk has pledged to generate two-and-a-half billion U.S. dollars worth of nuclear power projects and to provide extra financing worth 7-hundred-50 million U.S. dollars.
The pledge was shared earlier on this Thursday during the 14th session of the government's policy briefing, open to the public this time on plans to advance Korea's nuclear power industry.
Also during his term in office, over three billion U.S. dollars will be earmarked for related R&D with supporting legal guidelines in place.
5.
A much-awaited day for North Korean defectors has been unveiled here in the South.
On Wednesday, Seoul's unification ministry announced that July 14th will be a day dedicated to honor them.
The ministry plans to hold the first ceremony in July as soon as the relevant laws are in place.
This is the first time that a celebratory day has been dedicated to defectors from the North,... although the South Korean government has offered various support programs since legislation on North Korean defectors was adopted back in 1997.
The government support extends from helping them find a home, a job, giving initial settlement money, and offering special college admission among others.
6. Lastly to local bourse,
South Korean stocks closed higher than the week before .
Korea’s benchmark KOSPI gained 10 – point – 9 – 6 points
to close at 2-thousand-6-hundred-64-point- 2 - 7
whereas KOSDAQ gained 6 – point – 0 – 4 points
closing at 8-hundred-70-point - 1 - 1
Moving to weather forecast,
Seoul received nearly 14 centimeters of snow overnight, causing a messy Thursday morning commute... precipitation has died down in most places and should let up today, But those in Gangwon-do need to brace for more snowfall through Friday with up to 30 centimeters in store, the rest of Gangwon-do could see 2 to 15 centimeters with heavy snow alerts remaining in place.
Meanwhile, southern parts of the country will receive on-and-off rain instead of snow through tomorrow under cloudy skies.
Jeju will see on-and-off rain through Sunday, Jeollanam-do province is forecast to see a wintry mix this weekend with more up-and-down temperatures.
59:30’
The current temperatures are:
_______ degrees in Seoul
_______ degrees in Pyeongchang
_______ degrees in Busan
And _______ degrees on Jejudo Island
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