The following is the first summary of major stories moved by Yonhap News Agency on Wednesday.
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Apple to open 5th retail store in S. Korea this week
SEOUL — U.S. tech giant Apple Inc. said Wednesday it will open its fifth retail store in South Korea later this week, strengthening its presence in the country where its rival Samsung Electronics Co. is maintaining a dominant market position.
Apple Gangnam will open in Seoul’s posh southern district of Gangnam on Friday, offering the latest Apple products, including the new iPhone 14.
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Musical ‘Hero’ surpasses 1 mln admissions
SEOUL — “Hero,” a homegrown musical about the life of Korean independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun (1879-1910), has surpassed a cumulative 1 million admissions, its production company Acom said Wednesday.
The musical premiered in 2009 to commemorate the centennial anniversary of Ahn’s death and has run nine seasons since then, garnering several trophies from local musical awards.
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S. Korea, U.S. stage ‘decisive action’ phase of major amphibious landing exercise
SEOUL — South Korea and the United States conducted major amphibious assault drills mobilizing their high-spirited forces, landing ships, stealth fighters and choppers under the rallying cry of “decisive action’ in a southern city on Wednesday.
The South’s Marine Corps revealed to the media part of the drills that proceeded in and around Pohang, 272 kilometers southeast of Seoul. They marked a highlight of the allies’ large-scale Ssangyong (double dragon) landing exercise, which runs through next Monday.
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Crypto fugitive Kwon in good health in Montenegro: S. Korean officials
SPUZ, Montenegro — Do Kwon, the co-founder of Terraform Labs, the company behind a cryptocurrency that suffered a multibillion-dollar crash last year, is in good health while being held in Montenegro, according to South Korean officials.
The 32-year-old, whose full name is Kwon Do-hyung, is locked behind bars in a detention facility in Spuz, a small town just north of the capital Podgorica. He was arrested last week after being on the run for nearly 11 months.
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(LEAD) COVID-19 isolation period likely to be shortened to 5 days in May
SEOUL — The mandatory COVID-19 isolation period is expected to be reduced to five days from the current seven starting in early May as the government is considering downgrading the virus to a lower infection level.
COVID-19 has been classified as a “serious” disease since February 2020, and a classification downgrade to an “alert” level means that infected people will be required to isolate for five days, from the current seven.
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Foreigners under 19 to get free admission to royal palaces, tombs in S. Korea
SEOUL — Foreigners under the age of 19 can visit major royal palaces and tombs without paying admission fees starting next month, the cultural heritage authority said Wednesday.
The Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) said it has recently revised its rules on visits to royal palaces and tombs to include free admission for foreign minors. The rules will come into force Saturday, it added.
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‘The Glory’ Part 2 tops Netflix’s non-English TV show chart for third week
SEOUL — The Netflix revenge thriller series “The Glory” Part 2 remained on top of the streamer’s weekly viewership chart for the third consecutive week, data showed Wednesday.
Premiered on March 10, the highly anticipated second part was the most-watched non-English TV show on Netflix’s top 10 list for the week of March 20-26 with 48.35 million viewing hours.
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(LEAD) Kia unveils EV9 SUV ahead of launch in S. Korea in Q2
SEOUL — Kia Corp., South Korea’s second-biggest carmaker by sales, on Wednesday unveiled the all-electric EV9 flagship SUV ahead of its domestic launch in the second quarter.
The EV9 is Kia’s second model equipped with Hyundai Motor Group’s dedicated EV platform, called E-GMP, after the EV6 SUV launched in 2021.
Source: Yonhap News Agency