[SUMMARY] Daily News Selection by Aju Business Daily on August 18, 2022

The following stories are the daily summary of news in South Korea on Aug 18, 2022.

S. Korea adds some 178,500 new COVID cases

[Yonhap Photo]

SEOUL -- South Korea added 178,574 new COVID-19 infections, including 633 cases from abroad, bringing the total caseload to 21,861,296. It represented a small decline from the day before, when the total reached a four-month high of 180,803. But the figure for August 18 is also 1.3 times higher than it was the previous week.

-----
Preorders for upcoming BLACKPINK’s album surpasses 1.5 million units

[Courtesy of YG Entertainment]

SEOUL -- Preorders for BLACKPINK's upcoming second full-length album have surpassed 1.5 million units. In contrast, the debut full album of the K-pop girl group "The Album" had preorders that exceeded 800,000 copies during the same time period in October 2020.

-----
11 DMZ hiking routes to open in September

[Yonhap Photo]

SEOUL -- Starting in September, visitors can use all eleven hiking routes with a peace theme along the DMZ that separates the two Koreas. According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, the trails in Ganghwa, Gimpo, Goyang, Paju, Yeoncheon, Cheorwon, Hwacheon, Yanggu, Inje, and Goseong will be open from September 13 to December. There are two distinct trails in Goseong.

-----
Australia-hosted multinational exercise to include S. Korean Air Force

[Yonhap Photo]

SEOUL -- The Australian-hosted multinational exercise, which will begin later this month as part of efforts to strengthen deterrence against developing North Korean threats, will include South Korea's Air Force.

The military has announced that a squadron of KF-16 fighters will leave an air base in Chungju, 147 kilometers south of Seoul, later today for Darwin in northern Australia to take part in the biennial Exercise Pitch Black, which will take place from August 29 to September 7 there.

-----
President Yoon vows to carefully consider public opinion on 100th day of inauguration

[Courtesy of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea]

SEOUL -- President Yoon Suk-yeol stated that the purpose of the press conference he conducted the day before to commemorate his first 100 days in office was to demonstrate that he would carefully consider the opinions of the public. He explained as he entered the presidential office: "The goal of yesterday's news conference was that I will carefully consider and honor the people's words."

[This article was contributed by Aju Business Daily reporter Joseph Kwak]

Kim Joo-heon jhkim123@ajunews.com

[SUMMARY] Daily News Selection by Aju Business Daily on August 18, 2022

Related