Day: June 26, 2024

South Korean banks’ net income from overseas business jumped more than 34 percent from a year earlier in 2023, data showed Wednesday.

The combined net income of domestic banks’ overseas operations came to US$1.33 billion last year, compared with a net profit of $991 million posted the previous year, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service.

Interest income gained 5.4 percent on-year to $3.62 billion, while non-interest income spiked 74 percent to $693 million.

Their return on assets, which shows the companies’ profitability in relation to their total assets, climbed to 0.63 percent in 2023 from 0.49 percent the previous year, with their total assets growing 3.5 percent to $210.2 billion from $203.1 billion over the cited period.

The ratio of loans classified as substandard or below (SBLs) of the overseas businesses stood at 1.74 percent as of year-end 2023, up 0.23 percentage point from 1.51 percent a year earlier, according to the financial regulator.

The SBL ratios increased in Cam
bodia and the United States, but fell in Indonesia, Japan and Singapore.

As of end-2023, domestic banks were operating 202 subsidiaries, local branches and offices in 41 countries, compared with 207 operations in 40 countries a year before.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

Domestic and international flights were suspended or delayed for about three hours at Incheon International Airport on Wednesday due to North Korea’s resumed trash-carrying balloon campaign, officials said.

On Tuesday night, North Korea launched another batch of large balloons carrying trash toward South Korea, marking the sixth such action against the South since late May.

Another batch of hundreds of balloons was flown to South Korea’s border areas Monday night as well.

Due to the North Korean balloons, takeoffs and landings of both domestic and international flights were suspended or delayed at Incheon International Airport from 1:46 a.m. to 4:44 a.m. on Wednesday, the airport operator said.

The decision was made due to concerns about potential safety accidents involving balloons possibly being sucked into airplane engines, company officials said.

All flights resumed normal operations as of 7 a.m.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

The United States on Tuesday condemned North Korea’s ballistic missile launch this week as a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and renewed calls for the recalcitrant regime to return to dialogue.

The South Korean military said that the North fired an unspecified ballistic missile from a site in or around Pyongyang on Wednesday morning (Korea time), but its launch is presumed to have failed. The launch appears to have involved a hypersonic missile, according to a source.

“The United States condemns the DPRK’s June 26 ballistic missile launch. This launch, like the DPRK’s other ballistic missile launches in recent years, took place in violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions,” a State Department spokesperson said in response to a question from Yonhap News Agency.

DPRK stands for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“These launches pose a threat to the DPRK’s neighbors and undermine regional security. We remain committed to a diplomatic
approach to the DPRK and call on the DPRK to engage in dialogue,” the spokesperson added.

In a separate statement, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command called on the North to refrain from “further unlawful and destabilizing acts.”

“While we have assessed that this event does not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel, or territory, or to our allies, we continue to monitor the situation,” the command said. “The U.S. commitments to the defense of the ROK and Japan remain ironclad.”

ROK stands for the South’s official name, the Republic of Korea.

The latest launch came after the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt arrived in Busan, 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on Saturday ahead of a trilateral exercise with South Korea and Japan.

It added to inter-Korean tensions caused by Pyongyang’s sending of trash-carrying balloons to the South and its troops’ brief yet repeated border crossings.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

Son Woong-jung, the father of South Korean football star Son Heung-min and director of his namesake football academy, and two of his coaches have been accused of verbal and physical abuse of a young athlete, Yonhap News Agency learned Wednesday.

Son and two of his coaches at Son Football Academy in Chuncheon, 76 kilometers northeast of Seoul, are accused of verbally abusing a player and giving him corporal punishment for making mistakes during training sessions and matches.

The parents of the player reported Son, 62, and the two coaches to police in March after discovering a bruise on their son’s thigh, following a training camp in Okinawa, Japan.

The parents claimed that one coach struck their son in the thigh with a corner flag on March 9, an injury that required two weeks of treatment.

The player told police that the coach forced him and his teammates to run from a goal to the halfway line in 20 seconds after they’d lost a match. When the player and three teammates failed to make it in time, they were
forced to take a pushup position and were struck in the buttocks.

The player also accused Son of verbally abusing him over mistakes during training sessions, and the second coach of hitting him in different body parts while inside the players’ dormitory at the academy.

Gangwon provincial police forwarded the case to the prosecution in April.

The player’s father told Yonhap News Agency that he was “greatly disappointed” that his son had been abused.

“Thinking about how frightened my son must have been makes me angry,” the father said. “I decided to report the case to police because I didn’t want to see another case like this.”

In a statement sent to Yonhap News Agency, Son apologized to the player and his family but denied the abuse allegations against him and his coaches.

“I swear that coaches at my academy have never engaged in any action that wasn’t based on love for our young players,” Son claimed. “Much of what the plaintiff has said is not true, and we at the academy are fully cooperating with the
authorities during this investigation, without distorting or covering up facts.”

Son also said the player’s parents demanded “hundreds of millions of won” in settlement, and the academy could not accept it.

Son acknowledged that he might have failed to stay on top of changing coaching trends.

“I admit that I stuck to my own ways without recognizing the standards set by the changing times,” he said. “I will seek other ways that can help young athletes concentrate on the field and stay committed to training.”

Ryu Jae-yool, an attorney representing the player, countered that Son is only trying to portray himself and his coaches as innocent and make the plaintiffs look greedy for demanding a large sum of money in settlement.

“The parents brought up the amount of settlement fees out of anger, and there wasn’t any serious talk on how much money should be paid,” Ryu claimed. “This wasn’t a one-off incident that they took to police. The player spent time away from his parents and endured persistent abuse. He too
k a courageous step to bring this forward.”

Son Woong-jung, a former player himself, has enjoyed increased prominence in recent years for raising one of the greatest players in South Korean football history. His disciplinarian teaching of Son Heung-min, who became the first Asian player to win the Premier League Golden Boot as the top scorer in 2022, has generated a great deal of media interest both in South Korea and overseas.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

ISTANBUL: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday released its AI Preparedness Index (AIPI), mapping the world’s readiness for artificial intelligence (AI) and evaluating the level of AI preparedness for 174 countries.

The AIPI Dashboard tracks 174 economies based on their digital infrastructure, human capital, labor policies, innovation, integration, and regulation, the financial agency said in a statement.

While AI can increase productivity, boost economic growth and raise incomes, it could also wipe out millions of jobs and widen inequality, it added.

The IMF’s research in January showed that AI could endanger 33 percent of jobs in advanced economies, 24 percent in emerging economies, and 18 percent in low-income countries.

“But, on the brighter side, it also brings enormous potential to enhance the productivity of existing jobs for which AI can be a complementary tool and to create new jobs and even new industries,” said the statement.

The financial agency said wealthier economies tend to be
better equipped for AI adoption compared to low-income countries.

“Most emerging market economies and low-income countries have smaller shares of high-skilled jobs than advanced economies, and so will likely be less affected and face fewer immediate disruptions from AI,” it said.

“At the same time, many of these countries lack the infrastructure or skilled workforces needed to harness AI’s benefits, which could worsen inequality among nations,” it added.

Source: Philippines News Agency

MANILA: President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Wednesday said he wants ending hunger to be his lasting legacy.

Speaking at the Walang Gutom Awards in Malacañang, Marcos recalled being asked during a media interview what he wanted to be his administration’s legacy.

‘And it was a question I was not prepared for. It was a question that I actually had not thought about. But the answer came to me in an instant,’ Marcos recalled.

‘Wala nang gutom. Wala nang gutom na Pilipino (No more hunger. No more hungry Filipinos). That is my dream. No hungry Filipino,’ he added.

Citing data from the Department of Social Welfare (DSWD), the President said around three million households still suffer from involuntary hunger.

To address this, Marcos issued Executive Order No. 44 in October last year, establishing the ‘Walang Gutom 2027: Food Stamp Program’ as a flagship program of the national government in addressing hunger and stunting among children.

Under the program, the DSWD, as the primary government entity responsible
for the implementation and management of social welfare development programs, will serve as the lead implementing agency.

The program provides monetary assistance for targeted beneficiaries to purchase food commodities from eligible partner merchant stores.

Likewise, it provides the government with data to monitor the progress of beneficiaries in addressing their food problems, ensuring that their families are getting the food and nutrition that they require.

Marcos also emphasized the critical role of local government units (LGUs) in the fight against hunger, especially in ensuring that programs will reach the grassroots level.

‘As agents of the government on the ground, our LGUs not only have a better knowledge and have good insights on the incidence of hunger in their localities, but also provide, maybe, perhaps better programs, better strategies, or approaches to address hunger specific to the areas that their constituents lie,’ he said.

Exceptional local anti-hunger initiatives

During the ceremony,
Marcos led the recognition of LGUs with outstanding anti-hunger and food security initiatives for the pioneering Walang Gutom Awards 2024.

From over 100 participating LGUs, 17 finalists were identified by the DSWD and Galing Pook Foundation (GPF), of which 10 were named winners.

The winners are:

(Barangay Level)

-Barangay Commonwealth, Quezon City

-Barangay Naggasican, Santiago City

(Municipal Level)

-Asuncion, Davao Del Norte

-Palompon, Leyte

-Bacnotan, La Union

(City Level)

-Kidapawan City, Cotabato

-Bago City, Negros Occidental

-Cadiz City, Negros Occidental

-Mati City, Davao Oriental

(Provincial Level)

-Biliran

Each winning LGU will receive PHP2 million funding allocation from the DSWD’s Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP).

The seven LGU finalists, meanwhile, will receive PHP1 million SLP funds.

The Walang Gutom Awards is a collaboration of the DSWD and GPF that aims to honor and replicate the best practices of LGUs in addressing food security and nutrition challenges, contributing to
the nation’s goal of eradicating involuntary hunger by 2027.

DSWD Rex Gatchalian, who presented the 17 finalists to the President, thanked all the LGUs that participated in the 2024 Walang Gutom Awards.

‘I am happy to honor our partners from the local government units who have shown outstanding performance in local governance in addressing food insecurity and the nutrition challenges in their respective communities,’ Gatchalian said in his message.

Gatchalian said the anti-hunger initiatives of the LGUs will be used by the Department as templates that can be adopted by other local government units that share the same context and terrain.

‘This is bottom-up social technology development -it’s from the LGUs rather than from the Department,’ he added.

He emphasized that the LGUs participation in the Walang Gutom Awards is a testament that the DSWD is not alone in addressing the nutrition and health challenges of the country.

‘We hope to continue to move forward with you, under the helm of the Bagong Pilipi
nas brand of governance, in order to fulfill the dream of our dear President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., to see that no Filipino in our country will go hungry – walang magugutom na Pilipino (no Filipino will go hungry),’ the DSWD chief said.

Source: Philippines News Agency