Yonhap News Summary

The following is the first summary of major stories moved by Yonhap News Agency on Friday.

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(2nd LD) N. Korea's Kim fires party officials

SEOUL -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has dismissed some members of the ruling party's central military commission, state media reported Friday.

The dismissals took place at an enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea, according to the North's Korean Central News Agency. It did not say when the meeting was held, but the communist nation is known to often report events a day after they take place.

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Samsung SDI to buy cell material biz from affiliate

SEOUL -- Samsung SDI Co., the battery-making arm of South Korea's top conglomerate Samsung Group, said Friday it will buy the cell material division of its chemical affiliate, a move to bolster competitiveness in the sector.

Samsung SDI will take over the cell material unit of Samsung Fine Chemicals Co. for 18.7 billion won (US$15.9 million) on Sept. 16, the company said in a regulatory filing.

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CNBLUE to return with new album next month

SEOUL -- South Korean pop rock band CNBLUE will release its first album in more than a year next month, its management agency said Friday.

"2gether" will hit digital retailers on Sept. 14, FNC Entertainment said. It's the band's second official album and the first album since "Can't Stop," an EP released in February 2014.

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UAE sovereign fund interested in buying stake in Woori Bank: official

SEOUL -- The Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC) has expressed its interest in buying a stake in state-run Woori Bank, which has been put up for sale, a government official said Friday.

The Seoul government has been trying to sell its 51.04 percent stake in the bank since 2010 in a bid to retrieve public funds worth 13 trillion won (US$11.3 billion) that were spent to bail it out following the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s.

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Southeast Asian investors flee S. Korean bond market

SEOUL -- Southeast Asian investors are scurrying out of the South Korean bond market amid rising concerns the current global financial turbulence could spark currency crises in their home countries, data showed Friday.

Emerging countries in Asia are struggling with weakening currencies and foreign capital outflows in the face of growing appetites for safe assets due to an imminent rate hike in the United States, and China's recent devaluations and stock rout.

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Lotte pushes to expand footing in India

SEOUL -- Lotte, the country's fifth-largest conglomerate, is moving to tap into India as it accelerates its overseas expansion drive in an attempt to make up for feeble growth at home.

The retail giant said Friday its chairman, Shin Dong-bin, held a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in New Delhi, to propose a plan to build railway shopping complexes in major Indian cities.

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China respects N. Korean military's non-attendance at parade

BEIJING -- China's Defense Ministry has said it respects the decision by North Korea not to send its military delegation to next week's huge military parade marking the end of World War II.

North Korea, the only treaty ally of China, will send a top official, Choe Ryong-hae, to the Sept. 3 military parade, but no military delegation from the North will take part, according to Chinese officials.

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(Yonhap Feature) Hyundai Motor strives to win back trust on home turf

SEOUL -- Hundreds of onlookers shrieked as two brand-new Hyundai sedans crashed into each other one Saturday night, but unlike a typical, horrifying car accident, a roaring applause followed as if to praise the scenery of smashed up vehicles in a cloud of dust and debris.

The head-on collision at the Hyundai Motor Street Circuit in Songdo, west of Seoul, was actually part of a publicity stunt by Hyundai Motor Co. in which South Korea's top carmaker held the world's first-ever public car-to-car crash test.
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