Yonhap News Summary

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

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N. Korea-China ties changing 'in quality': S. Korean envoy

SEOUL -- Relations between North Korea and China have changed markedly due to Pyongyang's refusal to denuclearize and repeated provocations, South Korea's top nuclear envoy said Friday.

Hwang Joon-kook, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, cited China's attitude on the North in its recent military stand-off with the South.

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Moody's cuts South Korean growth estimate for 2016

SEOUL -- Global rating agency Moody's Investors Service said on Friday it has slashed its growth outlook on the South Korean economy for 2016 to 2.5 percent, citing the fall in its exports to China and Japan.

Earlier, the credit rating firm had expected Asia's fourth-largest economy to expand by 3 percent next year.

Moody's, however, maintained its growth outlook for the economy for 2015 at 2.5 percent.

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(News Focus) S. Korea seeks direct nuclear talks with N. Korea

SEOUL -- Emboldened by rare successful one-on-one talks with North Korea on ending a military crisis, South Korea hopes for fresh momentum in efforts to denuclearize the communist neighbor.

"We expect the nuclear issue to be discussed directly between South and North Korea in the near future," Seoul's top nuclear envoy Hwang Joon-kook said Friday at a forum to commemorate a landmark nuclear deal a decade ago, known as the Sept. 19 Joint Statement.

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S. Korean builders make global top five list for first time in 2014

SEOUL -- The combined sales of South Korea's leading builders ranked fifth in the world in 2014, making the global top-five list for the first time, market data showed Friday.

South Korea's 12 biggest construction firms, which were among the world's 250 largest builders, posted US$37.06 billion in total sales last year, grabbing 7.1 percent of the global market share, according to the data by the Engineering News Records (ENR) published in the United States.

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Park's approval rating hits yearly high

SEOUL -- President Park Geun-hye's job approval rating rose to the highest level this year following a breakthrough deal that defused military tensions with North Korea.

A poll released by polling agency Gallup Korea showed 49 percent approved of the job Park is doing, up 15 percentage points from a week earlier.

Those who disapproved of Park's job performance

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(News Focus) Hotel Lotte's planned IPO heats up market, more await

SEOUL -- South Korean retail giant Lotte Group is set to list its hotel and duty free operator Hotel Lotte, a hidden jewel owned by Japanese shareholders, taking the first critical step to untangling its murky governance structure following a bitter family feud over control of the conglomerate.

Local brokerage houses and foreign investment banks are drooling over its initial public offering (IPO) after the nation's fifth-largest conglomerate based in Korea and Japan earlier this month said the group will seek to list its shares on the Seoul bourse, which is expected to be followed by other key affiliates.
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