Yonhap News Summary

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

------------------
(LEAD) S. Korea, U.S. in talks on using secondary boycott as option to rein in N. Korea

SEOUL -- Talks are underway between South Korea and the United States on possibly using a "secondary boycott" aimed at toughening sanctions against North Korea's evolving missile and nuclear programs, Seoul's top diplomat said Monday.

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha made the remarks during a meeting with lawmakers in response to a question about what measures are being considered in the wake of the North's recent missile provocation.

------------------
(LEAD) Parliamentary budget committee tables extra budget bill for review

SEOUL -- The parliamentary budget committee on Monday tabled a 11.2 trillion-won (US$9.74 billion) extra budget bill for a long-delayed review despite opposition parties' objections.

Ruling Democratic Party members pressed ahead with the submission of the bill, aimed mainly at creating jobs in the public sector, while the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, People's Party and Bareun Party refused to attend the committee session.

------------------
S. Korea to seek inter-Korean talks after examining N.K. response to Moon's proposal

SEOUL -- South Korea's unification ministry said Monday it will seek inter-Korean talks after gauging North Korea's reaction to President Moon Jae-in's latest proposal to bring peace to the divided peninsula.

Moon unveiled his broad vision for improving inter-Korean relations during his speech in Berlin last Thursday, two days after North Korea test-fired its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

------------------
(2nd LD) S. Korea to build comfort women museum in Seoul

SEOUL -- South Korea's Gender Equality Minister Chung Hyun-back said Monday the government plans to set up a museum for Korean victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery in Seoul, in an apparent show of the new Moon Jae-in government's resolve to sternly deal with Japan's wartime human rights violation.

"The government plans to build the museum for the comfort women in a place easily accessible so that it can play a role as a mecca for people to remember and recall the human rights violations that the war brought," the minister said.

------------------
(LEAD) People's Party to elect new leader next month

SEOUL -- The minor opposition People's Party will elect its new leader next month, party officials said Monday, as it strives to regain public trust in the wake of a recent fake tip-off scandal and election defeat in May.

The officials said that the party will hold a national convention on Aug. 27 in Seoul to fill the top post that has been vacant since former leader Park Jie-won resigned on May 10 to take responsibility for the humiliating defeat in the presidential vote.

------------------
RB Korea announces plan to compensate another group of sterilizer victims

SEOUL -- The local unit of British household goods maker Reckitt Benckiser (RB) on Monday unveiled its plan to compensate a group of South Koreans who died or became seriously ill after using its toxic humidifier disinfectants.

Oxy Reckitt Benckiser said 52 people who have been confirmed by the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute (KEITI) as victims of its toxic products will be granted the same compensation as those who have been verified as sterilizer victims in the previous two rounds of surveys.

------------------
(LEAD) Seoul stocks close nearly flat on Q2 earnings uncertainties

SEOUL -- South Korean stocks closed nearly flat Monday as investors took a wait-and-see stance on second-quarter earnings of listed firms, although Samsung Electronics closed higher on its robust performance estimate, analysts said. The Korean won rose against the U.S. dollar.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) edged up 2.23 points, or 0.09 percent, to close at 2,382.10. Trade volume was low at 277.3 million shares worth 4.87 trillion won (US$4.23 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 583 to 234.
(END)