Yonhap News Summary

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

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McDonald's 'patty controversy' widens as more complaints filed

SEOUL -- U.S. fast-food chain McDonald's is facing further trouble in South Korea as more complaints were filed on Wednesday over undercooked hamburger patties, which allegedly caused at least one girl to become ill.

A family, whose identity was withheld, filed a complaint against McDonald's Korea with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, seeking an investigation into a possible breach of food safety law.

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(3rd LD) Ahn apologizes over fake tip-off scandal

SEOUL -- Ahn Cheol-soo, the former presidential candidate of the minor opposition People's Party, broke his silence and apologized Wednesday over a fake tip-off scandal that has sullied its image as a champion of "new clean politics."

The apology came hours after his former senior campaigner was arrested for an alleged role in the scandal and about a fortnight after a party member was accused of doctoring a tip-off against President Moon Jae-in's son in the runup to the May 9 vote.

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(Yonhap Interview) N. Korea's treatment of U.S. prisoners worsening: ex-diplomat

SEOUL -- North Korea now seems to feel freer to take American citizens hostage and the country's treatment of American prisoners is getting much worse, a former U.S. diplomat, who accompanied former Bill Clinton to North Korea in 2009 to win the release of two American journalists, has said.

"When some of the first Americans were taken in prison, North Koreans were very, very careful with them and released them early, but as time has gone by... they think now the U.S. is a paper tiger and the U.S. can't do anything," David Straub, a retired U.S. diplomat focused on Korean issues, said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency on Tuesday.

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(LEAD) Unification minister meets with bizmen investing in Kaesong complex

SEOUL -- South Korea's unification minister on Wednesday met with a group of company officials who ran factories at a now-shuttered industrial complex in North Korea as they called for more compensation for their losses over the closure.

Cho Myoung-gyon held a meeting with 14 officials from local firms that invested in the Kaesong Industrial Complex in North Korea's border city of the same name, according to Seoul's unification ministry.

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(LEAD) S. Korea to make all-out efforts to deal with external risks: finance minister

SEOUL -- South Korea's top economic policy chief said Wednesday that he will make all-out efforts to stave off any fallout from heightening external pressures, such as a potential U.S. rate hike and spreading trade protectionism.

"We are facing Washington's tightening monetary policy and a trend toward trade protectionism," Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon said in a policy meeting in Seoul. "We need concerted efforts to deal with such risks."

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(LEAD) President meets political leaders over G-20 outcome, dispute over nominees

SEOUL -- President Moon Jae-in met with key political and government leaders Wednesday to explain the outcome of his recent trip to Germany, his office Cheong Wa Dae said, a move also aimed at overcoming the political dispute he now faces here.

The meeting, held over lunch at the presidential office, involved the so-called five key figures next in command that include Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon, National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun and Acting Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Kim Yi-su, who is tapped as the new chief justice.
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