Yonhap News Summary

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

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(LEAD) Authorities deny allegation of mistreatment of jailed ex-president

SEOUL -- South Korea on Wednesday denied a reported allegation by a group of lawyers that former President Park Geun-hye's human rights are being violated in her detention cell.

CNN reported Park's international legal team led by MH Group plans to submit a document on her human rights situation to the United Nations Human Rights Council. They claimed that Park, who's standing trial for corruption and abuse of power, "is living in a cell that's dirty, cold and constantly lit so she cannot sleep," according to the report.

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(2nd LD) N.K. sends congratulatory message for China's party congress

SEOUL -- North Korea on Wednesday sent a short congratulatory message to China on the opening of the 19th congress of the communist party, in what could indicate strained ties over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile tests.

The central committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea warmly congratulated the Communist Party of China's on its congress, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

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(LEAD) FM stresses close cooperation with U.S., Japan in tackling N.K. problem

SEOUL -- South Korea's foreign minister met Wednesday with senior diplomats from the United States and Japan who are in Seoul for three-way talks to coordinate measures to rein in North Korea.

Kang Kyung-wha emphasized the importance of three countries' cooperation to resolve North Korea's nuclear problem during her meeting with Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama.

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Prosecutors raid McDonald's Seoul office over undercooked patty scandal

SEOUL -- Prosecutors on Wednesday raided McDonald's Korea's headquarters and three partner companies as part of a probe into allegations that it undercooked burger patties, causing some consumers to get sick.

Investigators searched the main office of McDonald's Korea in central Seoul and its patty suppliers to confiscate evidence, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said.

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(LEAD) S. Korea's jobless rate drops to 3.4 pct in Sept.

SEJONG -- South Korea's jobless rate dropped slightly last month, with the number of newly employed people rising at the fastest pace in four months, government data showed Wednesday.

The unemployment rate stood at 3.4 percent in September, down 0.2 percentage point from the same month last year, according to the report compiled by Statistics Korea. From a month earlier, it also fell 0.2 percentage point.

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(LEAD) S. Korea avoids being labeled as currency manipulator by U.S.

SEOUL -- The United States said it did not designate South Korea as a currency manipulator, but it put Seoul on its watch list to closely follow its currency practices going forward.

South Korea, along with several other countries, has been on Washington's list, as Asia's fourth-largest economy has consistently maintained a trade surplus with the United States.

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(Yonhap Feature) Ban off-hour messaging? Koreans embrace right to disconnect as part of work culture reform

SEOUL -- Lim Ji-yeon, a working mother of two living in western Seoul, is constantly haunted by mobile phone messages from her clients, which often come even after office hours and disrupt her free time and private life.

"Can't we just make after-hour messaging illegal so that it would at least teach people some manners?" the 36-year-old PR agent told Yonhap News Agency. "KakaoTalk has destroyed the concept of time restrictions and it just drives me crazy."
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