Yonhap News Summary

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

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S. Korean foreign minister likely to meet Pompeo in New York

SEOUL -- South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha is expected to hold bilateral talks with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other foreign counterparts in New York next week on the sidelines of a U.N. session, a ministry official said Friday.

Kang is scheduled to accompany President Moon Jae-in for the 73rd Session of the U.N. General Assembly. Moon will leave for New York on Sunday and return home four days later.

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Moon to visit New York for talks with Trump, U.N. General Assembly

SEOUL -- President Moon Jae-in will travel to New York on Sunday to attend the U.N. General Assembly and hold talks with U.S. President Donald Trump aimed at breaking the deadlock in denuclearization negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang, a senior presidential official said Friday.

The five-day trip comes just three days after Moon returned from a visit to North Korea, where he held his third summit talks with the North's leader, Kim Jong-un, and won Kim's promise to dismantle the country's ICBM testing and launch facilities.

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Inter-Korean summit to create new opportunities for steel industry: POSCO CEO

SEOUL -- Choi Jeong-woo, new CEO of South Korea's leading steelmaker POSCO Co., said Friday that the inter-Korean summit can create new opportunities for the steel industry.

The executive was part of the business delegation that accompanied President Moon Jae-in on his trip to North Korea earlier this week. Choi and other businessmen discussed various inter-Korean economic cooperation projects that can be pursued going forward if conditions are right.

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Minister: Koreas to end war status, family separation

SEOUL -- South Korean Unification Ministry Cho Myoung-gyon said Friday the government will redouble its efforts to end the "longest war and parting on Earth," as he spoke about the recent peace mood in Korea.

He was referring to the 1950-53 Korean War, in which hostilities ended in only with an armistice, and the subsequent separation of families on the divided peninsula.

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N. Korea needs to develop northeastern ports to revive economy: study

SEJONG -- North Korea needs to develop key ports and logistics facilities to boost trade and revive its economy, especially in northern border areas, a study showed Friday.

Lee Seong-woo, a port and logistics research chief at the state-run Korea Maritime Institute, said Najin and Chongjin, located on North Korea's northeastern border, will play an important role in transforming the reclusive nation's economic landscape.

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Olympics bid offers clue to Kim's future vision for N. Korea: experts

SEOUL -- Following the latest inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang, speculation is mounting about North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's long-term vision for his isolated communist state, after he made various open-minded gestures towards his South Korean guests.

Experts in Seoul said Friday that an inter-Korean summit agreement to jointly push to host the 2032 Olympics may offer some clues to Kim's vision for the future of North Korea.

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N.K. leader makes 'finger heart' gesture in photo at Mount Paekdu: official

SEOUL -- During a joint visit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in to the top of Mount Paekdu, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un posed for cameras with the hottest photo gesture in South Korea: a finger heart.

Kim made the gesture, which crosses the thumb and the index finger to make the shape of a heart, when he posed for a photo with his wife, Ri Sol-ju, against the backdrop of Cheonji or Heaven Lake on top of the mountain Thursday, the South's presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said.

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Hanwha Energy, Korea Midland Power to develop U.S. solar plant

SEOUL -- Hanwha Energy Corp. and Korea Midland Power Corp. will build a solar power plant in the United States by 2020, Hanwha Group said Friday.

The construction of a 150-megawatt solar power plant is scheduled to begin in December 2019 and to be completed a year later in Boulder City, southeast of Nevada, the conglomerate said in a statement.
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