Yonhap News Summary

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

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China confirms mass defection of North Koreans

BEIJING -- China confirmed Monday that the 13 North Koreans who used to work at a state-run restaurant in the country and have defected to South Korea left the country with "legitimate" passports last week.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said during a press briefing that the North Koreans departed for a foreign country early Wednesday morning with "legitimate identification" documents.

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S. Korean ambassador to China to inspect N.K. border

BEIJING -- South Korea's top envoy to Beijing will visit two Chinese cities bordering North Korea this week to inspect the enforcement of new sanctions against Pyongyang, an embassy official here said Monday.

Ambassador Kim Jang-soo will visit Dandong and Hunchun, on the western and eastern ends of the border, from Wednesday through Friday to inspect Chinese customs offices and meet with South Korean residents and businessmen there, the official said.

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(2nd LD) LG Electronics Q1 operating profit up 65.5 pct

SEOUL -- LG Electronics Inc., South Korea's No. 2 tech giant, said Monday its first-quarter operating profit shot up 65.5 percent on-year, apparently driven by the improved sales of premium products.

Operating profit came to 505.2 billion won (US$440.7 million) compared to the 305.2 billion won posted a year earlier, the company said in its earning guidance report. Sales edged down 4.5 percent to 13.3 trillion won.

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Table tennis project launched for disabled in Nepal

SEOUL -- South Korea, a U.N. sports office and the international federation for table tennis launched a sports project for the physically challenged in Nepal, the Foreign Ministry said Monday.

The "NepAll" project, a table tennis program for the Nepalese with disabilities was launched on Wednesday. The South Korean government and the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) will finance the project, with the U.N. Office on Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP) overseeing it, the ministry said in a press release.

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Jindo's 'Sea-Parting Festival' attracts over half mln, emerges as major cultural event

JINDO -- The local seaside festival on the South Korean island of Jindo attracted throngs of visitors from across the country and abroad, as it starts to emerge as a major cultural event, an organizer for the event said Monday.

The 38th annual "Jindo Sea-Parting Festival," also commonly known as the "Miracle Sea Road Festival," brought together 590,000 tourists to the beach of Hoedong, a small village located in the southeast end of the island. Of the total some 85,000 were foreign visitors from such places as the United States, China, Kazakhstan, Greece and Indonesia.

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(LEAD) Court suspends BIFF's new advisory committee members from coming into force

BUSAN -- A local court on Monday ordered the executive committee of Asia's largest film festival to suspend appointments of its new advisory committee members amid its deepening feud with the sponsoring city.

The Busan District Court approved the injunction filed by the Busan Metropolitan Government against the executive committee of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), seeking suspension of 68 new members of the advisory committee from coming into force.
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