In the wake of the South Korean government's efforts to discover the truth about the April Third Jeju Incident that began 71 years ago today, a commemoration ceremony took place earlier on Korea's southern island.
And for the first time in 71 years, South Korea's defense ministry has expressed regret and condolences over the bloody military crackdown during the April Third Jeju Incident.
At a press conference on Wednesday, a ministry official delivered an official apology and recognized the sacrifices of Jeju's residents.
He said the ministry agrees with the special legislative act that officially recognizes that civilians were killed in civil disturbances and armed conflicts with the military that began in the 1940s.
Voters in the districts of Changwon Seongsan and Tongyeong-Goseong will be choosing a lawmaker to represent them.
Polling stations will be open between 6 AM and 8 PM on Wednesday.
It's only two seats, but the by-elections will be a barometer of public sentiment in Gyeongsangnam-do Province,
a traditionally conservative stronghold.
The U.S. State Department has confirmed it will continueengaging in dialogue with North Korea.
This echoes recent remarks made by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a radio interview, in which he said, the leaders of the U.S. and North Korea could meet soon for a third summit.
The State Department also said all future North Korea-related measures will be based on close coordination between Seoul and Washington.
Finance minister Hong Nam-ki says the government is drawing up an extra budget bill that will focus on tackling fine dust, boosting the economy and creating more jobs.
It will review requests from government ministries and submit a budget bill to the National Assembly by late April.
He said the size of the budget has not been set, but it will likely be lower than the IMF's recommended figure of nearly eight billion U.S. dollars.
That's zero-point-five percent of South Korea's nominal GDP, which the IMF said would be needed to reach the Korean government's growth target of between 2-point-6 and 2-point-7 percent for 2019.
President Moon Jae-in held a working lunch today withsome veterans of the business world to get their advice on handling the current economic difficulties.
He was joined by former Bank of Korea governors, senior business secretaries to former Korean presidents as well as academics.
President Moon is likely to have asked for their thoughts on his policies such as focusing on innovation as well as encouraging growth that's fair and led by rising incomes.
Source: Arirang News
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