◇Is there a mass prison breakout due to hunger due to lack of food in North Korea?
A North Korean source said on the 22nd that prisoners suffering from food shortages are breaking out of jails in rural areas of North Korea. In addition to the lack of food distributed to prisons due to serious financial difficulties, it is said that even if they enter, officials and others will embezzle. According to sources, from the end of last year to the beginning of this year, dozens of prisoners escaped from prisons in rural areas such as Pyongan Province and Hwanghae Province in the western part of the country. In some cases, escapees have committed robberies and murders to steal food while on the run, raising fears among residents. Sources also reported that about 700 prisoners died of starvation or disease in three local prisons in North Korea over the past two years.
North Korean fields seen from the Odusan Unification Observatory in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, near the Military Demarcation Line north of Seoul (file photo) = (Yonhap News)
◇January “Misery index” record high price serious
Kim Hoe-jae, a member of the National Assembly of the largest opposition party, the Democratic Party, analyzed data from the National Statistics Office and found that the misery index (an index that combines the unemployment rate and the consumer price increase rate) in January was 8.8. It was the highest January since the unemployment rate was revised in June 1999. The unemployment rate for the month was 3.6%, improved by 0.5 points from the same month last year, but the inflation rate was 5.2%, an increase of 1.6 points, and the misery index worsened by 1.1 points. “The government should focus on preparing solutions for high prices for the common people, the middle class, and people’s lives,” said Rep. Kim.
◇ Kakao Enta to go public at the end of the year Attracting investment from overseas
Kakao Entertainment, a subsidiary of Kakao, a major internet service company, recently attracted 1.15 trillion won (approximately 119 billion yen) of investment from Saudi Arabia and Singapore’s sovereign wealth funds, and is seeking to go public as early as the end of this year. ing. Kakao has announced that it will acquire shares of major entertainment agency SM Entertainment and form a strategic alliance with the company.
◇ 13,082 new corona infections, the lowest number of severe cases in seven months
The Central Epidemic Countermeasures Headquarters announced that as of midnight on the 22nd, the number of people infected with the new coronavirus in the country had increased by 13,082 since midnight the previous day. The number of severe cases fell to the lowest level in seven months.
