Day: April 17, 2023

President of the Republic of Cuba H.E. Miguel Díaz-Canel has praised the excellent relationship between Cuba and Cambodia.

Just on the 63rd anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries (April 15), the Cuban President received the Letters of Credence from newly appointed Ambassador of Cambodia in Havana H.E. Chea Thireak, according to a news release of the Cuban Embassy in Phnom Penh.

They are excellent relations, assured H.E. Miguel Díaz-Canel, and the ties of cooperation and friendship are deep and historic. The Cuban President also referred to the exchange of visits by the Prime Ministers of Cuba and Cambodia in 2022.

The new Cambodian ambassador expressed his deep gratitude to the people of Cuba for sending doctors to help care for the population of his country, as well as for the scholarships offered for the training of professionals in the Caribbean nation.

“I assume the commitment” -the Cambodian Ambassador expressed- “to work together to strengthen our relationships and take them to a higher level”.

Source: Agence Kampuchea Presse

South Korea was not considering planning a supplementary budget, its finance minister has said, despite a looming decline in this year’s tax income.

“We are not mulling a supplementary budget at this point,” Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho said during a meeting with reporters in Washington on Thursday (U.S. time), where he attended the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ meeting.

The comment came as South Korea’s tax income declined 15.7 trillion won (US$12 billion) as of February from a year ago amid a slow economy, and this year’s tax income is feared to fall short of the government’s estimate of 400.5 trillion won.

There is speculation the South Korean government could propose an extra budget to reinvigorate the economy and boost sagging demand, as spending is forecast to outstrip tax income this year for the first time in four years.

Some suggest that the government should remove its temporary measures to support fuel tax, individual consumption tax and real estate tax, among others.

Tax income is “far from enough for the first half of this year,” the minister said, adding, “We need to monitor a bit longer how things will turn out for this year.”

“Aside from financial conditions, there is people’s livelihood that we need to pay attention to,” he said, implying that the government will try not to give financial burden to the people by hastily raising taxes. “We will make a decision in a comprehensive manner.”

The government will decide this week whether to extend its fuel tax reduction policy, scheduled to end this month, and it will also discuss whether to raise real estate taxes.

On energy costs, Choo said, “We will determine within this month” if or when the government adjusts utility bills such as electricity and gas.

The previous Moon Jae-in government drew up supplementary budgets 10 times from 2017 to 2022, totaling around 151 trillion won.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

Memorial services and events marking the ninth anniversary of the sinking of the Sewol ferry, one of South Korea’s worst maritime disasters, were held across the country Sunday.

The Sewol ferry went down in waters off the southwest coast on April 16, 2014. The death toll came to 304, including 261 second-year students and teachers from Danwon High School in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, who were on a field trip to the southern resort island of Jeju.

A memorial service drew around 100 people at a port in Mokpo, 309 kilometers southwest of Seoul, where the rusted wreck of the Sewol ferry was placed. A siren was sounded at 4:16 p.m. to commemorate the victims of the maritime tragedy nine years ago on this day.

“Let’s protect each other, love each other and long for the lost souls in order to prevent such pain from being repeated and so that the victims’ sacrifices do not end up becoming meaningless,” Lee Yoon-ha, a senior student at the nearby Mokpo Hyein Girls’ High School, said at the event.

A separate ceremony was held at Hwarang Public Garden in Ansan, 29 kilometers south of Seoul, with the attendance of about 2,000 government officials, bereaved family members and citizens.

Heads of key political parties, Oceans Minister Cho Seung-hwan and Ansan Mayor Lee Min-geun were among the participants.

After a one-minute memorial siren and a silent prayer, Cho and other dignitaries delivered addresses, followed by a memorial performance, the reading of a memorial poem and a choir performance of a memorial song.

Cho promised to do his best to “make the country safer by carving the painful scars” left from the Sewol disaster in his heart.

Another memorial event was held at Incheon Family Park in Incheon, 27 kilometers west of Seoul, attended by around 200 people, including Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok and other city and central government officials.

Source: Yonhap News Agency