Morning News Briefing: Sports Federation Staff Enter Olympic Park After 95 Days of Blockade Protests

1. Employees from nine sports organizations, including the Korea Handball Federation, entered the Handball Gymnasium at Olympic Park this morning (September 8) alongside police and a special investigation team from the election commission. This marks the entry 95 days after blockade protests erupted, which were triggered by the ballot paper shortage during the local elections. Driven by the upcoming Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in Japan opening on September 19 and the early admissions screening for university physical education departments, the sports community decided they could no longer delay and entered following consultations with the police. Under police control, the organization staff scattered to collect their office computers and external business materials, and no clashes with protesters occurred during the process. Access to the area where approximately 2.5 million ballot papers are stored remained restricted, and police stated that the special counsel team led by Lee Tae-hwan and officials from the National Election Commission entered first to take necessary measures.

2. The Bank of Korea announced that the South Korean economy grew by 0.6% in the second quarter of this year, driven by increases in exports and consumption. Nominal GDP, which accounts for price fluctuations, surged by 26.4% compared to the same period last year. This marks the highest growth rate in 47 years since the third quarter of 1979. Real gross national income (GNI), which reflects the actual purchasing power of South Korean citizens, also increased by 3.1%. The Bank of Korea forecasted that if exchange rate stability continues, South Korea's per capita gross national income is highly likely to exceed 40,000 USD for the first time this year.

3. Another welcome piece of news: the KOSPI breached the 7,100 mark during intraday trading, driven by major semiconductor stocks. This is the first time the KOSPI has broken through the 7,000 threshold in 15 trading sessions since August 18. If it maintains the 7,000 level until the market closes, it will recover the 7,000 mark on a closing price basis for the first time in about a month since July 23. The recent upward trend of the KOSPI is analyzed to be driven by growing expectations of a continued favorable boom in the memory industry following OpenAI's launch of its new AI model, Astra.

4. As Nepali authorities have permitted foot searches in the Ramche region—which had previously been restricted for safety reasons—South Korean emergency relief team members are expected to begin full-scale searches starting today. Ramche is located about 2 kilometers away from the camp where missing South Koreans stayed, and missing persons' families have continuously demanded searches there due to the possibility that the missing individuals might have evacuated to the area. No additional survivors were found during yesterday's intensive search operations near the Yuwha Dam tunnel.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.