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Xi Jinping tells Blinken, “China-US still have many problems to solve”
Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasized to U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken, who visited China on the 26th, that “there are still many issues that need to be resolved between the U.S. and China.” President Xi Jinping met with Secretary Blinken and his team at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on this day and said, “Over the past few months, the two countries have made positive progress by implementing the ‘San Francisco Vision’ agreement and maintaining communication in various fields, but there is room for further efforts.”
President Xi emphasized the stability of relations between the two countries, saying, “The United States and China are partners, not enemies.” “China is happy to see a confident, open and prosperous United States,” he said. “I hope the United States can also look at China’s development in a positive light.” He added, “Like the first button on a shirt, this is a fundamental issue that must be resolved for China-US relations to be truly stable, develop, and move forward.” He added, “The two countries must keep their promises and not say anything else.”
It was reported that on this day, President Xi held the meeting while sitting at the head of the table, just as Secretary Blinken visited Beijing in June of last year. Secretary Blinken and his party were sitting in a row at the table to the right of President Xi. Across from each other were Chinese figures, including Wang Yi, director of the Central Foreign Affairs Office of the Communist Party of China (also serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs).
This is the first time that President Xi and Secretary Blinken have met separately in about 10 months since Secretary Blinken first visited Beijing in June of last year. Secretary Blinken was present at the US-China summit held in San Francisco in November last year.
‘Big 5’ hospital professors all decide to take ‘one day a week off’
The so-called ‘Big 5’ major hospitals in Seoul have decided to suspend outpatient treatment and surgery one day a week. According to the medical community on the 26th, Seoul National University Hospital, Severance Hospital, Asan Medical Center in Seoul, and Samsung Seoul Hospital officially announced one day of closure a week, and professors at Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital also decided to participate in the closure.
All five hospitals’ professors plan to maintain treatment for emergency/severe patients and hospitalized patients even if they are closed one day a week. Professors at Seoul National University Hospital and Severance Hospital are scheduled to take a day off on the 30th of this month. Severance Hospital’s professor emergency committee will continue to take a day off every week until the end of next month, and professors at Seoul National University Hospital have decided to discuss whether to take a regular vacation at the 3rd emergency committee to be launched next month.
Asan Medical Center in Seoul will suspend general patient treatment and surgeries on the 3rd of next month in accordance with the situation in each department, and Ulsan University Hospital will also be closed on the same day. It is known that professors at Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital also agreed to take a day off.
Yongsan and Lee, ‘Chat chat without agenda or time limit’… First summit between leaders, Yongsan, 29th at 2pm
The first summit meeting between President Yoon Seok-yeol and Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung will be held at the Yongsan Presidential Office at 2 p.m. on the 29th. It will be held in an ‘unlimited tea chat’ format with no particular restrictions on the discussion agenda or time.
Attending the presidential meeting will be Senior Secretary Hong, Presidential Chief of Staff Jeong Jin-seok, and Senior Secretary to the President for Public Relations Lee Do-woon. From the Democratic Party, Chief Cheon, Policy Committee Chairman Jin Seong-jun, and Chief Spokesperson Park Seong-jun are present.
Chief Hong said, “The two sides will meet at the President’s Office on Monday the 29th at 2 p.m. in accordance with President Yoon’s wish to ‘hear many stories from Representative Lee’ and Representative Lee’s wish to ‘meet quickly regardless of whether the agenda is agreed upon or not.’ “We agreed to hold a tea meeting,” he explained.
Director Cheon also said, “We expect this to be a meeting that conveys the public sentiment expressed in the general election to President Yoon without hesitation and seeks ways to restore people’s livelihood and change the tone of government administration that the people want,” adding, “We decided not to place any special restrictions on the agenda.” did. Regarding the fact that it was a tea ceremony instead of a luncheon or dinner, Director Cheon explained, “I thought that a tea ceremony would be more advantageous for talking freely and having conversations about various things.”
Hyundai Motor Company and Kia, first quarter operating profit of KRW 6.9831 trillion… Tesla and GM aside
Kia achieved its highest quarterly operating profit since its founding. Sales of eco-friendly vehicles jumped by more than 18%, and all eco-friendly vehicles, including hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and electric vehicles, recorded double-digit profit profits.
Kia announced on the 26th that it recorded sales of 26.2129 trillion won and operating profit of 3.4257 trillion won on a consolidated basis in the first quarter. Compared to the same period last year, sales increased by 10.6% and operating profit increased by 19.2%. Operating profit and operating profit ratio are the highest ever for a quarter. The operating profit margin is 13.1%, which is 7.6 percentage points higher than that of Tesla, an American electric vehicle company (5.5%).
Hyundai Motor Company, which previously announced its performance, recorded sales of 40.6585 trillion won and operating profit of 3.5574 trillion won in the first quarter of this year. The combined sales and operating profit of Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Motors were calculated to be KRW 66.8714 trillion and KRW 6.9831 trillion, respectively. The combined performance of the two companies surpassed that of Tesla, the global electric vehicle leader. Tesla’s sales in the first quarter of this year were $21.31 billion (about KRW 29.3102 trillion) and net profit was $1.129 billion (about KRW 1.5535 trillion). GM’s first quarter net profit (USD 2.97 billion, KRW 4.0835 trillion) was also significantly ahead.
Global sales volume was 760,515 units, down 1% compared to the same period last year, but the reason for the high profits was the expansion of sales of eco-friendly cars, which are high value-added cars. Reflecting the effect of material cost reductions, all eco-friendly vehicles, including hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and electric vehicles, achieved double-digit profit profits. A decrease in material costs due to a drop in raw material prices and the exchange rate effect also helped.
Baek Won-guk, Vice Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, “The state-of-the-art Anseong-Guri Expressway will open within the year”
Baek Won-guk, Vice Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, visited the Anseong-Guri Expressway construction site on the 26th and said, “The Anseong-Guri Expressway is a core road network that connects Seoul, the economic center of Korea, and Sejong, the administrative center, so that people can travel safely and conveniently as quickly as possible. He ordered that the construction be completed according to plan.
The Anseong-Guri Expressway is a 72km section of the Seoul-Sejong Expressway (total 128km) connecting Anseong City and Guri City, and is under construction with the goal of opening at the end of this year. To ensure driving safety even at a speed of 120 km/h, we applied drainage paving for the entire section for the first time in Korea, established a thin ice prediction system, and expanded sign text to improve visibility.
In addition, we plan to build a cutting-edge intelligent transportation system that controls the entire road use process, from collecting traffic information to disseminating the situation, by applying not only automatic radar detection but also smart pole display boards. Through this, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport expects to introduce a future highway that is more advanced than existing highways in terms of road safety and convenience.
When the Sejong-Anseong (56km) section is additionally opened in 2026, traffic volume is expected to decrease by about 10% on the existing Gyeongbu Expressway and 15% on the Jungbu Expressway.
Reporter information Park Sae-rom sp500@ajunews.com
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