hankyoreh

North Korea has extended a recent diplomatic offensive to Japan, saying that it welcomes Japanese government‘s willingness to resume direct talks, a news report said.
North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on its website that Japan’s Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara’s last week comments “is a positive step and match the tide of the time to advance peace and stability in the new century and developments of nation-to-nation relations.”
“We are ready to meet and talk with countries that are friendly to us,” KCNA said. “If Japanese authorities move to improve ties, it would contribute to peace and development on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia.”
Maehara said in Tokyo on January 4 that talks with North Korea should be one of Japan’s major diplomatic agenda items for this year and they want to create an environment that will make it possible to further strengthen (efforts) to hold direct dialogue this year, and not only in multilateral settings.
Maehara will visit Seoul later this week to hold talks with his South Korean counterpart on bilateral relations, North Korea and other regional and global issues, South Korea’s foreign ministry said Tuesday.
　
High unemployment rate among law school graduates
About 44 percent of hopeful lawyers those who graduated Wednesday from the Judicial Research and Training Institute (JRTI), a state institute providing a two-year mandatory training program for those who pass the Korean bar exam before their debut as a licensed lawyer, are unemployed, said the JRTI.
343 of 970 graduates are still looking for a job, with 189 to join the military to serve out their mandatory conscription, as the legal market has already turned into a red ocean, the institute explained.
It is the third consecutive year that the jobless rate for the hopeful lawyers has been over 40 percent, with 44.4 percent in 2010 and 44.1 percent in 2009.
　
Lower electricity consumption encouraged by government
The government yesterday urged the public to reduce electricity consumption during peak hours to avoid crippling power shortages, warning that reserves have fallen to dangerously low levels because of severe winter weather.
On Monday, Korea‘s power demand reached 71.84 million kilowatts, the third consecutive record high this winter. The current maximum supply is 75.9 million kilowatts. Power reserves on Monday fell to 4.07 million kilowatts, or 5.7 percent of total supply. If reserves fall below the 4 million kilowatt level, the government will closely monitor electricity usage.
(Yonhap News Agency)
　
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