One of South Korea’s most powerful business organizations yesterday donated a batch of 5,000 COVID-19 rapid test kits to Taiwan to help the country combat a serious COVID-19 outbreak.
The Federation of Korean Industries, which represents several hundred companies in Seoul, made the donation via the Korean Mission in Taipei to the Taipei-based Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association during a ceremony in Taipei.
Speaking at the event, the head of the Korean Mission in Taipei, which represents South Korean interests in Taiwan in the absence of the official diplomatic ties, said that although the donation was small, it was symbolic of the strong and close bilateral ties between the two sides.
Photo: Liao Cheng-hui, Taipei Times
“We want to help our neighbor,” South Korean Representative to Taiwan Chung Byung-won said via an interpreter.
Taiwan and South Korea are each other’s fifth-largest trading partners, Chung added.
Last year, bilateral trade totaled US$50.76 billion, up 41.98 percent over the previous year, association data showed.
The number of bilateral visits also exceeded 2.5 million in 2019, prior to the spread of COVID-19 in early 2020.
Chung said he hoped that the donated test kits would be put to good use, adding that he looked forward to Taiwan and South Korea resuming normal trade and in-person interaction in the latter half of this year.
Chuang Suo-hang (莊碩漢), chairman of the association’s ROC-Korea Business Council, who received the batch of rapid test kits on behalf of Taiwan, expressed the nation’s gratitude for the donation.
It marks the third time the federation has made a donation to Taiwan during a time of need, Chuang said.
The federation donated US$200,000 for the 921 Earthquake in 1999 and US$300,000 for Typhoon Morakot in 2009, he said.
“A friend in need is a friend indeed,” Chuang said, while thanking South Korea for the timely donation as Taiwan is in the midst of a serious domestic COVID-19 outbreak.
The donated test kits are to be given to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is to decide how they would be allocated, the association said.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
RSS