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Good Friday afternoon... Now that the rain has tapered off in most regions,, the capital is seeing bright skies... And all heavy rain alerts have been lifted... Instead, high temperatures have set in... Last night, it was above 25 degrees in Daegu...The worst part of this hot weather is that there is very little relief even at night... So stay cool and hydrated... Wet conditions have markedly improved,,, Now heat alerts have been issued in Gangwon-do, Chungcheong-do provinces and southern regions... And highs are 5 to even 8 degrees higher than yesterday... The UV index is very high all across the country during peak hours... Factor that in if you're planning outdoor activities... You will need an umbrella over the weekend,,, as the rain will be on and off across the country mainly in and around the Seoul metropolitan area, with up to 120mm forecast... And the next rain system will be active from Monday,, which is predicted to produce even more downpours... Have a great weekend and enjoy your holiday, let's take a look at the worldwide weather conditions... S. Korea says THAAD unit in Seongju will operate normally starting late August and reaffirms stance The South Korean government reiterated its position on THAAD... emphasizing it will never be up for negotiation.

President Yoon pardons Samsung de-facto leader, removing restriction against Lee engaging in business activities

Relief efforts... in response... to the damage... caused by the recent rain... continue... on this Friday... but... quite a number of roads... and... parks... along the Han River... here in capital Seoul... remain closed. Authorities say... the death toll from the downpour stands at 13... while 6 people... remain missing. Lee Eun-jin starts us... off. South Korea is grappling with the damage caused by the record downpours that flooded homes and roads in the country's central region earlier this week. According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, 13 people died as a result of the extreme weather conditions... while the search continues for 6 that are still missing. At least 18 people were reported to have been injured. The heavy rain forced nearly 5-thousand people, mostly in the greater Seoul area, to evacuate their homes. Some 9 square kilometers of farmland were also submerged,... that's an area bigger than one-thousand-600 football fields. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Seoul City announced plans to spend 1-point-5 trillion won, or 1-point-1-5 billion U.S. dollars, over the next decade to build six large-scale underground rainwater storage and drainage facilities, also called deep underground tunnels, to better handle such natural disasters. Those plans won't come soon enough, however, as more heavy rain is expected next week... which is likely to cause further damage across the country. A strong rain front is expected to hit the Seoul Metropolitan area starting Monday night and Chung-cheong-do Provinces by Tuesday morning. While the duration of the downpours may not be long, even more rain is expected than in the torrents already seen due to lingering atmospheric conditions. "The heavy rain last week has already weakened the ground. There are concerns of additional damage... Less rain than before would cause damage but we're looking at heavier rain." Meanwhile, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on Friday instructed the government to swiftly take steps to designate special disaster zones for areas hit by the heavy rain earlier this week. Such designations will make them eligible for government financial support, which includes recovery work as well as relief funds for victims. While the Liberation Day long weekend is expected to have clearer weather, people are advised to prepare for heavier downpours next week to minimize further damages. Lee Eunjin, Arirang News.

S. Korea to allow more general hospitals to prescribe oral COVID-19 pills; 128,714 new infections reported on Friday

Initiatives are coming down the pipe in a bid to stabilize people's livelihoods for South Korea's upcoming Chuseok, or Korean Thanksgiving holidays that start in roughly a month's time. At the fifth emergency meeting on economic affairs on Thursday, President Yoon Suk-yeol held talks with experts, entrepreneurs and related-Cabinet members on how to stabilize prices and provide support to vulnerable groups especially as this year's Chuseok comes on the heels of historically-bad rain damage.

Substantial damage reported in Chungcheong-do and Jeollabuk-do provinces... as the rain moved south from the capital. Restoration and recovery work is underway nationwide. Shin Ha-young starts us off. Even though all the heavy rain alerts were lifted as of 7 PM Korean time, more damage is being reported as time passes. According to the Chungcheongbuk-do Province Disaster and Safety Management Office on Thursday, there have been a total 2-hundred-33 incidents reported. 32 homes and buildings are flooded and 18 cars are submerged. The situation in Jeollabuk-do Province isn't much different, where - at one point - 70 millimeters of rain fell per hour. About 20 roads are blocked while homes and buildings are flooded. But there's more to come. The National Institute of Forest Science forecasts that there will be up to 200 millimeters of rain in Chungcheong-do, Jeollabuk-do and Gyeongsangbuk-do provinces until Friday. Meanwhile, as of Thursday, the death toll from this adverse weather has reached 12 in Seoul, Gyeonggi-do and Gangwon-do provinces, with seven still missing. Nationwide, almost 6-thousand people have been displaced from their homes and forced to seek temporary shelter. The city of Seoul announced Thursday that it will support its autonomous districts with disaster management funds to help repair flood damage. The city also reports that most of the road that were damaged have been repaired. The same day, the country's Prime Minister Han Duck-soo held a meeting with relevant authorities to check the progress being made. There, officials reported that about 92 percent of what was seen as needing urgent repair has been dealt with. The government will also support the military... who are carrying out much of the recovery work... by deploying more troops and equipment, while the Korea Forest Service has promised to provide 13 helicopters to help with rescue efforts and to deliver relief supplies Shin Ha-young, Arirang News.

South Korea celebrates National Liberation Day on August 15th. As the historic date approaches, the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History is displaying old newspapers that were censored by the Japanese government. Kim Yeon-seung met with an artisan who played a key role in this project. These harshly drawn red marks are traces of Imperial Japan on Korean paper. During the colonial rule from 1910 to 1945, freedom was scarce- and so was freedom of the press. So the Korean newspaper Jung-oe Ilbo had to be censored. Anything that hinted of Korean independence, defended Korean activists, or shed a bad light on Imperial Japan was struck off by the Japanese government. But what Imperial Japan had tried to keep from the world is now openly displayed in the lobby of the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History.

ust a day... after favorable findings... with regard to U.S. consumer prices... for the month of July... producer prices... there... are also raising... hopes... that inflation may be slowing.