Jun Ji-hye, a reporter at the finance desk of The Korea Times, focuses primarily on economic policy and government agencies, mainly covering the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Ministry of Budget and Planning, the National Tax Service and the Korea Customs Service. She previously covered financial authorities, including the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service, and earlier worked on the political, city and business desks, reporting on a wide range of issues.
President sends condolences to Xi
By Jun Ji-hye
President Park Geun-hye sent a telegram of condolence to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Saturday, following a powerful earthquake in Sichuan Province that killed at least 180 people and injured thousands.
“Korean citizens and I were sad on hearing about the large earthquake resulting in many casualties and high property damage,” President Park said in the telegram.
“Citizens of the Republic of Korea including myself express our regret over the fatalities and send our condolences to the families of the deceased,” Park said.
A 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Sichuan, southwestern China, at 8:02 a.m. Saturday (local time).
In addition to the 180 dead, 24 were listed missing as of Sunday, according to the Sichuan regional government. In the city of Ya'an, which was close to the epicenter, 164 were killed, along with 6,700 injured _ among them, 500 are in a critical condition, according to Xinhua news agency.
The tremor occurred about 240 kilometers from Wenchuan, which was hit by a massive earthquake in May 2008 that left close to 90,000 people dead or missing.