South Korea

Key points:

• South Korea's traditional age counting method starts at one at birth and increments every year on January 1
• Another system used for conscription and legal drinking and smoking ages will remain for now
• Similar traditional counting methods are informally used in China, Japan and Vietnam

Under the age system most commonly used in South Koreans' everyday life, people are deemed to be a year old at birth and a year is added every January 1.

The bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of South Korea, Han Duck-soo and key leaders, was significant. The PM emphasized that PNG could learn many lessons from the third biggest economy.

Marape said work for this arrangement started in 2016.

“We have worked on this since 2016. I believe the delay was on our part but it is better late than never,” he said.

Marape said PNG and Korea already participated in the APEC Business Travel Card (ABTC) scheme, where members used the ABTC cards as a visa, to travel to other member economies and also as a visa exemption or entry permit to travel within the confines of member economies.

The Prime Minister was accompanied by the Minister for International Trade and Investment, Richard Maru, Vice Minister for Finance and Implementation, John Boito, and Vice Minister for Treasury, Solen Loifa.

From the Korean party, President Yoon came to the meeting with Prime Minister of Korea, Duck-Soo Han, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Park Jin.

At the commencement of the bilateral meeting, Prime Minister Marape personally gave recognition to the Republic of Korea as one of Papua New Guinea’s biggest trading partners.

Nearly 200 staff and students have been infected in the greater Seoul area over the past two weeks.

Remote learning will continue until 11 September, the Ministry of Education said.

Health authorities have warned that the country is on the brink of a nationwide outbreak.

All students in the greater Seoul area, home to over 25 million people, will now take classes online with the exception of those in their final year of high school who are due to take university entrance examinations in December.

The 2020 K League season started on Friday with a match between Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors and Suwon Samsung Bluewings played without spectators after a delay of more than two months caused by the Covid-19 outbreak.

The Jeonju World Cup Stadium, home turf of Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, was not filled with fans but giant yellow and white cards saying "#CU SOON STAY STRONG" were placed on empty seats, while coaches and substitutes wore face masks.

Jeong Eun-kyeong, the director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), says the virus appears to have been "reactivated" rather than the patients being reinfected, Reuters reported.

The number of patients has grown after 51 were announced on Monday and officials say it brings doubt into what it means for a patient to be cleared of the virus and when they should be allowed to return home.

Bloomberg reported a patient is currently deemed fully recovered when two tests conducted with a 24-hour interval show negative results.

Officials said on Saturday that 229 new cases had been confirmed since Friday, raising the total to 433.

In a televised address, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun described the situation as "grave".

Many of the new cases are linked to a hospital and to a religious group near the south-eastern city of Daegu, authorities have said.

Two patients in South Korea have died so far and there are fears the number will rise.

The Grace Road Church has extensive business networks in Fiji, but the government said these would not be affected by Shin Ok-joo's arrest.

The police in South Korea said Ms Shin, who was arrested last week, has been charged with slavery and foreign exchange violation.

Her church believes an armageddon is coming, and Fiji is the only place in the world that will escape it.

Up to 400 Korean followers are reported to have worked in Fiji, but South Korean authorities said their passports were confiscated and they're not being allowed to leave.