Our editors will be looking ahead today to these developing stories...
S Korea discusses future of cross-border ventures
South Korea will send government officials and business representatives to Mount Kumgang, a North Korean mountain resort, to discuss Pyongyang's decision to strip a South Korean company of its contract to run tours to the area. Mount Kumgang was the first major joint cross-border business project, opened in 1998, but the South suspended visits after a North Korean soldier shot dead a Seoul tourist who had strayed into a restricted military zone in 2008. Seoul says it will not resume the tours until the North allows an on-site investigation into the shooting and gives firm safety guarantees - demands Pyongyang refuses to accept.
Helping hand for returning graduates
Dalian is holding the annual Overseas Chinese Scholars Conference from today until Friday. It features a career service and entrepreneurship opportunities for graduates returning from overseas study. A survey by a private overseas study agency last year found nearly 80 per cent of some 6,700 returning graduates got a 'satisfactory' job within three months. But research by another government think tank found 40 per cent of returning graduates said they felt lost when choosing their careers.
Taiwan-US arms trade issue on table
The State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office holds a press conference today in Beijing. While cross-strait civilian exchanges have been further enhanced with Taiwan's opening up to solo mainland tourists, the issue of United States arms sales to Taiwan, to which Beijing has vehemently objected, lingers on. Taiwan's president, Ma Ying-jeou, is reportedly making his twentieth request to Raymond Burghardt, the de facto US top representative to Taipei, to sell the advanced F-16 C/D fighter to the island.