DAY BREAK 06:00 Coming up on this Friday edition of Day Break,... ending weeks of speculation,... Korea says it is seeking to join the China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, despite U.S. opposition to the new multinational lender. Investigators say the co-pilot of the plane that smashed into the French Alps, named as Andreas Lubitz, appears to have crashed the Germanwings Airbus A320 on purpose. Plus,... North Korea claims to have arrested two spies who worked for South Korea′s National Intelligence Service. Seoul says it is looking into the matter. Day Break begins now. Hello.... and thanks for joining us. To our viewers around the world, it′s 6 a.m. on Friday, March twenty-seventh here in Seoul. I′m Mark Broome... and you′re tuned into Day Break. Title: S. Korea to join China-led AIIB as founding member Our top story this morning... After weeks of will it or won′t it,... South Korea finally announced late Thursday that it does intend to join a new China-led regional development bank as a founding member. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is expected to shake-up the existing world financial order by emerging as a rival to U.S. and Japanese-led infrastructure banks. Song Ji-sun reports. As widely expected, Seoul submitted its application to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, ahead of Tuesday′s deadline. The South Korean government said it sent a letter to Beijing seeking to become a founding member... adding the decision was made with the country′s best interests in mind. Korea was widely anticipated to join... following behind European members like the U.K. and France... and 21 other nations that already signed up last year. AIIB is the first multilateral financial institution that Korea joins as a founding member. While Washington has been expressing concerns over Beijing′s governance and influence in the new development fund... participating in the AIIB is likely to benefit Seoul... as Korean companies will also be able to take part in AIIB-funded infrastructure projects. China is keyed to chip in as much as 50-billion U.S. dollars in initial capital... with other members expected to make donations to start the fund at more than 100 billion dollars. The focus now is securing voting rights... which will directly impact Korea′s role in China-led bank. A major factor in calculating the stakes... will be the member nations′ GDP. Song Ji-sun, Arirang News. Title: N. Korea claims it arrested 2 S. Korean spies, Seoul investigating North Korea claims to have arrested two South Korean spies,... who it says worked for Seoul′s National Intelligence Service from the Chinese border city of Dandong. The North′s state-run Korean Central News Agency reported late Thursday that the men,... identified as Kim Kuk-gi and Choi Chun-gil ,... are being held on charges related to terrorism and bringing in large quantities of counterfeit money. It added... that Choi was arrested last December,... while Kim

• published: 27 Mar 2015
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