EARLY EDITION 18:00 New ruling party floor leader vows to seek better relations

ARIRANG NEWS 18:00 Title: New ruling party floor leader vows to seek better relations with presidential office We begin with domestic politics. The ruling Saenuri Party has a new floor leader after it elected Won Yoo-chul to the post earlier today, and he faces a host of tasks, one of which is improving relations with the presidential office. He hit the ground running with a series of meetings, including one with President Park Geun-hye later this week. Park Ji-won tells us more. Four-term lawmaker Won Yoo-chul was elected floor leader of the ruling Saenuri Party by a consensus agreement during a general meeting of the party′s lawmakers on Tuesday. In his acceptance speech, the 52-year old vowed to mend the party′s broken relationship with the presidential office. "Based on a close relationship with the presidential office, I will focus on improving the economy and the livelihoods of the people,... and on fulfilling the Park Geun-hye administration′s reforms in four major areas: the public sector, labor, education and finance." President Park will meet the new floor leader and party chairman Kim Moo-sung on Thursday,... signaling a turning point toward smoother relations between the presidential office and the ruling party. This was confirmed when the newly appointed senior presidential secretary for political affairs, Hyun Ki-hwan, met with ruling party chairman Kim Moo-sung Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, the new ruling party floor leader got right down to business after his election,... meeting with his counterpart in the main opposition party, Lee Jong-kul, on Tuesday afternoon. The two vowed to work together on many pressing issues, including a much-needed multi-billion dollar budget supplement, the details of which the two disagree on. At a press conference held earlier Tuesday, Lee said his party would push to increase the amount of the supplement for the benefit of the people and medical institutions that suffered as a result of the MERS outbreak. He stressed that the party is firm on its stance that the approximately five billion U.S. dollars in the plan... allocated to covering the current tax revenue deficit... should be cut. "The chronic tax revenue deficit is a symbol of the Park Geun-hye administration′s incompetence. You might think the deficit came from the public′s failure to pay their taxes, but that′s not the case. It is the government′s failure to correctly estimate tax revenues, either due to failed economic projections or policy mistakes." Despite their differences over the size of the budget supplement,... the rival parties have agreed to pass the plan this month, with the possibility it could gain parliamentary approval by as early as the 24th. Park Ji-won, Arirang News. Title: Korea′s first public home shopping channel for SME products, agricultural goods launched Korea′s first public home shopping channel to promote goods... made by small and mid-sized businesses as well as agri