EARLY EDITION 18:00 President Park meets new ruling party leadership, highlights cooperation

ARIRANG NEWS 18:00 Title: President Park meets new ruling party leadership, highlights cooperation In a sign that the presidential office and the ruling Saenuri Party are working to mend ties gone sour... over disputed revisions to the National Assembly law, President Park Geun-hye invited the party′s new leadership to her office today. The meeting comes as the president tries to speed up her drive for... economic revival. Choi You-sun starts us off. Congratulating the ruling Saenuri Party′s new floor leadership, President Park Geun-hye said her office, the government and the ruling party must unite to tackle a number of reform tasks at hand. "The reform of the public employee pension system was one of the necessary reform tasks. I ask that you lead efforts to revive the economy through other reforms, including in the labor sector, and help the Korean economy leap forward." She also urged the party′s new leadership put the public interest first. While pledging its full support for the president, the party said it would do its best to pass a bill for a supplementary budget through parliament during the current session. The budget aims to help people affected by the MERS outbreak and a recent drought. The ruling party also said it will resume dialogue with the presidential office and the government soon. "We reaffirmed that we can only gain the public′s trust when we communicate and unite in moving in the right direction." The communication channel was severed for several weeks, amid controversy over revisions to the National Assembly law that would have given the parliament the power to request changes to ordinances. Concerned about the bill′s unconstitutionality, President Park vetoed it, slamming former floor leader Yoo Seong-min for engaging in politics for his own personal interest. Meanwhile, the party asked the president to pardon some of the country′s business leaders around the time of Korea′s Liberation Day next month. The party cited a need to encourage corporate investment to revitalize the economy. "In a display of faith, President Park held a separate one-on-one meeting with party leader Kim Moo-sung. While the presidential office and the ruling party managed to patch things up, a trilateral meeting with the opposition party leader may also resume, after the president agreed to consider that prospect. Choi You-sun, Arirang News." Title: Lower house approves Japanese PM Abe′s controversial security bills Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe′s push to boost the role of the country′s military has taken yet another step closer to becoming reality. Its lower house approved a set of security bills today,... despite growing public opposition. Kim Ji-yeon reports. Japan′s lower house of parliament has approved new legislation that could allow Japanese troops to fight abroad for the first time since World War Two. The package of 11 security bills would enable the Japanese militar