PRIME TIME NEWS 22:00
At long last, Korea′s main rival parties are seeing eye to eye on the 10-billion U.S. dollar budget supplement.
Tomorrow, the last day of July′s extraordinary session is when they′ll hash out the details.
Korea′s economy slows down in the 2nd quarter.
posting zero-percent range growth for five straight quarters.
The MERS outbreak and the prolonged drought are to be blamed for the trend.
A South Korean civic group visits North Korea to discuss a joint event for Liberation Day, which falls on August 15th.
No substantial agreements were reached, but the talks will continue.
For these stories and more, stay with us.

Hello... and welcome to Prime Time News... on this Thursday, July 23rd.
I′m Daniel Choy.
And I′m Hwang Ji-hye, thanks for joining us.
Title: Rival parties agree to pass extra budget bill on Friday
After days of strenuous negotiations,... Korea′s rival parties have finally agreed to pass the extra budget bill tomorrow.
The two parties also decided to open a briefing session at the parliamentary committee level to resolve allegations surrounding the nation′s spy agency.
Our Ji Myung-kil has more.
Rival party negotiators reached a striking deal on Thursday to pass the nearly 10 billion U.S. dollar extra budget which is a reduced version from the original budget proposed by the government.

"This supplementary budget will help cover the damage from the MERS outbreak and the drought as well as revive the faltering economy. We cannot be split over livelihood bills."
The proposed supplement is expected to help Korea maintain its economic growth at the 3-percent level, create some 124-thousand new jobs and make up for a tax revenue shortfall.
The ruling party also decided to accept the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy′s demands to consider raising corporate taxes to reduce a fiscal deficit.
In regards to the National Intelligence Sercive hacking scandal,... the two parties agreed to be briefed by the NIS at the National Assembly′s intelligence committee in the second week of August, hoping that the hearings could ease the public′s concerns on the matter.

"The alleged illegal hacking and surveillance by the NIS has caused anxiety among the public. This anxiety should be resolved for the sake of national security."
The NIS hacking scandal intensified after an employee committed suicide last week leaving behind a note saying that the spy agency did not wiretap citizens and meddled in elections.
However, this did not stop the NPAD from pressing charges at the prosecutor′s office against the former NIS chief as well as the company that facilitated the purchasing of the hacking program back in 2012.
Ji Myung-kil, Arirang News.
Title: Civic groups from two Koreas fail to reach agreement Thursday to jointly hold Liberation Day celebration
Hopes to convene a joint event for Liberation Day next month by the two Koreas have yet to become realized... as civic group

свернуть