ARIRANG NEWS 16:00 Ministries report to President Park on national reforms

ARIRANG NEWS 16:00 Hello and welcome to this edition of Arirang News. Joining you from Seoul, I′m Lee Ji-yoon. Title: Ministries report to President Park on national reforms Beefing up safety measures topped the agenda at a meeting over at the presidential office today. Among the eight government bodies at the meeting,... in the spotlight was the new safety minister,... who promised make a safer society for the people. Our Choi You-sun starts us off. The head of the new safety ministry, established in the aftermath of last year′s deadly ferry accident,... has vowed to ensure a fast response to major crises in the nation. A special rescue team will be formed to reach an accident or disaster site anywhere in the country within 30 minutes on land and an hour by sea. A lax response to the sinking of the Sewol-ho ferry last April was largely blamed for the deaths of more than 3-hundred passengers. Safety Minister Park In-yong said he will bolster the ministry′s fire service and coast guard rescue operations and hold more public servants accountable for laxity. Inspections of public facilities will be carried out annually, and safety education will be offered to all Koreans, from toddlers to the elderly. The safety minister also talked about turning a problem into an opportunity by expanding the use of information and communications technology in safety management... and creating jobs in new areas such as safety consulting and monitoring. Saying that government reform is the very beginning of all reforms, the administration minister said he will integrate overlapping public projects and services to more efficiently cater to the needs of the public. Public servants will be encouraged to initiate and innovate through incentives, and those involved in corruption will face dire consequences. "We plan to expand bonuses for good performance for the salaried positions. It′s a step towards implementing a performance-based system in public service." And to encourage greater specialization in public service, government employees will be limited to the number of times they can be transferred from one ministry to another and more positions will be open to experts from the private sector. Choi You-sun, Arirang News. Title: Korea′s Ministry of Justice vows to build law-abiding, transparent society And the country′s law enforcement officials also took part in that meeting. There, they said, they will do all they can to root out social crimes,... especially in the wake of some horrifying cases of child abuse,... we′ve seen in the past few weeks. Here′s our Park Ji-won with this report. Korea′s Ministry of Justice has stressed that a firm legal foundation has to underpin the government′s plans for structural reform. Laying of his ministry′s plans for 2015 to President Park Geun-hye on Wednesday,... Justice Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn focused on ways to re-establish law and order,... build a law-abiding society and eradicate deep-