EARLY EDITION 18:00 President Park leaves for Paris to attend climate conference
ARIRANG NEWS 18:00 Welcome to our newscast. I′m Daniel Choy. President Park leaves for Paris to attend climate conference We begin at the presidential office... President Park Geun-hye left for a seven-day trip earlier today. This time, she will travel to Paris to attend global climate talks... before heading to Prague, in the Czech Republic, for a summit with key central European nations. Hwang Sung-hee starts us off. President Park′s first stop will be Paris, France, for the UN Climate Change Conference. On Monday, she will address some 140 heads of state to underscore South Korea′s efforts to tackle climate change, including its ambitious goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions 37 percent by 2030. At the global climate talks, leaders will convene on ways to fight climate change. "The upcoming Climate Change Conference is aimed at reaffirming the collective will of world leaders to launch a new climate system by replacing the Kyoto Protocol, adopted in 1997, with the upgraded Paris agreement." Before heading to the Czech Republic on Monday, President Park will give a special speech at the UNESCO headquarters and meet with its secretary-general, Irina Bokova. In Prague, the South Korean leader will meet with her Czech counterpart Milos Zeman... and hold talks with the country′s prime minister and prominent lawmakers. The key event will be a summit with the Visegrad countries the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary all deemed to be the fastest growing European Union nations. Although President Park has been suffering from the flu, the presidential office said the trip could not be postponed as Korea will become one of the founding members of a new global climate system. Hwang Sung-hee, Arirang News. Lawmakers wrestle over Korea-China FTA and 2016 budget proposal Over at the National Assembly... Talks continued this weekend over two major issues. The ratification of the country′s free trade agreement with China... and the fast-approaching deadline for the passage of the 2016 budget bill. Ji Myung-kil has more. Lawmakers from the two main rival parties... plan to meet Monday with government representatives to try to iron out their differences on Korea′s free trade deal with China. The ruling Saenuri Party wants the pact ratified by Monday,... or on Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest,... citing government estimates that say... if the trade pact takes effect this year, Korean companies could save some 5 billion U.S. dollars in tariff reductions. The main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy party wants to first work toward a plan for protecting sectors that will take a hit after the trade pact goes into effect, including agriculture, which is expected to be hurt by an influx of cheap Chinese produce. The rival parties are also wrestling over the government′s 333 billion U.S. dollar budget proposal for next year. The ruling bloc has said the opposition is holding the budget hostage for its o
