NEWSLINE AT NOON 12:00 President Park vows to soon reshuffle her office
NEWSLINE AT NOON 12:00 Coming up on this Tuesday edition of Newsline at Noon,... a public outcry over a new tax return system forces Korea′s finance minister to hold a news conference. The change, he says, is aimed at improving income redistribution. The recent plunge in oil prices means Korea could save nearly 40 billion U.S. dollars this year, with the oil consumption to GDP ratio dipping to its lowest level in 45 years. Plus,... Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is facing a backlash in Korea and China after he visits the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem... and fails to even mention any of his own country′s past wrongdoings. These stories and more on Newsline at Noon. It′s noon, Tuesday, January 20th, here in Korea. Thanks for tuning in. Live from Seoul... I′m Eoh Jin-joo. Good to have you with us,.... I′m Mark Broome. Title: President Park vows to soon reshuffle her office, Cabinet President Park Geun-hye has vowed to reshuffle her office and Cabinet to increase efficiency in her administration and sharpen her focus on revitalizing the economy in the new year. At a Cabinet meeting, she also talked about appointing special advisers to boost cooperation with political parties in carrying out her state policies. Speaking about the latest case of abuse of children at a day care center, and calling it "deplorable," President Park urged officials to ensure the government′s new one-strike-out system for day care centers and caretakers found to have abused children... is enforced. Meanwhile, President Park, who has been criticized for her lack of communication with officials, held a brief "tea time" with the Cabinet before officially starting Tuesday′s meeting. Title: Korea′s finance minister says revised tax policy ′collects less and refunds less′ Korea′s finance minister held a press briefing this morning... after the government came under heavy fire for a tax policy change. Choi Kyung-hwan denied claims that most of the salery workers... will have to pay more taxes than before. Our Hwang Ji-hye has the details. A public outcry forced... Korean Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan to stand before reporters on Tuesday... over the government′s change in tax policy. He said the change that comes into force this year,... aims to redistribute wealth to low-income families. "Changing tax benefits from tax deductions into tax credits will raise the tax burden on high-income earners, but will decrease the burden on low-income workers." Many salaried workers have been slamming the government,... saying the change will force them to pay more than the tax refunds they receive next month... as they file their year-end taxes this month. The minister responded to the complaints, saying the current tax policy collects less and returns less after income taxes are filed,... while the past practice had been to collect more and return more. But... he did pledge to monitor the tax burdens... stemming from las
