Yonhap News Summary

The following is the second summary of major stories moved by Yonhap News Agency on Thursday.

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Kim Jong-un reshuffles top officials more often to secure loyalty, tighten power grip: ministry

SEOUL -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has carried out reshuffles of senior party and military officials more frequently this year in an apparent bid to elicit their loyalty and tighten his grip on power, according to Seoul's unification ministry Thursday.

The ministry published an update of the who's who book, titled "Information on Key Figures in North Korea."

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(2nd LD) DP accepts gov't, ruling party plan on extending freight rate system for truckers

SEOUL -- The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) said Thursday it will accept the government's proposal to extend a freight rate system guaranteeing minimum wages for truckers amid growing concerns over a nationwide strike that has disrupted supply chains.

The government and the People Power Party (PPP) announced last month that they will extend the Safe Trucking Freight Rates System system for another three years beyond its scheduled expiration at the end of the year.

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Top nuclear envoys of S. Korea, U.S., Japan to meet in Indonesia next week

SEOUL -- The chief nuclear envoys of South Korea, the United States and Japan will meet in Indonesia next week to discuss the North Korea issue, Seoul's foreign ministry said Thursday.

Kim Gunn, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, will have back-to-back bilateral and trilateral meetings with his American and Japanese counterparts, Sung Kim and Takehiro Funakoshi, respectively, from Monday to Tuesday in Jakarta, according to the ministry.

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National Assembly passes bills on scrapping 'Korean age'

SEOUL -- The National Assembly on Thursday passed a set of bills requiring the use of international age counting system in all judicial and administrative areas, rather than the unique "Korean age" counting system.

Under the revisions to the Civil Act and the General Act on Public Administration that are slated to go into effect in June, South Korea's multiple age systems are to be unified to the internationally recognized system in which age is based on birth date.

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(LEAD) BOK underlines need to maintain monetary tightening as inflation could stay high

SEOUL -- The Bank of Korea (BOK) on Thursday underlined the need to maintain its monetary tightening "for the time being" to bring down inflation that is expected to stay much higher than its target level.

"Since it is expected that inflation will stay much higher than the target level even if the economy growth slows, it is necessary to continue the upward trend of interest rates for the time being," the BOK said in a report submitted to lawmakers briefing on latest economic and financial market conditions.

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S. Korea to ease regulations to boost foreign investment

SEOUL -- South Korea will ease regulations on imports of electric vehicles, chemical substances and other items in an effort to attract more foreign investment to the country, the industry ministry said Thursday.

They are part of 40 major measures that the government came up with to revamp imports and investment rules, after a total of 454 such requests from foreign companies here had been made through surveys and meetings conducted earlier this year.

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Yoon to preside over meeting on key policy tasks

SEOUL -- President Yoon Suk-yeol will preside over a meeting next week to check progress on his administration's key policy tasks and communicate with the public on their implementation, his office said Thursday.

The meeting will be held next Thursday for 100 minutes and be broadcast live on national television. Around 150 people, including 100 members of the public, will take part in the session.

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DP reports dismissal motion for interior minister over Itaewon tragedy

SEOUL -- An opposition-led motion calling for the dismissal of Interior Minister Lee Sang-min over the bungled government response to the Itaewon crowd crush was reported to the National Assembly on Thursday, paving the way for its passage this week.

"A dismissal motion for Cabinet member Lee Sang-min has been submitted," Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo said during the National Assembly's plenary session, requesting floor leaders of the ruling and main opposition parties to deliberate on the schedule for the remaining process.

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S. Korea's top diplomat meets U.S. think tank officials, discusses N. Korea, alliance issues

SEOUL -- South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin met Thursday with a delegation from a U.S. think tank to discuss such issues as North Korea and the Seoul-Washington alliance, his office said.

The delegation from the National Committee on American Foreign Policy (NCAFP), an American non-partisan foreign policy think tank, was on a visit to Seoul as part of its annual tour to East Asia, according to the ministry.

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