NEWSLINE AT NOON 12:00 President Park to meet with leaders from rival political partie

ARIRANG NEWS 12:00
Coming up today,... President Park Geun-hye is set to meet with the leaders of Korea′s ruling and main opposition parties. She′s going to urge them to support the ratification of the Korea-China FTA and her administration′s labor market reform plans.
War-separated families say their final goodbyes on the third and final day of the first stage of the reunion event. We have a special report on another emotionally-charged day.
Plus,... a thick layer of air pollution that has blanketed Korea′s central region over the past couple of days dissipates somewhat,... but we′ll have to wait for a return to clear blue skies. Stay tuned for these stories and more.
Hello... it′s noon on Thursday the twenty-second of October... you are tuned in to our midday newscast here on Arirang TV.
Thanks for joining us,... I′m Mark Broome.

Title: President Park to meet with leaders from rival political parties
We start with today′s rare meeting between President Park Geun-hye and the leaders of Korea′s two main political parties.
The president wants to debrief them on the results of her recent trip to the U.S. and ask for their support in parliament.
The atmosphere is likely to be frosty though,... with the main opposition party expected to protest the administration′s decision to retake control of the nation′s history education.
Hwang Sung-hee reports.
For the first time in seven months, President Park will meet with Kim Moo-sung, head of the ruling Saenuri Party and Moon Jae-in, head of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy, at the presidential office.
The parties′ floor leaders will also be in attendance.
The presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae said Thursday′s meeting will be an opportunity to put all pending issues on the table and narrow their differences.
But there′s little expectation the president and the party leaders will make that much progress.
President Park plans to debrief them on the outcome of her recent trip to Washington and call for the swift passing of bills related to labor reform and economic revitalization.
The ruling party says the agenda should be fixed on improving the livelihoods of the people.

"We ask the New Politics Alliance for Democracy to engage in talks with a strong determination to make it a meeting for the people, not a meeting of political strife."

But the opposition party is expected to bring up the sticky issue of the reintroduction of state-issued history textbooks for secondary schools.

"We urge the Park administration to immediately end its attempts to trick the nation into publishing a state-issued textbook that is pro-Japan and beautifies dictatorship."

Further muddying the prospects of success is the opposition party′s demand that its spokesperson attend the meeting.
Hwang Sung-hee, Arirang News.
Title: Rival parties invite history scholars to parliament Thursday to butress their positions on history textbook issue
The two main riva