1.Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong on Wednesday announced a national pension reform plan. The government proposed raising the pension contribution rate from the current 9 percent to 13 percent, and upwardly adjusting the nominal replacement rate to 42 percent.
2.The Joint Chiefs of Staff said that North Korea started sending balloons into South Korea again on Thursday morning. North Korea sent around 420 trash-carrying balloons from Wednesday night to early Thursday in what marked its resumption of its balloon campaign after a near month-long halt.
3.According to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea released Thursday, South Korea's real gross domestic product - a key measure of economic growth - contracted 0-point-2 percent on-quarter in the April-June period, amid weaker domestic demand, while exports remained solid.
