(LEAD) Park to address parliament on N. Korean provocations

(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with decision to address parliament; CHANGES attribution)

SEOUL, Feb. 14 (Yonhap) -- President Park Geun-hye will address the parliament this week to ask for its support in the face of recent North Korean provocations, lawmakers said Sunday.

Park will make the speech at the National Assembly on Tuesday morning as floor leaders of the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea agreed to accept her plan during a meeting at a Seoul hotel, lawmakers who also attended the talks said.

In the speech, Park will call for national unity and the parliament's cooperation to overcome the national crisis that has arisen from North Korea's fourth nuclear test and long-range missile launch, according to Cheong Wa Dae.

"In light of North Korea's nuclear test and long-range rocket launch that have violated U.N. resolutions and threatened peace on the Korean Peninsula, President Park has asked the National Assembly for a speech to seek the parliament's cooperation in ensuring the safety of the nation and the people," Kim Sung-woo, chief presidential press secretary, told reporters.

"In her address, Park will discuss her constitutional responsibilities as the president to protect the people, and will stress the need for unity of the people to prevent further provocations and to ease security concerns," Kim added.

This would be her first parliamentary speech other than the annual budget speech.

Park is expected to explain what led her government to shut down the joint industrial complex in North Korea and declare that she will place her policy priority on the country's nuclear disarmament.

The factory zone in Kaesong, just north of the inter-Korean border in the communist North, opened in 2004 following the first-ever inter-Korean summit four years before. With some 54,000 North Korean workers on the payroll before last week's shutdown, the once symbol of reconciliation between the divided Koreas has often been considered a cash cow for the impoverished North.

Officials say she will also call for the parliament's cooperation to win early passage of bills to revitalize the economy and labor reform as the nation's economy faces a crisis.

Park may also meet with leaders of the rival parties after her address, according to the presidential office.

jeeho@yna.co.kr[mailto:jeeho@yna.co.kr]
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