NEWS BRIEF

[Anchor Lead]

Two presidential contenders of the ruling Democratic Party, Chung Sye-kyun and Lee Kwang-jae, have agreed to join forces, with Lee dropping his bid to back Chung. The two made the announcement in a press conference at the National Assembly Monday morning. Rep. Lee Kwang-jae expressed his support for Chung, saying the president has no time to practice and the nation can move forward into the future of hope only when reform continues to be carried out amid stability. Chung Sye-kyun said he and Lee agreed to join hands in order to help the DP win next year's presidential election.
The Bank of Korea says the nation's foreign reserves stood at about 454 billion U.S. dollars as of the end of June. It is down 2.35 billion dollars from a month earlier. Earlier this year, Korea's foreign reserves declined after reaching a record high of over 447 billion dollars in February. But it again set new records for two straight months in April and May. The central bank explained last month's drop is attributable to a stronger greenback as well as a fall in domestic financial institutions' payment reserves.
Prices of farm produce, and livestock and marine products jumped more than ten percent in the first half of this year. According to Statistics Korea on Monday, the consumer price index for agricultural, livestock and fisheries products rose 12.6 percent year on year between January and June, posting a double-digit growth for the first time in ten years since 2011. It is also the largest increase in 30 years since 1991. In the first six months of this year, prices of green onions surged over 156 percent, recording the largest gain in 27 years. Apples and eggs soared about 54 percent and nearly 39 percent, respectively.