1. South Korea’s main rival political parties have agreed to hold a 30-day extraordinary session starting next Monday. Three plenary sessions will be held on December 20th, 28th, and January 9th. Lawmakers aim to finalize next year’s budget during the session on the 20th.

2. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency announced Friday that it will launch a pan-governmental task force to address concerns about the increasing number of children with respiratory illnesses. This comes as cases of mycoplasma pneumoniae have risen in recent weeks.

3. The national security advisors of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan will meet in Seoul on Saturday to discuss North Korea’s growing military threat and global security issues, as they continue to promote trilateral cooperation in Asia.