South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Saturday hosted a gathering of Cabinet ministers and vice ministers to discuss ways to address a series of security and economic challenges facing the nation.

   The workshop gathering, the first since March 2013, took place at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae. It brought together some 100 officials, including Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn and the ministers of foreign affairs, defense, unification and finance.

   The workshop focused on the country's responses to the North's fifth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 9 and policy efforts to create jobs, find new growth engines and reinvigorate the economy, presidential aides said.

   Park has recently been calling on the nation to be united in the face of Pyongyang's escalating nuclear and missile threats, which she said have posed "urgent, tangible and existential" threats to South Korea and beyond. 

   Before the workshop, Cheong Wa Dae expressed expectations that the workshop would create fresh momentum to enhance inter-agency cooperation in carrying out security and economic policies, and ensure that the government is geared toward "constant change and innovation" for the well-being of citizens.

   In the 2013 workshop, some 100 senior government officials discussed a set of policy issues, including Park's signature "creative economy' initiative that aims to create new business opportunities, jobs and industries through a fusion of new technologies, culture and other opportunities. (Yonhap)