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tv   Arirang News  KCSMMHZ  September 1, 2011 8:30am-9:00am PDT

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korea posted a trade surplus last month, but it was far smaller than the previous month. experts say the drop of more than 5 billion dollars is mainly due to the country's rapidly growing imports. hwang sung-hee reports. korea's trade surplus dropped sharply in august, as imports grew at a faster rate than exports. according to the ministry of knowledge
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economy thursday... smaller-than-expected exports lowered the nation's trade surplus by 5-point-5 billion us dollars from the previous month to 821-million dollars. korea's exports... at 46-point-4 billion dollars... expanded 27 -point-1 percent on- year last month... due to sluggish recoveries in the united states and the eurozone. the nation's oil products and auto parts were still in high demand in overseas markets... but falling prices slowed semiconductor and lcd panel exports. by regions, korea's outbound shipments to advanced economies grew at a slower rate... edging up 10 percent... but exports to developing nations... showed stronger growth increasing by around 17 percent. but some experts say the recent us credit rating downgrade may not have direct effects on korea. korean "the us credit rating downgrade will not directly hurt korea by affecting the nation's exports. it can be seen
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as a downside risk, considering global external uncertainties, but for now, it's hard to see it as a long-term risk." . korea's inbound shipments grew at a much higher rate compared to the same period last year, expanding by 29-point -2 percent to 45-point-6 billion dollars, due to a spike in imports of natural resources as well as some consumer goods... in particular inbound shipments of pork and airplanes and their components soared, growing 92 and 172 percent, respectively. korean "an increase in imports is a positive economic indicator because it signals an expansion in trade volume. dissolve overall profit is smaller, but considering seasonal factors and the global economic slump, both korea's exports and imports are showing steady growth." dissolve 8 . the ministry attributed the drop in the trade surplus to weakening overseas demand for the nation's it products... and
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seasonal factors... as many companies tend to ship their august supply in july, ahead of the summer vacation. the ministry says that a relatively smaller trade surplus in august is a common trend. stand-up "although some experts have cast doubts over the strength of korea's exports, the ministry says better figures are expected for september... but it stresses that persisting external uncertainties mean changes in the global economy will have to be monitored". hwang sung-hee, arirang news." consumer prices in korea jumped 5- point-3 percent on-year in august,... marking the biggest rise in three years. according to statistics korea,... the inflation rate has been above the central bank's upper limit of 4 percent since january,... and has now surpassed the 5 percent mark. core prices,... which exclude volatile agricultural and petroleum products,... rose 4 percent on- year,... reaching their highest levels in 28 months. the agency also says... the price of daily necessities spiked 5- point-2 percent,... while the price of fresh
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goods,... such as fishery products, vegetables and fruit,... soared nearly 14 percent. the us congress appears to have postponed,... ratification of the country's three pending free trade agreements until next month,... including the one with korea. yang ji-woo reports. according to an anonymous source in washington thursday...the us house of representatives has tentatively agreed to vote on the country's three pending trade deals with korea, colombia and panama in mid-october. but observers say... the belated move on the korea-us fta could lead to more delays in the latter half of this year. the protracted battle over the us debt limit... as well as other major national events such as the ten-year anniversary of the september 11th attacks this month... have held up plans to ratify the deals. meanwhile, another source on capitol hill has expressed
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optimism about the swift ratification of the pending korea-us fta, ... saying us house republican leaders have set a legislative agenda for this fall to vote on the pact...and us president barack obama's speech before congress next wednesday to shore up job creation and boost the federal government's fiscal sustainability are signs of momentum toward approving the trade agreement this month. according to recent korean government reports... korea's trade surplus with the us will increase by 140 million us dollars every year over the next 15 years...once the deal takes effect. yang ji-woo, arirang news. and with the korea-us fta ratification delayed in washington,... korean lawmakers have postponed the process as well. laah hyun-kyung reports. the ruling and opposition party members of the national assembly's trade committee have agreed to postpone the korea-us free trade
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agreement ratification agenda. this comes a day after both sides spent much time debating whether to introduce the bill to the committee for official discussions,... before sending it to the assembly's plenary session for a vote. the trade committee's chairman nam kyung- pil told reporters thursday that... the committee members have agreed to take washington's fta ratification agenda into account... and to process the bill at a similar pace. nam said that the final date will be determined based on many criteria. american politicians must agree on their own congressional timeline, and once they do, the obama administration must decide when it intends to submit the bill. finally, the bill must actually be submitted to congress. he added that the decision about the final timing will take into account these procedural requirements. the opposition democratic party, which has been demanding the government renegotiate ten items in the trade pact on top of two additional
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measures aimed at minimizing the deal's effect on domestic industries,... said that the submission of the deal can wait until the us sets a concrete timeline on its ratification. laah hyun-kyung, us president barack obama will announce plans to promote jobs and economic growth... in a speech to congress next week. lee ji-yoon has more. us president barack obama will make a speech on his long-awaited jobs plan next week. obama asked congressional leaders on wednesday to call a joint session of the senate and house of representatives for his speech on september 8th... stressing that the country must deal with "unprecedented economic challenges." english "the president feels that we are at a moment where we need to take significant action to spur economic growth and to create jobs." obama said he would lay out a series of bipartisan proposals that congress can immediately enact to rebuild the american economy while
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reducing the deficit and getting washington's fiscal house in order. during his speech, obama may propose introducing tax credits for companies that hire more workers, and possibly new spending on public infrastructure. the president also urged lawmakers to extend legislation to fund highways and mass-transit projects, saying a failure to do so will cost thousands of construction jobs and delay much- needed infrastructure repairs. english "it's inexcusable to put more jobs at risk in an industry that's already been one of the hardest hit over the last decade." obama, meanwhile, called on lawmakers to put aside politics and start making decisions based on what is best for the country. however, republicans are likely to fight new spending proposals or measures to raise government revenue. political analysts say obama is going to try to boost his re- election campaign with the speech by proposing more government action to promote job and economic growth. lee ji-yoon, arirang news.
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president lee myung-bak is reportedly considering talks with russia... on building a pipeline to send gas from siberia... through north korea... to south korea. government sources here say... president lee could bring up the gas pipeline in meetings with russian president dmitry medvedev in november at either the apec summit... or the g20 summit in france. the sources also say... he might even visit russia. they added... that north korea and russia haven't proposed talks on the gas pipeline project yet... but the korean government is planning to propose a three-way committee to get the project started. a us think tank says the six-party talks aimed at denuclearizing north korea are objectively failing. head of the center for strategic and international studies, john hamre, also said at a forum in seoul... that the kim jong-il regime is an utter failure that is only capable of threatening its neighbors, and that history will eventually show that the regime is a complete fiasco.
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on the north's military provocations, he said the south and the us are prepared to respond and win when necessary through a group of international tourists, investors and media arrived at the inter- korean mount geumgang tourism park on wednesday, for a trial tour of the mountain resort sponsored by the north korean government. choi you-sun has the details. a group of tourists, investors and foreign media who departed north korea's northeastern port of rajin on tuesday for a demonstration tour of the mount geumgang resort reportedly arrived at the tourism district on wednesday. the north's state- run korean central news agency said the group of some 1- hundred-30 from the us, russia, china, japan and european countries, traveling for five days on invitation from pyeongyang, was greeted by the north korean tour operator. the news agency added that businessmen and representatives from
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the tourism industry abroad have expressed a great interest in the north's new international tourism venture, some even proposing joint development projects. chinese "once tours to mount geumgang resume, i plan to regularly visit the mountain resort. china's yanbian region is very close from here." just after welcoming visitors, the head of pyeongyang's overseas investment agency announced the north's ambitious goal to usher in as many as 4-thousand tourists to mount geumgang on a daily basis, adding he plans to launch a luxurious cruise ship next year capable of carrying 9-hundred people. reports indicate talks are under way to directly link the resort to 16 chinese cities. chinese "this is a new tourism course. we have embarked on a new voyage. next year, we aim to attract 100-thousand tourists." the cash-strapped north divested south korean tourism operator hyundai asan of its exclusive rights at the inter-korean mount geumgang park, and decided to dispose
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of south korean assets at the resort last month. this was in retaliation for south korea's suspension of inter- korean tours after a south korean tourist was shot and killed by a north korean solider in 2008. accusing the north of violating inter -governmental and business-to-business agreements, the south korean government is examining appropriate legal and diplomatic countermeasures to protect investors' property rights. choi you-sun, arirang news. iran's parliamentary speaker will visit north korea for three days... starting sunday, september 4th. the iranian parliament's website said wednesday... that ali larijani will use the trip to boost bilateral cooperation with north korea. the two countries have formed close ties on missile and nuclear technology in recent years,... saying it's vital to their fight against... what they called "arrogant powers." larijani will make a stop in china... after his trip to the north.
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on day 6 at the iaaf world championships in daegu, 6 finals took place in the evening.. with the world eyeing heats and semifinals in other events as well. song ji-sun is on the line with the latest at daegu stadium. ji-sun, which athletes took home the medals thursday night? the united states raked in some golds thursday night, firming its lead at the championships. in men's high jump on the field... american jesse williams jumped over 2-point-3-5 meters the first time, edging out russian aleksey dmitrik who cleared that height on his second trial. in 400 meter hurdles, another american, lashinda demus, beat jamaican favorite melaine walker by point-2-6 seconds to mark 52-point-4-7 seconds in the ladies events... while britain's david greene won the men's event finishing at 48-point-26 seconds. and for more laps... american jennifer barringer simpson carried on the golden
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streak, coming in first in women's 15-hundred meters to beat britain's hannah england, while kenyan men took both the gold and the silver in 3-thousand meter steeplechase. ezekiel kemboi clinched his second world title, coming in at 8 minutes and 14- point-8-5 seconds... followed by countryman brimin kiprop kipruto. the us and kenya definitely had a good day. and now, with just three days to go... which events are coming up on friday? on its seventh day at the worlds... those of you who have been rooting for south african oscar pistorius...the 'blade runner' with amputees... will be able to see him run once more in daegu stadium because his team made the cut, coming in third in the semifinal thursday for the 4 by 400 meter relay final scheduled at 9:15 pm friday. pistorius will the first sprinter of the south african squad, assigned in the eighth lane... as decided by the iaaf... to ensure the safety of the other athletes in the race. 20 minutes before that, the fastest women on the planet will be competing for the 200 meter dash... where
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defending champion american allyson felix will be running next to teammate carmelita jeter and three jamaicans... including veronica campbell- brown who came in second at the previous worlds. on the field, we have men's long jump earlier in the evening... where korean kim deok- hyeon will be starting first... vying for the nation's first ever medal at the worlds. well, it seems like we've got more exciting games to watch on friday. thanks ji-sun, that was representatives of some sixty countries and major international organizations are set to meet on thursday afternoon in paris. that is to discuss a roadmap to rebuild libya. park ji-won reports. high-level government officials from sixty countries and from 10 international organizations gathered in paris on thursday afternoon... for a so- called 'friends of libya' conference. libya's rebel leadership is expected to participate in the meeting to discuss reconstruction and transition efforts for the war-torn country. delegates also include
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us secretary of state hillary clinton, french president nicolas sarkozy, korean foreign minister kim sung-hwan, and un secretary-general ban ki-moon. korean "my aim is to get un personnel on the ground as quickly as possible under a robust security council mandate." international communities also began to unfreeze libyan assets worth several billion us dollars... to help the interim government to rebuild the country. meanwhile, one of gadhafi's sons saadi told a dubai-based satellite news channel on wednesday that he has been appointed by his father to negotiate with the national transitional council. arabic "we admit that they represent a segment of society, and that their demands are legitimate and we should negotiate with them. but they too should recognize that we are the legitimate government and they should negotiate with us." however, another son of gadhafi, saif al-
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islam, said through an audio statement broadcast on a syrian -owned satellite channel... that no one is going to surrender and over twenty- thousand pro-gadhafi defenders are ready to fight the rebels. english "well, it's not surprising now that the remnants of the gadhafi regime are in a confused state and are giving out different messages. and so, yes, we have heard from different gadhafi sons, through the media, over the last 24 hours: messages of surrender, messages of defiance." while rebels flatly dismissed the remarks by ghaddafi's sons,... the two conflicting messages show that the failing regime is running out of time. park ji-won, arirang news. in this installment in our series on social enterprises, we visit a company that employs ethnic koreans in russia's far east. these korean people
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were rounded up and exiled by the soviets during world war two and in the 1990's had to flee again and start from scratch. our kim yeon-ji explains how the company, called baridream,... is helping them rebuild their lives. the social enterprise baridream... sells two different kinds of bean pastes widely used in popular korean soups dwenjang and chunggukjang... which are manufactured by ethnic koreans living in russia's maritime province. originally an emergency aid program by peace asia to help ethnic koreans after the fall of the soviet union, the business came into being to help them restart their lives there. they are descendants of soviet koreans forcibly deported from the maritime province to central asia under joseph stalin in the 1930s... for being considered spies for japan... which at that time controlled korea. although their
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forefathers set up a decent life for them, many of their children had to make a tough decision to return to russia's far east,... leaving behind their fields and homes in the 1990s as they became increasingly marginalized in the newly established cis states. korean "these ethnic koreans had nothing when they arrived in russia. they had to start from zero. but, baridream gives jobs to local farmers and manufacturers, through which they can plan for their future." about 50 ethnic korean households in four villages of this region are now involved in bean paste production and each person earns about 400 to 500 us dollars per month. stand-up "made with beans grown in the clean environment of russia's maritime province, baridream's bean paste products are gaining increasing popularity among consumers here in
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korea." to minimize operating costs, baridream does not display their bean paste and yeast products at large retail stores,... it instead relies on its online shopping mall. however, to promote their products... they do have various offline pr events that allow people to try their chunggukjang and dwenjang. korean "i was looking at baridream's products because i liked the fact that they are made by ethnic koreans in russia's maritime region, which is so far away. thanks to baridream, ethnic koreans in russia's maritime province have found strength to embrace their lives there... despite the scars from their sad history. kim yeon-ji, arirang news. the korean government has invited the parents of foreign women married to korean men for a week -long visit. this event is aimed at giving these women... who rarely get to fly home mainly due to financial problems... a chance to see their
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families. oh jee-hyun has this story. 25-thousand foreign women marry korean men every year. but once these women get married,... they rarely get the chance to see their families back home. therefore the government decided to bring their parents here. 80 parents from vietnam, cambodia and the philippines were invited to spend time with their daughters' family... and they will be able to soak up korean culture by visiting some popular tourist sites in seoul. english "i feel so excited and i feel so happy. my first daughter actually doesn't know them but my last daughter knows them. and my parents too, they really miss her, so it is a great chance." ifugao "i used to take care of hana when she was young,... and it's been a while since i last saw her, but she still remembers me and now she is in my arms. i'm very happy." children stared
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excitedly at the fish during their visit to an aquarium,... while their mothers enjoyed their day out with their parents. most parents had a hard time communicating with their grandchildren and sons-in-law. therefore to help them understand each other,... the group spent the afternoon at a museum,... learning about the country's history. korean "we have been providing multicultural family reunion opportunities since 2005 and it is still very popular. there are many people waiting to apply and take part in this program so we plan to continue organizing these events." there are currently about 180- thousand immigrant wives in korea. most of them are not fluent in korean and these women are often neglected, therefore struggle to fit in to the korean society. authorities say... more attention and education is needed to support them so that people from multicultural backgrounds better adapt to their new lives here. stand-up "the families will go on to tour the gyeongbok palace and the presidential office of cheongwadae on friday. they will have the rest
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of their time in korea for themselves. oh jee-hyun, arirang news." the us forces in korea showcased the latest addition to their vehicle fleet... digitized tanks. kim han-ul reports. the us second infantry division demonstrated the digital and tactical capbilities of its new vehicle fleet at the newly renovated rodriquez digital multi -purpose range complex in pocheon, gyeonggi province on thursday. the highlight of the event was the demonstration of the second id's new heavy equipment, including the main battle tank and infantry fighting vehicle... demonstrating its advanced fighting technologies. stand-up "these brand new state-of-the-art tanks... are the best the us forces have ever had, and south korea is the first country in the world to get them." the main battle tank, dubbed the "abram", is equipped with enhanced digitized features. in the past, the tank commander and the
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gunner both had to search for one target. with the new digitized system, the operator can search for targets independently... so it's like having another set of eyes. the us troops who operate these tanks say it's like having the same platform with new and improved features... speeding up the ability to acquire targets. english "the difference between the m1a1 and the m1a2 is decreased acquisition time and allows us to engage and destroy targets sooner." meanwhile, the commander of the us forces in korea, general james thurman also gave a welcoming speech. he said it was important for the rok-us alliance to demonstrate deterrance and contribute to combat readiness... for continued peace in south korea. the rok troops also experienced this improvement while training with the new tanks. korean "the biggest difference is the digital equipment, which takes the video and audio of each of the officers during operations. this allows easy post-analysis." thursday's capabilities exercise showed how the us
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continues to modernize its equipment to make sure its soldiers have the very best... and how it works to improve the ongoing teamwork between the two militaries. this has been the hallmark of the rok-us alliance. kim han-ul, arirang seoul education superintendent kwak no-hyun denies allegations of bribery, and makes it clear that he will not voluntarily step down from his post. while prosecutors continue to summon his immediate family and acquaintances for questioning this week, the top seoul educator said at thursday's press conference... that fellow candidate park myoung-gee demanded one-billion won, around 9-point-4 million dollars... in return for dropping out of last year's election. kwak said he instead gave him roughly 185- thousand us dollars... for nothing. however, prosecutors say that they have enough evidence to prove bribery charges and plan to summon kwak himself this weekend.
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taking a look at thursday's stock market action, the benchmark kospi ended pretty much flat,... despite active selling by foreign investors... to the tune of more than 900 million us dollars. the index finished at slightly below 18-81. samsung life insurance rose more than 5 percent,... and hanjin shipping and stx pan ocean 3 percent. samsung electronics gained 3-point-6 percent. on the fx counter,... the korean currency strengthened by 5-and -a-half won... to close at 1-thousand-61 hello i'm yang un- jung with your weather forecast. september kicked off with summer-like heat and humidity, with heat advisories issued for almost the entire country today. we have one more day of scorching hot weather tomorrow...
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with highs in the 30s ... and then average temperatures will slowly drop as we head into the weekend. along with the heat, most of us will enjoy clear blue skies and spectacular sunshine, except for occasional cloudiness in gangwon's yeongdong region and gyeongsang province. there'll be some lows and highs. seoul and gwangju... will top out at 32 degrees, while daegu and busan... dip to 30. daejeon's also expecting 32, but jeju will get some relief at 29. it'll be 25 at dokdo and mt. geumgang will drop to a seasonal 20 degrees on thursday. in international weather... tropical storm talas will get very close to the east coast of japan on friday, eventually hitting the southeastern regions overnight tomorrow... so if you're there, stay away from the coast. talas will also indirectly affect korea's eastern and southern coast from thursday to friday... bringing gusty winds and high waves, so for those of you considering braving the elements... keep that in mind as well.
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down under... a weaker system will work its way into western australia on thursday... bringing more showers and even some thunder activity, mostly affecting perth. almost everywhere else in australia... will have lots of sunshine as a high pressure front sits over the country. new zealand's weather will be quite unsettled... with showers... and cooler temperatures. flying on to north america... nothing exciting is going on at the moment... across the united states. mostly fine and dry conditions prevail... with temperatures coming down slightly, but much of the northeast and the midwest... are still dealing with high heat and humidity. there's one thing to keep an eye on... a disturbance over the northwest caribbean may develop into a tropical depression or storm later this week once it passes into the gulf of mexico, so if you're planning to head for the gulf coast later this week over labor day weekend, keep a lookout for disturbances. in south america... occasional wet and windy weather will
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persist in southern argentina... but further north will actually see lots of sunshine as well as heat. cloudiness over southeastern brazil... will linger... so partly cloudy skies are expected in rio de janeiro and sao paulo. into europe... moscow, berlin and rome will continue to experience sunshine for thursday. paris has a chance for evening showers, but madrid will clear out pretty nicely with a lot of sunshine. in africa... another cloudy day is expected in algiers... and it'll be a rainy day in cape town. expect more showers and thunderstorms for dakar, but rain in addis ababa will taper off... into one or two showers over the evening. that's all for today's weather. have a great evening and i'll see you

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