president lee myung-bak has called on companies to hire more people without college diplomas... to eliminate discrimination based on academic background. meanwhile... the labor ministry has announced a series of measures to that end. our yoo ji-hae reports. president lee myung-bak announced friday... that more people with only a high-school diploma should be hired from now... so as to give them a chance to be nurtured into professionals. during a meeting on promoting his "fair society" campaign... at a local manufacturing

company in gyeonggi province... whose more than 40-percent of the employees are non- college graduates... president lee said that his government plans to implement drastic measures to root out discrimination based on academic attainment. he expressed hope that there will be positive changes in the future... mentioning wednesday's conversation with tycoons of korea's conglomerates... where they pledged to hire 124-thousand new workers,... including 35-thousand with only a high school diploma. in regards to the country's ongoing social problem, the so -called academic inflation... largely backed by the widespread social practice of judging one's abilities based on one's academic background... the korean leader stressed that people should change such perceptions. to president lee's call... the labor ministry unveiled a series of measures on expanding benefits for those who have only graduated from high school... as they serve in the military or seek employment.

the benefits include... allowing employed male without college diplomas to delay their military service... or pick the date they enter the armed forces... a privilege that has only been given to college students so far... and providing them with the same treatment as college graduates... if they worked at government or public offices for four years. stand-up "other measures include... not demanding documentation relating to academic background when hiring... and expanding state subsidies and tax benefits for companies that hire high school graduates. yoo ji-hae, arirang news. korea's foreign exchange reserves rose to a record high last month... to more than 3-hundred-12 billion us dollars. eoh jin-joo has the details. korea's foreign exchange reserves reached a new record- high last month. the bank of korea announced friday that the figure stood at over 312 billion us dollars as of the end of august,... which is

almost a 1-point-2 billion dollar jump from a month earlier. korea's reserves surpassed the 300 billion dollar mark for the first time in april, then dropped for two months, before rebounding in july. now, looking into what the country's reserves are made up of... securities account for nearly 90 percent of korea's stockpile,... deposits 8 percent, supplementary foreign exchange reserve assets maintained by the international monetary fund, called special drawing rights... or sdrs... one percent, korea's imf reserve position point-7 percent and gold point -4 percent. securities grew by 4- point-6 billion dollars in august,... while deposits contracted 3- point-4 billion dollars. meanwhile,... korea's imf reserve position, which is the right to withdraw the money member nations paid to the organization... whenever they need it, and sdrs went up by 10 and 20 million dollars respectively. bok officials attribute the increase to higher

investment profits. as of the end of july,... korea ranked seventh in terms of foreign exchange reserves... with china topping the list with 3-point-2 trillion dollars and japan, russia, taiwan, brazil and india following behind. north korea is believed to be in talks with russia to start a joint farming project as the north struggles to deal with its chronic food shortage that has recently intensified. choi you-sun reports. north korea and russia are reportedly talking about the prospect of the north leasing agricultural land in russia's far east in hopes to mitigate the malnourishment from a severe food shortage crisis. media reports say the cooperative project was raised during the recent summit between the two countries' leaders, and that a delegation from the north is currently negotiating the deal with russian officials in the amur region.

the impoverished north is believed to have devised a plan to send laborers to some 2-thousand square kilometers of land in the area for cultivation of vegetables, then supply the produce back to the north korean people. meanwhile, the un's office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs estimates 6-point-1 million north koreans are now in dire need of food assistance, after conditions worsened due to flooding, a cold snap, and the foot-and -mouth disease outbreak in the past year. the un body's report named the north's hamgyeong, gangwon, yanggang and jagang provinces to post the highest malnutrition rates, with as many as 1-point-4 million suffering from lack of food in one region alone. choi you-sun, arirang news. seoul has allowed a religious group to visit north korea... for the first time since may last year, when the south korean government imposed new sanctions on the north for sinking the warship cheonan. a group of 37

people of the korean buddhist jogye order were granted permission to hold a religious ceremony... in the north's north pyeongan province for five days starting saturday. the group will celebrate the 1- thousandth anniversary of the engraving of palman daejanggyeong ,... volumes of buddhist scriptures carved in wood. seoul's education superintendent kwak no-hyun has been summoned to appear before prosecutors monday... for questioning on suspicions that he violated election law. in addition to the summons friday,... the prosecutors' office carried out a search and seizure of evidence from kwak's home. they say... the investigation has progressed to the point where it requires the collection of evidence and data,... such as kwak's computer hard drives and notes. kwak was at home when the investigators arrived,... but left for the education office without speaking to reporters. he is under investigation for allegedly paying park myoung-gee, a rival candidate, to withdraw from last year's election.

around 400 police officers were dispatched to the town of gangjeong on jeju island early friday morning... to contain protests against the construction of a naval base there. in the meantime,... the navy restarted work on a 2-and-a-half- meter-high fence on the base. scores of gangjeong residents and activists were ordered to leave the premises... and stop disrupting construction by block the entrance of the construction site. thirty protestors were taken to the police station and three were arrested... as the navy came in with two bulldozers to build the fence. the korean military has broken ground on an elementary and a high school in pyeongtaek, gyeonggi province,... in the first concrete step to move the us military headquarters out of seoul. kim han-ul has the details. friday's ceremony marked the very first vertical construction project of relocating the yongsan garrison in seoul to pyeongtaek.this is the first step in completing the yongsan

relocation program by 2016. korean "this project will contribute to the rok-us alliance and gives us a chance to show the us side that construction is starting on schedule." around one-hundred distinguished guests and officials came to celebrate the groundbreaking ceremony... including south korea's defense minister kim kwan-jin, and the commander of us forces korea, general james thurman. although south korea and the us have been split about the timeline of the withdrawal of the us military headquarters in yongsan... the two sides have agreed to complete the relocation project to pyeongtaek by 2016. this first rok- contracted relocation project consists of constructing an elementary school and a high school for the children of us armed forces... which will accommodate approximately 18- hundred students. the construction will last for two years and end in june 2013... with the expense of 90 -point-6 billion won or roughly 85 million us dollars.what's

noteworthy is that this project has been contracted by a consorsium of south korean companies for the first time... to comply with us department of defense standards. construction of other buildings and facilities such as hospitals and houses will begin when school constructions are finished. stand-up " school facilities at the us base in yongsan will start moving here once construction of the two schools is complete in june 2013. kim han-ul, arirang news, pyeongtaek." we are now one week into the iaaf world championships being held in korea's southern city daegu... with just two days left to go. arirang's song ji -sun is on the line with the results of day 7. so the fastest women in the world competed for the 200-meter dash friday night... and who came in first?

jamaica's veronica campbell- brown won the women's 200 meter clocking 22-point -2-2 seconds. american carmelita jeter won silver, with 22-point-3-7 seconds... while defending champion allyson felix finished third... 2-tenth of a second behind campbell-brown. and in women's 5- thousand meters... africa once again swept the podium with kenyan vivian cheruiyot defending her title at 14:55.36... followed by teammate sylvia kibet and ethiopian meseret defar. the last event of the day was all about teamwork. team usa won the men's 4 by 400 meter relay, spurred by the last sprinter lashawn merritt... to mark 2 minutes and 59-point-3 -1 seconds. the south african team, with amputee oscar pistorius left out from the line-up, came in second... followed by the jamaican squad. and jamaica's usain bolt will be back on the track to defend his title saturday evening? yes, the world will be eyeing on bolt once again for the men's 200 meter final set at 9:20 pm. he proved himself well

in shape friday evening, clocking just over 20-point-3 seconds in the semifinal. bolt will be sprinting in lane three next to american walter dix... the first runner up in the 100-meter final who also made the cut. we've got 8 other finals on the eighth day,... starting with men's 50 kilometer race walk in the morning. earlier in the evening, women's 4 by 400 meter relay and 100 meter hurdle will take place... as well as the men's 15-hundred meters. thank you ji-sun for the updates. a 6-point-8 magnitude earthquake hit alaska early friday morning. the united states geological survey initially rated the quake at 7-point-1 but later lowered the quake to a magnitude 6-point-8. the agency says the quake struck of the coast of the aleutian islands and that there are no reports of injuries or damage as of yet. the agency also triggering a tsunami warning for the remote region but later lifted it. the new japanese prime minister yoshihiko noda has named his cabinet

ministers. the new government is tasked with guiding the country through its post-earthquake recovery and strengthening its fragile economy. laah hyun-kyung reports. japan's newly- appointed prime minister yoshihiko noda has announced his new cabinet. the new chief cabinet secretary, osamu fujimura, said that friday's appointments were aimed at promoting party unity... and added that the new government's priority is to recover from the march 11 quake and tsunami... and resolve the ongoing fukushima nuclear crisis. japanese "we hope to use the right people for the right jobs. prime minister noda has said that he is a loach fish, and so we hope to likewise do our best and make politics better, even if that means we have to crawl through the mud to do it." the two key posts of finance and foreign minister went to jun azumi and koichiro gemba, respectively. azumi, a news reporter for nhk turned

politician,... was tapped against expectations that noda would pick a more experienced lawmaker from the ruling democratic party of japan. this is the first time for the 49- year-old ruling party's former chief of parliamentary affairs to serve as a cabinet minister. azumi now faces the tough task of recovering japan's fragile economy... where he will have to manage funds to cope with rebuilding tsunami-devastated areas... as well as cover vast social welfare costs for the rapidly ageing population. koichiro gemba, also a former national strategy minister, will now have to work to soothe strained relations with neighboring countries such as china and russia over territorial disputes. he is also tasked with maintaining close ties with japan's key ally the united states over prolonged discussions of the relocation of a us military base on the southern island of okinawa. meanwhile, the korean government has welcomed the start of japan's new cabinet and said... seoul hopes

tokyo will keep a clear view of its history and wished for the two countries to endeavor toward building stronger bilateral ties. laah hyun-kyung, arirang news. libyan rebel forces have extended a saturday deadline by a week for moammar gadhafi to surrender... to give his supporters more time to negotiate a settlement and to prevent more deaths. however, gadhafi said in a message broadcast thursday,... that he has moved the country's capital from tripoli to his birthplace of sirte,... and that he is ready for a "long drawn-out war". meanwhile speaking at a meeting in paris,... the national transitional council head promised a new constitution and elections within 18 months. the eu has lifted sanctions on 28 libyan entities including ports,... financial institutions and energy businesses in libya to help the country resume normal economic operations.

in this installment of our weekly series on social enterprises, we look at an art and and performance company that nurtures what it calls "eco-musicians"... and helps people from multicultural backgrounds pursue their dreams of becoming performers. kim yeon-ji has more. noridan is a pioneering social enterprise in art and culture. as the korean word "nori", meaning "play", suggests..., this company envisions bringing change to the world through their fun performances. noridan performers are known as eco musicians because they make their instruments with junk items like used plastic bottles and pipes and turn them into objects that can create great sounds. this group of eco musicians performs about 200 street and stage concerts a year in their local community in seoul,

around the nation, and even abroad. and although noridan started out as a band, it is now investing in nurturing a professional group of vocalists representing all ethnic and cultural backgrounds. this project, called the "intercultural and transnational chorus", is noridan's attempt at achieving inclusive development through the means of art and music. korean "one of the reasons we started the intercultural chorus project is because we wanted to present a more innovative social venture model that can work in our multicultural society." candidates must go through a singing audition to be given a chance for apprenticeship training. it is only after completing an appreticeship successfully that candidates can become full-time noridan employees. the company recently held the second round of auditions to give more people the opportunity to pursue their dreams. sukatin, an indonesian native who married a

korean man, also participated in the audition. korean "i want to become a member of noridans' intercultural and transnational chorus because i can give strength to the weary through my singing... which i enjoy very much." famous korean pop singer in soon yi served as the chief judge for the event..., which was sponsored by incheon international airport and the city government of bucheon. more than 20 singers representing nations like mongolia, bangladesh, and morocco sang their favorite songs, many of which were melodies from their own countries. and regardless of the results, the participants were happy that they could show off their passion for singing. stand-up "noridan provides an exemplary model of social responsibility... that brings together local governments, ngos, and corporations to help the young and old realize their dreams of changing the world through art and music." kim yeon-ji, arirang

the national human rights commission of korea will call on the government to try harder to protect the human rights of stateless people,... especially those who have lost their korean citizenship... after their sham marriages were discovered. hwang ji-hye reports. the national human rights commission of korea says it plans to advise the government on how to better protect the human rights of stateless people. this comes after the commission called government efforts too weak to follow an international pact signed by 66 countries. according to the 'convention relating to the status of stateless persons' that korea signed in 1962, stateless people should be treated fairly in terms of employment, health insurance and residence. and the people in korea include those who lost citizenships because of their false marriages to achieve korean citizenship. as of the end of april this year,... 66 people have had their citizenship annulled because of sham marriages,... and half of

them remain in korea. these people do not have basic human rights,... such as the right to work and the freedom to travel to and from korea. the justice ministry says the rate of fraudulent marriages in the country will rise when the government allows stateless people to stay in korea,... but the commission argues that only three people have had their citizenship revoked since 1998... when the government strengthened the country's nationality law. hwang ji-hye, arirang the prevailing mood among businesses these days is grim... amid the global economic uncertainty. but some korean automakers are still doing their utmost to increase their market share in the second half this year. yang ji-woo reports. former ceo of renault samsung motors, jean marie hurtiger held a press conference thursday evening to say farewell to his korean counterparts and the country in which he has enjoyed living in for nearly six years. "i will always remember gosa , a traditional event that

we did for the launch of an engine plant in busan. i was very moved because i could feel that korea has this unique quality of being able to bring the hearts and minds of people collectively together to their best. this is the great quality of korea and this is what i love with korea." hurtiger, who was also the former chairman of the european union chamber of commerce in korea, ... said his successor at the automaker... francois provost will carry on his legacy and maintain the company's key position in asia's auto industry. an industry with chronic overcapacity and abundant brands usually reins in operations especially when there is the prevailing mood that the global economy is slipping into recession. however, despite the market fragility... two of korea's key

automakers, renault samsung and gm korea aim to take a big bite into one of the most monopolistic auto markets in the world. standup "domestic automakers are ramping up efforts to overcome ongoing global economic uncertainty and weak consumer sentiment by targeting a bigger stake in the auto market in the second half of the year. during a press conference wednesday... gm korea president, mike arcamone said... the company's year-on- year sales over the past six months have risen 27 percent and he expects to more growth both in and abroad. english "we always monitor what goes on around the globe. and of course, we monitor very closely what is going on in europe with the financial crisis there... always ready to react in case we see a downturn in sales. currently, we continue to see the growth in emerging markets and we continue to see the growth in exports as well." the country's automakers are also seeking to aggressively expand into overseas markets. for instance, renault samsung's exports

accounted for a record high of 57 percent of its total output in the january to june period, there are some challenges ahead of these automakers... such as korea's aggressive labor unions... and spiralling inflation and wages. experts say... automakers must continue to invest heavily in research and development for electronic vehicles... and adopt more aggressive marketing strategies... amid the shifting dynamics of the global auto market. yang ji-woo, arirang news. scientists have potentially opened the door to a new generation of targeted cancer therapies. they have developed a genetically engineered virus... that attacks cancer cells without attacking healthy tissues. our lee ji-yoon tells us more. this genetically- modified virus is designed to kill cancer cells in humans. but what's amazing about this engineered virus, called jx-954, is that it selectively kills cancer cells without harming healthy

tissues. a group of scientists in canada made the breakthrough by administering the experimental viral therapy to 23 patients with a variety of advanced cancers. results showed that healthy tissue in seven of the eight patients in the two highest-dose groups was unaffected while the virus replicated itself in patients' tumors. traditional treatments include chemotherapy, which uses chemical injections to kill rapidly dividing cells, but such treatments have severe side-effects and limited effectiveness. english "so we think with this selective approach we may be able to treat cancers continuously with the virus until we've hopefully effected complete remission of the disease." the virus is delivered to tumors through the bloodstream, which is better as intravenous delivery is much more effective in targeting tumors throughout the body, as opposed to direct injecting which can only target the injected spot. scientists plan to hold trials consisting of a multi-dose regime and open trials around the

world to test the virus more thoroughly. english "our hope is this breakthrough, if you will, is that these viruses may be highly selective to just the cancer cells and that is very promising. with the ultimate goal of using the virus as a cancer treatment, likely in combination with chemotherapy, scientists say, there's still more research to be done before they can effectively translate the virus in a way to treat cancer and prove it is safe enough to carry actual therapeutic drugs. but they are hopeful that the early successes with this new viral therapy will open up a whole new world of targeted cancer treatments. lee ji-yoon, arirang one of the most popular tourist spots in seoul is the national folk museum of korea. while the museum is usually packed with tourists all the time, around 25 percent of them come... around this time of year. park ji-won tells us why it's so popular with visitors from abroad. the national folk

museum of korea is one of korea's most visited tourist attractions in central seoul. the museum holds a wide range of exhibitions that show korea's unique folk culture... spanning from the past... to the present. stand-up "the museum draws more than two million visitors a year." around the half of the total visitors are korean, and the other fifty percent are foreign tourists. the number of tourists surges around this time of year, as they choose to visit korea as their summer vacation destination. english "i think this place is very informative, and i like this place a lot. i like the cultural... especially i love this country. so this is very informative for me." korean people's everyday lifestyles are portrayed through diverse collections, including traditioinal musical instruments, books, and even a traditional coffin stand,... offering a universal insight on

life... to foreign tourists. chinese "seeing this decorated coffin, i felt life is short but beautiful. i feel like a person can go to a beautiful place even after one's death." while many visitors come to this place to learn more about how koreans have lived,... the museum plans to widen its spectrum of exhibitions. korean "as korea becomes a more multicultural society, our museum not only plans to exhibit korean culture, but also to show diverse cultures of the world. also we aim to use multimedia sources, such as cyber galleries, to reach the audience more vividly." the museum is open every day except tuesday, and january 1st,... and it is free to all visitors. park ji-won, arirang news. happy friday to everyone, i'm yang un- jung with your weather

forecast. we have beautiful weather instore for the weekend. clear blue skies will continue under a big dome of high pressure coming in from northern china, but temperatures will be more seasonal for this time of the year... with highs mostly coming down to the mid to upper 20s. we have no reports of rain except gangwon's yeongdong region and gyeongsang provinces with a slight chance for some showers early saturday morning which will clear out before lunch hour. also for the eastern and southern coastal regions... watch out for gusty winds and high waves under the indirect influence of tropical storm talas. here are your highs for saturday... seoul will be at 30 degrees, daegu and busan... will be at 29. while gwangju will remain at hot 32 degrees. daejeon's at 30. jeju will be one higher at 31. it'll be 25 at dokdo and mt. geumgang will drop even further to 18 degrees. in international weather... a tropical storm talas

will make landfall near osaka in japan and once it strikes the region, it will quickly move out to the west sea by saturday afternoon, so stay away from the area until then. meanwhile northern china will stay fine and dry for the entire weekend, but central and southern china will see occasional showers, as usual. down under... a weaker system will be lingering in western australia leaving only cloudy skies. sydney and melbourne will see a partly cloudy day as well. but wellington should clear out nicely for saturday with plenty of sunshine. flying on to north america... beautiful sunny weather's on tap for the northeastern u.s on saturday, so enjoy it while you can. meanwhile... a strong cold front will work its way into the midwest bringing showers and thunderstorms which may turn severe during the weekend. in south america... southeastern brazil as well as most of argentina will dry out nicely for the weekend, with mostly sunny to partly cloudy skies. but santiago is an exception... with a

chance for some evening showers. into europe... except moscow and london with a chance of rain, most of europe will stay under nice and dry conditions on saturday... and even some bright sunshine's expected during the day. in africa... algiers' is expecting some heavy rain on saturday, so be aware. meanwhile... showers continue in dakar and addis ababa, as usual. but cape town downsouth will return to its typical sunshine. that's all for today's weather. enjoy your weekend and i'll leave you with a look at your next 3 day forecast.