on this edition of arirang news for wednesday, september 7th... the government and ruling party decide to stop additional tax cuts for high-income earners and big conglomerates... amid growing calls for better welfare policies. korea's chief negotiator says the us congress is likely to approve the korea-us fta sometime this month... before korea

does. latest polls show it expert ahn cheol- soo in the lead for next year's presidential election, ahead of long -time front-runner park geun-hye. libyan rebels say they have surrounded fugitive leader moammar gadhafi... and will either capture the government and the ruling grand national party have agreed to halt additional tax cuts... for high-income groups and large businesses. tax cuts have been a major part of president lee myung- bak's business-friendly policies,... but the decision is aimed at garnering support from korean citizens ahead of next year's general elections. oh jee-hyun starts us off. the government has decided to suspend additional tax cuts in income... and corporate taxes. at a meeting on wednesday,... officials agreed to keep the tax rate at 35 percent for people whose annual income

amounts to 88 million korean won or more, which is around 82- thousand us dollars. it also agreed not to lower the 22 percent corporate tax rate... for companies making over 47 million dollars a year. but, it will create a new taxable income bracket and cut it by two percent to 20 percent.. for firms earning between 187-thousand and 47 million annually. president lee myung- bak has been pushing for further cuts to income and corporate taxes to boost household expenditures and corporate investments. however, the decision comes amid worsening economic conditions and growing negative public opinion regarding lowering tax rates for high-income earners and big businesses. the government is planning to use the additional income to provide support for the working class. oh jee-hyun, arirang news. the korean government has... released its changes to the tax code for this year. the changes are mainly aimed at maintaining

sustainable growth... and supporting the working class. hwang sung-hee has the details. the korean government has unveiled its tax revision bill for 2011... and the ministry of strategy and finance says... four main points were considered for this year's tax revision. korean "we concentrated on facilitating sustainable growth, job creation and supporting the working class, as well as promoting fair competition and improving fiscal conditions." the government revises the nation's tax code every year, and once the bill receives parliamentary approval, the changes will take effect beginning in 2012. under the plan, there will be expanded tax incentives for companies creating more jobs. small and large firms with an increased number of workers will be able to receive tax deductions of up to six percent on investment. at the same time, the current tax deduction for facilities investment will be eliminated. moreover, the government will roll out

a special tax exemption plan to support small and medium-sized businesses. korean "young adults working in smes will be exempted from income tax for the first three years of their employment, while smes recruiting young adults will recieve a tax deduction for social security costs such as the national pension plan." as a measure to increase support for working class and low- income workers,... the earned income tax credit,... or eitc,... will be expanded in terms of both eligibility and amount. households with less than 23-thousand dollars in annual income will be eligible to receive up to 2- thousand-100 dollars in subsidies,... almost double the current amount. also, income tax deductions for credit card charges will be increased. additional cuts will be granted to charges at traditional markets to ease the burden of credit card fees on small businesses and vendors. the government seeks to advance towards establishing a fair society through this year's tax revision. one of the plans includes introducing

taxes on profits generated by contracts within the same affiliates,... thus providing a level playing field for all companies, as some conglomerates tend to favor their subsidiaries. the ministry expects tax revenues to increase by 3-point-3 billion dollars by the year 2013 as a result of the revisions,... which will be used to support the working class. low income workers and smes will have their tax burden reduced by 2-hundred -80-million dollars,... while high income groups and large corporations will pay 3 -point-5 billion extra in taxes. stand-up "the finance ministry plans to revise a total of 16 tax-related laws... and submit the revised tax bill to this year's regular session of the national assembly at the end of the month. hwang sung-hee, arirang news." the korea exchange and the financial supervisory service say they are monitoring certain stocks because of their recent, unusual moves. officials say... certain stocks that have been rumored to be linked to possible

presidential candidates have shown unusually high jump in share prices... even though there was no tangible improvement in the firms' performances. authorities are investigating whether there was any manipulation in the process by tracking accounts that have bought and sold the shares. it looks like the united states could submit and pass the korea-us free trade agreement... before korea does. the deputy minister for the fta, choi seok-young , said on wednesday,... that with the us house of representatives scheduled to vote on an extension of the generalized system of preferences program, or gsp,... on wednesday in the us,... it's highly likely that the passage of the bill will also set up a series of votes leading to the passage of the long- stalled trade pact with korea. the gsp grants duty- free access to some products from developing countries and an extension of the bill is being viewed as the first step toward

passing the fta with korea, along with the ones with colombia and panama. meanwhile, us republican senate minority leader mitch mcconnell has blasted what he called "political posturing" by president barack obama on the free trade deals. in an article in the washington post tuesday, mcconnell wrote that, for nearly three years, republicans and a number of democrats have been calling on the president to approve the deals to create a level playing field with america's competitors overseas, expand the market for us goods, strengthen ties with three important allies and create jobs for americans. mcconnell also stressed that congress is prepared to allow a worker training program to be part of the deals as a sign of good faith and to move the ratification process forward. prosecutors have asked for an arrest warrant for seoul's embattled education

superintendent kwak no-hyun. kwak is still denying charges that he paid a rival candidate to withdraw from the election last year that he won. song ji-sun has more. after two days of intense questioning,... prosecutors filed an arrest warrant for seoul education chief kwak no-hyun... on charges of bribing a rival candidate to drop out of last year's election. kwak returned home early wednesday after a second day of interrogation that lasted for more than 14 hours... over allegations that he gave 200 million won,... about 190-thousand us dollars, to park myoung-gee, a candidate from the same liberal bloc in exchange for him withdrawing. a court is expected to hear the prosecution's request before this weekend. kwak consistently denied prosecutors' accusations that he had a secret agreement with park to provide a financial reward for his withdrawal. the superintendent previously said the money was only given as a gesture of "goodwill" for park, who was suffering

heavy debts from the election campaign. the charges against kwak could lead to a maximum seven-year prison term... or a fine of up to 28-thousand dollars. song ji-sun, arirang news. ahn cheol-soo... the founder of the internet security company ahnlab... has topped the latest presidential poll,... beating park geun- hye,... who had has led the polls for the past three years. yoo ji-hae reports. the latest opinion poll on who could be the winner of next year's presidential election... has ahn cheol-soo,... the founder of ahnlab,... korea's leading internet security firm,... ahead of former grand national party chairwoman park geun-hye... by a slight margin. according to the survey tuesday by mono research of 1- thousand-100 people across the country on the two leading candidates,... the software tycoon received 42-point-4 percent somenupport... compared to the 40- point-5 percent for park. this is the first time she has been defeated in a presidential poll in three years.

in a separate... opinion poll,... which included other candidates from both the ruling and opposition parties,... park topped the list with 33-point-4 percent,... followed by ahn with 19-point-5,... and moon jae-in, the former presidential chief of staff,... with 13 -point-1 percent. gyeonggi province governor kim moon- soo... and gnp chief chung mong-joon both received 5-point-3 percent,... while main opposition democratic party leader sohn hak -kyu garnered 4-point-4 percent,... followed by dp lawmaker chung dong-young with 2- point-8. in respect to looming speculation that ahn,... who announced tuesday that he would not be running for seoul mayor,... could be targeting the presidential race instead,... the 49-year- old it expert and professor dismissed the idea... referring it to as a passing phenomenon that he is ahead of park in the polls. meanwhile,... park, who if elected could be the country's first female president,... told reporters that she wishes to use the poll results as momentum to pursue a new

beginning for the country's politics. yoo ji-hae, arirang news. and at the national assembly... ruling grand national party chairman hong joon-pyo has pledged to boost the livelihoods of ordinary korean people. he also suggested an inter-korean business aimed at securing food for people in north korea. laah hyun-kyung reports. strengthening policies to improve the lives of koreans, while preparing for a unified south and north korea,... and fostering future talents in the natural science and engineering field... are the three main agenda items ruling grand national party leader hong joon-pyo stressed to lawmakers. in a speech given during a plenary session at the national assembly on wednesday,... hong said that his party will keep up its efforts to lower college tuition fees... and bring down the invisible barrier between the rich and the poor in korean society. korean "the key to the gnp's policy on bettering the livelihoods of korean citizens is to secure

rich people their freedom, while making them carry out social responsibilities and provide average people opportunities to live and educate their kids in a better and as an effort to spur the nation's economy,... he also urged opposition parties to come to an agreement with the ruling party on ratifying the pending korea-us free trade agreement. in regards to inter- korean relations, he said that the construction of a pipeline from russia to south korea... via north korea... could serve as a turning point to improve the ties between the two koreas. he also suggested an inter-korean business that would be aimed at helping north korea boost its agricultural industry, which will lead to securing food. korean "i suggest carrying out projects like developing irrigation systems as well as land reclamation and land readjustment projects in two or three areas of north korea's choosing. i hope the regime will look into my suggestion and respond positively." as for cultivating the nation's future

leaders, he emphasized that the government should pay more attention to fostering talents in natural science and engineering,... as this could help the country become world leader in the technological sector. stand-up "and on thursday, the main opposition democratic party's leader sohn hak-kyu will deliver a speech regarding what his party will focus on during the last regular session of the 18th- term assembly. laah hyun-kyung, arirang news. the united states says... it has seen no signs yet... that north korea is prepared to meet the conditions to resume the six-party nuclear talks. us state department spokesperson victoria nuland made the comment tuesday... a day ahead of consultations between us officials and south korea's top nuclear envoy, wi sung-lac. regarding wi's three- day trip to washington, nuland said... that it is part of "regular" consultations between the two allies on north korea. during his trip,... the south korean envoy is

scheduled to meet with deputy secretary of state nicholas burns... and the us envoy on north korea, stephen bosworth. with less than a year until the 2012 nuclear security summit gets underway in seoul,... a special seminar on the summit took place in seoul on wednesday. experts representing the government, civic groups, and industries attended the seminar to discuss nuclear terrorism and various nuclear-related topics. during the gathering, attendees offered support and suggestions to make the summit a success,... while also discussing how the country should go about in dealing with the issue of nuclear safety,... which has emerged as one of the biggest issues since the meltdown at japan's fukushima plant. the seminar also talked about policies regarding nuclear energy here... and ways to strengthen korea's nuclear diplomacy. the two-day seoul summit is scheduled to take place in march. 11

libyan rebels say they know where fugitive leader moammar gadhafi is hiding... and that it is only a matter of time until he is either captured or killed. spokesman anis sharif for libya's new military council said... gadhafi was still in the country... and had been tracked using human intelligence and technology . although sharif refused to reveal the exact location, he did stress that gadhafi can't get out... adding that the rebels were preparing to either detain him or kill him... as he was trapped in a roughly 65-kilometer radius area... surrounded by rebels. this comes after convoys of gadhafi loyalists fled to neighboring niger over the past few days. un secretary- general ban ki-moon has called on the international community to take action on syria.... as the country continues

its violent crackdown on anti-government protestors. ban,... who is in new zealand for a meeting with pacific leaders, told reporters... that he strongly condemned the syrian president's violence against his people. lee ji-yoon has more. it's time to take action on the situation in syria. these were the words of united nations secretary-general ban ki-moon tuesday as he spoke to reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of pacific leaders in new zealand. frustrated over the lack of unity among un members in dealing with syria's brutal crackdown on protesters... ban called on the international community to unite and take coherent measures once and for all. ban condemned assad for perpetrating violence against his own people,... saying that the aspirations of the syrian people should be "heeded and respected." he also added that it's "already to late" for assad to correct his course as the more

time passes by in syria, more people will be killed. however, ban stopped short of calling for military intervention saying it is not a matter the secretary-general should talk about. despite the secretary- general's diplomatic efforts to force assad to abandon his crackdown on protesters,... more protesters have been killed in clashes with syrian security forces. the death toll in syria now stands at 2- thousand-2-hundred since an uprising began five months ago. just last month, the un human rights council voted to dispatch an independent international commission of inquiry to syria to investigate allegations of human rights violations against anti- government protesters. meanwhile, a planned visit by the arab league to syria on wednesday has been delayed as security forces killed four more people on tuesday. last month, the cairo- based league urged assad to end attacks on protesters and carry out political and economic reforms. lee ji-yoon, arirang .

tens of thousands of italians went on strike on tuesday... to protest against the country's 45-point-5- billion-euro austerity package. the strike was organized by italy's biggest trade union,... and saw disruption to flights, buses, trains as well as hospitals, schools and other government services. demonstrations were held in several cities around the country with extra police being drafted in... to stop any potential disorder. the austerity package will see cuts in education, health and widespread pay freezes. italy is on the brink of a greek-style financial crisis... with its debt approaching 120 president lee myung-bak will appear live on television broadcast thursday night at 10 p.m to discuss his views on a wide range of topics. during the 80- minute program,... president lee will speak with a four- member panel...

including two professors and two tv announcers... about his so-called "ecosystemic development" drive,... as well as pending issues involving economic and social matters,... such as welfare and employment. the show, which comes just days before chuseok,... one of korea's biggest holidays,... will be his sixth live tv panel appearance... as he usually takes part in such events around major holidays. the area in which the majority of korea's premium apples are grown... has shifted from the south... to north of the country... specifically... to yanggu county, gangwon province. local farmers are busy harvesting the apples... ahead of chuseok. hwang ji-hye has more. korea's premium apples have traditionally come from the country's southern city of daegu in north gyeongsang province. however,... due to global warming... the major growing area has moved north... to gangwon province. farmers in yanggu county are busy harvesting apples... ahead of one of korea's biggest traditional

holidays, chuseok. although they expected shipments to be delayed due to the frequent heavy rain this summer,... the late summer heat that korea has basked in for the past few weeks meant they were able to harvest top-grade apples in time for the holiday. korean "our apples are in good quality despite the bad weather. apples produced in yanggu county are famous for their high sugar content." as summer temperatures continued to stay high, even overnight, down in the southern regions,... it was difficult for the apples grown there to build up nutrients. this resulted in the apples to have a lower sugar content than those produced in the northern part of the country. so naturally,... yanggu county has attracted apple growers from the south.... with the fruit growing area there increasing by 53 hectares this year. korean "we spent 560-thousand dollars modernizing a new 36 hectare farming area created in gangwon province." apples from yanggu county have

become a common chuseok gift along with newly harvested rice,... the traditional specialty product from this area. hwang ji-hye, arirang news. there are several villages in korea, where traditional style houses, or hanok, are preserved in their original form. some of them... have been turned into guest houses... and are doing a brisk business these days. our park ji-won reports from bukchon hanok village in central seoul. this is bukchon hanok village, where around 900 traditional houses,... called "hanok" in korean,... are located in central seoul. located between gyeongbok palace and changdeok palace, these old homes mostly date back about 100 years. and some of them are now operating as guest houses for international... as well as domestic tourists. stand-up "more and more tourists recently are choosing to stay at a traditional korean guest house." japanese tourist hisako mochizuki

decided to spend a day out of her six-day trip to korea... at this scenic guest house called rak ko jae... to get a good sense of the type of homes koreans used to live in. and american dance therapist bonnie bernstein is also staying a few days out of her three-week schedule in korea... with tourists from japan... at another hanok guest house named manaedang... to truly experience the traditional culture of korea. english "it's peaceful. and i love walking out of my room in the evening and looking up at the stars, because it's so indoor-outdoor. and it's very pleasant, and you do get a feeling of the history of korea when you stay here, very different than the other hotel." a couple from france also expressed their satisfaction with a night spent at this hanok guest house, especially the cuisine. english "the food was very good, and the

small scenery at this garden is very, very relaxing. so, we enjoyed a lot the dinner here, the traditional korean dinner. the night coming slowly, the lights in the garden, it was very nice." according to the jongno district office, there are nearly 30 traditional korean-style guest houses in the bukchon area of seoul alone. the cost to stay at these guest houses varies from place to place... from 60- thousand all the way up to 500-thousand won,... roughly between 55 and 460 us dollars. and most are very busy with incoming tourists. korean "about 20 percent of the guests are from foreign countries. during the summer and winter, the ratio rises to 50 percent. on average, international travelers come on weekdays, while on weekends it is

mostly booked by domestic tourists." on top of all the great tourist sites in seoul,... these hanok guest houses surely seem to be adding a more authentic traditional korean flavor... and are quickly becoming a must-visit place in most travelers' itineraries. park ji-won, arirang news. taking a look at the wednesday's stock market action,... the benchmark kospi gained for the first time in three trading days ahead of us president barack obama's speech on his plan to create jobs. the index rose four percent,... to close at 18-33. in particular,... electronics shares finished higher on news that demand for dram will steadily increase starting next year. hynix semiconductor jumped a whopping 15 percent, lg electronics nine,... and samsung electronics more than six percent. meanwhile,... the tech- heavy kosdaq went up four percent... and on the fx counter,... the korean currency strengthened by three won... to close at 10-72

tonight in sports...south korea draws with kuwait in a world cup qualifying match in kuwait city. meanwhile, the weather continues to be a problem at the us open. heavy rainfall has postponed the final week of action. jimmy yu has more... hello, i'm jimmy yu and welcome to world sports. starting off with the matchup against kuwait...south korea was simply unable to hold on to an early lead on wednesday, as the nation drew 1-1 in the third round of the continental world cup qualification. at peace and friendship stadium, captain park chu- young gave south korea a lead in the eighth minute, but hussain fadel evened the score eight minutes into the second half of the physical contest. after two games, south korea leads the pack with four points and and the top two teams

from each of the groups will reach the fourth and the final round. the next third-round match for south korea is against the uae on oct. 11th at home. in other qualifiers...shinji okazaki scored a second-half equalizer to secure a 1-1 draw for japan against uzbekistan on tuesday while north korea also took its first points of the campaign by defeating tajik-istan 1 -0 in pyongyang. and mother nature has not been so kind to the last grand slam of the year, the u.s. open. on the eve of the tournament, new york was battered by hurricane irene and now the remnants of tropical storm lee are drenching the eastern seaboard and threatening to ruin the second and final week of action. tuesday's entire program was cancelled before even a ball was hit due to showers and it looks like the forecast for the rest of the week is just as bleak. the postponement left tournament officials with a backlog of matches and forced them to reorganize wednesday's schedule. over in golf...it was announced that korean golfers choi

kyung-ju, yang yong- eun, and kim kyung- tae have made it unto the roster of the international team for presidents cup in november. this is the very first time for three koreans to make the cut, as the ten-man roster is based on ranking and considered a very elite admission. there is no prize money awarded at the presidents cup and instead, funds are raised for charitable causes. meanwhile at the lpga...it was reported that golfer shin ji-ae will sit out the rest of september with a back injury. shin is reportedly hospitalized after dealing with severe back pains during a local tournament last weekend. the former top ranked golfer had been scheduled to fly back to the u.s. to compete on the lpga tour, but she will now look to rest and recover. wrapping up with boxing...2011 is soon to see one of the biggest fights this year as "pretty boy" floyd mayweather jr. and victor ortiz are set to square off on the 17th at the mgm grand in vegas. of course, the odds are with mayweather as the welterweight has never lost a fight and is arguably the best

pound-for-pound fighter in the world. however, he hasn't seen any action in the past 16 months while ortiz has been building his resume and knocking his way out into the headlines. the wbc championship fight is expected to generate millions of dollars in pay-per-views as pretty much all of mexico will be tuning in. well, that's it for sports. next up is your weather update. hello, i'm yang un -jung with your weather forecast. the past few days have been dominated by a high-pressure system from northwest china, so it was mostly clear with lots of sunshine,... but this system will start to shift by thursday afternoon... bringing increasing cloudiness nationwide. but luckily we have no reports of rain for tomorrow. friday though will be a different story... as a low pressure trough will influence the central region with rain, which will spread across the country as we head into saturday. so, get out there tomorrow and enjoy the outdoors!. here are your highs for thursday... as

you can see we'll get some relief from the heat tomorrow. seoul will come down to 26. gwangju and busan will be at around 28 to 29 degrees. while daegu will be the warmest city in korea tomorrow... with a high of 30. daejeon will top out at 26, a couple higher on jeju island at 28. dokdo is expecting 26... and mt. geumgang wi