on this edition of arirang news for thursday, september 8th... uncertain global economic conditions and korea's slowing export growth rate... leads the bank of korea to maintain its key interest rate at three and a quarter percent... for the third straight month. president lee myung-bak, pushing for shared growth among small and large businesses, calls on small firms this time... to step up their game. south korea's chief nuclear envoy says... the ball is now in north korea's court to continue the momentum for dialogue.

moammar gadhafi loyalists fire rockets from one of his last strongholds after the fugitive leader cheered on his followers with an audio message. the bank of korea has decided to keep its key interest rate at 3- and-a-quarter percent... for this month. concerns over external uncertainties outweighed inflation worries. hwang sung-hee has our top story. the bank of korea left the nation's key interest rate unchanged at 3-point- 2-5 percent for this month,... citing signs of further weakening in major advanced economies. following a monthly economic policy meeting thursday, central bank officials agreed to freeze the nation's borrowing cost for the third consecutive month,... as increasing external uncertainties, mainly a slowing american economy and the european debt crisis,... may pose downside risks to the global economy. although korea, with strong exports and an

improving labor market, looks to be well on the road to recovery, bok governor kim choong -soo has cast doubt over the nation's growth path. korean "the domestic economy is expected to keep up its long-term trend of growth, but the level of uncertainty in its growth path has heightened from the impacts of external uncertainties." the rate freeze was widely anticipated by analysts... as many had expected policymakers to focus on preparing the economy for a possible slowdown... rather than taming inflationary pressure. consumer prices in korea hit a three- year high of 5-point-3 percent year-on-year growth in august,... and the central bank forecasts the upward trend to linger for some time. korean "the high rate of price increase is expected to continue for some time, driven largely by inflation expectations, although factors such as the stabilization of agricultural product prices and the base effect from last year will work to bring down inflation." the nation's borrowing cost was raised by a total of 1-point-2-5

percentage points since july last year... in a bid to tame growing inflation risks. and experts expect to see at least one rate hike made before the end of the year. korean "the growth rate of consumer prices may be lowered once the prices of agricultural products are normalized. but still, consumer prices will remain high, which is why we expect to see the interest rate raised once this year and one or two additional hikes next year." regarding the nation's rising consumer prices, the bok chief said for the first time,... that it could be a challenge for the central bank to meet its full-year inflation target of four percent. stand-up "central bank officials say they will continue to closely monitor developments at home and abroad and try to contain the country's inflationary pressure... to ensure the nation's economy remains firmly on the road to recovery. hwang sung-hee, arirang news." president lee myung-bak has called on the country's small and mid-sized firms to be run in a professional and transparent way.

in a meeting tuesday with business leaders, he stressed their role in ensuring sustainable growth in the overall economy. yoo ji-hae reports. president lee myung-bak held a meeting with 16 representatives of small and medium- sized firms on thursday... to elaborate on the meaning and significance of his so- called "ecosystemic development" campaign... aimed at creating a community in which large and small companies work together for the sake of the common good. during the session... he stated that the government has been demanding a great deal from large corporations to promote such a drive,... but that smes have problems of their own that they need to resolve. while pointing out that some companies have opaque accounting,... he called on the country's smaller entities to be run in a professional manner through transparent management. he also assured the sme leaders... that larger companies have indeed made

significant changes... and that their efforts need to be positively reviewed. the korean leader then went on to refer to smaller firms as the backbone of the nation's economy,... stressing that the more smaller firms there are that are recognized in the global arena... the stronger and more sustainable the country's overall economy will become,... while pledging continued government support. the session follows president lee's meeting last week with leaders of large corporations... where he stressed co- prosperity with smaller firms. yoo ji-hae, arirang the government and the ruling grand national party have decided to allocate more than a billion us dollars of next year's budget... to help tackle rising college tuition. the gnp and the finance and education ministries... have agreed to spend 1- point-3 billion dollars on national scholarships... while having universities use 700-million dollars of their own money. under the plan,... half of the funds for scholarships will be used for students from

families in the bottom 30-percent income bracket... and the other half as subsidies for students in the bottom 70 percent range. however, students from universities that do not make their own efforts to lower tuition... will not be able to receive the scholarship support. 11 the chairman of the main opposition democratic party sohn hak-kyu spoke at the national assembly thursday and laid out a vision of comprehensive welfare policies for the country. he also called the proposed natural gas pipeline through north korea... an important achievement. kang seok-ho reports. sohn hak-kyu , leader of the main opposition democratic party, has stressed the need for shared growth and a harmonious society. in a speech at the national assembly on thursday,... sohn said... increasing wealth disparity between the rich and poor has hurt national unity. the opposition leader called for economic development to go hand-in-hand with a

comprehensive welfare policy,... which will create jobs and ease the growing economic polarization. korean "comprehensive welfare for the underprivileged will give new spending powers to the economically struggling group of people, and in turn it will create jobs. also, it will contribute towards setting up a solid and correct path to development." and on inter-korean policy, the opposition leader called president lee myung-bak's agreement with russia to build a natural gas pipeline through north korea... an important achievement to secure energy for the country. but sohn had a different view from the lee administration on carrying out the energy project,... saying that seoul should increase engagement with pyeongyang and look for more ways to work on joint projects toward peace and unification. korean "in order to proceed with the natural gas pipeline building project from russia and through north korea, we need peace on the korean peninsula. and we need to also work on

an inter-korean railroad system to economically complete the pipeline project. so, we call for the government to reconsider the existing policy on north korea." commenting on the latest political phenomenon of entrepreneur ahn cheol-soo,... who gained popularity as a potential candidate to become the next mayor of seoul,... the opposition leader said politicians must realize that the korean people have lost faith in politics. sohn ended the speech by pledging to work for a country with less unemployment... and polarizing problems. stand-up "as the ruling grand national party also agrees on the necessity for shared development for all koreans, it remains to be seen how the two parties will work together to formulate new laws that will help ordinary people overcome economic hardships. kang seok-ho, arirang news." the us house of representatives has passed bill on tarriffs that could pave the way for the approval of the country's three pending trade agreements,...

including the one with korea. senate republicans have urged president barack obama to quickly send the bills to congress for approval. laah hyun-kyung tells us more. members of the us house of representatives have agreed to renew the generalized system of preferences program,... or gsp,... which provides duty-free access for more than 100 developing countries. this is seen as part of a republican effort to put pressure on president barack obama... to submit the three stalled free trade agreements with korea, colombia, and panama. at a press conference wednesday, eight republicans, including the top republican on the senate finance committee, orrin hatch,... called on obama to quickly send the bills to congress, as these deals would result in tens of billions of dollars in exports... and 250-thousand new jobs. however, senate majority leader and democrat harry reid told reporters the same day... that the senate would only take up the trade bills once the

house passes the trade adjustment assistance,... or taa program. the program is designed to provide re -training and health care benefits for american workers... who lose their jobs due to import competition. according to the path forward plan that senate members agreed to last month to ratify the pending free trade pacts,... the senate is now expected to attach the taa program to the bill and send it back to the house. once obama sends the fta bills for an up-or-down vote at the house, it will hold a vote on the trade deals and on the bill combining the gsp and taa separately. if both are passed,... the gsp and taa combined bill would be ready to be signed into law,... while the trade pacts would be sent to the senate for approval. laah hyun-kyung, arirang news. one of britain's leading dailies, the guardian,... has reported on korea's efforts to lead the smart grid industry. specifically,... it highlighted a large- scale smart grid project that is underway on jeju island.

hwang ji-hye has more. the guardian newspaper has reported on korea's efforts to take the lead in the smart grid industry as the country looks to boost its energy independence. although korea has undergone a remarkable economic transformation over the past 40 years,... the country has been prone to high energy prices due to a lack of natural resources. the paper highlighted a project named the 'smart grid roadmap' on korea's southernmost island of jeju,... where the government and some of the nation's largest conglomerates, like sk telecom,... are setting up a smart grid infrastructure. korea hopes the project to transform it from an energy- importing nation into a green, energy efficient society. a smart grid is a type of electrical grid which attempts to predict and intelligently respond to the behavior of all electric power users connected to it... in order to efficiently deliver reliable, economic, and sustainable electricity services. over 160 companies, large and small,... have

transformed 2- thousand homes,... revamped with solar paneling, inter- connected energy efficient appliances,... and tablet-pc-based energy monitoring. the government has invested 64 and a half billion won,... or about 60 million us dollars,... and will increase that investment four times,... by 2013 when the experiment will end. after analyzing the project,... the companies and the government will determine how to pursue the technology which is now in its infancy. hwang ji-hye, arirang south korea's chief nuclear envoy, wi sung-lac has admitted that... while south korea and the us want to see the six-party nuclear talks resume,... it is ultimately up to north korea. meanwhile, the former us special coordinator for north korea policy says talks should not be held just for their own sake. lee ji-yoon has more. south korea and the united states are waiting for a proper response and action from north korea to restart the six-party nuclear talks.

this is according to south korea's chief nuclear envoy wi sung -lac, who left for washington wednesday,... to hold talks with us deputy secretary of state nicholas burns and the us envoy on north korea, stephen bosworth. the meeting comes just two weeks after north korea reportedly suggested a moratorium on its nuclear testing and production if the six- way talks resume. after the meeting, wi told reporters that although there are no signs yet that north korea is prepared to meet the conditions to restart the talks,... south korea and the us are both hopeful that pyeongyang will respond properly to what's asked of it. he also added that the us is supportive of inter-korean dialogue and improving relations between the two koreas. meanwhile, the former special coordinator for north korea policy, wendy sherman,... who is also the nominee to hold the third-highest position at the us state department says,... washington should take a "carrot and stick" approach in its dealings with north korea.

english "secretary clinton, president obama have continued the six-party talks and continued, with the two-prong approach that secretary perry first put on the table." noting how working with north korea is frustrating and difficult,... sherman told the us senate foreign relations committee on wednesday,... that dealing with north korea is a task that requires "enormous persistence" with "no good choices" except to keep up economic and diplomatic pressure on the regime. she added that if north korea bows to international pressure over its nuclear and missile programs, then it might make sense to have meetings,... but until then there should not be talks for the sake of talks. lee ji-yoon, arirang news. experts say china is planning to build a fourth naval fleet, one that will include aircraft carriers. this is expected to fuel conflict in the region and tension over territorial disputes. oh jee-hyun reports.

china is reportedly planning to build a new naval base. citing military experts wednesday,... hong kong's mingpao newspaper said this will be the country's fourth fleet and that its base will be built in the city of sanya in hainan province. the base will be home to,... and centered on,... at least two aircraft carriers,... including china's recently launched carrier varyag. the new plan is expected to increase the likelihood of conflicts between china and several southeast asian nations as the base will be located in the south china sea,... where a number of territorial disputes rumble on. the news comes as other chinese military experts express concerns,... saying that the neighboring countries threaten safety in china. they say... due to the joint military exercises in russia and vietnam,... as well as america's involvement or influence in the japanese, taiwanese and indian military,... china is now surrounded by enemies. however, it will take at least 10 years to establish the fourth

fleet... since a home port which can hold at least 100-thousand people must be built first. the country currently operates three fleets in the north, east, and south china seas. oh jee-hyun, arirang news. and now for the latest from libya... forces loyal to ousted leader moammar gadhafi fired rockets after he released a new audio message saying that he remains in the country and will not leave,... while rebel fighters said that they are closing in... on him. song ji-sun reports. fugitive libyan leader moammar gadhafi denied rumors that he fled libya... and vowed "never to leave the land of his ancestors"... while rallying followers to the fight in a new audio message broadcast thursday... on syrian television network al- rai. arabic "to all libyan people, the libyan land belongs to you and those who are trying to take it away from you are outsiders. capture them!" however, most libyans don't appear to be moved by his defiant message.

arabic "the libyan people no longer listen to gadhafi. his era is over and we've started a new history. he ruled us for 42 years and we are in the process of rebuilding our future." arabic "he is calling for a fight via recorded speeches. where is he now? he is not a fighter and he will not resurface." spokesman anees al-sharif for the new tripoli military council said on wednesday... that gadhafi has been surrounded within a radius of 60 kilometers.... and rebel fighters thursday said that they are closing in on the toppled leader. meanwhile, naji barakat, the health minister of the new libyan administration said that at least 30- thousand people were killed... and 50- thousand were left wounded in the country's six-month civil war. this is the first detailed estimate of the high cost in lives of bringing down the gadhafi regime,... but barakat said that the final figures are still expected to be higher. song ji-sun, arirang news. korean fishermen head out to sea at this time of year to catch yellow corbina. the species is highly prized as it is filled with roe and has firm flesh.

our kim yeon-ji takes a look... at a vibrant corbina market. this is a marine produce market managed by the korea fisheries cooperative association... in the port city of mokpo in south jeolla province. early in the morning, brokers are busy auctioning off freshly caught yellow corbinas. a crate of the highest quality corbinas sells for at least 360- thousand korean won, which is roughly 336 us dollars,... and a crate of lower quality corbinas usually goes for at least 90-thousand won, or 84 dollars. these prices reflect a 10 to 20-percent hike compared to the same period last year. korean "the price of yellow corbina has risen by about 10 to 20-percent compared to last year." since they started corbina fishing this fall, quite a few fishermen have enjoyed good hauls. and some fishing boats returned with corbinas worth as much as 200 million won, or 187- thousand dollars, from just one trip out to the

sea. and these bumper hauls are giving breathing space to ship owners who have been suffering from the effects of inflation... which has made their fishing vessels increasingly costly to run. korean "we've had rough times... but we are catching a lot more yellow corbinas this year than last year for sure." with the start of the fall, local fishermen are catching exceptionally high quality yellow corbinas in great amounts... and are dreaming of a good fish harvest. the korean government is making efforts to better promote korean cuisine on the global stage. and in time for the country's chuseok thanksgiving holiday, the national folk museum of korea in seoul is revisiting the beauty of korea's traditional food. and reporter aria dhanu from indonesia's tvri shares his take on korean food. in the midst of increasing technological advances,... traditional

korean cuisine still occupies the attention of both the korean people themselves, as well as people outside of the country. and the tradition of serving and packaging korean food... is always tailored to the changing times. with this in mind, the cultural program initiative,... or cpi,... invited students from across the globe to have an opportunity to see korean dishes served by an experienced cook... up close. songpyeon, in particular,... a crescent -shaped rice cake,... was a huge hit among the cpi participants. it is made from freshly harvested rice flour, formed in various shapes and colors, and comprised of sweets, red beans, or honey. and is one of the main dishes during korea's thanksgiving holiday, chuseok,... which will take place from september 11th to the 13th this year. korean " it would be good for the foreign participants to know about what korean eat this holiday and why we celebrate it." english " kind of share the

same culture in rice cake-making. i think it's the one of important tradition in asia that can be shared by asian, throughout we have common thing to share." many lessons to be learned from observing and experiencing this korean-style of cooking... included... accuracy, precision, speed, cleanliness,... and also a little bit of patience. last but not least, and stand-up "human beings are naturally creative... and from observing the making of traditional korean cuisine, participants of the cpi program were certainly taught to think outside the box, but also about the spirit to be their very best. aria dhanu, arirang news." the fifth world festival of national theaters has begun in seoul. the opening performance has got a lot of attention with its attempt at a new art genre called "pansori opera." around 30 works from different countries will also be performed at the festival. park ji-won reports.

every september and october for the past four years, the national theater of korea holds the world festival of national theaters,... inviting representative performing art works from a number of countries. and this year's opening performance, 'mr. rabbit and the dragon king,' or 'sugungga' in korean kicked off the event on thursday evening. this opera is gaining a lot of attention... as it it's being directed by world-renowned german art director achim freyer, who is attempting to transform "pansori," korea's traditional storytelling through song,... into a new art form called "pansori opera." german "i was always interested in asian traditional culture, so when i visited korea last year, i had the opportunity to watch a traditional korean opera 'cheong.' it inspired me a great deal. i began to have an aspiration to direct a traditional korean music opera and i wanted to share it with european audiences." as a leading figure in abstract paintings,

he also designs the costumes, the stage, and even does the lighting. korean stand-up "besides the highly anticipated opening performance of 'mr. rabbit and the dragon king,' about 30 works from nine different countries will also be presented on stage during the festival." india's rage theatre is also taking part in the world festival of national theaters with its modern play, 'pune highway.' english "i'm very excited to be here in seoul. because this is the first time that i think an indian play is performed at this festival. but i'm also very keen to see how this play, which is very indian play, but a very modern indian play performs in a city like seoul." france's national theater, 'la comedie francaise,' is also back in korea after 23 years... with its comic play written by moliere, 'the imaginary invalid.' and china's lianoing ballet company is set

to perform its modern ballet, 'last emperor.' exhibitions, seminars, and art markets are also set to be held during the festival, aiming to further promote cultural exchanges among the world's performing arts sectors. park ji-won, arirang news. taking a look at thursday's stock market action,... the benchmark kospi closed higher... in anticipation of us president barack obama's speech thursday night on a 300-billion-dollar plan to boost the ailing american economy. the index finished point-7 percent higher... at 18-47. samsung electronics went up by more than three percent, lg chem also rose three percent,... and hyundai motor gained more than one percent. however, woori and daewoo securities both plunged by nearly 15 percent. the tech-heavy kosdaq, meanwhile, fell by point-8 percent. on the fx counter,... the korean currency weakened by three won... to close at 10-75

tonight in sports...a plane carrying a russian hockey team has in russia, killing 43 and leaving one critically injured. meanwhile, in new york, the us open was washed out for the second day in a row. jimmy yu has more... hello, i'm jimmy yu and welcome to world sports. our top story tonight involves a tragic accident near yaroslavl, russia...on wednesday, a passenger plane carrying the russian ice hockey team lokomotiv to a season -opening match crashed shortly after takeoff, killing 43 people and injuring one. the russian and foreign hockey stars were on board flying to a match in belarus when the yak-42 aircraft slammed into a river bank. the international sports world has plunged into grief as among the victims were three czech world champions, a swedish goalkeeper, a renowned slovak

forward and a canadian coach. many had played around the world, including in north america's national hockey league. the crash raises concerns about russian aviation safety as a crash less than three months ago killed 45 people. over in new york...the u.s. open was washed out for the second day in a row wednesday, leaving organisers scrambling to clear a backlog. officials reluctantly cancelled all six men's single matches, including four fourth- round clashes originally scheduled for the previous day, after just 16 minutes of play. thousands of paying spectators retreated to the exit gates, leaving officials with another hefty refund bill and the possibility that the championship will be pushed to a third week for the fourth year in a row. however, the bigger story of the day was that players actually revolted against the conditions on the court. rafael nadal, andy murray and andy roddick confronted tournament organizers after their matches were halted, saying the conditions were already dangerous before they began.

hello, i'm yang un -jung with your weather forecast. today... was what is called "baengno" in korean,... which means the first official day of fall. our daytime highs have definitely gotten cooler... with low humidity and some wind which is very typical for this time of year. and a low pressure trough from the west moved into the central regions today, so skies turned partly to mostly cloudy with a slight chance of some rain here and there across the country. as we head into friday, this system will mainly affect the central regions bringing more rain and clouds into seoul and surrounding gyeonggi province, the chungcheong provinces and gangwon's yeongseo region. then saturday... the rain will spread out nationwide and into sunday as well. and on monday, the day of chuseok, most of the rain will start to clear out except for the southern regions,... but dark cloudy skies will still linger elsewhere. here are your highs for friday... seoul will come down a couple more degrees to 24. daegu to 27. 28 in gwangju and 29

in busan,... the warmest in the country. daejeon will drop to 25, jeju island to 28. and dokdo and mt. geumgang will top out at 25 and 19, respectively. taking a look at the international weather... for japan on friday... there will be some showers in the southern part of the country, which could be quite heavy at times. across china, there will be some heavy downpours working their way into the southern and eastern regions, but hong kong will be mainly dry with maybe one or two showers. and certainly more heavy downpours to come for vietnam, laos, and thailand. down under... a nice, dry day in northern and western australia as usual,... but there's still a band of cloud and rain lingering across the east coast, so showers likely in brisbane, sydney, melbourne and victoria and this will even extend out to new zealand as well. flying over to north america... widespread rain across the northeastern us

will continue into friday and throughout the weekend. and pretty much the same across the midwest... with showers and some thunder activity. but southern california's looking gorgeous on friday with clear sunny skies. in south america... there will be a few clouds around sao paulo and buenos aires on friday, but no reports of rain. in contrast,... santiago is expecting some raindrops during the day, but not much. into europe... moscow has a chance for some rain and because of that... temperatures will fall significantly into the mid teens. london and paris will also start off the day with some morning sprinkles. but other than that... mostly fine and dry elsewhere. lastly in africa... another dry day on tap for dakar with highs reaching close to 30 degrees. but more wet weather to come for addis ababa and cape town on friday and throughout the weekend. that's all for today's weather. have a great evening and i'll see you back here tomorrow.