coming up on arirang news for tuesday, september 13th... koreans return to the city after spending time with family in their hometowns. traffic on the highways returns to normal. the korean government and ruling party have agreed to create more jobs for socially disadvantaged groups. and former prime minister han myeong-

sook, a strong potential candidate in the race for seoul mayor, has decided not to run. traffic on korea's major highways has eased up on the last day of the chuseok holiday. compared to last year, more people left the capital this to visit family in their hometowns. according to the korea expressway corporation,... nearly 1 -point-6 million cars left seoul from friday to tuesday,... up 100- thousand from last year. as of tuesday night only parts of the gyeongbu and seohaean expressways were seeing slight congestion... as the number of cars on the road returned to normal. as of tuesday night,... it took a little over five and a half hours to drive from busan to seoul. the government plans to create more jobs next year... for those who often face discrimination -- mainly senior citizens, youths and the disabled. hwang sung-hee reports.

the korean government and the ruling grand national party have agreed to create more jobs for the socially- disadvantaged groups. the gnp's floor leader hwang woo-yea told reporters on tuesday... that lawmakers have decided to increase next year's budget for creating jobs for those that often face discrimination in the job market... to 9-point -4 trillion won, roughly 8-point-8 billion us dollars, from this year's 8-point-4 billion dollars. this means there will be around 5-hundred- 60-thousand state- funded jobs available for the disabled, women, youth and senior citizens next year... 20-thousand more from this year's 540-thousand jobs. hwang said... the two sides agreed on the idea that creating more jobs for citizens was the best welfare policy. under the plan, roughly 20-thousand new state -funded jobs will be added to the current 200-thousand positions for senior citizens, while jobs for youths will expand by around 7-thousand to 1- hundred-1-thousand. some 2-thousand positions will be added

on to this year's 65- thousand jobs for the disabled. the government and the ruling party also agreed to increase state funding for helping high school graduates find jobs to almost 600 million dollars next year... adding more than 75 million dollars to that of this year. and to accommodate working moms,... the government will inject 42-point-5 million dollars for building daycare centers at workplaces. hwang sung-hee, arirang news. with seoul to elect a new mayor in just a few weeks,... one of the strongest candidates, former prime minister han myeong-sook... of the democratic party has decided not to run. oh jee-hyun reports. former prime minister han myeong- sook has announced that she will not be running in the upcoming seoul mayoral race. han,... had been considered as the main potential candidate of the opposition democratic party in the upcoming by-election for the mayor of seoul set for october 26th. in a press release on tuesday,... han said she wants to focus on helping her party win

next year's presidential elections.. meanwhile park won- soon, a lawyer turned civic activist, met with democratic party leader sohn hak-kyu on the same day. the opposition party stressed the importance of agreeing on a single candidate and offered him the party's support. park, who is running as an independent candidate, has the popular ahnlab founder ahn cheol-soo's backing. although grand national party lawmaker na kyung- won is considered most likely to run,... the gnp is yet to announce any specific plans,... since the party is being forced to find a stronger candidate. the gnp says it will unveil its potential nominees late this week at the earliest. former seoul mayor oh se-hoon resigned last month after a city-wide referendum on the free school lunch program failed to draw a large turnout...that could have reversed the opposition-driven city council's decision to provide free meals to all elementary and middle school students. oh jee-hyun, arirang news. the korean government plans to propose talks with

japan this week on the issue of the so-called "comfort women", korean women who were forced into sexual slavery by the japanese military during world war ii. according to officials on tuesday,... seoul is looking at proposing official talks with tokyo through either the japanese embassy in seoul or the korean embassy in japan this week. the move comes after the constitutional court of korea ruled last month that the korean government violated the constitution by not doing its best to help protect the rights of wartime sex slaves and demand compensation from japan. although korea was liberated from japan's colonial rule 66 years ago,... the issue of former comfort women remains unresolved as japan refuses to compensate the victims. a boat carrying nine possible north korean defectors... has been found off japan's western coast. the japanese coast guard said tuesday,... that its officials were contacted earlier in the day by an unfamiliar vessel in waters near the noto peninsula. the wooden boat was

reportedly carrying three men, three women and three children. according to the associated press,... the passengers told the coast guard that they were from north korea and that they wanted to go to south korea. the vessel is reported to be about eight meters long with korean characters marked on it and was carrying kimchi and rice. the boat and its passengers are currently under investigation by the japanese coast guard. meanwhile, seoul's unification ministry said,... it's trying to find out what exactly happened and if these passengers are actually north korean defectors. according to the 'unification clock'... we're a symbolic 10 minutes closer to unifying north and south korea. though unification predictions take into account a wide range of factors... arirang's lee ji-yoon tells us... one research institute thinks we made some progress this year. the "unification clock" which attempts to reflect the likelihood of the two koreas' reunifying moved forward 10 minutes in 2011 compared to 2010.

the clock was first put together by the korea institute for national unification in 2009... and the institute has released it every year since then, incorporating the opinions of scores of north korea experts on the time and factors influencing reunification. the closer to 12 o'clock the time is, the greater the possibility of unification. according to the institute's latest research,... this year's "absorption-type unification clock",... based on north korea collapsing and being absorbed into south korea,... ticked 10 minutes forward compared to last year's time of 5:20,... sitting at 5:30 while in 2009, the clock was set at 5:56. meanwhile, the alternative "agreement -type unification clock" which refers to the realization of gradual unification through the peaceful improvement of relations between the two koreas,... moved back to 3:31 compared to 3:45 in 2010. researchers say,... this

version of the clock moved back due to rising tensions between the two koreas as well as the insecurity of the succession system in north korea. also considering that clocks in the political, social, international and military sectors all moved back on the agreement-type clock this year,... analysts say the possibility of an absorption-type reunification is greater than an agreement- type. lee ji-yoon, arirang news. north korea could hold its first-ever joint military exercise with russia... before the end of the year. the japanese daily asahi shimbun reported monday,... citing an unnamed north korean source,... that the two countries' navies and air forces will engage in search and rescue training at sea. it is extremely rare for north korea to stage a joint military drill with another country. north korean leader kim jong-il is known to have proposed a full- scale joint military exercise to russian president dmitry medvedev last month,... but sources say moscow was reluctant... so both

sides settled on rudimentary search and rescue training exercises. construction has resumed on a naval base in the small fishing village of gangjeong in southern jeju island... after the regional court ruled that protesters who interere with the contruction will be fined. our kim han-ul reports from gangjeong. on august 29th, the jeju district court granted the injunction from the government and the navy... to ban protestors from obstructing construction of the base. the navy says having a naval base in jeju is crucial for national security... as the island sits in a strategic location facing the south china sea. korean "korea needs a base to dock the naval ships to protect its exclusive economic zone and marine resources. and the gangjeong shoreline at jeju island is the optimal place for that."

four days after the court's decision, additional police forces were sent into the village... as the navy installed a 200-meter- long fence and resumed construction. stand-up "i'm standing in front of the entrance of construction site, and what you see behind me is the 2- point-5 meter tall fence which prohibits protestors from entering. and now they're holding a press conference outside this entrance." last thursday, a group of progressive activists and local villagers... held a press conference denouncing the navy for resuming construction and destroying rare rocks... and called on the jeju residents and politicians for show of support. korean "so we want the navy to accept the opinions of the villagers and the jeju residents... and first stop construction until all problems are resolved." however, not all villagers were against the base... but those in favor choose to remain passive with the fear of retaliation. some villagers say it's the outside activists who are worsening the

problem. korean "everything came down to a closure... even the opposition came to a conclusion... but with the outside groups coming in since last year... until early this year... gangjeong has once again been overtaken by the opposition." the long-disputed naval base construction began in 2007 when the jeju provincial government approved gangjeong village's application to become one of the candidate sites for the base. gangjeong villagers who oppose the base argue that the village voting process was carried out in a non- democratic way, without their knowledge. a total of 977 billion won or roughly 915 million us dollars will be spent on the construction of this 480-thousand-square -meter base by 2014. kim han-ul, arirang news, gangjeong. the latest contingent of korean troops... deployed off the coast of somalia to tackle piracy... has begun operations. korea's joint chiefs of staff said

tuesday... that the 44- hundred ton destroyer munmu the great,... the eighth contingent of the cheonghae unit,... arrived in oman on saturday and began its mission of protecting civilian ships from pirates... and providing support to other nearby vessels. the destroyer, carrying 3-hundred military personnel, made a stop in singapore and in the united arab emirates for a meeting to exchange piracy- related information and then a joint military exercise. colombian president juan manuel santos has called for his country and korea to sign a free trade agreement as soon as possible... stressing that a trade pact would greatly boost commercial ties. in an interview with yonhap news agency on tuesday... ahead of his official visit to korea this week, santos expressed hope that the two countries could conclude negotiations on an fta by year's end. since the two countries began talks in 2009, they have made progress, but differences remain over certain issues, including how much to open their markets agricultural and

electronics products. two-way trade between korea and colombia nearly doubled in 2010 from 2009 to more than 1-point-8 billion us dollars while korean exports to the latin american country hit close to 1-point-4- billion that year. mr. santos arrives in seoul on wednesday for a three-day visit, which will include summit talks with korean president lee myung-bak. us software giant microsoft is currently reviewing plans to build a cutting-edge data center in korea. the ceo of microsoft korea, kim james woo, revealed the plans on thursday to the chairman of the korea communications commission, choi see -joong,... during choi's visit to microsoft research silicon valley division. kim said korea rose as one of the most likely candidates for the data center after japan was hit by a massive earthquake in march. he said the superiority of korean it professionals was what mainly helped korea stand out among other contenders.

united states trade representative ron kirk has expressed optimism that congress will pass america's pending free trade deals before the annual asia pacific economic cooperation summit in november. speaking to reporters on monday... kirk refused to comment on a detailed timetable... saying it will depend on how fast the white house and congress reach an agreement on a separate piece of legislation known as trade adjustment assistance,... which is meant to help workers who have lost their jobs due to increased imports. asked whether it would be embarassing if the long-pending deals with korea, panama and columbia were not approved before the november apec summit, kirk replied that the administration is "more optimistic than that." president barack obama also told reporters... that congress is highly likely to move forward on the deals soon. us president barack obama has urged congress to quickly pass his american jobs act. speaking in the white house rose garden monday,... obama challenged

republicans to pass the plan he unveiled last week. white house officials say... the 447-billion dollar jobs package would be paid for... by closing tax loopholes and wiping out deductions for wealthier families and specific industries... such as limiting tax deductions on individuals earning over 200-thousand us dollars and families earning over 250- thousand dollars. the measure also closes loopholes for oil and gas corporations... reduces deductions on corporate jets... and raises taxes on interest earned by fund managers. the plan has been heavily criticized by republican leaders... who call the bill a tax on "job-creators". a fire in the kenyan capital of nairobi has killed at least 75 people and left more than one hundred badly burned. an oil pipeline exploded and sent flames sweeping through a nearby slum. yang ji-woo has more. the fuel pipeline burst into flames in a densely populated nairobi slum village near the kenya pipeline

company depot monday morning.... killing scores of villagers and destroying lines of tin- shack shelters. swahili "there was a lot of smoke and there were people around that area who were fetching petroleum remains... then they inhaled the smoke and they collapsed when those around there inhaled it, then smoke turned into fire and all around there including houses were burnt." survivors say people gathered with cans when oil from a nearby depot spilled into a sewage ditch. they say the fire began without warning when a man tossed away a cigarette butt... with the ensuing blaze engulfing dozens of people who had been filling containers with oil. meanwhile, rescuers at the scene... say the death toll, which stands at around 75, could rise even further due to the severity of some of the victims' burns. kenya's prime minister raila odinga... who paid a visit to a nearby hospital to see the injured... expressed regret that so many

kenyans died in the inferno. english "this is a terrible, terrible, terrible accident, the site of dead bodies lying there at mukuru is something that is shocking, it is shocking how this happened and of course you see people are completely unprepared and unaware." un secretary-general ban ki-moon has also expressed "sorrow and sympathy" to the families of the victims. monday's pipeline explosion is one of kenya's one of worst energy-related disasters in the country's history... but similar accidents are not uncommon in kenya. more than 1- hundred people died in western kenya two years ago after an overturned oiltanker they were attempting to steal oil from exploded. yang ji-woo, arirang news.

the head of libya's interim government, mustafa abdul jalil, has vowed to create a new state based on "moderate islam." mr. jalil told thousands of supporters in the central square of the capital tripoli that libya is a muslim nation and that sharia, or islamic law, will be the main source for legislation. he added that libya's new government will not accept any extremist ideology. amnesty international, however, has warned the former rebels to make sure they don't violate the rights of pro-gadhafi fighters. as for gadhafi himself, his whereabouts are still unknown. but in a statement broadcast by a loyalist television station, he called on his supporters to continue the fight until they defeat what he refered to as "the coup." tonight in sports...novak djokovic continues his fantastic season with a resounding victory over rafael nadal at the us open. meanwhile, jonathan trott of england has been named cricketer of the year. jimmy yu has more...

hello, i'm jimmy yu and welcome to world sports. in tennis...novak djokovic provided irrefutable proof that he is the world's best player and perhaps on his way to becoming one of the greatest ever with a incredible victory over rafael nadal in the u.s. open final on monday. in claiming his third grand slam title of an amazing season, djokovic produced an incredible display of shotmaking and courage during a classic slugfest that lasted over four hours. in the opening set, the defending champion jumped out to a 2-0 lead, only to be reined in by djokovic, who kept the spanish left- hander under constant pressure with some monster returns. the spaniard won the third set in a tiebreaker to keep the match alive and both players appeared on the brink of total exhaustion but djokovic remained calm and walked off with the 6-2 6-4 6-7 6-1 victory. the serb has now won 10 titles this season, including the australian open, wimbledon, and the u.s. open, and no one seems to know how to beat him. and the big

matchup in football is set to kick off on tuesday..of course, we're referring to the world powerhouse barca. now with the memory of their wembley masterclass against manchester united still fresh, barcelona begins a new champions league campaign with a mouth-watering opener against italian thoroughbreds ac milan. as expected, barca will start as favourites to become the first club to retain the trophy since milan achieved the feat in 1990. all eyes will be on the footballer of the year lionel messi, who has been the top scorer in the competition for the past three season, as he will be set his sights on milan for the very first time. milan will certainly not go without a fight as the squad will be looking to capitalise on their opponent's defensive weakness that resulted in barca dropping two la liga points in a 2-2 draw at real sociedad over the weekend. over in the world of cricket...jonathan trott of england has been named the cricketer of the year for 2011, received the sir garfield sobers trophy at the annual ceremony in london. in 12 tests during the period under

consideration, trott scored 1042 runs at an average of 65.12, including four centuries and three half-centuries. meanwhile, it was a great day for his teammate alastair alaster cook who won the test cricketer of the year award after also having a prolific year in the format. well, that's it for sports. next up is your weather update. hello i'm yang un jung with your weather forecast. hope you enjoyed the last day off today. now heading into wednesday as we're getting back to work looks like clear skies and high temperatures will continue at least until late thursday, because that's when a few showers will start to develop from the southern regions. but until then high pressure will be in firm control so mostly clear to partly cloudy skies are expected nationwide with temperatures peaking at 30 degrees, so be aware and dress appropriately. here are your highs for wednesday... seoul's expecting 29 degrees. while daegu,gwangju and busan will all

peak at 32 degrees. daejeon and jeju island both will top out at 30. dokdo will be at 26 and mt. geumgang ............................... taking a look at the international weather... most of japan's looking dry with warm temperatures highs are close to 30 degrees and most of the southern cities are even above the 30s. but there will be a little bit of rain across northeast of china on wednesday, and some scattered showers across central china as well, especially near hongkong. down under... it's pleasant weather for sydney, nice and dry with lots of sunshine. however... there's an area of low pressure hovering over southeastern australia bringing clouds and brisk winds... into melbourne and victoria. and new zealand is also looking nice and warm. into north america... wednesday will be dry for most of the northeastern u.s... but there will be a few cloudy skies from time to time. chicago has the same story... but much cooler air will push in, with a high of only 17 degrees.

los angeles is looking partly cloudy too... with 26 degrees. down in south america... there's a long band of showers across the northern parts of brazil which will extend into the southeast late wednesday afternoon... this will bring some heavy rain into sao paulo and some scattered showers for rio de janeiro. santiago and buenos aires however... will continue to be sunny and clear. into europe... there are no reports of rain in much of europe on wednesday. moscow, berlin and paris... are all drying out nicely with a few passing clouds. and if you're in london... you can even look forward to perfectly clear sunny skies tomorrow. lastly in africa... tripoli, algiers and cairo... will enjoy sunny skies with highs in the mid 30s. a sunny and dry day is also expected for dakar. cape town's returning to its typical sunshine, but the heavy rain in addis ababa will continue. that's all for today's weather. enjoy your evening and i'll see you tomorrow.

that's all for this edition of arirang news. thanks for watching.