on this edition of arirang news for wednesday, september 14th... president lee myung-bak will visit the united states on an official state visit sometime next month... at a rare invitation by president barack obama. the us state department says north korea has been arresting and even executing north koreans who communicate with overseas religious or other support groups. japan is mulling ways to hand over the nine north korean defectors who drifted into the japanese waters to south korea as they wish.

the leaders of greece, france and germany will hold talks this week on ways to contain the greek debt crisis and prevent it from further roiling president lee myung-bak will visit the united states next month. there, he will hold summit talks with president obama on issues... including the pending free trade agreement and ways to deal with north korea's nuclear threat. yoo ji-hae reports. president lee myung-bak will travel to the united states next month for summit talks with us president barack obama... about the two countries' alliance, economic cooperation and north korea. korea's presidential office says... lee and obama will hold discussions on strengthening economic cooperation... including their long-pending free trade agreement, ways to improve seoul- washington alliance... and cooperative efforts

in dealing with the standoff over north korea's nuclear programs. the korean leader will also attend a dinner reception to be hosted by president obama... and a luncheon to be hosted jointly by vice president joe biden and secretary of state hillary clinton. president lee will be the fifth head of state to make a state visit to the us... under the current obama administration... following india, mexico, china and germany. the exact dates of lee's trip have yet to be confirmed... but summit talks are said to be scheduled for october 13th. in regards to president lee's planned visit... a white house statement said... the occasion will highlight the strong alliance, the global partnership, and the deep economic ties between the two countries... and also celebrate the strong bonds of friendship between the korean and american people. the korean president will also be in the us next week to attend the united nations general assembly... and a high -level nuclear safety meeting in new york

city... and also stop by seattle on the way back... for a meeting with korean residents there. stand-up "korea's top office said... president lee's state visit to the us will serve as an opportunity for the two nations to further enhance their alliance... as it will take place at a time... when the relations are stronger than ever based on the trust and cooperation between the two leaders. yoo ji-hae, arirang us deputy defense secretary nominee ashton carter claims... north korea's missile and wmd programs pose a direct and serious threat to washington's allies... and have the potential to be a direct threat to the us homeland. kim yeon-ji reports. deputy defense secretary nominee ashton carter has stressed that north korea's missiles and wmd programs pose a direct and serious threat to washington and its allies. in a written statement to congress ahead of a confirmation hearing at the senate armed

services committee on tuesday, carter said the us must closely monitor north korea's asymmetrical defense build-up through its uranium enrichment and wmd programs... and potential proliferation. he said the north is capable of launching another attack any time... highlighting pyeongyang's two attacks on south korea last year carter said he will actively cooperate with other government agencies... and devise contingency plans with the help of washington's allies. a long-time us national security professional, carter directed military planning during the 1994 crisis over north korea's nuclear weapons program..., while serving as assistant secretary of defense for international security policy in the clinton administration. he is currently the under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics in the obama administration. if confirmed, carter will replace william lynn, who is expected to leave the post later this year after more than

two years on the job. kim yeon-ji, arirang news. the united states has decided to keep north korea on its list of countries with no religious freedom. the annual report from the us state department also included china, myanmar, iran and sudan. song ji-sun has the details. north korea has maintained its position on the list of countries with no religious freedom... according to the international religious freedom report released by the us state department on tuesday. english "secretary clinton has designated eight states as countries of particular concern. they are burma, china, eritrea, iran, north korea, saudi arabia, sudan and uzbekistan." the list of countries has remained unchanged since 2009... while ten other countries, including afghanistan, egypt, pakistan and russia were cited for failing to sufficiently protect

religious rights. the report stated that, although the constitution and other laws and policies protect religious freedom in north korea, genuine religious freedom does not exist... as the government severely restricts religious activity, except that which is tightly supervised by officially recognized groups linked to the government. the north korean government deals harshly with all opponents, including those who engage in religious practices it deems unacceptable. there have been reports of abuses of religious freedom in the country, including repression and persecution.... and members of underground churches have been arrested, beaten, tortured, or even executed because of their religious beliefs. some of the estimated 150 to 200-thousand people thought to be held in political prison camps in the north are there for their religious beliefs and activities. pyongyang is especially concerned about faith-based south korean relief and refugee assistance efforts along the north's border with china. defectors to south korea also reported intensified police activity aimed at halting religious activity at the border.

no religious holidays are observed in north korea. song ji-sun, arirang the japanese coast guard has confirmed that nine people found in japanese waters tuesday are in fact north koreans seeking asylum in south korea. the south korean government said it will talk with japan and find a humanitarian solution for the nine defectors. lee ji-yoon has the latest. japanese authorities confirmed wednesday,... that nine people found aboard a boat off the noto peninsula in japan early tuesday are north korean defectors. the passengers, including three men, three women and three children, reportedly said that they're all related to each other and that they had set off from the eastern coast of north korea with the intention of going to south korea. japanese media also reported that one of the passengers claimed to be a member of the north korean people's army,... but there's no official confirmation of this as of yet. for now, the japanese

central government is considering their case,... while the south korean government said it will discuss the matter with tokyo so that the defectors are treated in a humanitarian manner. earlier wednesday, the immigration bureau granted a provisional landing permission for the nine to transfer them to an immigration facility in nagasaki. there, immigration officials are expected to interview the defectors to see whether they meet the criteria for landing permits for temporary refuge,... such as having fled from the risk of physical harm or having their lives threatened. stand-up "the group is likely to eventually depart for south korea,... considering that the last time north korean defectors arrived in japan by boat in 2007,... they were sent to south korea at their request. lee ji-yoon, arirang news." lawmakers at korea's national assembly questioned president lee's nominee for unification minister yu woo-ik on wednesday in his confirmation hearing. yu said he will adhere to the government's

existing north korean policy, but added that he will look for ways to improve the currently strained inter-korean ties. kang seok-ho reports. at korea's national assembly, a confirmation hearing for unification minister nominee yu woo-ik was held on wednesday. in his opening remarks, yu,... who was president lee myung- bak's first chief of staff... and then ambassador to china said... that he will build on the government's current approach to north korea... of demanding pyeongyang's apology for its attacks last year on warship cheonan and yeonpyeong island... before any substantial enhancement of inter- korean ties can take place. but the nominee did not close the door on a possibility of improving the relations. korean "the government has worked with other countries to enact a north korean policy with a clear and consistent principle. and should i be confirmed, i will look for flexible measures that could enhance the inter-korean relations."

in response to a question if his appointment to the post will result in a new policy on north korea geared towards engagement..., such as allowing more shipments of food aid to the north, yu ruled out the possibility of a major policy shift in the near future. korean "including humanitarian assistance, the government is reviewing a variety of measures to ameliorate strained relations between the two koreas..., but it may be too early to discuss ways, or an 'exit strategy,' to drastically improve the relations." yu also said the government could consider setting up another industrial complex for south korean companies in north korea's gaeseong. kang seok-ho, arirang even after korean it icon ahn cheol-soo made it clear that he has no intention

of running for president next year,... local media continue to focus on a hypothetical two-way race between ahn... and the long- time front-runner park geun-hye. laah hyun-kyung tells us more. unlike last week's hypothetical presidential preference polls between the ruling grand national party's former chairperson park geun-hye... and korea's it tycoon ahn cheol-soo,...which revealed mixed results,... this week's polls, although still very tight, show that park is slightly favored by the public. according to a survey conducted by the chosunilbo on one -thousand adults nationwide monday, park received slightly over 45-percent support,... narrowly leading the poll by just four percentage points. and in a separate survey conducted by seoulshinmun of more than 22-hundred adults on tuesday,... park received about 46- percent support, giving her about a two percentage point lead. with this tight yet consistent move

toward park compared to last week,... analysts say the so-called "ahn cheol-soo syndrome", referring to ahn who has emerged as the most favorable potential candidate to run for the capital's mayor post without having any political background,... might have subsided slightly... over korea's thanksgiving, or chuseok holiday. after declaring his intention not to run in next month's seoul mayoral election, ahn also made it clear that he has no plans whatsoever to go for the presidency next year. but despite his remarks,... many still consider him a strong potential presidential candidate,... capable of creating various scenarios in 2012 elections. meanwhile, as for next month's seoul mayoral election,... both ruling and opposition parties are striving to put their most powerful candidate forward to win the race... as the election day draws near. laah hyun-kyung, arirang news. gold has performed better than any other investment... over the last three years.

the price of the precious metal has jumped more than 137 percent since 2008.... far outperforming other investment options. hwang sung-hee reports. those investing in gold since the onset of the 2008 financial crisis have seen a staggering return on their investment. research conducted by yonhap news agency on local banks and financial firms on wednesday shows... 07that the price of gold in korea has soared over 1-hundred-37 percent over the past three years to around 2-hundred-54-thousand won... roughly 2- hundred-32 us dollars... per 3-point-7 -5 grams as of this month. this made the precious metal by far the best option for investors, followed by stocks and bonds which rose 32-point-1 and 20-point-1 percent respectively over the cited period. the research suggests that investment in real estate was the worst option,... as housing prices rose less than ten percent over the

same period. the latest gold rush has been reflected in an over 130 percent increase in profits for shinhan bank's gold banking division. gold banking allows a customer to make their savings in gold by converting the amount of money they put into their account to the precious metal according to the day's international gold prices. the number of gold banking accounts at shinhan has more than doubled over the last three years to around 104-thousand. however, some analysts have expressed concern as history shows that gold prices can fall quickly and without much warning. gold lost more than 30 percent of its value during a six month period in 2008, and many analysts say that... while the precious metal remainsa safe haven in the short-term,... investors should be aware of the high volatility of its value. hwang sung-hee, korea's financial authorities are raising the refund rate when people cancel their insurance plans before the end of its term. the plan is to

form a task force with insurance companies... and to raise the refund rate by 10 to 20 percent. currently, only 40 to 50 percent of a customer's total monthly payments are returned when they cancel their policies in the first year. the financial services commission plans to reflect the changes by the end of nt the ranks of america's poor... swelled to almost one in six people last year,... reaching the highest level since 1993... as long-term unemployment left millions of americans struggling and out of work. data released by the census bureau show,... the overall poverty rate climbed to 15-point-1 percent of the population, or 46- point-2 million people,... up from 14- point-3 percent in 2009. the poverty line in 2010 for a family of four was an annual income of around 22-thousand us dollars.

world leaders are moving fast to coordinate a response to a potential default by greece. french president sarkozy and german chancellor merkel are set to hold a conference call with the greek prime minister wednesday night to discuss possibly restructuring greece's debt. kim nari reports. leaders from greece, germany and france are set to coordinate their responses to avoid a potential debt crisis... with the specter of a possible greek debt default. greek prime minister george papandreou, german chancellor angela merkel... and french president nicolas sarkozy will hold a conference call on wednesday afternoon... to talk about the possibility of restructuring greece's loans. brics countries... brazil, russia, india, china and south africa will also hold discussions later this month on measures to aid the ailing eurozone. the united states has expressed its concerns that progress is not going well... with the

announcement that us treasury secretary timothy geithner... would make a rare appearance at a european finance ministers meeting later this week in poland. markets had been spooked in recent days by renewed talks among eurozone policymakers of an imminent default by greece. this was prompted by the country's failure to meet the fiscal goals set out in its european union and imf bailout. asian stocks including korea's kospi... and the euro fell wednesday morning... as investors remain unconvinced that eurozone leaders have a coherent plan to tackle the sovereign debt problems. kim nari, arirang samsung electronics has appealed a german court's ruling that blocks the sale of samsung's galaxy tab 10-point-1 tablet computer in germany. the higher regional court in dusseldorf had ruled last week,... that samsung's minimalist design copied that of apple's ipad. samsung and apple have been battling over patent infringement claims since april in other european

countries,... as well as the us, australia, japan and korea. experts say, however, that despite the appeal, the galaxy tab won't be available in germany before the christmas shopping season. korean companies have been focusing more on sales in eastern europe, and getting good results. their relentless marketing strategies and investment has helped improve their brand image and strengthened their competitiveness. yang ji-woo has more. the emerging economies of eastern europe, which boast a vast growth potential, have enticed many korean companies to focus on local european markets. an increasing number of korean firms is now committed to local communities in eastern europe... due to their location near the greater market that represents the entire european continent. this lg group factory cluster located in wroclaw in southern poland... hires 13-thousand polish workers to produce liquid crystal display modules and lcd tvs. manufactured goods

from this area are widely distributed to not only retailers in eastern europe... but also other regions of europe... highlighting the strategic importance that this region has. other korean companies... such as samsung electronics and korean automaker giant, hyundai motor company have also gained much popularity among local consumers. czech "samsung smartphones are well- sought after by the customers due to its high operability based on android-os with an abundant source of applications." czech "hyundai cars are a great good value for money and made in local community. that's why it is so popular among czechs." with the increasing brand awareness and consumer loyalty that korean companies are enjoying in eastern europe, they are stepping up their efforts... in order to allure more customers from the larger and more competitive markets of western europe. yang ji-woo, arirang news.

a festival-like atmosphere filled the streets of libya's capital tripoli... as people flocked to the martyrs' square to celebrate libya's new freedom. while forces loyal to moammar gadhafi are still resisting strongly in bani walid,... the situation in tripoli is returning to normal... after six months of violent clashes between rebel and pro-gadhafi forces. and the new interim authorities are planning to regulate or taliban siege on the us embassy and nato command center in kabul ended early wednesday. the afghan

interior ministry says... three policemen and one civilian were killed and nine people were injured in the standoff. six militants have been killed. the strike in central kabul began on tuesday amid intelligence that insurgents might launch an attack there in time for the 10th anniversary of the september 11 terrorist attacks. nato secretary- general anders fogh rasmussen said that the taliban is trying to test the ongoing handover of security responsibility from nato to afghan forces... but added that he is confident that the plan will stay on track. nato aims to complete the transfer... and gradually withdraw western forces by the end of 2014. at least nine people were killed and around two hundred more injured in argentina tuesday... when two trains and a bus collided in the capital buenos aires. witnesses say the first train slammed into a bus that was trying to make it over the

crossing during morning rush hour... causing it to derail and hit a second train... trying to leave the station from the opposite track. a police spokesman says most of the dead were on board the bus... and a number of children are among the injured... as many parents use public transportation to send them to school. meanwhile, officials are investigating the exact cause of the crash and whether the bus driver failed to heed a stop signal. more than one person dies every other day on average in argentina due to vehicles getting let's take a look at what's shaking things up in various parts of the world. daniel choy reports. london is set to play host for the upcoming olympic games... and many changes are taking place all across the country. westfield stratford city shopping center is the newest and the largest urban shopping mall in europe. thousands queued up... two hours ahead of the official opening...

to be the first to experience this wonderful retail destination. on september 13... london mayor boris johnson and westfield group co-founder frank lowy... was in attendance for the official opening ceremony... complete with red ribbon-cutting and confetti showers. the 1-point-4 billion pound development houses... more than 300 shops, 70 restaurants, a large cinema, hotels, bowling alley and casino. although european economies are faltering... and inflation's rising to 4.5 percent in the uk...westfield remains confident of success in london's deprived east. a committee in greek parliament discussed reforms tot he taxi industry recently. the government plans to open the taxi trade to competition... making it easier and cheaper to buy... lucrative taxi license. although this was a move to allow more job creation... and to put an end to corruption in controlling and selling licenses...many in the

"closed profession" of taxi-driving were unhappy with such developments. and just in time,... thousands of taxi- drivers arrived in athens to stage a protest. together... they were determined to show that nothing will stop them from preventing the new policies from passing. some were even dressed as a priest and blessed coffins with pictures of their prime minister and transport minister in it. the strike will cause problems for tourists trying to travel around the country... and also cause gridlocked traffic... as they blocked roads. over in china a heroic woman is reunited with her child. two-year-old niu niu fell out of the window of her 10th floor home on july 2nd. her mother, wu juping... happened to see the toddler and reached out in the nick of time to catch her. the alternate outcome would have been disastrous. but the child's safe rescue came at a price. wu is still being treated for a broken arm. niu niu survived the

fall without any serious internal damage... and is recovering very quickly. the two were allowed to go home briefly for the mid-autumn festival holiday... a day of family reunion. this was the first time the baby was reunited with her savior since the hair-raising incident. many of the duo's neighbors take pride in this local miracle... and they tied yellow ribbons and streamers in trees to wish the mother and child a speedy recovery. daniel choy, arirang news. tonight in sports...powerhouse barcelona draw 2-2 with ac milan in their opening match in the champions league. meanwhile, usain bolt redeems himself in a 100 meter race in croatia. jimmy yu has more... hello, i'm jimmy yu and welcome to world sports. starting off with football...it wasn't the best of days for powerhouse barcelona on tuesday as the team conceded one of the fastest goals ever scored in the

champions league in a 2-2 draw to ac milan. thiago silva powered home a header in stoppage time to steal the draw for milan and barca's disappointment was compounded by the news that andres iniesta will be out for around four weeks after tearing a leg muscle shortly before halftime. meanwhile, chelsea's quest started in encouraging fashion with a 2-0 win over bayer leverkusen in group e. goals by brazil defender david luiz and spain forward juan mata gave chelsea the perfect start to the campaign. both goals were set up by spain striker fernando torres, who has been recently struggling with his form. over in croatia...world record holder usain bolt won the 100 meter dash at an iaaf world challenge event on tuesday in a personal season best time of 9.85 seconds. having been disqualified following a false start at the world championships in daegu, south korea, last month, bolt was eager to redeem himself for failing to retain his title. it didn't come easy as bolt had to work hard to finish ahead of kim collins, who kept up with the towering

jamaican until the final 10 meters and pushed hello, i'm yang un- jung with your weather forecast. looks like fine and dry conditions and warmer than average temperatures will continue at least until friday. high pressure from eastern japan will keep us nice and with sunny blue skies especially for thursday. heading into friday... we'll start to see some cloudcover, but still no rain in the forecast. but the weekend is a different story... an area of low pressure will bring widespread rain nationwide, which will eventually cool us down into the seasonal temperatures. but until then... we're still going to deal with summerlike heat during the day. as you can see... seoul, daegu,gwangju and busan will all climb to 32 degrees tomorrow afternoon. daejeon will also rise to 31 degrees and jeju to 30. dokdo and mt. geumgang will get up to 27 and 25, respectively. taking a look at the international weather... tokyo's looking mostly sunny on thursday but

there will be some scattered showers passing through the northern tips of honshu. meanwhile... northeastern china's turning wet again, except beijing with partly cloudy skies. shanghai is staying dry as well on thursday. but much of vietnam, cambodia, laos and thailand will deal with heavy downpours which will even extend into singapore and the malay peninsula. down under... high pressure is the major system for most of australia... but there will be a few cloudiness for southeastern coastal regions as usual, and temperatures in many areas, including sydney and melbourne will warm up for the next couple of days. new zealand however will be pretty unsettled with a combination of winds from the southwest and low pressure system... so occasional showers are likely to happen there. into north america... a cold front arrives in the northeastern u.s pulling the temperatures down into the low to mid 20s and bringing scattered thunderstorms which may contain gusty winds and even some hail, so watch out if you're in these areas. but cool high pressure will dominate the

midwest on thursday, so clear skies there. and far west in los angeles will see partly cloudy skies with a high of 26. down in south america... southeastern brazil will deal with the rainclouds for another day, with a few morning showers for rio de janeiro and steady light rain for sao paulo on thursday. santiago's staying sunny as usual, but buenos aires will see a few passing clouds during the day. into europe... fine and dry conditions continues in most of europe on thursday... except london with a few cloudcover... many cities are staying under relatively clear and sunny skies, so enjoy it as much as you can. lastly in africa... triopoli's looking to reach a high of 36 degrees on thursday with sunshine helping a lot. cairo's looking similar... but from central africa to some parts of southern regions, showers and thunderstorms will continue to break out as usual. that's all for today's weather. have a great evening and i'll see you