on this edition of arirang news for thursday, september 22nd... president lee myung-bak and us president barack obama call on north korea to take concrete steps toward denuclearization at the un general assembly. samsung electronics becomes the first company to make nand flash and dram memory chips at the 20-nanometer scale... and opens the world's largest memory production facility. the us fed unveils a plan, dubbed "operation twist," to push long-term interest rates to historic lows and stimulate the ailing economy. however,

experts doubt its effectiveness. and typhoon roke has left at least 15 people dead or missing and scores more injured in japan. it halted subway operations in tokyo, stranding thousands of commuters. hello and welcome. in seoul,... i'm eoh jin- joo. and i'm devin whiting. president lee myung-bak... on wednesday... made a keynote speech at the un general assembly in new york,... touching upon a wide range of issues,... including promoting democracy and peace on the korean peninsula,... as well as his ideas for so- called,... "ecosystemic development." and on the third day of his trip to the us,... the korean leader also delivered a keynote speech to a high-level united nations meeting on nuclear safety. arirang's yoo ji-hae reports from new york. president lee myung-bak addressed the un general assembly on wednesday... pledging korea's support in realizing the world body's efforts in

achieving international peace, democracy and "ecosystemic development." during his 20-minute keynote speech, president lee positively reviewed the recent spread of pro- democracy movements in north africa and the middle east... saying that the tide of democratization is unstoppable in the 21st century. korean "democracy y is a viclelelel together the basic values of humanity such as freedom and equality, human rights and the rule of law. the people's demand for democracy is their legitimate right, and the international community and the un must do all they can to protect these people from persecution and human rights abuses." " , , . , ." in regards to north korea's nuclear threat, lee called it a big challenge to global peace... and said that the south will continue its diplomatic efforts to pursue the denuclearization of the korean peninsula. he also reaffirmed seoul's willingness to help pyeongyang get

back on its feet... once it chooses the path towards co-prosperity. korean "it is my hope to see north korea enjoy peace and prosperity by becoming a responsible member of the international community. when the north chooses the path to mutual benefit and common prosperity, we will be ready to help in this endeavor along with the international community." " . , ." another highlight of lee's speech was his call on world leaders to pursue "ecosystemic development"... which demands developed nations help developing countries maximize their capacity... so that they can achieve economic growth and development on their own. president lee's attendance at the general assembly... comes as korea marks the 20th anniversary of its official admission to the united nations. stand-up "on thursday morning, new york time... president lee myung-bak delivered another keynote speech at the high- level meeting on nuclear safety and security... emphasizing the need for transparency of nuclear

facilites... and regional cooperation... as any nuclear accident is transnational in nature. the korean leader is slated to arrive in seattle later in the day to attend a meeting with korean residents there. yoo ji-hae, arirang news, new york." on the sidelines of the un general assembly,... president lee myung-bak also held bilateral talks with new japanese prime minister yoshihiko noda. during their first one-on-one... since noda took office last month,... president lee emphasized the importance of collaboration among south korea, japan and the united states,... in bringing north korea into the international community. korean officials say,... the japanese prime minister agreed with lee,... and asked for seoul's cooperation on the issue of north korea's abduction of japanese nationals. lee and noda also agreed to work together,... to improve bilateral relations in a mature, future-oriented manner,... by continuing cooperation on fulfilling japan's promise to return centuries-old korean royal texts,... and

working toward a free trade deal between the two countries. us president barack obama has warned north korea that... it will face greater isolation... if it continues to flout international law. in his speech at the un general assembly,... he also pledged to advance efforts at the seoul nuclear security summit next year ...to lock down all nuclear weapons. our lee ji-yoon reports. english "north korea has yet to take concrete steps toward abandoning its weapons, and continues belligerent actions against the south. dissolve if they continue down a path that is outside international law, they must be met with greater pressure and isolation." this is what president barack obama told the united nations on wednesday,... adding that north korea can win greater opportunities by abiding by its nuclear commitments. obama's comments come as south and north korea's top

nuclear envoys held talks in beijing yesterday but failed to reach an agreement on restarting the six-party nuclear talks. the american leader also promised to advance efforts to lock down all nuclear weapons at the seoul nuclear security summit slated to be held in march, next year. and regarding palestine's bid for statehood at the un,... president obama said the us would only support the palestinians if it held direct negotiations with israel. english "peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the un, if it were that easy, it would have been accomplished by now. ultimately, it is israelis and palestinians, not us, who must reach agreement on the issues that divide them, on borders and security, on refugees and jerusalem." after obama's speech, palestinian leader mahmoud abbas said the only path to peace is when the israeli occupation ends and palestine becomes a sovereign state. on wednesday, thousands of palestinians rallied in the west bank saying

that their bid for statehood is the result of years of failed peace talks. lee ji-yoon, arirang news. and as ji-yoon mentioned,... south korea's chief nuclear negotiator wi sung-lac,... has debriefed his chinese counterpart wu dawei on the inter-korean denuclearization talks... held wednesday in beijing. the korean and chinese officials also exchanged ideas on resuming the six-party talks. at the meeting,... mister wi reportedly spoke positively about the prospects of north korea moving forward with denuclearization,... then requested that beijing pursuade pyeongyang to accept preconditions to the six-way negotiations,... including the north suspending its uranium enrichment program. attention has now shifted to when and where pyeongyang and washington,... will follow up on their meeting in july in new york... and whether and how soon the two koreas will push for a third meeting. the world's top memory chip supplier, samsung electronics,

says... it has become the first company to mass produce memory chips... using 20- nanometer technology. the company has also started production on the world's largest memory fabrication facility, line-16. kim han-ul has more. the world's number one chipmaker, korea's samsung electronics, announced thursday that it became the first in the world to start mass producing the 20- nanometer class dynamic random access memory flash chips. the leading chipmaker says the latest dram has the same capacity as the 30-nanometer class dram introduced in july last year... but the latest technology offers a 50 percent improvement in productivity and reduces energy consumption by 40 percent. this has placed samsung's technology around six to 18 months ahead of its taiwanese and japanese rivals... which still produces 30 or 40-nanometer class chips. the industry's second- largest chipmaker, hynix semiconductor also based in korea is

trying to catch up... as it plans to develop and start producing 20- nanometer class chips by the end of this year. meanwhile, the world's number three dram maker, japan's elpida memory announced earlier this year that it will start producing 25 -nanometer drams... but that still hasn't happened yet. meanwhile, samsung also began operations of the world's biggest memory fabrication facility, the line-16... which is producing nand flash memory devices... and boasts a size equivalent to 28 soccer fields. experts predict samsung's recent success of producing the 20-nano class drams will redeem the company's slowed- down sales during the second quarter of this year... by boosting its mobile and semiconductor sectors. moreover, the company's chairman lee kun-hee... vowed to maintain its leadership in the global memory chip sector on thusday. echoing the chairman's words, samsung continues to stay ambitious and says it will begin production of more

advanced flash chips using a 10-nanometer process next year. kim han-ul, arirang korea's fashion trends have a lot of fans in china. its unique fashion illustration techniques, in particular,... have inspired local students at the haining leather expo. yang ji-woo has more. many fashion designers and brands seek to break into china the world's biggest manufacturing powerhouse... with a burgeoning economy that is largely contributing to the rapid development of its domestic fashion market. chinese "haining city has been continueously benchmarking fashion trends in korea and japan. that was why we have gained heart of chinese consumers." striving to become a fashion powerhouse, china is showing its immense appetite for global fashion designs, including the field of fashion illustration. and at the 2012 haining leather expo chinese organizers courted one of korea's leading fashion

illustrators, lee mi-jung to allow the public enjoy her inspiring work. korean "when the chinese committee invited me to the fair.. i knew that i could use such opportunity to introduce korea's fashion illustration to china's market." chinese "professor lee's fashion illustation has a great influence in a global fashion arena. we staged her work at the previous exhibition with a great success." lee specializes in oriental painting, using terse yet bold brushstrokes and shading techniques to portray scenes reminiscent of europe's medieval gothic art inspiring and guiding many chinese students to use various dynamic forms of media to convey fashion. standup "depicting elegant body postures lee showcased 60 of her most eye-catching illustrations to reveal how to harness oriental painting with different drawing styles."

meanwhile, on the business front some venturous korean businessmen illustrated their interpretations of the chinese dream. with 14 years of trading experience... kim tae- hoon runs a leather factory with nearly 2- hundred employees... dealing with major department stores and boutiques all across china. he says... china's fashion market can be tough to crack, especially considering the cultural and language barriers. korean "i think localization is the most important factor. it means adapting to the local market. if you can achieve that, you would survive. otherwise, you will have to return to korea." according to the global consulting agency, mckinsey... china's consumption of luxury goods is estimated to post 18 percent annual growth to reach nearly 28 billion us dollars by 2015. experts say... that korean fashion

industry needs to pursue refined and value-added fashion items ... in order to tap into the higher-margin fashion business of asia's largest emerging market, china. yang ji-woo, arirang news, haining, china. korea and the world bank have signed two agreements on cooperating to support sustainable growth in developing nations. hwang sung-hee has the details. korea and the world bank have agreed to help developing countries pursue green growth. a memorandum of understanding was signed between finance minister bahk jae-wan and world bank president robert zoellick in washington d.c. on wednesday,... committing korea to share its knowledge and funding for the developing member nations of the world bank. under the agreement, seoul will set up a fund dubbed the korea green growth trust fund and inject 40-million us dollars in a 4-year period starting next year. this fund will be used to help developing countries with their sustainable growth

research and investments in fields like transportation, energy and water resource development. a number of korean institutions, such as the korea electric power corporation and the korea water resources corporation, have been designated as partner institutions for the project. the two sides also signed an mou regarding korea's knowledge sharing program, or ksp. the ksp has been helping developing nations since 2004 by sharing the country's economic development experience and know- hows. the mou upgrades the previous bilateral format of the program into a three-way cooperation between korea, the world bank and developing countries, ... and promises trilateral consulations on economic development strategies and policymaking. an official at the ministry of strategy and finance said korea marks the first country to ink a green growth deal with the world bank,... suggesting the country's competitiveness and initiative in the international green growth sector. hwang sung-hee,

analysts say the korean financial market has... over the past few weeks... fully factored in the debt crisis in europe sluggishness of the us economy,... as foreign investors sold off local stocks. they say that the korean economy remains highly vulnerable to external shocks,... but that it's least likely asian economy to experience a currency crisis. kim yeon-ji explains. the korean economy has been buffeted by the escalating european debt crisis and the slowing us economy..., but analysts say korea is least likely to suffer a currency crisis in asia in terms of economic fundamentals. according to the financial times, the korean won has fallen by about 9-percent against the us dollar since august 1st..., and the country's stock market has also dropped about 15- percent. citigroup says korea's stock market was among the hardest hit by foreign fund outflows last week... as foreign investors kept

withdrawing funds at the news of the financial turmoil in the eurozone. analysts say foreign investors have reasons to be sensitive about their korean holdings... as korean banks rely heavily on wholesale financing from european banks, leaving the korean market highly vulnerable to any credit sqeeze in global markets. while korea's open capital markets are indeed reacting vehemently to external shocks, causing concerns for the government..., kwon young-sun, an economist from nomura, says korea stands the lowest chance of a currency crisis in asia. kwon says that, with the exception of hong kong and singapore, korea is asia's most open economy and it boasts a strong current account surplus and abundant international reserves. the economist stresses that korea's future is bright... as the won's weakness against the japanese yen would boost the price competitiveness of korean goods against japanese products.

kwon forecasts that korea would bounce back quickly, even if there was a global double-dip recession, because the weaker korean currency coupled with lower oil prices would enable the country to stage a v-shaped recovery next year. kim yeon-ji, arirang the federal reserve has announced a new bond buying plan dubbed "operation twist." the much anticipated stimulus plan has been met with skepticism though. some analysts say it may not have much impact. oh jee-hyun reports. the federal reserve is once again trying to boost the us economy,... this time with "operation twist." the policy, which starts next month and runs through june 2012, involves lowering yields on long-term bonds and keeping short-term rates stable. the fed will sell 400 billion us dollars in short-term treasuries...

with remaining maturities of three years or less... and invest it in bonds with maturities of six to 30 years. this does not mean the fed will pump more money into the country's economy,... but it is aimed at lowering interest rates on long-term bonds,... to encourage consumers and companies to borrow and spend money... by bringing down interest rates on mortgages and business loans. while the move was widely expected,... experts remain skeptical about its effectiveness. english "i think this move will not have a huge impact on the economy. i do think it's generally supportive. dissolve the economy has been persistently weak, and therefore the obvious and easy fed actions have been taken." experts say... that interest rates have been at record lows since 2008 and that over the past six to nine months,... loan demand has not gone up. also,... if inflation outpaces the interest rate in the future,... the returns on the bonds will decrease,... and the fed could end up losing money. oh jee-hyun, arirang credit rating

agencies have downgraded major banks in the us and italy. moody's investors service cited a lack of willingness... on the part of the us government to the banks compared to a few years ago. standard & poor's, meanwhile, cut the ratings of more banks in italy, just a day after it slashed the country's sovereign debt rating. song ji-sun has more. moody's has downgraded the credit ratings of three major us banks... bank of america, wells fargo and citigroup... saying that the us government is less willing now than before... to rescue them if they become unstable. boa's long-term debt was chopped two notches to baa1 from a2, wells fargo to a2 from a1,... while citigroup's short-term rating was downgraded to prime-2 from prime -1. another rating agency, standard & poor's cut its credit ratings on seven italian banks wednesday... a day after it downgraded the country's sovereign rating. the cut targeted leading banks such as mediobanca and intesa sanpaolo,... as well as five others including findomestic and banca

imi. in a statement, the agency said it was assigning negative outlooks to the long- term ratings on those banks... and was also revising its outlooks from stable to negative on eight other italian banks. meanwhile, the imf gave out a second warning wednesday,... saying that the global financial system is at its most vulnerable state since the 2008 financial crisis. highlighting that the risk to banks and financial markets has grown in recent months,... the imf urged european banks in particular, to bolster their capital levels. over in libya, ... the national transitional council or ntc forces are holding back advance... after having taken al-jufra ,... one of the last remaining moammar gadhafi's strongholds.. according to the afp on thursday,... the ntc forces gained control of all three towns in the al-jufra oasis,... but are holding back for the time being... to mount offensives on sirte and bani waldi, where pro -gadhafi forces still remain. ntc authorities said... the attacks on pro-

gadhafi strong holds will commence again... following close coordination of its troops to carry out effective assaults. at least 15 people are reported dead or missing in japan,... after typhoon roke... hit parts of the nation on wednesday. the storm has halted public transportation operations... and caused power outages in more than 200- thousand households. our hwang ji-hye reports. typhoon roke...which hit central japan on wednesday... has moved offshore northeast of the country,... leaving at least 10 people dead and five missing...and more than 3-hundred injured. japan's meteorological agency said... that as of noon on thursday... the typhoon was located in the pacific off the eastern coast of hokkaido ... moving at a speed of 55 kilometers per hour. 08 the storm has brought high winds, heavy rain and flooding... causing over 200-thousand households to lose power and disrupting transportation in central and

northeastern japan. last night in the capital city of tokyo,... located about 2-hundred kilometers west from shizuoka prefecture where the typhoon made landfall,... public transportation, including the subway system, was suspended for three to four hours. and according to the kyodo shimbun... around 5-thousand people were stranded inside shinkansen bullet trains at tokyo and shizuoka stations overnight. as strong winds approached the tsunami-ravaged fukushima prefecture,... fears over the country getting flooded with radiation- contaminated water took over the population. however, a tokyo electric power corporation official said that... no immediate problem was reported. hwang ji-hye, arirang news. high levels of radioactive cesium have been detected in japanese dairy cattle. the japanese newspaper yomiuri shimbun reported thursday,... that dairy cows at a farm in iwate prefecture,... were found to be contaminated with cesium of,... 541 becquerels per kilogram.

the limit is 5-hundred bequerels. according to the paper,... the prefectural government believes... the contamination could be from cesium- tainted straw fed to the cattle. although several cesium-tainted beef cows have been detected in japan since the nuclear plant meltdown in fukushima prefecture began,... this is the first time that cesium has been detected in dairy cattle. reports say around 10 percent of china's total cooking oil market comprises oil recycled illegally. according to local media, two to three million tons of so- called "gutter-oil" is consumed every year... out of the country's total cooking oil consumption of 22 million tons. the government is reportedly cracking down... following a tv report on the issue. chinese authorities say more than 30 people involved in recycling of oil have been caught recently in stings around the country. but earlier this week, a chinese tv journalist, li xiang, who covered the story was murdered in henan province.

two men suspected of killing him were arrested. local media and an international press watchdog, the committee to protect journalists have raised concerns that the journalist could have been murdered because of the story. but police say the killing was not connected to the victim's report. as korea's population ages more people are suffering from cerebral infarctions a cerebral infarction is a kind of stroke,... caused by a disturbance in the blood supply to the brain,... and can lead to dementia. our kim nari reports. 77-year old sohn kyung-hee came to this hospital a week ago... after suffering from a cerebral infarction. korean "i suddenly felt dizzy and couldn't walk after losing my balance. so i crawled and called an ambulance." sohn had been confident about his health... but he did not realize he was suffering from a clogged artery, diabetes and had several cerebral infarctions. doctors say korea is

seeing an increasing amount of these strokes as it mostly affects those over the age of 70... whose numbers are swelling as the country rapidly ages. officials also say that cerebral infarction sufferers are also more prone to dementia. data shows that within six months of a cerebral infarction...patients have a 30 percent higher likelihood of suffering a serious loss of cognitive ability. korean "the biggest cause of vascular dementia is cerebral infarction. so we can say, preventing cerebral infarction is the way to prevent dementia." not smoking, limiting alcohol consumption and exercising regularly can help prevent strokes. doctors also strongly advise elderly people experiencing symptoms such slurred speech, weakened arms and legs or dizziness to seek medical treatment immediately. kim nari, arirang first up in football, the south korea olympic team

kicked off their qualifying campaign with a comfortable 2-0 victory over oman last night. midfielders yoon bit- garam and kim bo- kyung were on the score sheet for the red devils in the changwon football center. korea are looking to qualify for their seventh straight olympics, but will have to overcome a middle eastern trio of saudi arabia, qatar and oman in group a. in fifa rankings released the same day korea jumped up 4 places to 29th in the world, second in asia after japan, who lie in 15th. korean will have the chance to improve on this ranking even further when they face poland next month in a friendly. hello i'm yang un jung with your weather forecast. looks like we're going to enjoy another beautiful fall weather across the country tomorrow. the continental high pressure from northern china will protect us from any other weather systems until the weekend. so, clear blue skies

and lots and lots of sunshine for the afternoon as we finish off the workweek. the only exception is the eastern coastal regions with a few cloudiness from time to time under the influence of easterly winds. here are your temperatures for friday we have a very similar range of lows and highs from today remember temperatures are quite chilly during overnight into the morning, so make sure you have a jacket when you're on your way to work. seoul and daegu will top out at 25. gwangju one higher at 26, and busan will be the warmest city at 28 degrees. daejeon and jeju both will peak at 25 for the afternoon. dokdo will be at 21 and mt. geumgang will drop even further to only 13 degrees, tomorrow. taking a look at the international weather... things are going to be improving dramatically in most of japan as roke moved out to the pacific ocean, it's going to be mostly dry with some sunny spells in tokyo. 26 in beijing with a lot of sunshine and that sunshine extends into the eastern parts of

china, as well. and further south heavy scattered showers and thunderstorms will be concentrated in vietnam and thailand. down under... high pressure keeps most of australia nice and sunny for another day, but there will be some clouds passing by melbourne and victoria. new zealand has a similar pattern... clear sunny skies are expected in most areas. into north america... showers and thunderstorms will persist in the northeastern u.s on friday with heavy rain concentrated in maine coast and mid-atlantic. in contrast chicago's still looking bright with a lot of sunshine, but temperatures will drop dramatically into the teens on friday. and los angeles will be hitting 28 degrees once again tomorrow, under sunny skies. down in south america... a few clouds will pass by sao paulo during friday afternoon, but other than that... most cities will stay under bright clear skies and warm sunshine, santiago will climb to 24 degrees on friday.

into europe... moscow will deal with more rain on friday. berlin and madrid... will stay partly cloudy for another day as well. but london and paris will clear out pretty nicely with warmer temperatures. lastly in africa... algiers and dakar will see a partly cloudy day tomororw but there is no chance for rain. addis ababa's also looking mostly dry except there's a chance for some raindrops in the evening. cape town's mostly sunny as usual at around 21 degrees. that's all for today's weather. have a great evening and i'll see you back here tomorrow. and that's it for those of you outside korea. thank you for watching.