hello and welcome. in seoul,... i'm eoh jin- joo. and i'm devin president lee myung-bak called on the justice ministry... to thoroughly deal with corruption scandals that involve former high ranking government officials. it was the first time the president has commented on the issue since two of his close aides were implicated in bribery scandals. kang seok-ho reports. korean president

ministry to thoroughly investigate alleged bribery scandals involving some of his close associates. at a cabinet meeting on tuesday, lee said that close relatives and aides to the president who are involved in wrongdoings should be dealt with in a more stern manner than regular citizens. korean- "we face a situation in our country where people with power, money and influence are being more and more corrupt. this must end, in order for us to become an advanced country." , , , , . the president also stressed that one of his administration's top priorities is eradicating corruption. this is the first time president lee has commented on the issue,... since two of his close aides, the former public relations senior secretary kim du-woo and former vice-culture minister shin jae-min were implicated in bribery investigations. presidential chief of staff yim tae-hee met with heads of the ministry of justice,

national tax service as well as the police on tuesday afternoon..., and agreed to hold regularly scheduled meetings to closely monitor any potential wrongdoings by senior officials. kang seok-ho, arirang news. former presidential aide for public relations, kim du-woo, was questioned at the seoul central district court on tuesday. kim admitted that he personally knew park tae-gyu, the alleged lobbyist for the suspended busan savings bank group..., but strongly denied taking gift cards, cash and golf clubs as bribes from park... on the condition of helping the bank avoid suspension of operations. the court is expected to decide late tuesday night whether to arrest kim ... after reviewing investigation records and defense arguments. meanwhile,... prosecutors pledged to carry out a thorough probe... into an alleged bribery scandal... involving sls group ceo, lee kuk-chul and former culture vice minister shin jae-min. in an annual audit conducted by the

national assemblyús judiciary and legislation committee on tuesday... the head of the seoul district prosecutorsú office, choi gyo-il stressed... the probe will not be swayed by political influence- peddling. this is quite different from the passive approach prosecutors took on monday... when they said the investigation was meaningless at this point. observers speculate that the change in their stance comes after president lee myung- bak ordered his cabinet to carry out rigorous and swift probes into corruption cases involving his senior aides. the korean government has announced a budget for next year... that it says would trim the deficit and create jobs. under the plan, total spending will grow by 5-and-a-half percent to more than 270-billion us dollars. hwang sung-hee reports. the korean government has unveiled the nation's budget plan for next year... that centers on creating more jobs and improving the welfare system.

the budget proposal, which will be presented to parliament on friday for approval, seeks a five-point-five percent spending increase from this year, bringing the figure up to 3-hundred -26-point-1 trillion won, or roughly 2-hundred- 72-point-7 billion us dollars. and amid mounting external uncertainties, the ministry of strategy and finance says next year's budget focuses primarily on revitalizing the labor market. korean "as there is the possibility that the global fiscal crisis will affect the real economy, it's important to focus on policies that spur growth and create more jobs. that is why the goverment has decided to color next year's spending plan with a jobs budget." the ministry plans to spend 8-point-6 billion dollars solely on boosting job creation, including 562- thousand jobs for the youth, senior citizens and other socially disadvantaged groups. 78 billion dollars will be invested in improving korea's

welfare system, up 6- point-4 percent from this year's budget,... while 38 billion has been allocated for the country's education sector, up nearly 10 percent from this year. some of the plans include offering free daycare service and easing the burden of college tuition fees for the working class. and for the development of future growth engines and to spur regional growth, 51-point-8 billion dollars will be set aside, up 8-point-1 percent from this year, while spending on national defense will be increased by 5-point-7 percent to 28-point-2 billion dollars. the ministry projects 2-hundred-92 billion dollars in revenues, up 9-point-5 percent from 2011. the soverign debt is expected to drop 2- point-3 percentage points to 32-point-8 percent of the gross domestic product next year. stand-up "the finance ministry says it expects to achieve a fiscal balance in 2013, one year earlier than planned, and added that the nation's fiscal deficit will be at one

percent of the gdp next year, improving by a percentage point from this year's deficit of two percent." hwang sung-hee, arirang news." korea's largest automaker, hyundai- kia automotive group... is continuing to post solid overseas sales this year... and is looking to a sales figure... of more than 2 -million and sales revenue of 30 billion dollars by the end of the year. yang ji-woo has more. once regarded as a mere asian manufacturer of bland and cheap cars, korea's largest automaker... hyundai- kia automotive group has rebuilt its design and quality to become one of the major players in the global auto industry while others have struggled to overcome the global financial crisis. according to the korea automobile manufacturers association on tuesday... the domestic automaker exported nearly one- point-four-five million vehicles in the first eight months of this year, up 13 percent

from the same period last year. the automaker, made up of hyundai motor and its affiliate kia motors, also saw export revenue jump 30 percent to 20-point-6 billion us dollars over the same period. strong sales of both brands on foreign soil... were largely led by a series of new models... including the avante and tuscan for hyundai motors... while kia's k5 and sorento r as well as its smaller models like the rio and piccanto... have catapulted overseas market demand this year. the automaker also says its prominent sponsorship deals with global sports events... such as the fifa world cup finals and the australia open have boosted the company's brand image. however, some analysts say that the korean automaker's gains this year can mainly be attributed to the slowdown of japan's auto industry... which is still working to overcome the after- effects of the devastating earthquake

and tsunami in march. however, an increase in japan's production and volatile currency markets could dent the korean group's overall competitiveness later this year. despite this, an industry source says... the automaker is expected to sell more than 2-million units in overseas markets and see its sales revenue reach 30 billion dollars by the end of the year. yang ji-woo, arirang news. samsung electronics has asked a dutch court... to ban the sale of apple's ipad and iphone in the netherlands. samsung asked the hague district court on monday for an injunction on apple... saying the american company does not have licenses... to use 3g mobile technology in its devices. this is the latest in a series of claims and counterclaims around the world... of patent breaches by the two rival tech giants. a samsung's lawyer said... apple "never bothered to ask about licenses" before it started selling 3g- enabled iphones... that use the universal

mobile telecommunications standard or umts. an apple lawyer hit back,... claiming samsung was using the patent dispute to "hold apple hostage"... because apple had accused samsung of copying its iphone and ipad designs. the judge said... he would rule by october 14th. meanwhile,... the chairman of samsung electronics, lee kun- hee , has hinted at a gloomy economic outlook. en route to survey the north american market,... lee told reporters at gimpo international airport on tuesday... that he thinks the economy will stay this way for the time being. when asked about samsung electronics' performance,... lee stressed that the company needs to work hard to maintain its number one the european union says... it may write off 50-percent of greece's debt. the plan came out of the annual world bank and imf meetings held this past weekend... where the g20 countries also proposed quadrupling the amount of money in the european financial

stability facility. song ji-sun has the details. a draft plan to tackle the european debt crisis has emerged from the weekends talks in washington between the world bank and the international monetary fund. the package includes quadrupling the current projected level of the european financial stability facility or the efsf to 2 trillion euros... as well as writing off 50 percent, or about 200 billion euros, of greeces debt. although it still has to gain the approval of all of the countries in the eurozone before the plan is agreed... it is hoped that the plan will be formalized and agreed in five or six weeks in time for the meeting of g20 leaders in france in early november. meanwhile, greek prime minister george papandreou arrived in berlin on tuesday... to meet with german chancellor angela merkel ahead of a parliamentary vote there on approving plans to beef up the eurozone rescue fund. in athens tuesday night, greek lawmakers are set to vote on the property tax bill,...

which electricity company workers have threatened not to collect... as they say the power utility should not be used as a tax collection system. the country is facing ongoing strikes and protests against austerity measures,... with a 24-hour public transportation strike underway in the capital from monday... and a 48-hour strike by all transport workers scheduled later this week. korean stocks closed higher on tuesday,... jumping more than 5 percent. the main index broke above above the 17- hundred mark,... as foreign investors and institutions looked for bargains. the benchmark kospi gained 83 points to close at 17-35. the tech-heavy kosdaq jumped nearly 24 points or 5- point-8 percent to end at 4-hundred-33. on the fx counter,... the korean currency strengthened by about 23 won... to close at 11 -73 against the us dollar... after hitting a 13-month low in the previous session.

the leader of korea's ruling grand national party, hong joon-pyo, will visit the gaeseong industrial complex on friday. hong told reporters tuesday... that the north has approved his trip to the inter-korean industrial park. in a speech earlier this month at the national assembly... hong had suggested a visit to gaesong, in the north, for a project to provide food aid and support agricultural development in the communist state. the gnp leader has been calling for a 'flexible approach' on economic and humanitarian issues related to pyeongyang... and for those issues to be separate from political and military issues. the united states is consulting with its six-party partners about opportunities for more talks with north korea. but washington still says north korea has to first fulfill its obligations. lee ji-yoon has the details.

with growing speculation over whether the united states will hold another round of high-level talks with north korea,... us assistant secretary of state for public affairs michael hammer said monday that,... washington is consulting with south korea, china, russia and japan about the "opportunity" of holding additional talks with north korea. talking to reporters in new york, hammer said the us is trying to see if there is the possibility of holding talks with north korea after last week's nuclear talks between south and north korea in china. he said however that in order for the talks to take place, pyeongyang must take a number of necessary steps,... including abiding by its nuclear commitments and making credible moves toward denuclearization. regarding us secretary of state hillary clinton's meeting with her chinese counterpart in new york monday,... hammer said, clinton called on beijing to redouble its efforts to urge pyeongyang into taking those steps. meanwhile, us state department spokesman mark toner

said the us does not have enough examples or evidence that shows pyeongyang is serious about nuclear disarmament and constructive dialogue. the spokesman also said washington hopes north korea can play an important part in improving relations with south korea lee ji-yoon, arirang the us ambassador to south korea, kathleen stephens, says... north korea will have to show that it's serious about denuclearizing... before it can re-engage with the other members of the six-party denuclearization talks. choi you-sun has more. us ambassador to seoul, kathleen stephens, says north korea must demonstrate its seriousness to denuclearize not just in words but through action for there to be a meaningful result at the six-party nuclear talks. in an interview with yonhap news before the end of her ambassadorship next month, stephens referred to what us president barack obama calls the "seriousness of purpose," ahead of an anticipated high-level meeting between the us and north korea.

expressing her support for inter-korean dialogue such as the recent denuclearization talks in beijing, stephens said improved relations with south korea and a pledge to abide by the 2005 joint six-party statement would also help the multilateral negotiations bear fruit. she also said that restarting the delivery of food aid to the north would be examined soley as a humanitarian issue, separate from political developments. on the korea-us free trade agreement, the ambassador said the two sides' legislatures should promptly ratify the pact as further delay will only lead to lost opportunities. she also expressed optimism that the us congress will approve the deal when the time is right, as washington has set january 1st, 2012 as the date to put the trade agreement into effect. stephens, who finishes her three-year term in seoul after korean president lee myung-bak's state visit to washington next month, plans to research korea-us

relations and korea's unique development and democratization experiences as a visiting diplomat at georgetown university. choi you-sun, arirang news. in about a year's time, the us republican party will choose a nominee to challenge president obama in the 2012 presidential election. after a few months of debates and political positioning,... it looks like rick perry of texas and mitt romney of massachussets are the frontrunners... at least for now. oh jee-hyun has more. united states republicans rick perry and mitt romney are the two leading candidates... locked in a fight for the party's presidential nomination. a cnn poll on monday showed... that texas governor perry is by far, the favorite candidate, scoring 28 percent support from republicans and republican-leaning independent voters. and 21 percent of surveyed voters

backed former massachusetts governor mitt romney to take on president barack obama in next year's election. in last week's republican debate,... the two discussed about the country's economy, immigration, health care and foreign policy. perry talked about his record in promoting an environment for economic growth in his state over the last decade... and promised to bring what he has done in texas to washington. english "if it will work in the state of texas, it will work in washinton dc, and that's exactly what i'm going to bring to washington when i go there in november, excuse me, in january of 2013." meanwhile romney criticized obama's foreign policy,... speaking about the country's relationship with israel. english "the president went about this all wrong. he went around the world and apologized for america. he addressed the united nations in his inaugural address, and chastised our friend, israel. dissolve the right course, if you disagree with an ally you talk about it privately, but in public you stand shoulder to

shoulder with your allies." in a head-to-head poll against obama, however,... romney performed better. the results showed a near tie,... with obama getting 49 percent and romney 48 percent. republicans will begin choosing their presidential nominee when iowa holds nominating caucuses in february. oh jee-hyun, arirang news. and here in korea,... with seoul mayoral by -election only a month away,... a new poll by a local newspaper shows... that a very close race is expected between park won- soon, a lawyer turned civic activist,... and ruling grand national party lawmaker na kyung- won. park ji-won reports. as seoul residents are expected to elect a new mayor in just a month... a new poll shows that the race between park won- soon, a lawyer and liberal activist, and his rival na kyung-won, a senior lawmaker from the ruling grand national party, has narrowed down. according to a survey conducted by the korean daily newspaper dong-a ilbo and the korea research center on sunday and monday,

candidate na, who received a 44 percent approval,... was only 1 -point-six percentage point behind park won -soon, who gained 45- point-six percent,... in a hypothetical two-way seoul mayoral race. this is a quite different result from an earlier poll by the same newspaper... conducted three weeks ago,... in which gnp's front-runner na lagged behind park won-soon by 16-point-3 percentage points. the survey respondents' preferences over the two candidates were clearly divided by districts. at gangnam district, conservative gnp's candidate na overtook liberal lawyer -turned-civic activist park won-soon by about 20 percentage points. na is also in the lead in central seoul, where conservative parties have traditionally shown to be stronger than liberal parties. liberal candidate park won-soon was favored

in other regions of seoul. meanwhile, in another hypothetical two-way seoul mayoral race between two female candidates, gnp's na kyung-won and main opposition democratic party's candidate park young-sun, na took the lead with nearly 50 percent to park young-sun's 38- point-nine percent. independent candidate lee seog-yeon, turned out to be losing to the other three major candidates in the simulated election survey. the election campaign is expected to heat up as soon as the liberal opposition camp selects a pan- opposition candidate next week. park ji-won, arirang the united nations under-secretary general says... korea has a high level of gender equality... but still needs to work on... women empowerment in the political sector. and our kim nari met up with the under- secretary general rebeca grynspan... to hear about why women empowerment is so important. how do you

assess korea in terms of practicing gender equality? english "korea does rate very high in some areas of gender equality. it especially made great progress in education and increasing women's participation in the work force. the indicators that are lacking behind are women representatives in parliament, for example. it is still low. it has increased because it was eight percent but now is fourteen percent, but it is still below the average." question why is women empowerment so important? english "you know, sometimes when women are not there, some of the issues that women could bring to the table, for example, the importance of water, electricity, roads for the rural areas, education for children, daycare centers are not brought into the political agenda. women bring all those

different perspectives." question there are other goals the world is trying to achieve. i am talking about the millenium goals. do you think they will be achieved by 2015? english "will we achieve all the goals by 2015? for all the countries to do so at the same time, it's difficult. but a lot of changes have happened. one of the main goals that is not showing enough progress is maternal mortality. now, when you look at the reasons why maternal mortality is lacking behind, many of the reasons have to do with women status in society. and that is why general equality is important because it will also make, all the other goals to accelerate and go faster." question

since you are here in korea, what can korea do? english "a lot has been done, and we have to celebrate the progress in terms of gender equality. but in the world, we know that we have to network and unite because gender equality is not easy to achieve. so let's help other women in the world with the experience that women in korea have, and at the same time, let's advance the agenda that is still pending in korea for women equality." tonight in sports... the united arab emirites mourn the death of midfielder theyab awana who died a car accident in abu dhabi. meanwhile, white sox manager ozzie guillen moves to the florida marlins. jimmy yu has more... hello, i'm jimmy yu and welcome to world sports. with the nations second formula one grand

prix less than three weeks away, korea has seen nothing short of perfect in its preparations for one of the biggest motor- races this year. construction for the three-day event in yeongam is now reported to be complete and the new accommodation and transportation facilities are expected to draw in more spectators to the event. ticket sales have seen a marked improvement from last year, as of tuesday, about 50,000 tickets have been sold. the race will run from oct. 14th to 16th at the korea international circuit with practice and qualifying runs before the final showdown on the 16th. over in the middle east...there was some tragic news as united arab emirates midfielder theyab awana was killed in a car crash in the capital of abu dhabi. awana became an internet celebrity after scoring a back-heeled penalty in an international against lebanon. the 21-year old midfielder played for the uae in last wednesday's 0-0 draw against australia in an olympic qualifier and was due to have treatment on an injury this week. over in japan....maria

tamarine tanasugarn of thailand in straight sets 6-2, 7-5 to cruise into the third round of the pan pacific open in tokyo. the 24-year-old fired seven aces, including one on match point, to brush aside tanasugarn and help banish the memories of her early exit from last year's tournament. sharapova began strongly, as she quickly won the first set before going 3-0 up in the second. the russian has risen to number two on the world rankings from a career low following shoulder surgery back in 2009. wrapping up with baseball...unable to get a contract extension, ozzie guillen has now officially walked away from the chicago white sox. after the colorful manager met with owner jerry reinsdorf, the team agreed to release him from his current deal and his eight-year managerial run that included a world series title in 2005. the white sox were built to win this year but have been floundering this season with players like adam dunn and alex rios bogging down the offense.

he managed his final game monday night as the white sox beat the blue jays 4-3 and is now reported to accept a managerial job with the florida marlins. guillen will surely be missed in the windy city as he is the only manager in franchise history to lead the white sox to more than one division or league title. well, that's it for sports. next up is your weather update. hello i'm yang un jung with your weather forecast. wednesday... we're going to be starting with clear skies and sunshine in the morning but unfortunately we're going to be ending with dark overcast skies later on. we'll continue to see clouds increasing throughout the day. an area of low pressure will keep pushing in from the west, which will eventually trigger some widespread rain nationwide on thursday. so be prepared for that. also, if you're in the inland areas, remember to watch out for thick patchy morning fog. so drive extra carefully if you go out during the early hours of the day. now take a look at

our temperatures... we'll cool down one or two degrees. capital seoul will dip to 26 along with daegu. gwangju and busan will be one higher at 27 degrees. daejeon will come down to 24 while jeju remains at 27, just like today. dokdo at 24 and mt. geumgang at 18 degrees. taking a look at the international weather... mostly sunny and clear across japan at the moment, so try to enjoy it. beijing will be fine and dry. but typhoon nesat is currently heading in a northeast direction from manila and will get close to the southeast of hong kong during wednesday morning, so lots of showers are expected in these areas by then. down under... sydney will stay dark and cloudy all throughout the day tomorrow, but no chance for rain. melbourne and victoria are exceptions... there's a good chance for some showers there. wellington's staying sunny for another day... at 15 degrees.

into north america... showers and thunderstorms will spread into most of the northeast and the mid -atlantic on wednesday,... but temperatures are remaining warm. rain still continues in most of the mississipi river as well. meanwhile... rain and winds in the pacific northwest... will ease down a bit. down in south america... rio de janeiro, sao paulo and santiago... will all enjoy a nice sunny afternoon in the low to mid 20s on weesday. pass by buenos aires sometime during the day. into europe... moscow and madrid have partly cloudy skies in the forecast. but pretty much everywhere else in europe... will enjoy crystal clear skies with abundant sunshine on wednesday. lastly in africa... there's a chance for some isolated thunderstorms in tripoli tomorrow, so be aware. meanwhile... dakar and addis ababa will finally see some dry and sunny weather on wednesday. that's all for today's weather. have a great rest of your evening and i'll

see you back here tomorrow. and that's it for those of you outside korea. thank you for