Reassessing the Response

[Anchor Lead]

Investigators are reexamining the actions of the Korean Coast Guard on scene at the time of the Sewol ferry sinking. Was there more that the rescuers could have done in order to save precious lives? Let’s take a look.

[Pkg]

The Korea Coast Guard vessel number 123 approaches the tilted ferry. It was the first patrol boat to arrive at the scene after the accident had been reported. It was 9:30 a.m. and the ship was listed at an estimated 45-degree angle. Admittedly, it wouldn't have been easy to move about, but movement on board the ferry was definitely possible. But for some reason the Coast Guard did not enter the ferry's interior and rescued only the passengers who had already evacuated the ship. Forty-seven minutes later the ship is tilted at 108 degrees. One student who was waiting for rescue leaves a message, saying that she missed her parents. This is why the joint investigation team believes that if the Coast Guard had entered the ship's interior or issued evacuation orders more forcefully, many more passengers would have been saved. The investigators are thus looking into whether the Coast Guard acted properly during the early stages of the disaster. Three members of patrol boat number 123 were questioned about what went on in the first minutes of the rescue efforts. The investigation is likely to extend to the upper ranks of the Coast Guard, since the Coast Guard is being accused of not overseeing the rescue operations adequately.

[Soundbite] Coast Guard Official(Voice Modified) : "They're sensitive. We’re also very nervous."

The Board of Audit and Inspection has also launched a special probe to determine whether the West Regional Headquarters of the Korea Coast Guard and Mokpo Coast Guard Station had taken proper first-response measures at the time of the accident.

2. Seoul Mayoral Race

[Anchor Lead]

The ruling Saenuri Party has selected Representative Chung Mong-joon as its candidate for the Seoul mayoral race. He will face off against incumbent Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, who’s seeking a second term.

[Pkg]

The ruling Saenuri Party has chosen seventh-term lawmaker Chung Mong-joon as its candidate for Seoul mayor. Chung secured his candidacy with 71-point-one percent of the counted votes, defeating former Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik by an unexpectedly large margin. He overwhelmed pro-Park candidates with his huge popularity among voters and party members. In his acceptance speech, Chung again apologized for his son's controversial remarks on the sinking of the Sewol ferry.

[Soundbite] CHUNG MONG-JOON(Seoul City Mayor Candidate) : "I sincerely apologize for my last son's thoughtless remarks. I’m asking you for forgiveness on behalf of my son."

The main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy's candidate Park Won-soon, the current Seoul mayor, visited the party leadership at the National Assembly. He sought the party's cooperation, saying that he will not stage a lavish campaign in consideration of the country's mourning for the ferry disaster victims. Park proposed that he and the Saenuri candidate announce a joint campaign pledge to enhance safety in society.

[Soundbite] PARK WON-SOON(Seoul City Mayor) : "I propose that Chung Mong-joon and I present joint campaign pledges on safety issues. When it comes to enhancing safety, it is unnecessary to draw a line between the ruling and opposition parties."

But the ruling party candidate apparently turned down the proposal, saying that the upcoming election will determine the person who can properly protect the citizens' lives and properties.
The two candidates are expected to hold a heated debate on their safety policy platforms.

3. Expert Opinion

[Anchor Lead]

North Korea has ramped up its invective against South Korea and the U.S. with brash sexist and racist remarks targeting the nations’ leaders. Experts on North Korean affairs say it’s important not to be riled up by the insults.

[Pkg]

American news channel CNN posted an article by North Korea experts, which warned that the Obama administration cannot ignore the danger of the Kim Jong-un regime. Joshua Stanton, a Washington attorney who has advised the U.S. House of Representatives on North Korea affairs, and assistant professor Lee Sung-yoon of Tufts University cited a few reasons for the matter. First, they pointed out that we should not infantalizing North Korea and dismissing it as ridiculous. That's because the North has been assisting Syria's nuclear development programs, has sold ballistic missiles to Iran and Syria and traded in weapons with militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. They wrote that for the past two decades the international community has been duped by Pyongyang's promise of denuclearization and has provided billions of dollars in aids, but all they got in return was their nuclear and missile development programs. The article said that North Korea has outplayed some of the world's biggest and richest nations like the U.S., China, Japan, Russia, and South Korea. Also, they claimed that we should have a clearer idea about the forces opposing Kim Jong-un in North Korea. They cannot be recognized as liberal or progressive, because they may be in defiance of their young tyrant, but they still support the regime's justification for nuclear programs and insist that only a peace treaty can prevent war. The international community's diplomatic efforts and aids have done nothing but fatten the wealthy elite of the North Korean regime. The two authors conclude that Pyongyang should take UN sanctions seriously and live by the standards of civilization.

4. Dictator's Flower

[Anchor Lead]

North Korea is famous for the mystical cult of personality surrounding its ruling family, the Kims. Already, the regime has developed flower varieties dedicated to Kim Jong-il and his father Kim Il-sung. Kim Jong-un is next in line for his own flower.

[Pkg]

North Korea holds exhibitions of Kimilsungia, a flower named after Kim Il-sung, and Kimjongilia, a flower named after Kim Jong-il, between February and April every year. Despite North Korea's economic difficulty, various regions around the country competitively grow these flowers to present them at the exhibitions. It has been confirmed that the North is now developing a flower dedicated to its current leader Kim Jong-un.

[Soundbite] North Korean Resident(Voice Modified) : "We got an order from the Central Botanical Garden. They want to develop a flower for General Kim Jong-un."

The North Korean Workers' Party's propaganda and agitation department directly gave the order to the Mount Baekdu branch of the Central Botanical Garden on April 15th.

[Soundbite] North Korean Resident(Voice Modified) : "They say that the Mount Baekdu branch should breed an indigenous flower for Kim Jong-un because of his Mt. Baekdu bloodline."

Kim Il-sung flower is an orchid from Indonesia's Makasaar. Kim Jong-il flower was bred by Japanese botanist Mototeru Kamo. But the party wants to find and breed the flower dedicated to Kim Jong-un from species found in North Korea.

[Soundbite] Prof. LEE JU-CHEOL(University of North Korean Studies) : "North Korea is intensifying the cult image around Kim Jong-un, showing that it has failed to reform its system."

The flower dedicated to Kim Jong-un is expected to make its debut in January next year in celebration for his birthday.

5. Building in Peril

[Anchor Lead]

Safety is now at the forefront of Korean political discourse, but there’s still a long way to go. A studio apartment building under construction in Asan has titled to the side causing fears that it could collapse.

[Pkg]

A studio apartment building is heavily tilted. One of its pillars on the first floor got broken, exposing the twisted steel reinforcement inside the structure. There are also crevices all over the building. Rescue workers received the first report about the collapsing building at 8:07 a.m. Even workers at a nearby construction site heard the loud noise made by the tilting building and evacuated swiftly.

[Soundbite] Construction Worker(Voice Modified) : "I heard a snapping sound when the building started to tilt. Then a few moments later there was a sound of something falling down."

The completion of the building's construction is slated for next month. Luckily no one got injured as the building wasn't inhabited yet. However, the authorities have closed nearby roads and pedestrian walks as the structure continues to tilt.

[Soundbite] GO YEONG-SAN(Asan City Official) : "We presume that either the foundation of the structure sank or the pillars on the first floor buckled. We're not sure yet."

The other structure standing right next to the collapsing building is complete, but the authorities will decide whether or not to let its residents move in only after conducting safety checks.

6. Project Winner

[Anchor Lead]

A mid-sized Korean company has made headlines for winning a highly competitive waste water treatment project in the U.S. thanks in large part to its excellent technologies.

[Pkg]

A mid-sized Korean company is testing its high-quality waste water filtration system at this sewage processing site in Carson, California. Sewage water treated here is on par with groundwater in terms of quality and can be re-used for a variety of purposes.

[Soundbite] ROB MORGAN(Los Angeles County Sanitation District)

Bukang Tech is participating in a project carried out by the U.S. Department of Energy. Its purpose is to reuse waster water produced by shale gas wells. The company purifies polluted water discharged from five shale gas wells. It was able to win the project thanks to its outstanding membrane filtration technology. The company also won a project from the city of Barstow for purifying polluted groundwater and discharging it underground. Currently the company is designing a plant to carry out the project.

[Soundbite] ALBERT RAU(CEO, Kana Engineering)

Just six years after debuting in the U.S. market, the Korean company was able to compete with globally renowned corporations thanks to its technological prowess.

[Soundbite] KIM DONG-U(President, Bukang Tech) : "These environmental facilities were built 60-70 years ago. They have become too old. The demand for new technologies is high now."

The global waste water treatment market is growing exponentially and is expected to surpass 600 billion dollars next year. The problem of water shortages is opening up a new window of opportunities for mid-sized firms with the latest technologies.

7. Korean Food App

[Anchor Lead]

If you’re about to dig into a Korean dish, but you’re not exactly sure about what it’s called or what goes in it, you’re in luck. A new smartphone application is here to answer your Korean cuisine queries.

[Pkg]

This Chinese student is looking for a place to have lunch. She takes a photo of a restaurant menu with her smart phone and the translated names appear on the device.

[Soundbite] "(How do you read the first word?) Pao cai (kimchi)."

Once inside the restaurant, she uses her phone to choose the dish she wants.

[Soundbite] ZOU CHENG(Chinese Student in Korea) : "It's convenient because even foreigners not fluent in Korea can find out what the menu is and what ingredients go into a certain dish."

A smart phone application recognizes the words captured on the screen and translates them into a chosen language. This application contains information on 8,000 dishes compiled by the mobile service providers in Korea, Hong Kong, and Japan.

[Soundbite] BYEON HWAN(Marketing Manager, Mobile Service Provider) : "Nine major service providers in Asia, including KT, provide the data together. So we get user feedback from each country and boost the accuracy of our app."

There is also an application that can read sentences you entered on a device and translate them into English or Japanese. Google and Facebook are front runners in interpretation and translation services provided on your mobile phones. But now local Korean companies are challenging their competitors with their own convenient and useful applications.

8. Waiting for Recovery

[Anchor Lead]

Twenty-nine of the Sewol ferry passengers remain unaccounted for. The atmosphere at Paengmok Port remains bleak as families of the missing are losing hope that their loved ones’ remains will ever be found.

[Pkg]

This pair of sneakers was placed here as a prayer for the return of missing classmates. Families and classmates refuse to leave the port until the ferry passengers who are still unaccounted for are found. Parents can't wait to see their lost children. They are terrified by the thought that their beloved children will never be found. The families' anxiety and sorrow grow with time as the Paengmok Port becomes more deserted.

[Soundbite] Volunteer : "There are fewer people here now. So we need less supplies now."

The bereaved families of the Sewol passengers recently visited the port to offer their condolences to those who have yet to find their loved ones. They also discussed ways to speed up the search efforts and improve work conditions for the divers.

[Soundbite] KIM BYEONG-GWON(Representative, Bereaved Families) : "We will come back here until all the missing passengers are found. We asked the rescue workers to speed up their search efforts."

With each day passing by, the wish of these devastated families to find their missing loved ones grows stronger.

9. Bacteria & Longevity

[Anchor Lead]

A survey conducted on residents of a village known for longevity showed that the oldest seniors had five times the lactic acid bacteria in their intestines than the average person. What's connection between this bacteria and a long life? Let's find out.

[Pkg]

The nice spring weather is thought to be ideal for spending time outdoors. But it's also the time when the immune system is the weakest because the body's balance can be offset easily by the wide gap between morning and daytime temperatures. One of the ways to protect your health and boost your immune system is to consume probiotics. Today we're taking a look at the health benefits of lactic acid bacteria. First we met with a woman in her 30s who takes probiotics on a regular basis. Her daily regimen also consists of food rich in lactic acid bacteria, such as kimchi and the fermented bean paste "doenjang." After meals, she drinks yogurt.

[Soundbite] JANG JEONG-IN(Office Worker) : "I used to have problems with my intestines and skin. I heard that your complexion is the reflection of your gut health. I started looking for ways to improve it and found information about probiotics."

This woman makes sure to consume four kinds of probiotics, including those extracted from mushrooms. Here's how to make probiotics at home. All you need is a glass bottle. First, sterilize the bottle with hot water and pour in some milk. Then add store-bought yogurt at the ratio 10-to-one and stir thoroughly. Seal the bottle and leave it for about a week. This is a simple way to make sugar-free probiotics at home. But don't cultivate them more than three times or else they might become polluted. And keep them clean at all times.

[Soundbite] Prof. PARK SEON-A(Aju University) : "Probiotics ferment carbohydrates in the body and turn them into lactic acid. Probiotics produce large amounts of lactic acid bacteria in our intestines, which contain about 70 percent of immune system cells."

Our intestines play a crucial role in the immune system. They're home to trillions of lactic acid bacteria cells. By taking probiotics you can strengthen their mucous membrane to prevent harmful bacteria from spreading throughout your body and boost your immune system as well.

[Soundbite] "When consumed regularly, probiotics help boost the immune system and alleviate the symptoms of intestinal inflammation and irritable bowel syndrome."

Many people associate probiotics with dairy products, such as fermented animal milk. But experts say that Asian people should consume lactic acid bacteria contained in fermented foods made from plants. Examples of such foods include kimchi and doenjang. Asian people's intestines are about 80 centimeters longer than those of western people. That's why they should consume lactic acid bacteria that can survive in their intestines.

[Soundbite] CHOE HYE-SEON(Researcher, Rural Development Administration) : "Lactic acid bacteria found in fermented foods made with animal products are profoundly different from those found in foods made with plants. Fermented foods made with plants contain lactic acid bacteria that are resistant to acids, which helps them survive in the intestines and produce good results. We found strong acid-resistant probiotics in kimchi and the bean paste “doenjang.”"

One gram of kimchi and doenjang, the two staples of Korean cuisine, contains about 100 million lactic acid bacteria. By consuming these foods regularly, you can improve your intestinal health and complexion.