ELECTION WATCHDOG IN TROUBLE

ELECTION WATCHDOG IN TROUBLE

[Anchor Lead]
With just over 30 days until the general election, the National Election Commission is facing a crisis. A former Deputy Secretary General is under scrutiny for allegedly soliciting the wrongful employment of his child, marking a troubling trend of former high-ranking officials being investigated. Compounding the Commission's challenges, there is a growing clamor within political circles for early voting managers to personally stamp ballots, as explicitly required by law.

[Pkg]
Former Deputy Secretary General of the National Election Commission Song Bong-seop is accused of soliciting a local election commission official to hire his daughter who had applied for an NEC job.

[Soundbite]
Song Bong-seop (Former NEC Deputy Secretary General): (Do you admit to soliciting for your daughter's hiring?) ... (Do you have anything to say to other hard-working applicants?) ...

When an audit was carried out on this issue last May, then-Secretary General Park Chan-jin and Deputy Secretary General Song Bong-seop both stepped down and came under investigation shortly after. Immediately before their resignation, NEC Chair Roh Jung-hee had quit when a controversy erupted over storing marked ballots from early voting sites in baskets and plastic bags.

[Soundbite]
Roh Jung-hee (Then-NEC Chair (March 2022)): (Do you have anything to say on this matter?) ... (Are you thinking about resigning?) ...

In October of 2023, NEC Chair Roh Tae-ak had to apologize when the National Intelligence Service found out during its security check on the NEC that early voting ballots were illegally printed with a stolen seal file.

[Soundbite]
Rho Tae-ak (Chair, Nat'l Election Commission (Oct. 2023)): I'm sorry for the inadequate data security management and allegations of preferential hiring of high-ranking officials' children.

But the controversy over the early voting ballots didn't die down even after the NEC chief promised to toughen security. Now the ruling party is demanding that supervisors personally stamp the ballots as the law dictates.

[Soundbite]
Han Dong-hoon (Chair, PPP Emergency Committee (Feb. 7)): Early voting supervisors should personally stamp the ballots. They shouldn't oversee early voting without that much sense of responsibility.

About 30 days left until the general election. However, high-ranking officials are being investigated and politicians are demanding early voting supervisors personally stamp the ballots. The election watchdog is mired in deep trouble as they head into the busiest election season.

MEASURES TO FILL MEDICAL VOID

[Anchor Lead]
In response to the prolonged medical gap, the government has unveiled successive financial support measures. A total of 188 billion won from the National Health Insurance Fund has been allocated to compensate medical professionals who care for emergency and critically ill patients. Moreover, nurses have now been authorized to perform surgical suturing and CPR, stepping in for resident doctors.

[Pkg]
In order to address the continued medical vacuum, the government has tapped into the national health insurance funds to supplement the reserve funds. In addition to the 120 billion won reserve funds, which is approximately 90 million dollars, the government has decided to inject over 188 billion won, or over 141 million dollars, from the national health insurance funds. The additional funds will be used to help hospitals treating severely ill hospitalized patients and doctors treating emergency and seriously ill patients.

[Soundbite]
Jeon Byung-wang (Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures HQs): We will increase compensation for ER doctors and support for emergency medical treatment such as CPR.

An additional 120 billion won, or around 90 million dollars, will be injected to treat high-risk pregnant women and newborns and compensate for hard-to-treat acute heart disease procedures. Labor costs at public hospitals will be provided from the local governments' disaster management funds. As of Wednesday, the number of trainee doctors who had given up on their contracts or walked off the job surpassed 11,000. To prepare for a prolonged crisis, the government has issued guidelines so that nurses can substitute for trainee doctors. Until now, the guideline had been ambiguous. Nurses are now allowed to perform CPR and administer medications to emergency patients. Advanced practice nurses and physician assistants are permitted to suture operated parts.

[Soundbite]
Choi Hun-hwa (Korean Nurses Association): Nurses were ordered to perform doctors' duties without any guidelines in place. We believe the new guideline serves as a foundation for legal protection.

The Korean Medical Association blasted the move for instigating illegal medical practices, and claimed that nurses won't perform those duties without legal protection.

DOCTORS KEEPING POSTS ATTACKED

[Anchor Lead]
Amidst the prolonged medical service gap caused by the resignation of resident doctors, an unsettling incident has unfolded. The names of resident doctors persevering in the medical field have been disclosed, and they have been subjected to ridicule through posted messages. The police have announced their intention to pursue detention investigations concerning threatening comments and similar acts.

[Pkg]
Please provide information on the list of "real trainee doctors." This is a message posted on an online community of doctors and medical students. Information uploaded includes the partial name of certain doctors, their departments and the hospitals they work at. Amid the ongoing walkout by trainee doctors, those who remain at their workplaces are being singled out, publicly attacked, and sarcastically dubbed the "real doctors." Information on the remaining doctors trickle in and online comments are filled with attacks and profanities against them.

[Soundbite]
Nam Eun-gyeong (Citizens’ Coalition for Economic Justice): Unfairly barring individual members from returning to work is very concerning as this restricts patient care and treatment.

In a confession posted online, one junior doctor said he or she actually wants to return to work. But went on to express fears of suffering disadvantages from the collective doctors group for not supporting the walkout, and is therefore taking part in the group action against their will. The government called this situation deplorable and vowed to protect doctors who wish to return to their patients.

[Soundbite]
Jeon Byung-wang (Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures HQs): It's concerning that young doctors who should develop an open mind are attacking colleagues not taking part in the walkout.

The police also said that disclosing the names of those who opted out of the walkout or posting threatening messages are criminal acts and pledged to investigate the perpetrators under detention. The police have also identified a potential suspect behind an online message that directed trainee doctors to delete all their files before resigning, and plan to summon this individual, a suspected doctor, for questioning in the near future.

PROBE REOPENS MAYORAL SCANDAL

[Anchor Lead]
Prosecutors have commenced a renewed probe into the so-called 'Ulsan mayoral election meddling scandal during President Moon Jae-in's times, with a raid on the Presidential Archives. Their efforts are concentrated on acquiring internal CheongWaDae documents, targeting key figures Im Jong-seok, the former Presidential Chief of Staff, and Cho Kuk, the former Presidential Secretary for Civil Affairs.

[Pkg]
The Ulsan mayoral election scandal involves allegations that former President Moon Jae-in's office intervened in the 2018 election to have Moon's friend, then Democratic Party candidate Song Cheol-ho, win the vote. The prosecution, reinvestigating the case, has raided the Presidential Archives. The raid comes 49 days after a decision was made to reopen the probe targeting related figures, former presidential chief of staff Im Jong-seok and former presidential secretary for civil affairs Cho Kuk. Prosecutors intend to secure police investigation reports and internal documents of the former presidential office in an effort to verify alleged election interference by Im and Cho. In the past probe, prosecutors had also tried to search the top office but the attempt failed as the office refused to submit materials. Im and Cho evaded indictment on grounds of insufficient evidence.

[Soundbite]
Im Jong-seok (Former presidential chief of staff (Jan. 2020)): When the dormant case was transferred to the Seoul Central Dist. Prosecutors Office, I sensed this was all planned with a clear purpose.

However things changed after the court last November handed a guilty verdict to key officials in the case including the former mayor. The verdict at the time stipulated that the then presidential office meddled in the police investigation including receiving related reports several times. After careful review, the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office ordered a reinvestigation in January. The National Innovation Party, a new party launched by Cho Kuk, has slammed the new development saying that prosecutors were nitpicking and wasting energy and resources on an old case. A prosecution official revealed that search of the Presidential Archives is expected to take considerable time and that investigators are trying to confirm facts contained in the previous court ruling.

WORKER FINED FOR JOB CHANGE

[Anchor Lead]
In the accelerating age of artificial intelligence, the global battle over HBM, intensifies. SK Hynix, a South Korean leader in the HBM market, finds itself at the center of legal scrutiny as a court deems it unfair for its employees to switch to competitors, particularly to the American firm Micron Technology, in violation of their non-compete agreements.

[Pkg]
Former SK Hynix researcher A quit his job in July 2022. He had worked on high bandwidth memory or HBM design. He had signed an agreement that he wouldn't work at or sign a service or consultation contract with a rival company for two years after leaving SK Hynix. The list of competitors included American computer memory producer Micron Technology. But A was hired as an executive at Micron immediately after his departure from the Korean chip maker. SK Hynix filed an injunction against his job change in August 2023 and the court accepted the chip producer's request. The court ruled that A shouldn't work for Micron until July 26th this year and, if he violates this ruling, he should pay SK Hynix ten million won or over 7,500 U.S. dollars per day. The court also noted that if the information A had obtained while he was with SK Hynix leaked out, the competitiveness of the Korean chip maker would be undermined and its recovery impossible. However, the ruling hasn't been enforced yet since the letter containing this decision hasn't been delivered to A currently residing in the U.S. The court is taking necessary judicial cooperation measures to deliver the letter to A. Sk Hynix welcomed the court's decision that clearly stated the importance of protecting trade secrets. But Micron could evade the court's decision by firing A and then re-hiring him after the stipulated time is over. Institutional measures and better awareness are urgently needed to prevent tech leaks.

KIM YOUNG-SAM'S WIDOW DIES

[Anchor Lead]
Son Myung-soon, the wife of former President Kim Young-sam, passed away yesterday at the age of 95. This comes nine years after the former President, with whom she shared 65 years of marriage, left this world.

[Pkg]
Son Myung-soon, the widow of late president Kim Young-sam, passed away on Thursday afternoon. She was 95. Seoul National University Hospital said Son had received treatment since being hospitalized in December of 2022 with pneumonia caused by COVID-19. Her condition took a turn for the worse on Thursday and she was moved to the ICU.

[Soundbite]
Kim Young-tae (President, Seoul Nat'l University Hospital (March 7)): Her condition got worse today while receiving in-patient treatment. She passed away in the afternoon with her loved ones by her side.

Son married former President Kim Young-sam secretly in 1951 when both were 23. At the time Son was a junior at Ewha Womans' University. They were married for 65 years until Kim's death in 2015. Son is survived by her two sons and three daughters, including Kim Hyun-chul, the director of the Kim Young-sam Memorial Foundation. The memorial altar has been set up at the Seoul National University Hospital where a five-day family funeral is to be held.

'HANWOO' BEEF DISCOUNT EVENTS

[Anchor Lead]
Lately, with prices climbing, many consumers find the prospect of shopping intimidating. However, livestock farmers are expressing difficulties, especially with the rising cost of cattle feed. In light of these challenges, an event offering discounts of up to 50% on Hanwoo beef kicks off today.

[Pkg]
A hanwoo beef tasting event is in full swing at a supermarket. The minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs along with the head of Hanwooboard or the Hanwoo Association are grilling the beef at the venue to personally promote hanwoo beef at a discount event.

[Soundbite]
Enjoy!

The price of Grade 1 hanwoo rib-eye is 6400 won per 100 grams, or around 4.8 dollars. The same amount of beef cubes for soup costs 2400 won, or 1.8 dollars. That's up to 50 percent off the normal price, and more than 30 percent cheaper than during the same period last year. Consumers don't hesitate to open up their wallets.

[Soundbite]
Kang Hyo-jung (Seoul resident): Hanwoo prices are very cheap today. Pork belly costs 2,300 won per 100g. But hanwoo costs only 2,400 won (USD 1.8) per 100g. Almost no difference.

The discount event is to be held at some 400 stores of Hanaro Mart through March 10. The discount is possible because the distribution stage was minimized and hanwoo self-help funds and National Agricultural Cooperative Federation funds were tapped.

[Soundbite]
Min Kyung-cheon (Chair, Hanwoo Association): Why do consumers find hanwoo prices expensive while cattle farms are struggling? It's because of the distribution process.

As the number of hanwoo cattle keeps growing, some 970,000 hanwoo cattle are predicted to be sold this year, the highest number on record. Cattle farms are worried that hanwoo prices may fall further due to oversupply amid the rising prices of cattle feed and other production costs.

[Soundbite]
Song Mi-ryung (Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs): We are beginning massive hanwoo discount events to alleviate consumers' burden and help hanwoo farms.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs plans to organize more beef discount events in late March with online and brick-and-mortar stores participating.