HAN MEETS MEDICAL PROFESSORS

HAN MEETS MEDICAL PROFESSORS

[Anchor Lead]
Trainee doctors have been walking out for over a month now in protest against the government's decision to expand medical school admission quotas, and hospital professors have been threatening to resign. People Power Party interim leader Han Dong-hoon decided to actively mediate between the government and medical community, initiating meetings with medical school professors nationwide yesterday.

[Pkg]
People Power Party interim leader Han Dong-hoon and other senior party officials visited a major hospital in Seoul. They held a meeting with the leadership of the Medical Professors Association of Korea. After the 50-minute closed door meeting, Han said that he will work to mediate the conflict between the government and doctors so they can have constructive dialogue.

[Soundbite]
Han Dong-hoon (Chair, PPP Emergency Committee): I was asked to mediate between the government and doctors in order to prevent possible damage to the people. I said I will play a role if necessary.

The People Power Party says the doctors' organizations are ready to hold talks with the government. In the meeting, the medical professors reportedly did not mention their previous decision to tender resignations and only stressed the need to prevent the suspension of trainee doctors' medical licenses. The ruling party said that Han asked the presidential office to be flexible in taking administrative penalties and suspending licenses for striking residents who had walked off their jobs. Previously, PPP candidates for constituents in the capital area, including Yoon Sang-hyun, continued to ask the party leadership to step in and work to end the medical vacuum. It appears that internal calls for the party leadership to actively mediate between the government and the doctors have prevailed, with growing concerns that the medical vacuum will backfire on the PPP and its election campaign if it drags on longer.

INFLUX OF CHINESE PLATFORMS

[Anchor Lead]
Users of Chinese e-commerce platforms such as Ali and Temu are rapidly increasing in Korea, but concerns are growing about the impact on Korea's e-commerce companies and small businesses that offer similar products.

[Pkg]
Pyeongtaek Customs processes about 70% of maritime cargo arriving from China. Packages arrive in an endless procession. As more and more consumers make direct purchases on Chinese platforms such as AliExpress and Temu, the volume of customs clearance has surged by more than 26-fold in just four years.

[Soundbite]
Lee Seung-hee (Pyeongtaek Customs ): The surge in shipments is reaching our limit. Each worker processes about 15,000 packages daily, three times that of other customs offices.

Ultra-low prices of goods and fast delivery are the major factors behind the explosive growth of direct purchases of Chinese products. This product that even has identical advertisement images on domestic and Chinese websites costs 14,000 won, or around 10 U.S. dollars, in Korea, including shipping. But on AliExpress it's available for less than half the price.

[Soundbite]
Jeon Byung-seo (China Economic and Financial Research Inst.): It's a tsunami. It's a business model that has proven successful in 150 countries, and it's too late to judge if it's a crisis or not.

Domestic vendors are hit hardest by the cheap Chinese goods. Those who import goods from China cannot afford to compete with AliExpress or Temu because they must pay tariffs, VAT and safety certification fees.

[Soundbite]
Shin Sun-gyo (KOSOA): It's an uneven playing field, unfair market situation. Sales have plummeted about 10-20% now. They could fall by as much as 40%.

Meanwhile, Chinese platform businesses are stepping up efforts to increase their presence in the Korean market. AliExpress has opened a section dealing exclusively with Korean products, and is offering large discounts on local groceries such as instant rice and strawberries. The company reportedly plans to invest 1.4 trillion won, or around one billion dollars, in Korea in the next three years by building a large logistics center in the country.

[Soundbite]
Prof. Jung Yeon-sung (Dankook University): Once Ali and Temu seize the Korean market, they can do whatever they want. They can raise their fees or change marketing strategies.

The government has said it would apply the same regulations to Chinese platforms as it does with domestic ones, but it remains to be seen if it will be feasible.

[Soundbite]
Prof. Shin Ji-hye (Hankuk University of Foreign Studies): Measures are needed, as foreign businesses are unlikely to comply with domestic regulations even if they are mandated to do so.

To address the uneven playing field in the market, there are calls for measures to help local platform businesses and small vendors bolster their competitiveness.

TRANSIT PASS FOR TOURISTS

[Anchor Lead]
Last year alone, more than 11 million foreign tourists visited Korea, and more than 80% of these visitors found their way to Seoul. However, it has been highlighted that there is essentially no suitable public transportation pass available for tourists staying briefly in Seoul. Here's more.

[Pkg]
Foreign tourists look confused in front of a ticketing machine at a subway station in Seoul. They were trying to buy a short-term subway pass for their stay in Seoul.
But they couldn't find what they needed.

[Soundbite] [영어녹취]
Hera/ French Tourist

Even the tourists who bought a transportation card because they didn't want to buy a ticket every time found it too inconvenient.

[Soundbite] [영어녹취]
Andrei/ Romanian Tourist

The Ministry of Transportation and the Seoul city government had issued a transportation card just for foreigners about ten years ago. There used to be three places nationwide where these foreigner-only transportation cards could be purchased. But now they can be bought only at Seoul Station. A day pass costs 15,000 won, roughly 11 US dollars, and a seven-day pass 64,000 won or more than 47 dollars. The price seems too high.

[Soundbite]
Card Seller ((VOICE MODIFIED)): It's on the way out. (Why? Because it's not selling?) It's expensive and rather complicated.

New York City, London, Hong Kong and other mega cities provide a variety of mass transportation tickets for not only foreign visitors but also locals. If Seoul is to achieve its goal of bringing 30 million foreign visitors by 2027, the city must build better transportation infrastructure.

[Soundbite]
Prof. Kim Do-kyung (Univ. of Seoul): There aren't many different discounted fares even for the local public transportation users.

The city government plans to review issuing an unlimited transportation pass for short-term foreign travelers as well as a week-or-shorter pass for local residents.

MOST KNOCKOFFS ARE FROM CHINA

[Anchor Lead]
Over the past five years, Korean customs officials seized illegal knockoff imports worth nearly 2.1 trillion won or over 1.56 billion U.S. dollars. Of the fake products violating intellectual property rights, Chinese-made ones accounted for 84.5 percent of the total, valued at nearly 1.34 billion U.S. dollars. Louis Vuitton was the most faked luxury brand, followed by Rolex and Chanel. Fashion items, like bags, watches and chlothing, accounted for the largest portion of the counterfeit goods.

"ARCTIC COLD WAVES MAY VANISH"

[Anchor Lead]
During the winter months, we frequently face severe cold conditions due to Arctic cold waves, which result from cold air moving southward from the Arctic. Analysis by domestic researchers points to global warming as the cause of these Arctic cold waves. Interestingly, it proposes that as global warming continues to escalate, Arctic cold waves could paradoxically cease to exist.

[Pkg]
A fountain in a downtown area is covered in icicles because of the cold spell. A blizzard blocks visibility on the road. Extreme weather caused by Arctic cold waves prompted the U.S. authorities to declare a state of emergency in multiple areas early this year.

[Soundbite] [영어녹취]
U.S. Resident

Korea also experienced two Arctic cold waves last winter. Morning temperatures in Seoul plummeted to minus 15 degrees Celsius. The primary reason behind Arctic cold waves lies in global warming. This brought about the term "the paradox of global warming." However, Korean researchers have found that if global warming gets worse, Arctic cold waves will eventually disappear. They say if global warming proceeds at the current pace, Arctic cold waves will continue to intensify to some extent before they start decreasing drastically from 2040.

[Soundbite]
Yoon Jin-ho (Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology ): As the Arctic warms up, so do mid-latitude regions including Korea, leading to a situation where winds blowing from the north will be less cold.

The number of cold wave days in Seoul has decreased substantially from the early 1900s due to the rising winter temperatures. The researchers warn that weaker cold spells in winter could cause other forms of damage such as a surge in pests.

SMART FARM STRAWBERRIES

[Anchor Lead]
This winter, frequent rains and limited sunlight have cut the production of fruits and vegetables, such as strawberries, by nearly half. But, strawberries cultivated in smart farms are defying these conditions, maintaining their exceptional taste and consistent yield.

[Pkg]
Strawberry harvest is in full swing at this smart farm where the temperature and humidity are maintained at around 20 degrees Celsius and 60% all year round. The environment is automatically controlled to suit the growing or harvesting stage. The strawberry output this winter fell by half due to frequent rain and reduced daylight. Fortunately, this smart farm's strawberry harvest shrank only about 10%. It was possible because the cultivation method was optimized for a new, fast-growing variety of strawberries. The farm was able to export four tons of high quality strawberries to Thailand, Vietnam, and other Southeast Asian countries.

[Soundbite]
Choi I-yeong (Strawberry Farmer): It's an after-ripening variety, so we export them even when they're not fully ripe. They are ready to eat by the time they arrive, so they stay fresh longer.

Also, 600 kilograms of Goldberry strawberries, a new, high-end variety that is five times more expensive than other varieties, were exported to the United States. These new strawberries are recognized not only locally but also in overseas markets. Young farmers are also highly interested in the new varieties of strawberries grown at smart farms.

[Soundbite]
Kwak Chang-sun (Young Farmer): The new varieties have high outputs and are very resistant to diseases, so they're more competitive overseas than other varieties.

Local governments plan to expand farming complexes exclusively for the export of new, high-end strawberries and increase assistance for variety development and research.

'EXHUMA' DRAWS 10 MN VIEWERS

[Anchor Lead]
Director Jang Jae-hyun' occult movie "Exhuma" surpassed ten million in admissions, becoming the first to reach the milestone among films released this year. Its distributor ShowBox said that the cumulative number of viewers of the movie topped ten million on Sunday morning. Titled "Pamyo" in Korean, it is the 23rd Korean film to reach the threshold. Starring Choi Min-sik, Kim Go-eun and Yoo Hae-jin, the grave-digging thriller unfolds around a feng shui expert, an undertaker and shamans.

CORMORANTS THREATEN ROYAL TOMB

[Anchor Lead]
The freshwater cormorants, once mere winter visitors, have now made a permanent shift, becoming local residents. This transition has led to a concerning ecological impact, with the forests surrounding their nests drying up and dying, and their substantial appetite taking a toll on the fish population. The situation has escalated in Yeongwol, Gangwondo Province, close to Jangneung, a World Cultural Heritage site dedicated to King Danjong, as these cormorant colonies have settled in the area.

[Pkg]
A royal tomb looks peaceful surrounded by pine trees. This is Jangneung Royal Tomb, a World Heritage Site, where Joseon's sixth king Danjong is buried. A mountain about 500 meters away from the tomb. A flock of black birds is seen nesting on trees. They are great cormorants. The trees look skeletal as the branches are devoid of leaves. The cormorants' highly acidic excrements are killing off the trees.

[Soundbite]
Seo Seok-bong (Yeongwol-gun Resident): I started seeing them last month. They devour fish and their feces fall on people's heads. They're bad for the environment.

The birds used to nest around the lakes of Chuncheon and Wonju. But last winter, they moved to as far as Yeongwol. This trail located right under a great cormorant habitat is filled with bird feces. The bird's range of activity spreads 25 kilometers in radius. Experts fear the birds could damage the World Heritage Site Jangneung. Its voracious appetite is also a concern as it can eat as much as seven kilograms a day.

[Soundbite]
Choi Yu-seong (Nat'l Migratory Birds Center): If the birds surge in numbers, they could affect fish species and the underwater ecosystem.

The government allowed cormorant shotgun hunting this year, but firearm use is almost impossible since visitors frequent the royal tomb. The local government's concern grows over the great cormorants, once the symbol of pristine nature that has now become a nuisance.