Toxic Explosion

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An explosion took place at a chemical plant on Thursday, killing five plant employees. Toxic gas from the incident also injured local residents and caused evacuations.



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A tank of raw materials exploded at a chemical plant in the Gumi National Industrial Complex, North Gyeongsang Province. A tank spilled its toxic hydrofluoric acid killing five plant workers including a 50-year-old man identified as Lee. Some dozen workers of nearby businesses and local residents inhaled the toxic gas from the explosion and are receiving treatment at the hospital. The casualties, however, are rising. Around 1,700 residents were ordered to evacuate and had to remain at temporary shelters or the homes of their relatives. Fire authorities said the tank was successfully sealed off at around 10 p.m. Thursday evening, seven hours after the explosion occurred. No more gas leaks are detected. Investigators from the National Institute of Environmental Research also rushed to the scene to carefully examine the air pollution content. But with the damage continuing to spread, the Gumi city government requested nearby businesses to stop their operations and called the day off for six elementary and middle schools on Friday.



2. Sentence Upheld



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The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a bribery conviction for Seoul Education Superintendent Kwak No-hyun, meaning he loses his post.



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The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education’s former superintendent Kwak No-hyun checked into the Seoul Detention Center at 2 pm on Friday. This is a day after the Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s ruling of a one-year prison term over Kwak’s bribery charge, stripping him of his post as the capital’s education chief. An official at the prosecutors’ office says that the scheduling was coordinated with Kwak’s attorney and that his prison term will be executed according to legal procedure. Kwak will have to serve eight more months in prison. So far, he has already served four months out of the year sentence since he was issued an arrest warrant last year. He was indicted last year on charges of bribing a fellow candidate to pull out of the election for Seoul’s top education post in 2010. He’s believed to have given approximately 180-thousand U.S. dollars to Professor Park Myoung-gee, a former professor at Seoul National University of Education, for him to drop out of the race so that Kwak can snag the seat of superintendent. The money was actually exchanged after the election took place. Kwak says that the money was not in return for any favors and was given out of goodwill, which is why he claims that it was not a bribe. The Supreme Court, however, considered it a bribe as Park did pull out of the election. The top court found Kwak’s explanation of his financial support for the professor hard to believe as the two were not particularly close. A re-election for the superintendent post will be held on December 19th, which is the same day as the presidential election.



3. Education Chaos



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With Kwak now gone, the deputy education chief will serve as the acting superintendent, and the Seoul education office plunges into turmoil once again.



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The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education will place Deputy Superintendent Lee Dae-young as the acting superintendent for now, but it’s not the first time this has happened. In 2009, then Superintendent Gong Jeong-taek also lost his post after a court ruling slapped fines on him. This caused two superintendents to replace him temporarily until the next election. Kwak was arrested merely 14 months after taking office and likewise, two deputy chiefs have been assuming his role. Kwak returned to his post in January but lost his job for good in only eight months. The reelection is three months away and the following successor will be given a term of just 18 months. Kwak’s departure during the middle of his term may strike chaos to the administrative affairs of Seoul’s education. A regulation initiated by Kwak for protecting students’ human rights, was requested for review by the acting superintendent during Kwak’s arrest. Pushing the bill forward has now lost all momentum. The plan to structurally reform and strengthen the role of the Office of Education Support is also up in the air. A conservative teachers union urged that the policies pursued by Kwak should come to halt.



[Soundbite] An Yang-ok (The Korea Federation of Teachers’ Association): “We demand the suspension and review of his campaign pledges and policy measures at once.”



However, liberal groups wish for the policies to be maintained.



[Soundbite] Son Chung-mo (Spokesman, Korea Teachers & Education Workers’ Union): “A sudden change will throw schools into chaos and violate the educational rights of students and parents. The policies must be allowed to continue.”



The capital city’s educational affairs are once again at risk due to its vacated chief post.



4. Ahn’s Apartment



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Independent presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo has been found to have underreported the price of an apartment he sold in 2000, following the revelation that his wife did the same thing.



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In December 2000, independent presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo sold his apartment in Seoul’s Sadang-dong. Back then, apartment owners could sell their units for up to 200 million won, which would now be worth around 180,000 U.S. dollars in today’s market, while the official market price set by the tax authorities was roughly 150 million won. But Ahn submitted a contract to the local district office, reporting the price he sold his apartment at just 70 million won. That’s just a third of the price that owners selling their apartments can actually get and only a half of the official market price set by the tax authorities. However, back then, the capital gains tax had nothing to do with the property’s reported price and was estimated solely by the National Tax Service. Therefore, even if Ahn had reported the actual price of his real estate deal, he would not have had to pay any extra taxes. In October the following year, Ahn’s wife, Professor Kim Mi-kyung, also underreported the price of an apartment that she bought in Munjeong-dong, Seoul.



[Soundbite] Ahn Cheol-soo (Independent Presidential Candidate): “There may have been many reasons for this, but in the end, it was wrong and I apologize to the people. I’ll try to live by more strict standards.”



Yet, in this case, if Ahn’s wife had properly declared the price of the apartment that she bought, she would have had to pay around 9,000 U.S. dollars more in taxes. The law mandating the reporting of the actual price of real estate deals took effect in 2006. However, during hearings, high-ranking public officials are always in the spotlight for the issue of underreporting apartment prices even though the act took place before the law became effective.



5. City vs. Rural



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Survey results say that elderly people in urban areas exercise more regularly and are healthier than their rural counterparts, but those in the country are more satisfied with their family life.



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Sixty-seven-year-old Jeong Jeong-hee attends a health program run by the district office twice a week and never skips taking strolls in the park.



[Soundbite] “It’s like eating. If you skip meals you get weaker. The same for exercising.”



Meanwhile, 65 year-old Son Suk-sun says she has no time to exercise since she has to look after her crops from early in the morning.



[Soundbite] “Working in the field is labor, not exercise.”



According to a survey by Statistics Korea, senior citizens in agricultural regions received much less regular exercise than those living in cities, and more seniors in rural areas replied that their health conditions were poor. However, in terms of family relationships, seniors living in the country turned out to be more satisfied with their family lives and were also more content with their children. Meanwhile, around 6,000 senior couples divorced last year and the number has tripled from the year 2000. After the age of sixty-five, men lived an average of 17.2 years while women lived four years longer at 21.6 years.



6. Burial Trends



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For the first time, the cremation rate has exceeded 70 percent in Korea. Recently, natural burials have also been drawing more attention.



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This is a cremation center in Seoul. It opened this year in light of the rapidly increasing demand for cremation services in the metropolitan area. In 2011, around 180,000 bodies were cremated, accounting for 71 percent of the total number of burials conducted during the year. However, in most cases, the ashes are placed in a charnel house, and in other cases, they are buried at plain grave sites. The reason being is that the metropolitan area lacks enough land for traditional burials, with public cemeteries only having merely around 9,000 vacant plots remaining. Natural burials are emerging as an alternative to solve this problem. The ashes are buried beneath trees or small name plates on small plots of land.



[Soundbite] Lee Jeong-yeol (Bereaved Family Member): “I always believe that when you live and die, you return as dust. The air is clean here and receives plenty of sunlight.”



Natural burials are economic and environmentally-friendly as the graves require no special maintenance. However, only three percent of cremated bodies are buried this way in Korea. In a move to vitalize natural burials in the country, the government is mulling various measures to loosen burial regulations as much as possible.



7. Korean Wave



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The Korean Wave of pop music and TV soap operas is getting people around the world interested in learning the Korean language. Now a rural middle school in North Jeolla Province is drawing the spotlight for helping spread the Korean in Sri Lanka.



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A Korean class is being given at a middle school in Bangkok, Thailand. The students have learned the Korean language for only four months but they already know how to count and introduce themselves in Korean. The education minister of Sri Lanka visited a middle school in Wanju, North Jeolla Province. Due to the Korean Wave fever, learning the Korean language has become one of the hottest trends in Sri Lanka, prompting the minister to come to request for assistance such as sending teachers to his country. The Sri Lankan minister strolls around classrooms and inquires about educational methods. The founder of the school is taking the initiative in spreading the Korean language overseas after discovering the brilliance of his mother tongue during his studies in the U.S. in the 1960s. He says Sri Lanka is the perfect place to start globalizing the Korean language as nearby regions including India consist of a vast population of 1.3 billion people. The Korean language will be taught in some 1,000 Sri Lankan schools.



8. Fusion Ballet



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The Korean National Ballet has staged a production based on traditional Korean music, known as gukak, for the first time in its 50-year history.



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The couple’s heartrending moves are beautifully portrayed against the tune of a traditional Korean 12-stringed harp, known as a ’gayaguem.’ The dancers’ movements flow in harmony with the music. The western dance of ballet is partnered with Korea’s traditional instruments and sound.



[Soundbite] Hwang Byung-ki (Artistic Director): “My work is in line with the spirit of 20th century Western classical music.”



The melody played by the gayageum expresses the illuminated and dark parts of the moon, while the dance depicts the joys and sorrows in life. This performance marks the first time in the National Ballet troupe’s 50 year history that a ballet has been choreograph to the sound of gukak.



[Soundbite] Choe Tae-ji (Artistic Director, Korean Nat’l Ballet): “We produced the work with the global stage in mind since it combines traditional Korean music with ballerinas and ballerinos.”



The beautiful encounter of western dance and traditional Korean music creates movements that are uniquely Korean while also distinctly rooted in the ballet genre, showcasing the possibility of a new creative movement of a Korean style ballet.



9. Gyeongbok Man



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There’s said to be a mysterious elderly man who roams the grounds of Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul every night. Let’s go meet him and find out his story.



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Gyeongbok Palace in the heart of the Korean capital is one the more impressive relics of the Joseon Dynasty and is designated as historical site number 117. There’s a man who comes every evening when the sun goes down and the visitors all go home.



[Soundbite] Jo Han-geun (Gyeongbok Palace Staff Member): “He’s the oldest one working here at Gyeongbok Palace and guards it.”



[Soundbite] Gi Jeong-sil (Gyeongbok Palace Staff Member): “I think he possesses all the force coming from this place.”



The man they’re talking about is 78-year-old Bang Dong-gyu, the palace night watchman. At six p.m., when the grounds close, Bang begins his workday showing visitors out.



[Soundbite] Bang Dong-gyu (Gyeongbok Palace Security Guard): “I work at Gyeongbok Palace as a security guard. I’m in charge of various security matters such as facility inspection and fire prevention.”



The more we learn about him, the more we find out that he’s no ordinary fellow. In his younger days, he was known for being an impressive fighter.



[Soundbite] “I’ve enjoy exercise since I was young. I used to be stronger than others. People who thought they here strong would come to me and we’d have a match like in a sports tournament. These days, people wouldn’t understand.”



As a young man, he worked in Germany as a miner and also travelled through France. After returning to Korea, he once ran a high-class tailor shop. Bang is also very eloquent, and is called one of Joseon’s three big bluffers along with the famous novelist Hwang Sok-yong shown sitting in the center in this photo,



[Soundbite] Yoo Hong-jun (Fmr. Cultural Heritage Administrator): “I call him Old Cabbage Brother. I think he’s qualified to maintain the ancient palace because he has good qualities like being kind to people and a physical strength that’s not weaker than anyone”



At dusk, Bang locks the palace gates and starts his evening patrol. The police are in charge of the half of the palace grounds near the presidential office, called Cheong Wa Dae or the Blue House, and the night watchman is responsible for the remaining half. He is very meticulous in his patrol, checking every spot of the valuable cultural assets for anything strange or abnormal. He makes four rounds around his half of the palace every night. Bang’s half of the palace is big enough to tire out even young legs. He stays in shape for his rounds by working out at the gym every day. He says there’s also another reason he works out so hard. His dream is to participate in a bodybuilding contest when he turns 80. At five a.m., day has broken at Gyeongbok Palace. Thanks to Bang, the palace has made it through another night safe and sound.



[Soundbite] “A new day has begun at Gyeongbok Palace.”



Bang Dong-gyu will be watching over Gyeongbok Palace tonight as well. Doing his best to fulfill his duty seems to be his secret to staying young.