Reactor Restarting

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Red flags are being raised over speculation North Korea could be restarting a plutonium-producing reactor at its Yongbyon nuclear facility. Some analysts have warned that switching on outdated and poorly maintained technology and equipment could have potentially dire consequences for the Korean Peninsula.

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After hearing that North Korea may be reoperating its nuclear reactor in Yongbyon, Russia expressed concern of a potential calamity. A Russian diplomatic source told Interfax news agency that North Korea is up to something at Yongbyon, and based on a number of signs, Pyongyang appears to be moving toward restarting the reactor. The source said that the facility, built in the 1950s, is in poor shape and if it becomes activated, this could bring about disaster on the Korean Peninsula. U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy Glyn Davies who is visiting China also expressed serious concerns over North Korea.

[Soundbite] Glyn Davies(U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy) : "If it turns out that these reports are true, that North Korea has restarted the five-megawatt plutonium reactor, this would be a very serious matter."

The International Atomic Energy Agency says it does not have the facts yet and is trying to confirm if the speculation is true. Earlier, 38 North, a North Korea portal run by a Johns Hopkins University think tank said that based on satellite photos taken on August 31st, the Yongbyon reactor has been activated or has nearly reached that stage.

2. Investment Controversy

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It has emerged that the National Pension Corporation has invested more than 3-hundred million U.S. dollars in dozens of Japanese corporations that forced Koreans to work for them during Japan’s brutal colonial rule of Korea. It also turns out that half of them are in the red, which raises the question of why the NPC invested in them in the first place.

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This is the list of Japanese war-crime companies. It was drafted by the Commission on Verification and Support for the Victims of Forced Mobilization under Japanese Colonialism in Korea. A survey has revealed that of 1,493 Japanese companies that forced Koreans to work for them during Japanese imperialism, 299 still exist. Forty two of them have been receiving investments from the National Pension Corporation. The total invested amount so far exceeds 300 million U.S. dollars. The corporation directly invested in 17 of them, such as Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Asahi Glass and Japan Iron and Steel. Seventeen of the companies in question are in the red. Their investment losses reach 16 million U.S. dollars. The National Pension Corporation is now facing sharp criticism for its unjustified investments. Meanwhile, the victims of Japanese forced labor and their families are paying their mandatory pension contributions to this day.

3. Up in the Air

[Anchor Lead]

Controversy is growing over the selection of Korea’s new fighter jet. With the deal nearing completion, former Air Force Chiefs of Staff say the military should reconsider its decision to purchase Boeing’s F-15 Silent Eagle.

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Competition had been fierce between the three candidates for the Korean military's new fighter jet. But the U.S.'s Lockheed Martin F-35 and EADS’s Eurofighter were eliminated from the race. This is because the costs do not match up to the government's budget of around 8 billion U.S. dollars. The last procedure left is the defense acquisition program meeting to be held after the Chuseok holiday. Hosted by the defense minister it will decide whether to select the F-15 Silent Eagle or reevaluate it from the beginning. Meanwhile, 15 former Air Force Chiefs of Staff are opposed to the adoption of the F-15. They sent the president a message stating that the standard F-15SE model was outdated, having been made in the 70s, and that doubts are being raised over remodeling it. Evaluations should not based on just the price, but through a comprehensive evaluation. They pointed out that adopting a hi-tech fighter can even change the concept of military strategy and because of this the state's strategic judgment must come first. But the Defense Acquisition Program Administration says that restarting the process from scratch would be impossible since solving the air force's lack of manpower was more urgent. The administration is soon planning to report the evaluation results to the presidential office but has hit a snag due to the opposition of former chiefs of staff.

4. Worked to Death

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The death of a pregnant first lieutenant at her front line unit earlier this year has triggered calls for sweeping new guidelines on pregnancy and childbirth in the military.

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28-year-old First Lieutenant Lee Sin-ae was serving in the Gangwon Province Unit, following in the footsteps of her father and grandfather, who both were commissioned officers. At seven months of pregnancy, she still worked more than 12 hours a day and eventually died of cerebral hemorrhage in February.

[Soundbite] Lee’s Father : "She died because there's no maternity clinic in Inje County. There are some in Chuncheon and Sokcho, but that's outside the garrison. "

At the time, the Army denied the fact that her death was caused by overwork, and said that she died of pregnancy-induced hypertension. But after the Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission stepped in, the Army belatedly recognized that Lee died in action due to overwork. The possibility of similar tragedies involving female officers remains high in the Army. Of the 16 military hospitals in the country, only five have the departments of obstetrics and gynecology. Among the two thousand Army surgeons, only five are gynecologists. The South Korean Army has some 83-hundred female soldiers and officers. The Defense Ministry plans to raise the percentage of women in uniform from the current four to six percent by 2020. But to make that happen the enlisted women must gain access to healthcare during pregnancy, childbirth and childcare.

5. Difficult Devices

[Anchor Lead]

Under Korean law, all public facilities are required to have external defibrillators available to save the lives of those who suddenly suffer heart attacks. Sounds good, right? But it turns out that most people have no idea where they are located or what they even do.

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Seoul and local governments set a law obligating public facilities to install external defibrillators. Using one is quite simple. You just follow the machine's instructions.

[Soundbite] "Please remove the patient's shirt and attach the pads onto the chest."

The machine costs more than 3,700 U.S. dollars per unit but they're rarely used. At a subway station in Seoul, one shop owner who works near a defibrillator said she didn't even know where to find it or what the device is used for. At Seoul Station, 11 defibrillators are installed. The handle for opening the device is covered with plastic making access nearly impossible. It's used for preventing theft but it makes it makes it difficult for a patient in an urgent situation to open it.

[Soundbite] Kim Su-sik(Seoul Citizen) : "I don't it can be opened unless you break it."

It's also hard to know how much the devices are actually used. The Seoul city government is planning to develop a web map or application showing their locations. Presently, around 7,000 defibrillators have been installed nationwide and until last year, more than 9.2 million U.S. dollars were invested.

6. Dual-touch Display

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Up until now, it’s been the stuff of Hollywood’s sci-fi imagination, but technology that allows users to play games just by touching a transparent glass screen could soon become a reality.

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A brain image is scanned and information is entered into a translucent screen. This is a scene from a movie, but something similar is likely to happen in real life soon. Two people standing on each side of a translucent glass wall draw colorful pictures with their hands. They can also play a game of flipping alphabet letters. This is a new-concept medium called Trans Wall. It works by touching both sides of a transparent glass wall. It was developed by researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. The Trans Wall has a holographic screen film inserted between two glass sheets and beam projectors that shoot images onto the wall from each side. This glass wall can be used at theme parks and shopping malls to exchange sensory information.

[Soundbite] Prof. Lee U-hun(KAIST) : "When people watching TV content or news approach the wall, a game could pop up."

The researchers will soon commercialize the technology by transferring it to businesses.

7. Flowers of Fall

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With fall just around the corner, wild flowers are heralding the start of the new season high in the mountains. Let's take a look at some fall blossoms at Mount Sobaek.

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Maple leaves already begin turning red in the deep valleys of Mount Sobaek. 1,300 meters above sea level, the royal azalea leaves have turned brown while autumn flowers begin to bloom. They include Siberian chrysanthemums, purple wolfbanes, shaped like a Roman soldier's helmet, and light green splintery blossoms of a marsh plant known as surichui in Korea. You can also see both asters and thistles at this time of year.

[Soundbite] Jo Gi-yong(National Park Service) : "People only know about royal azaleas in the spring. But in early September there are lots of wild flowers in the summer and fall that bloom and form a heavenly garden."

There are also cranesbills that peak during summer, bellflowers that blossom in summer and early fall, and gold-colored valerians that appear from late summer through the autumn.

[Soundbite] Choe Jae-yong(Hiker) : "Various wild flowers are very well preserved here. I'm enjoying them on my way up."

The mountain was barren until the 1980s and restoration began in the 1990s. Now the plants have all come back to life. All the efforts put in to revive the environment is paying off with the wonderful wild flowers of autumn.

8. Entertainment News

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Member of hit boy band 2PM, Chansung, is to play a lead role in a TV show. And Lee Jung-jae is holding a special screening event dedicated to his 20 years as one of Korea’s finest actors.

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Singer Chansung, who is a member of the popular music group 2PM, has landed his first leading role in a TV show. Chansung will play the youngest member of an organized crime ring in the KBS TV2 show "Your Noir." His character one day realizes that the wife of a prosecutor who is chasing him was his school teacher he once had a crush on. The pilot episode of the show will air October 2. Actor Lee Jung-jae debuted in 1994 in director Bae Chang-ho's movie "Young Man." A special screening event has opened to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Lee's debut. It showcases 15 of Lee's best films. On September 28 the actor will also meet with his fans in person. Veteran actress Hwang Jeong-soon, who is battling dementia, was hospitalized on September 9, as her symptoms worsened. Hwang's family says she can no longer recognize her loved ones and is unable to eat. Hwang debuted in 1940 at the age of 15 and appeared in more than 500 films and theater plays.

9. Historic Inventions

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In our fast-paced, modern world, every-day items can go from useful to obsolete in the blink of an eye. But historians are finding cultural value in some machines of the past.

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In Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, antique cars ranging from 30 to 100 years old are parked at the bottom of a hill. A classic car comes flying in to take its place. It's called a Pony. In the late 1970s, half of the cars on the streets of Seoul's Jongno were Ponies like this one.

[Soundbite] Baek Jung-gil(Car Collector) : "It was 1975, so it's 30 years old. It was a hit at the time. The response was great."

The Pony was the first vehicle mass-produced in Korea, in production for a decade from 1975. The Pony owes its handsome looks to an Italian designer.

[Soundbite] "If you owned a car in the seventies, you were regarded as well off. A family that had a car was said to be rich."

This Pony is nearly 40 years old, but thanks to regular maintenance, it still runs flawlessly. The interior is a bit crude. And since there's no air conditioning, the driver cools himself off by rolling down the windows - which, by the way are manual. This is how cars looked back in the day. And the Pony became the foundation of the Korean car industry.

[Soundbite] "We designed the car ourselves. Pony 1 was first Korean vehicle. I take pride in it and so take good care of it."

Until the 1980s, few Koreans knew how to type. It was considered an advanced skill. Back then, many young women trained to become typists to land a good job in an office.

[Soundbite] Lee Dae-ro(Pupil of Gong Byeong-u) : "Like the TOEIC test for English, commercial high school students took typing tests to determine their skill level. It was helpful in getting jobs."

The most famous typewriter in Korea was the Gong Byeong-u typewriter, which was developed in 1949. Through Korea's rapid industrialization from the 1970s, the use of typewriters gradually increased. And until computers were introduced, typewriters played a key role in work place efficiency. Ophthalmologist Gong Byeong-u invented the eponymous first Korean typewriter. From his encounters with hangeul scholar Lee Geuk-ro in the late 1930s, Dr. Gong grew interested in mechanizing the Korean alphabet. Dr. Gong finally developed a typewriter layout with the keys divided into three groups. To the day he died, Dr. Gong was said to have worked with his students on mechanizing the Korean alphabet in the most efficient way. Technical advances soon cast these life enriching innovations to the dustbins of history. But historians are now reevaluating these obsolete machines as historical treasures offering a glimpse into the past.