Presidential Summit

[Anchor Lead]

We begin today with reports that President Park Geun-hye will hold a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Beijing next month. Meanwhile, a Japanese diplomatic envoy visited the presidential office in Seoul to propose bilateral summit talks but prospects of South Korea and Japan’s leaders meeting one-on-one remain unclear.

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Director of Japan's National Security Council Shotaro Yachi, serving as diplomatic envoy of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, made a visit to his Korean counterpart, National Security Adviser Kim Kwan-jin. Yachi said Korea and Japan share a strategic interest together, and proposed efforts to improve bilateral relations on occasion of next year which marks the 50th year since diplomatic ties were normalized. He also proposed holding a bilateral summit. In response, Kim stressed the importance of Tokyo's genuine efforts and pointed out that resolving the wartime sex slavery issue is of primary concern. Seoul has again clarified that real progress must be made regarding the sex slavery issue before summit talks can be held. At a similar time to the Japanese envoy's visit, former Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan who served under former President Hu Jintao also paid a courtesy call on President Park Geun-hye.


[Soundbite] TANG JIAXUAN (Fmr. Chinese State Councilor) : "I've met Pres. Park either in Seoul or Beijing seven times so far including this latest meeting."

[Soundbite] PARK GEUN-HYE (President) : "It's impressive to see him actively strive to enhance Korea-China relations."

Tang, serving in the role of special envoy to President Xi Jinping, also unveiled the fact that the two sides will hold a summit meeting next month. Tang and Park are also believed to have held in-depth talks on recent inter-Korean relations.

2. Public Pension Reform

[Anchor Lead]

Here at home, the presidential office has pledged to process the public pension reform bill, a contentious issue among public officials, within the year. The head of the ruling party says processing the bill by the end of this year is unfeasible, however, raising the specter of yet another clash between the party and the government.

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Under the government's public pension reform bill, public officials will have to pay up to 41 percent more in their pension contributions but receive 34 percent less after they retire. In the face of growing opposition from public servants, pro-Park Geun-hye politician and Saenuri Party floor leader Lee Wan-koo promised to process the bill within the year.

[Soundbite] Rep. LEE WAN-KOO (Saenuri Party) : "We will negotiate the public pension reform bill with the opposition party right away so that we can process the bill within this year."

Sources say Presidential Chief of Staff Kim Ki-choon, speaking at a meeting between the ruling party and the government on October 19, also vowed to process the public pension reform bill by the end of 2014 to dispel any doubts about the government's determination to implement reforms. However, Saenuri Party Chairman Kim Moo-sung says processing the bill within the year is unfeasible because the public should be notified about it first through an open debate. The ruling party leader's remarks demonstrate his disagreement with the government's plan, and could lead to yet another conflict between the presidential office and the party. The opposition party also agreed that processing the pension reform bill within the year is unrealistic, even though it does acknowledge the necessity of the reform.

[Soundbite] Rep. AHN GYU-BAEK (New Politics Alliance for Democracy) : "Processing the bill within this year is not going to be easy because we must first get a consensus from the public."

Both the ruling and opposition parties have agreed to set up a special committee in the National Assembly to oversee public safety in the wake of a series of accidents in the nation, such as the collapse of a ventilation grate in the Seoul suburb of Pangyo. Later this month the parties will also reconfirm three bills on coping with the Sewol ferry disaster. They begin negotiations today on the special law to investigate the cause of the ferry sinking.

3. Concert Tragedy

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More finger pointing in the aftermath of a deadly tragedy at a concert in Seongnam city that left 16 dead and 11 injured. The controversy has uncovered troubling revelations.

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At this posh restaurant in Seongnam city's Bundang district. Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung and president of the Internet-based business newspaper Edaily, Kwak Jae-sun, met last January. Seongnam city revealed that during this meeting, the Edaily president asked the mayor for the city to provide a site for culture and art projects. When the mayor turned it down, Edaily then requested close to 30-thousand dollars in sponsorship aid for the Pangyo Techno Valley Festival. They made the request while sending a planned proposal of the event to the city of Seongnam as it was a hosting party of the festival. A city official revealed that Seongnam struck a compromise with the newspaper by providing about ten-thousand dollars to cover advertisement costs.

[Soundbite] KIM NAK-JUNG (Public Affairs Sec., Seongnam City) : "EDAILY made several requests for preferential aid provisions, but our city did not officially respond to the calls."

And uncovered documents show that Edaily made a similar sponsorship request to Gyeonggi Province as well.

[Soundbite] OH HU-SEOK (Safety & Planning Officer, Gyeonggi Prov.) : "If Gyeonggi Province hosted the event, we would have drafted the business plan. We never planned such measures."

But the newspaper contends it held sufficient talks with Seongnam city and Gyeonggi Province over the issue of hosting the event. Based on the circumstantial evidence revealed so far, the police say it's difficult to determine what party actually played host to the festival. 27 people were killed or injured at the event site due to an incident regarding safety, but no party has yet come out to admit to their role in hosting the event. It seems this task will inevitably lie with the police.

4. Bunk Test Question

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It's been a week since the second trial verdict ruled that one of the questions on world geography in last year's all important scholastic aptitude test had no right answer. But test takers and parents dismay as authorities so far have done nothing to fix the problem.

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The eighth question in the world geography section the Scholastic Aptitude Test of 2013 became a problematic issue because of its confusing potential answers. Unlike the first trial, the second trial ruled that the question had no right answer among the presented choices. In other words, the question itself was wrong. Now it's up to the educational authorities whether to have the Supreme Court issue its verdict or to modify students' grades in line with the outcome of the second trial. It's been a week since the second trial verdict was announced, but the students who failed to get into college because of the wrong question have yet to receive an answer from the educational authorities.

[Soundbite] 2013 SAT Student (Voice Modified) : "It's too much to take for an individual. It's so unfair."

The authorities are still deliberating whether to appeal to the Supreme Court.

[Soundbite] Official at Ministry of Education (Voice Modified) : "We are checking because the verdicts issued in the first and second trials were different."

[Soundbite] KIM SUNG-HOON (President, Korea Inst. for Curriculum & Evaluation (Oct. 20)) : "We are considering the issue on a profound level from various perspectives."

Some say that making a quick decision is made difficult because this year's SAT is less than a month away. Some 18,000 students whose answers for question 8 in world geography were considered wrong at last year's SAT had no choice but to submit their wrong results to colleges ten months ago. Twenty-two of them participated in the lawsuits and are awaiting the result. If the case is referred to the Supreme Court, two years will have passed since the exam. The Ministry of Education and the Korea Institute for Curriculum Evaluation say they will finalize their decision before the deadline on November 5.

5. Legal Swamp

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As legal cases flood into the nation's top Supreme Court, the workload comes out to about 3,000 cases per Supreme Court Justice per year. This is clearly unrealistic, so the court has proposed reforming the appeals system among other ways to rectify the situation.

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It's been five years since former Ssangyong Motor employees filed a lawsuit demanding that their company's decision to lay them off is deemed invalid. The case eventually made it all the way to the Supreme Court this March, but there's no knowing when the case will be settled.

[Soundbite] KIM DEUK-JUNG (Ssangyong Motor Division, Korea Metal Workers' Union) : "The longer the case is protracted, the longer our pain. We want to stop now. We again call for a court ruling."

The number of long-term cases that have been left unsettled for over four months in the Supreme Court stood at some two-thousand as of last year. That's double the figure from five years ago. Here at this Supreme Court office where cases referred from lower courts are categorized officers have not a minute to lose as they tackle heaps of trial papers stacked in front of them. Appeals cases filed with the Supreme Court number an average 36-thousand each year. This leaves one Supreme Court justice having to process 3,000 cases each year. In other words, that's eight cases daily without a single day of rest.

[Soundbite] PARK BYEONG-DAE (Supreme Court Justice (Minister of Nat'l Court Admin.)) : "The reality is the workload has reached a limit and has become unbearable."

In light of the situation, the top court has proposed as a solution opening a separate appeals court in Seoul. With this two-way approach, the appeals court would handle general cases, such as those involving petty fines, leaving the Supreme Court to deal with the more important cases such as those regarding workers' wages. But this is not without opposition. Critics say the measure would restrict the right for anyone to be tried at the nation's highest court. Other alternative solutions include restructuring the Supreme Court into a dual system or installing an appeals department at the High Court level.

6. Back to the Wild

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Three bear cubs have been released to Mount Jiri after being rehabilitated to the wild, with training to avoid humans and find food on their own. This brings the total to 34 Asian black bears living on the mountain.

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As soon as their cages are opened, the Asian black bear cubs run away and into the woods. Of the three cubs released to the wild, two were found along with their mother in a shelter on Mount Jiri back in July, as they were looking for food. The third cub was abandoned by its mother back in January. The cubs received special training before their release. First, they were taught how to avoid humans. This was done by blowing whistles and making noise with wooden sticks to scare off the bears and keep them away from people. Next, they were taught how to climb trees, an essential skill for their survival as the cubs will have to live in the wild without their mothers.

[Soundbite] LEE BAE-GEUN (Official, Korea National Park Service) : "These cubs are the first in Korea to be released to the wild after receiving re-adaptation training."

With the release of the three cubs, the total number of Asian black bears on Mount Jiri has increased to 34. The Korea National Park Service plans to create natural habitats for bears on Seorak and Odae mountains as well after 2020.

7. Updating Opera

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Opera is considered to be more difficult to understand than more popular genres like musicals. But nowadays opera has adopted some of the more visually pleasing methods from musical productions to make them more entertaining.

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The huge stage rotates and faces the audience. Ear-splitting thunderclaps draw the people's attention along with the flashy effects often seen in musicals. The production has kept intact the opera's beautiful arias, vibrant chorus, and majestic orchestral scores, while its special effects and wardrobe are overseen by a musical director.

[Soundbite] KIM TAE-HYEONG (Opera Director with Musical Experience) : "I made the scenes easier to picture and understand by adding physical, visual, and audio aspects."

[Soundbite] "That unfortunate woman who met such a husband."

And just like in musicals, the lyrics were changed to Korean to better suit the operagoers. An established opera singer who's worked the stages in Europe even took lessons from a musical actor to shore up her acting skills.

[Soundbite] JANG YU-RI (Soprano) : "We tend to forget about acting because we put more emphasis on the sound. So I've learned a lot from these actors."

In the past, it may have been somewhat difficult for people to approach operas with their classical singing and orchestral music. But now, operas, having learned something from musical productions, have made themselves easier to understand, better appealing to audiences.

8. Epik High Charts

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Hip hop group Epik High has soared to the top of the Korean music charts with the release of its new album. This and more coming up in today's show biz news.

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Hip hop group Epik High has been in the spotlight recently, following the release of "Shoebox," their first regular album in two years. The title track, "Happen Ending," placed first on eight music charts in Korea on the day of its release, October 21st. The album also topped the iTunes album charts in seven countries, including Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Actor Lee Joon-gi's followers on Weibo, a microblogging site in China, have reached more than 15 million in number. Lee's agency said that his latest TV series, "Gunman in Joseon" was viewed more than 400 million times on a Chinese video streaming site, and the number of his fans has grown tremendously. Lee plans to go on an Asian tour in China and Japan next month to further boost his popularity as a hallyu star. Male duo TVXQ is to embark on a world tour in December, starting in Seoul. The group's agency reported that the world tour will be a special one, as it is part of the 10th anniversary celebration of their debut. TVXQ garnered great reviews for their last world tour in 2011, which included concerts in the United States, China, and Japan.

9. Slim and Trim

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Many women complain about their thighs and hips. Naturally, women are more likely to store excess weight in these areas. Here are some tips on how to keep your lower body slim and trim.

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Different people have different body types, especially when it comes to thighs and hips. Some people have big thighs and hips due to stores of fat and cellulite. They may be overweight in general so their lower bodies have become lumpy. Consumption of high-calorie foods and a reluctance to exercise sufficiently can lead to this situation. How can they lose weight?

[Soundbite] HONG YOUNG-HO (Obesity Clinician) : "For the fat type, physical exercise, especially aerobic exercise, is effective. Brisk walking, swimming and bicycle riding are good. The most effective way is do aerobic exercise for 30 to 40 minutes and then work out your muscles for ten minutes."

In another case, people can have a thick lower body that is swollen from their life habits. They see their lower bodies swollen, because they remain seated and rarely move their legs for a long time in their offices. Conversely, legs can easily swell when people work on their feet all day long. Dietary habits are also a big factor. Your lower body can swell if you frequently eat salty or instant foods. What is a solution to ease the swelling in legs and calves? It is good to put a pillow under your calves and raise your legs high. Massaging can promote blood circulation and helps ease the swell. Some people have calves that are thick with muscles. Even if you lose weight, your legs can remain thick because of the muscles. They are muscular thighs and calves.

[Soundbite] MAENG WOO-JAE (Obesity Clinician) : "For the muscular type, they have thick legs because of genetic traits. They develop thick legs to maintain their physique or body frame."

Exercising is not effective for the muscular type. Some medical help can bring tangible changes to muscular legs. Electrofulguration can help reduce the size of unnecessary muscles and fat. Botox injections are also effective in making legs thin by paralyzing muscle activity in calves. But the effects are temporary, lasting for about six months. Ballet might be the best remedy for all types of lumpy legs. A ballet position called the arabesque is the best workout exercise for the lower body. Stand on one leg with the other leg turned out and extended behind the body. But both legs must be held straight.

[Soundbite] CHOI HYE-JIN (Ballet Dancer) : "When doing the arabesque, you raise one leg and keep it in the air for five seconds, Repeat the move ten times. It helps sculpt the hips and burn cellulite in the back of legs."

It is not easy to get rid your legs of fat and unnecessary muscles. Hopefully some of the solutions outlined today will help relieve lower body issues.