MORE TRASH BALLOONS FROM N. KOREA

MORE TRASH BALLOONS FROM N. KOREA

[Anchor Lead]
North Korea once again launched trash balloons targeting the South over the weekend and today. Reports of these balloons primarily came from the Seoul metropolitan area and Gyeonggido-province. Fortunately, there were no injuries or property damage reported.

[Pkg]
A balloon the size of a tree and a bundle of paper at the bottom. This is trash sent from North Korea.

[Soundbite]
Ji Hoon (Paju resident): They looked small in photos, but they are much bigger in reality. I was shocked.

Trash-carrying balloons sent from the North again in just eight days since the last batch have been found in the Hangang River, on rooftops and in rice paddies. No human or property damage has been reported so far. The Joint Chiefs of Staff has confirmed that North Korea sent some 330 trash balloons this time, and about 80 of them have landed on South Korean territory. The JCS believes the balloon mission did not go as planned because some of the balloons landed in the North. Previously, reports of trash balloons were received nationwide, but this time they mostly came from the capital region. No trash balloons were detected in the Chungcheong or Gyeongsang regions.
The JCS attributes that to the western wind. It says the reason why the North decided to send the balloons even though the northern wind was not blowing needs to be analyzed. North Korea sent trash balloons twice, in late May and in early June, to retaliate for leaflets sent from the South by a private organization. It halted its acts on June 2, but warned it would resume sending balloons carrying 100 times as much trash if the South sends more leaflets. Pundits believe the latest balloons are in response to the additional leaflets sent by a South Korean private organization last week.

LOUDSPEAKER BROADCASTS RESUME

[Anchor Lead]
In response to North Korea's balloon provocations, the South Korean government has resumed loudspeaker broadcasts. This is a move particularly aggravating to the Kim Jong-un regime. The continuation now depends entirely on North Korea's next moves, as stated by the South Korean military.

[Pkg]
The presidential office held a meeting of the National Security Council's standing committee and decided to resume loudspeaker broadcasts toward North Korea. The government said any attempt to cause public anxiety and social chaos won't be tolerated and the responsibility for any escalation of tension lies entirely with North Korea.

[Soundbite]
Kim Soo-kyung (Presidential Spokesperson): Though tough for the regime, it will bring messages of hope to North Korea's military and citizens.

The military, which had concluded preparations for loudspeaker broadcasts in recent days through related training, immediately resumed the operation as of Sunday afternoon. It also unveiled footage of a drill involving mobile speakers emerging from the top of military vehicles. Until their removal, there were around 40 loudspeakers, both fixed and mobile. This time, some fixed loudspeakers were reportedly operated for about two hours. The loudspeakers played the ‘Voice of Freedom,’ a radio program produced by the defense ministry's psychological warfare unit. In the past, broadcast content also included news, weather forecasts, K-pop and English conversation. The military stressed that whether to carry out more loudspeaker broadcasts is entirely up to North Korea. Seoul's Defense Minister Shin Won-sik held a meeting of all military commanders and called for stern retaliation should Pyongyang stage provocations under the pretext of the resumed broadcasts.

NEWS BRIEF

[Anchor Lead]
Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, has warned that South Korea will witness a ‘new counteraction’ from the North if it continues loudspeaker broadcasts and sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border. She issued the statement Sunday carried by the Korean Central News Agency noting the North had planned to stop its countermeasures that day but the situation has changed. Kim added the balloons the North sent only contained waste paper and no materials related to political propaganda. Following the Korean Medical Association's announcement of a one-day strike on June 18, the government has decided to impose orders on private practitioners not to suspend their services or file a report to authorities if they do so. Health minister Cho Kyoo-hong said that collective healthcare suspension by the whole medical community threatens the public and patients' right to life and is totally unacceptable. He said the government will launch a legal review into whether the KMA's encouragement of collective action violates the Fair Trade Act.

COOLING CAPS FOR HAIR LOSS

[Anchor Lead]
One of the unspoken worries of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy is hair loss. Hair loss due to chemotherapy not only lowers self-esteem but can also hinder social interactions. However, domestic clinical trials have shown that using scalp cooling caps can help prevent hair loss.

[Pkg]
Lee Hyung-ran received chemotherapy eight years ago because of breast cancer. She endured the grueling therapy well, but dealing with hair loss was not easy.

[Soundbite]
Lee Hyung-ran (Overcame breast cancer): It was difficult as I could not complain after losing all my hair. Some people think cancer survivors should not complain about hair loss.

Researchers from the Samsung Medical Center became the first in the nation to introduce the so-called ‘scalp cooling caps’ to reduce chemotherapy-induced hair loss. Made of silicone, the cooling caps contain a cooling liquid of minus 4 degrees Celsius. They keep patients' scalps cool during chemotherapy sessions. Clinical tests have shown that 50% of patients who received chemotherapy without cooling caps had persistent hair loss, whereas only 14% of those who wore cooling caps developed hair loss. Even patients who have already had hair loss saw their hair grow back thicker and more quickly when they used cooling caps.

[Soundbite]
Prof. Ahn Jin-seok (Samsung Medical Center): These caps lower the scalp temperature to reduce the amount of blood reaching the scalp. They help minimize the impact of anti-cancer drugs...on the scalp by reducing metabolism in hair follicles.

Scalp cooling caps are already used widely in the U.S. and Europe as a way to prevent hair loss in cancer patients and thus helping them boost self-esteem. In Korea an application has been filed for the use of scalp cooling caps as a new health technology. They will likely be introduced in full gear later this year at the earliest.

ART MEETS MATH

[Anchor Lead]
Math and art. What will happen when these two different worlds merge? Works that decode math into forms like installation and media art are now coming to viewers. Here's more.

[Pkg]
Mysterious lights that light up the dark sky like stars. They make the audience feel as if they are far away in space. The piece visualized data that NASA sent back to Earth. Powered by a mechanic device, this piece features a giant flower bloom and wither. The countless number of petals symbolize the beginning and end as well as life and death.

[Soundbite]
Kim Bo-ra, Jeon Soo-ah (Gwangju resident): Seeing the connection between math, beauty and nature made me hope that my child would grow up beautifully as well.

Analyzing Bach's classical music mathematically to create visual forms and using the Möbius strip in installation art, these works translate math into the language of art.

[Soundbite]
Kim Joon-ki (Director of Gwangju Museum of Art): I came to see math as a way to understand the world. I hope the audience enjoys the exhibition from such perspective.

Masterpieces that represent Korea's modern and contemporary art history are also on display. 'Gajokdo,' by Bae Un-seong, one of Korea’s first-generation of artists to study in Europe, is a masterpiece that combines delicate Eastern line drawing with Western perspective. The exhibition is also showing 'Ulsanbawi of Mt. Seorak' by Park Ko-suk for the first time to the public in addition to some 100 works by masters such as Chun Kyung-ja, Lee Jung-seob and Lee Ufan. The fine pieces, which cross the borders of math and art, are set to present to the audience the essence of South Korea’s modern art.

BAEKJAE SMILING BUDDHA STATUE

[Anchor Lead]
Buddhist art masterpieces, including those that were hard to find domestically, are set to meet visitors. Join us for a glimpse into a festival of Buddhist art masterpieces from around the globe.

[Pkg]
Wearing a crown and holding a bottle with sweet dew water on its left hand...the statue depicts Avalokitesvara, who pursues salvation for all people with compassion. The smile on the statue, by far, is its most striking feature. This is a 1,400-year-old gilt-bronze standing Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva statue from the Baekje Kingdom.

[Soundbite]
Cho Ji-yoon (Samsung Foundation of Culture): The smile on the statue is called 'The Smile of Baekje' which is a benign, kind and innocent smile.

Finely-ground abalone shells have been used to express chrysanthemums on lacquered wood. Wire-shaped golden lines were used to express the vines of chrysanthemums. These are the features of the box that was used during the Goryeo Dynasty to store Buddhist scriptures. The box depicts the essence of the masters of the Goryeo Najeon technique.

[Soundbite]
Cho Ji-yoon (Samsung Foundation of Culture): This is a piece that was directly made by the government at the request of China’s Yuan Dynasty.

The exhibition shows 92 Buddhist art pieces that were gathered from Japan, Germany and the U.S., including a 15th century Joseon Dynasty painting depicting the life of Buddha.

[Soundbite]
Ban Soo-yeon (Incheon resident): I'm not a Buddhist but the smiles of Bodhisattvas are so calming and I think that I enjoy the comfort and serenity that they give.

[Soundbite]
Kim Jae-hwa / Seoul resident
I heard that such Buddha statues were collected to wish for their late mothers or children and made me think that people always cherish their families.

It is uncertain when such works will be put on display in the nation again once they are returned to foreign lands where they were kept.

WORLD-CLASS PIANISTS IN GWANGJU

[Anchor Lead]
Two idols of the classical music scene, pianists Cho Seong-jin and Lim Yun-chan, are set to visit Gwangju this month. Here's more.

[Pkg]
Classical music fans are turning their eyes and ears to the Gwangju Arts Center. World-class pianists Cho Seong-jin and Lim Yun-chan will be performing there just four days apart from each other. First, Cho will perform on Saturday, featuring works by French composer Maurice Ravel and Hungarian composer Franz Liszt. It will mark the first time in four years for Cho to perform in Gwangju. Lim, the winner of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, will take the stage next Wednesday. He was initially set to play songs from his album 'Chopin Etudes,' released in April, but decided to play songs by 'Mendelssohn' and 'Tchaikovsky' instead. Organizers said tickets for both performances sold out within one minute of going on sale.