Araon Misson

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The nation’s first ice-breaking vessel Araon has explored Terra Nova Bay in Antarctica. The bay is the second candidate site for the construction of a Korean science base. Bad weather including a snowstorm temporarily forced the Araon to suspend operations, but the mission went fairly well overall.



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A British expeditionary team arrived at Terra Nova Bay in eastern Antarctica 100 years ago. A variety of wildlife resides here, including the seabird skua. The Araon has reached Terra Nova Bay, the second candidate site for a Korean science base in the South Pole. Korea’s first icebreaker has begun inspecting the area.



The crew set up a temporary base camp on shore. Members measured temperature, wind direction and speed, and geological and atmospheric elements. To measure water depth, a team also floated a boat on a lake situated in the mid-slope of a mountain 85 meters above sea level. The lake was five to six meters deep, a level fit for a reservoir.

 

Crew charged with mapping the geography put up a copper plate with the inscription "Republic of Korea" written in Korean. The inspections proceeded smoothly, but had to stop for a time due to snowstorms and strong winds of more than 20 meters per second. The crew will prepare a comparison of Terra Nova Bay with Cape Burks, the other candidate site the Araon explored last month.



[Soundbite] Kim Ye-dong (Chief, Inspection Team) : “We’ll finalize the site by early March and submit our letter of opinion to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting by early April.”



The Araon will wrap up its mission Wednesday and return to Christchurch, New Zealand, around February 20th.



2. New KTX



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The next-generation high-speed KTX II railway will start operations next month. The development of faster and more advanced high-speed trains is rapidly gaining momentum. Let’s take a look at the future of high-speed rail travel in Korea.



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This is the domestically made KTX II that will run on high-speed rail lines linking Seoul with Busan and Mokpo from next month. The train’s top speed is 350 kilometers per hour. Eighty-seven percent of the parts are Korean made. Korea within five years will develop a third-stage high-speed train that can run up to 400 kilometers an hour.



Today’s trains run on engines installed in the first and last cars. The third-stage train will have engines on each car to allow faster acceleration. The body is made of aluminum alloy, making it 25 percent lighter than conventional KTX trains. Rail authorities are negotiating export deals with Brazil and Turkey worth a combined 23 billion U.S. dollars.



An aluminum bullet whizzes through a plastic cylinder in an instant. There’s almost no wind resistance inside the cylinder because of a near vacuum state. This principle is driving the development of a new high-speed train with a top speed of 700 kilometers per hour. The train will be the fastest in the world if developed.



[Soundbite] Choi Seong-gyu (Koera Railroad Research Inst.) : “If we develop the technology ahead of others, we’ll be able to take most of the shipping and rail markets.”



The project to develop the super-fast rail is scheduled for completion in 2020.



3. Gate Rebirth



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Restoration work has begun on Sungnyemun (숭례문), Korea’s National Treasure No. 1, which was burned down by an arsonist in 2008. Preparations for restoring the traditional gate have taken two years. The goal is to restore Sungnyemun to as close to its original condition as possible



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Sungnyemun was burned to ashes after an arsonist set fire to it two years ago. Work has begun to restore the traditional gate back to life. The Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea has conducted safety inspections, researched historical materials, and drawn up a blueprint for the restoration.



The fortress walls torn down under Japanese colonial occupation will also be put up on each side of the gate. Construction methods of the Joseon Dynasty will be adopted in the process to restore the gate as close as possible to its original form. A blacksmith will work onsite to produce all the metal structures needed in the traditional way.



Wood and stone materials will also be mended the old manner using traditional tools like the plane, chisel and hammer. Prince Yangnyeong’s calligraphy has also been restored for the tablet. Reusable wood from the scraps that survived the fire and new pine wood will be used in the construction. Restoration work will be conducted through late 2012. People can apply to visit the construction site on the Cultural Heritage Administration Web site.



4. Quake Strikes



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An earthquake measuring 3.0 on the Richter scale has hit the southern Seoul suburb of Siheung (시흥), Gyeonggi Province. The quake was the first to reach 3.0 in magnitude in the Seoul metropolitan area since 1978, when Korea began detecting seismic activity



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An earthquake measuring 3.0 on the Richter scale hit the Seoul metropolitan area around 6:08 p.m. Tuesday. An analysis showed that the epicenter was nearby Seoul’s outer circle highway located eight kilometers north of the Siheung City Hall in Gyeonggi Province. The tremor lasted for two or three seconds and was felt in neighboring Seoul, Incheon and other parts of Gyeonggi Province. The quake was relatively weak at magnitude 3.0, but many people felt it nonetheless.



[Soundbite] Lee Hyeon (Korea Meteorological Admin.) : “The earthquake occurred 10 kilometers underground in the metropolitan area.”



No serious damage was reported. No power outage occurred and trains and airplanes ran normally. The earthquake was the country’s seventh this year but the first felt by people. The Seoul metropolitan area has had three earthquakes since 1978, when Korea began detecting them. But Tuesday’s tremor was the first to hit 3.0 on the Richter scale. A yearly average of 43.6 earthquakes has occurred in Korea over the past ten years. Among them, an average of 8.3 earthquakes exceeded 3.0 in magnitude. Experts warn that Korea is not safe from earthquakes measuring 6.5 in magnitude, the country’s maximum. They urge the importance of being prepared at all times.



5. Technical Skills



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. A lack of workers with specialized skills is one major reason for Korea’s unemployment problem. So it’s no wonder that more than 90 percent of people who graduate from specialized technical colleges get jobs. Here’s the secret behind the success of these technical colleges.



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Students attend a class on the automatic control of freezer facilities. All classes utilize practical skills and training. Students at this school focus on training in specialized skills and techniques for one year. Training runs for eight hours a day. Each student earns at least two national technical licenses by graduation.



[Soundbite] Gang Jeong-su (Employed Student) : “I hadn’t been able to get a job after graduation. Training here helped me get licenses and jobs.”



The high job placement rate is thanks to the customization of practical skills and training to foster the workers wanted by companies. More than 90 percent of graduates of 38 technical schools nationwide like this one get jobs every year.



[Soundbite] Gwon Deok-su (Company Personnel Manager) : “As they are trained based on the actual work site, they adapt faster to their work. So, we can cut costs on training new employees.”



The promise of employment is drawing more graduates of junior and four-year colleges to the technical schools.



[Soundbite] Yu Deok-sang (President, Korea Polytechnics Ⅵ Colleges) : “We concentrate training on what firms need, So Our students perform much better at work compared to those from other colleges.”



The number of unemployed youths in Korea has hit one million. So specialized technical education is giving hope in the tight job market through customized training and education.



6. Tiger Marketing



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Stores are taking advantage of the Year of the Tiger to raise sales ahead of the Lunar New Year’s holiday weekend. This is the first Year of the Tiger in 60 years, so the retail sector is using so-called white tiger marketing.



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A bus decorated like a white tiger appears in downtown Seoul. An amusement park has arranged this surprise event to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Children seem to enjoy seeing the tiger-shaped bus, which is usually seen only at zoo safaris. Adults write their New Year’s wishes on tiger-shaped paper.



[Soundbite] “I hope my friends stay healthy and make lots of money.”



[Soundbite] “I’m getting married this year, so I hope to be happy all the time.”



A white tiger stands in the middle of a supermarket. A child cries at the feline’s fearsome presence. But a closer look shows that the white tiger is made out of curly instant noodles. A statue manufacturer needed 200 instant noodle packs and ten days to create this work.



[Soundbite] “It looks like a Korean tiger. It may make me eat more ramen.”



This department store has printed tigers in gold and silver on its gift certificate envelopes. The envelopes are free to people who purchase gift certificates worth 257 U.S. dollars or more. But some customers buy just the envelopes.



[Soundbite] Yun Jong-won (Hyundai Department Store) : “It’s not just packaging. Customers like it, as the tiger is known to ward off evil and make dreams come true.”



So-called white tiger marketing is dominating the retail sector ahead of the Lunar New Year’s holidays.



7. Super Skiier



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A sixth-grade skier has captured national headlines despite having to train without snow. This triple crown champion at the National Winter Sports Festival learned the sport not on the slopes, but on asphalt roads.



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Sixth-grader Bae Min-ju races down a road wearing skis with wheels. She trains not on a snowy ski slope, but on a hard asphalt road. There’s no ski resort nearby. So Bae has to walk up the incline instead of riding a lift. She risks injury every time she trains on the road because of cars racing by. But Bae has overcome these difficulties to win three gold medals in cross-country skiing at this year’s National Winter Sports Festival.



[Soundbite] Bae Min-ju (Triple Medal Winner in Crosscountry) : “I trained harder as I wanted to be in the top three despite the difficult circumstances ”



Teammates on her elementary school ski team won two bronze medals in the boy’s and girl’s cross-country relay.



[Soundbite] Lee Jae-yang (Ski Coach, Hwasun Elementary School) : “We may train less than other skiers, but we do well because of our can-do spirit.”



These young skiers say they eventually want to train on real snow.



[Soundbite] “I want to get a systematic training program and compete against leading skiers in the Winter Olympics.”



Their dream is to compete in a Winter Olympics against world-class competitors.



8. Young Again



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A group of elderly women in the countryside has taken up the Korean martial art taekwondo to stay healthy and keep in shape. These women are in their 70s and 80s but have earned black belts.



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Loud yelling and shouting fills this taekwondo studio in the countryside. The moves are performed with accuracy and moderation. The practionners are elderly women in their 70s and 80s. They’ve trained for five years to stay healthy and keep in shape.



[Soundbite] Kim Jeong-bong (71) : “I couldn’t walk or even stand up straight. Now, I have stronger legs.”



They say they’ve found health and joy through taekwondo thanks to their instructor. The instructor says he was shocked to see elderly women waiting in a long line to get into a temporary drug stall. The traveling sellers in the stall were peddling unapproved medical products to senior citizens in the basement floor of his gym’s building.



[Soundbite] Kim Gyeong-su (Taekwondo Master) : “I applied to the village committee to open a taekwondo class for elderly women.”



Some 50 elderly women have taken his classes. Thirty-one of them have passed the strict standards of the Korea Taekwondo Association to earn black belts.



[Soundbite] Jeong Sun-ok (75) : “I’m going to keep training as long as I can.” “And if you don’t?” “I’ll probably get sick.”



For these active elderly women, taekwondo is energizing their lives through better health and fun.



9. Kimchi Wave



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. Koreans’ favorite food, kimchi, is now known all over the world. A recently released film is drawing attention for showcasing 120 different kinds of kimchi. Let’s go get a closer look at kimchi that has been raised to an art form.



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There’s onion kimchi that looks like a flower, bright scarlet pomegranate kimchi, and even eggplant kimchi. It’s difficult to imagine all the different colors and shapes of the different varieties of kimchi. These kimchi dishes are the stars of the film “Le Grand Chef: Kimchi War.” Viewers have been impressed by the little known types of kimchi on display in the movie.



[Soundbite] “I eat kimchi everyday at home but the kimchi in the movie are so amazing that I’m thinking of making some myself.”



[Soundbite] “As a Korean house wife, I’d like to make one of the kimchi in the movie myself.”



The main story of the film is about two rival chefs competing to see who can make better kimchi.



[Soundbite] “Now, let’s see how amazing kimchi can be!”



Who made this mouthwatering kimchi? It’s Kim Su-jin, Korea’s first food director.



[Soundbite] Kim Su-jin (Food Dir. "Le Grand Chef") : “I did a lot of research after getting the script. I traveled all around Korea to find the most Suitable kimchi for the film. It took more than a year.”



Kim Su-jin has developed tricks to make kimchi look more delicious on screen.



[Soundbite] “I use these tools to make kimchi look tastier.”



For example, she brushes on red pepper powder mixed with kimchi water to make the kimchi more red and pins in chopped leeks to make it look tastier. A cooking class was held so people could try making the kimchi in the film themselves. Geomdeuljang kimchi is made by stuffing radish with seasonings and marinating it in soy sauce. The kimchi was named geomdeuljang as soy sauce was added to the Jeolla province-style geomdeul kimchi.



[Soundbite] “This kimchi is made with soy sauce. It tastes best after two weeks. Its flavor doesn’t change in the refrigerator.”



There’s also crispy cucumber roll kimchi. It may be more appealing internationally, as it can be eaten like a canape. It’s a bit different from the cucumber kimchi called oi sobak-i. Just a glance makes your mouth water.



[Soundbite] “I thought the kimchi in the film would be hard to make. But it’s easier than I thought. I could make some of it at home. It was fun.”



The tasty art of kimchi is an intrinsic part of the Korean identity, and is gaining global recognition. We’ll have to wait and see what other forms of kimchi the future will bring.