NK Gala

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North Korea has held a Mass Game performance to celebrate the 65th anniversary of its ruling Workers’ Party. Leader Kim Jong-il and his heir apparent Kim Jong-un have attended together cultural events, including a massive military parade, to promote the power succession process.



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North Korea has held a Mass Game performance at Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung Square to mark the 65th anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party. A large screen shows the late leader Kim Il-sung as a young adult. More than 100,000 dancers begin dancing and singing. Incumbent leader Kim Jong-il and his successor Kim Jong-un watch the performance together. The evening show was broadcast on North Korean TV as well as ceremonies held in the morning. Foreign media were also allowed to cover and broadcast the event.



[Soundbite] Ri Yong-ho (Chief of the General Staff): We’ll begin the review.



At a morning review, the North Korean military pledged loyalty to their new leader Kim Jong-un to showcase his power. More than 20,000 soldiers attended the event, Kim Jong-un accepted the North Korean army’s pledge from the platform 13 days after being named vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party. The political show Sunday was apparently intended to make the North’s third-generation power succession known to the world and strengthen internal solidarity.



[Soundbite] Kim Yeon-su (Korea National Defense University): They’re trying to show the world their solidarity and that the regime will never fall and the nation will stick together.



Missiles and tanks newly developed by Pyongyang were also shown in the review Sunday morning.



2. Hwang Jang-yop



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The highest-ranking North Korean official to defect to South Korea died on Sunday. Hwang Jang-yeop was 87. He defected to South Korea in April 1997. He was the chief architect of the North’s "juche" philosophy of self-reliance. After his defection, Hwang revealed to South Koreans the reality of North Korea. Here is the story of his dramatic life.



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With his close aide Kim Deok-hong, Hwang Jang-yeop defected to South Korea in the spring of 1997 when hundreds of thousands of North Korean people died from starvation amid a serious shortage of food.



[Soundbite] Hwang Jang-yop (1997): I came to South Korea to shed light on the reality of North Korea and contribute to the peaceful reunification of the two Koreas.



He was a secretary of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party and the highest-ranking North Korean official to defect to South Korea. Hwang taught North Korean leader Kim Jong-il when he was a professor at Kim Il-sung University. He criticized the North’s guiding principle, the "military-first" policy, as an authoritarian scheme. Hwang predicted that the North Korean leader is obsessed with developing nuclear weapons and would not scrap the nuclear program.



[Soundbite] Hwang Jang-yop (2006): The nuclear problem will be resolved only when Kim Jong-il is removed. Nothing will be settled with the Kim Jong-il regime in place.



He recently blasted Kim Jong-il for attempting to hand over power to his third son Jong-un. In a contribution to a South Korean radio channel targeting North Korean people last week, Hwang harshly criticized Kim Jong-il for the succession and letting North Korean people starve to death. Pyongyang sent a threat to Hwang four years ago and dispatched two agents to assassinate him in last spring.



3. GMT Project



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To unlock the secret of the universe, scientists are searching for the light that first appeared after the universe was created. A massive telescope is being built to observe the light that appeared at the start of the universe’s creation. Korea has also teamed up with the project.



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Humankind has long searched for the secret of the universe by observing light that would’ve appeared at the time of the creation of space. But no telescopes can observe stars from early in the universe’s history due to small lenses. But a ground-based extremely large telescope will be installed in Chile by 2018. The seven-mirror Giant Magellan Telescope will have a lens diameter of 25 meters. The device will be 35 meters tall and weigh more than 11-hundred tons. The telescope will be used to observe a star born 13-point-six billion years ago, bringing scientists closer to cracking the secret of the universe.



[Soundbite] Patrick McCarthy (Dir., GMT Organization)



Korea joined the project last year. Seoul will invest more than 62 million U.S. dollars in the venture and directly produce parts for the telescope.



[Soundbite] Park Byeong-gon (Astronomy & Space Science Inst.): Korea will develop a small mirror for the telescope. The small mirror will reflect again the light reflect by the big mirror to shape the image.



More giant telescopes will be installed in Hawaii and other parts of Chile. This is expected to bring about big advances in space exploration within ten years.



4. War Reenacted



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Korea’s victory at the Myeongryang Battle during the Japanese invasion had revived the Joseon dynasty navy’s spirit when they weren’t doing so well. The late 16th century battle was reproduced to show how 13 Joseon naval battle ships defeated the Japanese navy, which was ten times bigger in scale, 413 years ago.



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Hundreds of Japanese naval ships with red flags begin attacking. The sound of a bomb heralds the start of attack and Admiral Yi Sunsin leads his navy to the forefront. Japanese ships stop and hesitate before the rapid currents at Uldolmok and the Joseon navy begins firing. Soldiers fiercely fight on the decks as well. The Japanese ships are set ablaze in no time and Joseon ships approach them for attack to have Japanese soldiers run away from the battle site. Viewers applaud at the victory.



[Soundbite] Carl (U.S. Tourist)



In the second battle of the Japanese invasion in the late 16th century, Admiral Yi had defeated 133 Japanese naval ships with only 13 battle ships. Viewers commemorated their ancestors patriotic spirit taking part in traditional ganggangsulae dance and the welcoming ceremony for the army back from the battle.



[Soundbite] It’s very touching to be at the very spot where the army had defeated the Japanese invaders.



Korean’s pride for their country is enhanced through the reproduction of a victory reaped more than four centuries ago.



5. Colored Worms



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Silkworms that produce silk are usually white. But now, there are also silkworms pink and blue in hue. Scientists have engineered these silkworms by means of a special feed, developed to revive the sericulture industry.



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Vivid colors like blue, pink and purple are seen here. These are the colors of silkworms. The cocoons of these silkworms are also of the same colors. This way, colored silk thread can be produced without an artificial dyeing process.



[Soundbite] I thought silkworms were gross. But these colored ones are cute. The secret to the colored silkworms is their feed. They’re given feed dyed in different colors.



The secret to the colored silkworms is their feed. They’re given feed dyed in different colors.



[Soundbite] An Ra-ri (Korea Silk Museum): Unlike other insects, the entire body of a silkworm is its digestion system. The colored food they’re fed are absorbed right away to have them colored.



The Korea Silk Museum will develop new products such as silkworm pets, natural dyed silk threads and health food to revive the dying sericulture industry.



6. Eco Disposal



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It is always troublesome to deal with rancid-smelling food waste. A village in Jeju has developed an environmental-friendly method to dispose of such garbage using caterpillars.



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In a small village in Jeju Island, Green garbage boxes are spotted here and there. Something special is in the boxes. Soldier fly larvae decompose food garbage in the boxes. Thousands of the caterpillars decompose dehydrated food garbage in the boxes, producing no stench.



[Soundbite] Lee Chang-bok (Head, Local Community Center): The caterpillars were disgusting at first. But now, people don’t mind getting close to the breeding facility. It’s a good decision to use them for dealing with food garbage.



Ten food garbage boxes are in the village. Decomposed food garbage can be used as natural fertilizer. An agricultural technology center provides the villages with caterpillars for free. The center has been working to find ways to use larvae for dealing with agricultural waste.



[Soundbite] Kim Seung-hyeon (East Jeju Agricultural Tech Center): The caterpillars live 15 days. One caterpillar decomposes two grams of food garbage during its lifetime. Then, one thousand caterpillars will decompose two kilograms of food garbage.



Korea annually spends nearly 360 million U.S. dollars to dispose of food garbage nationwide. The method using caterpillars is an environmentally and economically effective way to deal with food garbage.



7. Octopus Season



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The west coast of South Chungcheong Province is packed with fishermen searching for webfoot octopuses and cuttlefish. The new fishing ground in the area is growing in popularity.



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It’s still dark but the port is crowded with fishermen. They get into boats at daybreak and go into the sea. Cuttlefish and octopuses start biting right away. Cuttlefish begin to emit clouds of ink to survive. The catch arrives in great abundance.



[Soundbite] It’s huge. It’s the biggest one.



Even homemakers catch cuttlefish and octopuses.



[Soundbite] First, it was my Dad who brought me here. But now it’s me who wants to come here most of all.



The season for catching cuttlefish and webfoot octopuses has begun on the west coast. At this time of year, cuttlefish and webfoot octopuses are caught with fishing rods instead of traps because they migrate from wetlands to the ocean. That’s why so many fishermen flock to fishing grounds around this time of year.



[Soundbite] It’s my twelvth visit this fall. I hope I can catch over a hundred cuttlefish and octopuses today.



The season for catching cuttlefish and webfoot octopuses will end next month.



8. Art Bridge



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The Korea National Ballet has performed with the Bolshoi in Russia. Korean dancers played major roles in the joint performance to prove that the relatively-young Korean ballet troupe is not at all behind in terms of technical skills and passion from the world’s best masters. Here’s more.



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The moderate and powerful moves depict the dignity and stately manner of a noble family of the Middle Ages. The unfortunate lovers Romeo and Juliet carry on a beautiful but tragic love story. The Korea National Ballet has performed together with the Bolshoi with its dancers taking major roles in the show at the Bolshoi Theater. It is the first time for nine foreign dancers to play major roles at once on stage since the theater’s foundation in 1856.



[Soundbite] Kim Joo-won (Prima Donna, Korea National Ballet Company): I was nervous, of course. But as always, I became absorbed into my character and felt more relaxing after a while.



The two performances had all the 850 seats filled in the three story theater. There was a curtain call and the audience gave a standing ovation which happens rarely at the theater these days.



[Soundbite] (Russian Audience Member): I had a great time. I happy to see such a great performance. It was fantastic!



The Korean dancers have done a performance in perfect harmony with the Bolshoi with no extra practice. They’ve danced relying entirely on regular practice. It has proved Korean ballet’s leap in world ballet despite it’s short history of a little over half a century.



9. Weekend Farms



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The price of cabbage and other vegetables is through the roof these days. So, more and more Koreans are growing their own food. It can be tough, but the pleasure of seeing your own greens grow is worth it. Here are some folks who grow their own vegetables at weekend farms, in their front lawns, and even in their homes.



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This is a weekend farm in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. This family comes every weekend to tend to their vegetable patch where they’ve planted green onions and cabbage. They began farming in spring and now they have a crop of ripe cabbages, a vegetable whose prices are soaring in Korea. They first started the farm just for fun. But now the greens have become a family treasure.



[Soundbite] Watch out for the cabbage! Be careful!



Other families who had neglected their patch recently began coming again. The farm is getting more phone calls these days asking for plots.



[Soundbite] Im Hui-ho (Weekend Farm Owner): Those who had neglected their patch are coming and working harder these days.



Woo Soon-ok grows her vegetables at home. At lunch time she picks up her basket and hoe and goes out.



[Soundbite] Let’s take a look at my treasure chest.



She takes her neighbor to her little vegetable patch in her front yard, and starts to harvest green onions for lunch. The patch is small but she has grown 20 heads of cabbage, green onions and even ginger. Not only can she provide for her own needs, but she also keeps her neighbors happy.



[Soundbite] A bag of veggies like this is quite expensive at the market these days. I’ve saved at least a dollar thanks to her!



If you live in an apartment and don’t have a yard, all you need is paper towels and seeds.



[Soundbite] Just water them once every three hours and you can get good vegetables to eat in about a week.



Ji Soo-yeon has made her veranda into a small vegetable garden using pots. You can grow almost anything this way including crown daisies, spinach and broccoli. Thanks to her mini garden she goes grocery shopping only half as often as before and the dinner table now sees two times more greens and veggies.



[Soundbite] It’s great that we can eat vegetables as much as we like without worrying about money. My son isn’t so picky about greens after seeing them grow with his own eyes.



Kim Dong-wook, who lives in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, has made his own water culture system using plastic bottles.



[Soundbite] I’ve wanted to grow vegetables myself but I have no field. I learned about water culture but the kit cost too much. I tried making one myself.



He grows dozens of different kinds of greens like lettuce, cucumber, zucchini and bok choy, all year round in his apartment.



[Soundbite] They’re safe to eat as I’ve grown them myself organically. And I can have greens any time of the year.



These people will never have to worry about soaring vegetable prices.