Ministry Shakeup

[Anchor Lead]

The presidential transition committee has laid out how the incoming government is going to be structured.

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With the overhaul, the current structure of 15 ministries, two offices and 18 bureaus will be changed to 17 ministries, three offices and 17 bureaus. The post of the Economic Vice Prime Minister has been reinstated in five years which the Finance Minister will also serve. As President-elect Park Geun-hye pledged during her campaign, a ministry on "Future Creation and Science" will be newly created. A vice minister will also be introduced who will be in charge of information and communications technology policies. The current Ministry of Education, Science and Technology will now become the Ministry of Education.

[Soundbite] Kim Yong-joon(Chairman, Presidential Transition Committee) : "The overall goal is to find new growth engines based on a creative economy and creative science and start an era of happiness for all the people."

The revamped lineup reflects the new administration’s goal to boost economic growth engines and create jobs simultaneously. The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries will also return after being shut down five years ago. Subsequently, the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs will be downsized to the Land and Transport Ministry. Also, the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries will be converted to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Livestock. The Ministry of Public Administration and Security will shift its title and become the Security and Public Administration Ministry with a focus on public safety. The Korea Food and Drug Administration will be elevated in status. Government agencies that will fight the president-elect's declared four social evils have been particularly empowered. The four are sexual violence, domestic violence, school bullying and unhealthy junk food. The Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry will no longer be tasked with trade affairs for the first time in 15 years. Instead, the Knowledge Economy Ministry will take over responsibilities related to industry, trade and resources. Regarding the reorganization, the main opposition Democratic United Party claimed that getting the public’s opinion beforehand was left out.

2. First Sejong Meeting

[Anchor Lead]

President Lee Myung-bak presided over the first cabinet meeting to be held at the controversial new Sejong Government Complex on January 15.

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On January 15, President Lee Myung-bak visited Sejong City for the first time since taking office. He presided over the first Cabinet meeting to be held at the Sejong Government Complex. The president urged government officials to do their best to improve the working conditions at the newly built complex and to maintain its work efficiency.

[Soundbite] Lee Myung-bak(President) : "I think relocating to Sejong is inconvenient. Work efficiency is decreasing because of the commute and other issues."

Lee also heard the opinions of Cabinet members regarding a taxi law, which would result in taxis falling under the category of public transportation. The Cabinet ministers said that vetoing the law is still an option because taxis do not have fixed lines like other public transportation means, and could raise issues regarding fairness when it comes to the other transportation means, such as passenger ferries. The president instructed the Cabinet ministers to hear the opinions of local governments and consider the matter from various angles.

[Soundbite] "Whatever is decided, I’ll respect the cabinet members' opinions as president."

A Cheong Wa Dae official says the Cabinet focused its discussion on the taxi law instead of the official agenda in order to demonstrate the president's right to veto the law. The National Assembly passed the taxi law on January 1.

3. Food Waste Woes

[Anchor Lead]

A ban on dumping food waste into the sea that went into effect this year is creating a trash crisis.

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At an apartment complex, containers are overflowing and the ground is cluttered with plastic bags full of thrown away food. The situation's not so different with food waste collectors. This is because dumping food waste into the sea has been banned starting from this year. To prepare for the ban, a food waste processing facility was to be built at the metropolitan area's landfill site. It was supposed to be completed last month but it's still under construction.

[Soundbite] Facility Construction Personnel(Voice Modified) : "Right now, we can’t receive food waste and process it. It's been delayed by about seven months."

The plant which will take care of food waste from Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province will be able to process 500 tons a day. The remaining portion is to be handed over to private processors. But private processors are refusing the additional work and are requesting the government to raise processing expenses. However, authorities are saying that the waste can be managed sufficiently at the current cost.

[Soundbite] Lee Bu-u(Seoul Metropolitan Official) : "Our workers investigated the work sites and confirmed that food waste can be processed sufficiently."

The Seoul city government's complacency in handling the matter has resulted in a garbage crisis causing great inconvenience to its citizens.

4. Left in the Lurch

[Anchor Lead]

Several travel agencies specializing in tour packages to the Maldives have gone bankrupt recently, leaving their customers in the lurch.

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People shout in a crowded travel agency located in downtown Seoul. Soon-to-be-married couples who bought tour packages in the Maldives Islands worth more than 9,000 U.S. dollars each were notified that their hotel reservations had been cancelled shortly before their weddings.

[Soundbite] Victim(Voice Modified) : "I personally called the resort and found out that my reservation was cancelled since it wasn’t paid for."

The travel agency is about to be closed for good. Its office has already been put up for an auction. Customers who have already paid for their packages will have to pay hundreds of dollars more for their hotels. The owner of the travel agency has promised in writing to compensate them, but receiving compensation seems highly unlikely considering that the agency has no money. Another travel agency that provides exclusive direct-flight tickets to the Maldives is also flooded with customers' complaints. The agency is demanding that its customers pay extra, because it has been struggling financially during the low-demand season in addition to its dispute with an airline company.

[Soundbite] "Victim : They said they’d give me a ticket only if I paid an extra million won (US$946). It was all unilateral."

More than 90 cases of damages caused by travel agencies specializing in Maldives tours have been reported so far. About 10,000 Korean tourists visit the Maldives every year.

5. Avian Flu Alert

[Anchor Lead]

Health authorities say that a highly pathogenic bird flu virus could hit Korea this coming spring as the avian flu has already made its mark in countries where migrant birds stop.

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This area frequented by migrant birds was hit by highly pathogenic avian flu viruses in 2003 and 2007. Nearby poultry farms are already bracing themselves for yet another outbreak as health authorities say that a contagious bird flu virus could hit the nation this spring. The health authorities say there are two reasons to worry. First, the detection rate of low pathogenic avian influenza, which usually precedes a highly pathogenic stage, was about three times higher last year. Second, highly contagious bird flu outbreaks have already occurred in Indonesia and Australia, where migrant birds that visit Korea in the spring spend their winters. The health authorities are stepping up quarantine measures, such as increasing migrant birds' fecal testing by 30 percent. Since 2008 two outbreaks deadly avian influenza have killed more than 16 million chickens and ducks in the nation.

[Soundbite] Jeong Byeong-gon(Animal, Plant & Fisheries Quarantine Inspection Agency) : "The most critical period is from November to May since that's when migrant birds stay in Korea. We’ll implement special quarantine measures until May."

The authorities will implement more intensive measures to prevent bird flu outbreaks by keeping an eye on farms and disinfecting visitors.

6. Diabetes Risk

[Anchor Lead]

People with fatty livers have been found to have a much higher risk of diabetes.

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This patient in his 30s was diagnosed with a fatty liver in a recent health checkup. The man's waist measurement was 99 centimeters, indicating that he has abdominal obesity. His blood sugar level was also higher than normal. People with non-alcoholic fatty livers were found to have a 1.7 times higher risk of developing diabetes than those with normal liver conditions. For patients diagnosed with a fatty liver, diabetes generally develops five years later in ten percent of those experiencing minor symptoms and in 18 percent of those with moderate conditions. The main cause of the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is abdominal obesity. This is because the fat in the intestines is dissolve into the blood and then accumulated in the liver. Fat in the intestines also deteriorates insulin functions to raise the blood sugar level. As a result, abdominal obesity, which causes fatty livers, also raises a person’s risk of diabetes. When fat accumulates in the body, the liver's function also deteriorates.

[Soundbite] Prof. Park Seong-geun(Kangbuk Samsung Hospital) : "The liver is in charge of glycometabolism, so problems coming from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease can cause diabetes later on."

Doctors advise people to burn off belly fat through regular workouts, which would help eliminate fatty livers, and lower one’s risk of developing diabetes.

7. Briquette Volunteers

[Anchor Lead]

Many Koreans still rely on coal briquettes to stay warm in the winter. Here's a person who's been helping such people out for a decade.

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This redevelopment district looks barren. Only gusts of biting wind fill the alleys. With the arrival of a briquette truck, the place comes to life. Volunteers pass down 300 briquettes. The senior citizen recipients are all smiles.

[Soundbite] "I can't express how it warms me up inside. We can use plenty of hot water. It's so helpful."

One of the workers checks if the briquettes are delivered properly and neatly stacked up. His name is Lee Chang-bae. He began volunteering ten years ago after realizing that there were many elderly people who couldn’t even afford having briquettes delivered to their homes.

[Soundbite] Lee Chang-bae(Share the Briquettes of Love Campaign) : "Many homes needed briquettes but there weren’t any organizations for this. We wanted to hand them out to the elderly living alone and broken families."

Now there's an organization called "Share the Briquettes of Love Campaign" and more and more people are signing up as volunteers. This winter, the campaign's Incheon branch delivered 120,000 briquettes to 1,800 families in need.

8. Daycare Alternative

[Anchor Lead]

Parents who don’t send their kids to daycare often find themselves worrying about their parenting methods. Gyeonggi Province has become the first region in Korea to open special facilities for such parents.

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Sin Deok-seon personally takes care of her two young children at home. She plays with them, reads books to them, and spends all her time with her children. But she's not sure she's doing enough for them. The children look excited playing with their peers for the first time in a while. They roll around with the other kids and play with toys that they don't have at home. In the meantime, their moms chat about parenting. This specialty cafe opened at a public housing apartment complex to the delight of parents who have no choice but to stay at home with their children because of the lack of childcare facilities.

[Soundbite] "I’ve been looking for a spot at daycare centers since last year, but nothing’s available. We like it here since it has things we don't have at home."

Openings in the cafe’s programs in which the moms and their children can participate together filled up quicker than expected. The facility also provides consultations on parenting.

[Soundbite] Go Jae-hak(Gyeonggi Provincial Government) : "Parents can get information on parenting and childcare services without sending their children to daycare."

Gyeonggi Province has opened seven cafes like this one for moms and their kids and will soon open seven more.

9. Chicken Alley

[Anchor Lead]

There’s a lot of belt-tightening going on in these tough economic times, but some restaurants are continuing to pack them in. Today we're taking you to some fried chicken joints that stick to traditional methods to keep the customers coming.

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This alley in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province is home to a cluster of fried-chicken restaurants. As soon as dusk falls, customers flock to the alley. Many of the places are already packed, so customers have to wait outside for at least half an hour. After a long wait, we finally get inside. The first thing that you notice here is the mouthwatering smell of fried chicken. This place sells two to three hundred chickens a day.

[Soundbite] "It's delicious."

This fried-chicken alley has a long history.

[Soundbite] Go Myeong-hui(Owner, Fried Chicken Restaurant) : "When my place started flourishing, other places opened next to me, and they did well too, so more places opened next to them. So now it's a whole fried chicken alley. It's been 41 years now."

The secret behind the outstanding taste of the fried chicken lies in stone pots.

[Soundbite] "Back then everyone fried chicken in stone pots. The oil remained hot the whole time and the chicken was cooked through gradually."

Here's another secret. These places stick to the old-fashioned cooking method - they deep-fry whole chickens. This reminds many Koreans of the good old days, when their fathers would bring home a whole fried chicken to the delight of the whole family. Whole chickens don't need to be coated with batter, because they taste good as they are. One whole fried chicken costs around 12 U.S. dollars. That's cheaper than fried chicken sold in other places.

[Soundbite] "It doesn't have batter, and the chicken just absorbs the protein rather than getting stained with oil. This is how fried chicken was made when we were in elementary school."

These restaurants also prefer to use whole chickens in order to retain the juices in the meat.

[Soundbite] "Chicken should be fried whole because it helps them retain their juices and they stay intact inside. That's what makes it delicious."

The third secret to the phenomenal success of this alley lies in the special delicacies served here for free. They include chicken gizzards and feet. Only domestically grown chicken is used.

[Soundbite] "It's cheap and the servings are large. It's also very famous, which makes it taste even better."

To survive the fierce competition, these restaurants are willing to help one another instead of trying to go it alone. They provide home delivery and their closing hours and days off never coincide. As a result, this nostalgic chicken alley has become a tourist attraction.

[Soundbite] "Suwon is known these days for its chicken, whole fried chicken."

[Soundbite] "As long as we can attract customers who want to eat fried chicken to come to our alley, we’re ready to help one another, since that way we can all prosper."

The fried chicken alley in Suwon continues to thrive even in the face of economic uncertainty thanks to the dedication of the restaurant owners.