Critical By-elections

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The upcoming by-elections are shaping up to be a clash of the titans, as well-known political figures vie for some of the most important districts in Seoul and surrounding Gyeonggi areas. The governing party embarked on aggressive campaigning over the weekend, while talks of forming a coalition of opposition parties seem to have fizzled out.

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Top officials of the ruling Saenuri Party were out campaigning in full force in Seoul and Suwon. They claimed their candidates would make competent workers for the local communities. Newly-elected Saenuri Chairman Kim Moo-sung promised to provide full party support to Na Kyung-won, whose campaign pledge is to make the Dongjak-B district as prosperous as the three other districts in the Gangnam area.

[Soundbite] Rep. KIM MOO-SUNG (Chairman, Saenuri Party) : "I can't understand why this old intelligence building still remains. I definitely promise to relocate it."

Saenuri Party officials also went to Suwon, near Seoul, to make a pledge of bringing incredible progress to the city during the current administration.The New Politics Alliance for Democracy held a rally in Suwon to solicit support in the Gyeonggi region. NPAD head Kim Han-gil said that the ruling party is being arrogant and stubborn by refusing to legislate a special law for finding out the truth about the ferry disaster and asked the constituents to judge the current administration.

[Soundbite] Rep. KIM HAN-GIL (Co-Chairman, New Politics Alliance for Democracy) : "What are they afraid of to reject legislating a special law to find out the truth about the ferry tragedy?"

Kim said that he will stay at the National Assembly to oversee campaigning efforts and co-chair Ahn Cheol-soo promised to remain at election sites to assist with campaigning. Meanwhile, the likelihood of forming a coalition of opposition parties has petered out, as the leaders of both the NPAD and the Justice Party had stated that they were unenthusiastic about the idea."

2. Horse Race Outrage

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The opening of a video horse race betting center in Yongsan continues to cause outrage among local residents. Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon has visited the center personally to urge the Korea Racing Authority to close the facility.

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It's been 23 days since the Korea Racing Authority opened an off-track horse race betting center on a pilot basis in the Yongsan area of Seoul. Locals continue to stage protests demanding the closure of the facility.

[Soundbite] JEONG BANG (Head, Screen Racetrack Protesting Group) : "Opening an off-track horse race betting center just 200 meters from a school is simply unacceptable."

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon visited the center personally to request that the Korea Racing Authority close the center, on the grounds that residential areas with schools must be protected from gambling facilities.

[Soundbite] PARK WON-SOON (Seoul Mayor) : "Establishing an off-track horse race betting center, which can be classified as a gambling facility, in this area is inappropriate."

The mayor proposed that the protesters and the Korea Racing Authority hold a vote on whether to permit or ban the horse race betting center in the area. He cited the example of residents of Buan in North Jeolla Province who voted in 2004 to decide whether to build a radioactive waste processing facility in their area. However, the Korea Racing Authority wants to wait and see till October, when the pilot operation of the center ends, as the court had advised that the residents and the racing authority reach a compromise.

[Soundbite] CHOE WON-IL (PR Manager, Korea Racing Authority) : "We will set up a committee to evaluate the pilot operation of the center and accurately determine whether the residents' concerns become a reality."

The controversy over a gambling facility in the heart of Seoul continues to escalate.

3. Doubling Up

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As the economic slump drags on, businesses are coming up with various ideas to get consumers to open up their wallets. The latest trend is to set up two different types of business under one roof to bring in more customers.

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This mobile phone store operates under the same roof as a coffee shop. Customers who come in for coffee can look around for new mobile phones and those who bought phones there are treated to coffee and doughnuts.

[Soundbite] SONG SUN-YEOL (Customer) : "Since they are together, I don't have to go to separate places to enjoy coffee and look at mobile phones."

Customers can pay for their mobile phone bills with the bonus points they accumulated from the coffee shop. These stores not only do business in the same location, but help promote each other. Their collaboration has boosted their sales by 20% respectively. This car dealer shares its space with a flower shop. The tough, masculine atmosphere of the dealership has softened to attract more female customers.

[Soundbite] PARK IN-CHEON (Sales Manager, Hyundai Motor) : "It's not easy for women customers to come to a car dealer. But many ladies come in here to look at the flowers and end up buying cars."

A flower arrangement class for local residents transitions smoothly over to an automobile promotion. Since these integrated stores have proven to attract more customers, more businesses are likely to pair up with other businesses and operate under one roof.

4. Popular Beaches

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Beaches nationwide are packed with holiday-makers because of the sultry weather. Yesterday alone over a million people flocked to the beaches in the city of Busan.

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The weather at Haeundae Beach is scorching, despite cloudy skies. With the monsoon rain halted for the time being, the sandy beach is covered once again with countless parasols. People dive into the sea or just relax on tubes to chase away the heat.

[Soundbite] JO HYEON-HO (High School Student) : "I was hanging out with my friends because it's my birthday."

We decided to hit the beach because it's too hot.

But the water is still too cold to swim for prolonged periods of time. Children play with sand to their hearts' content.

[Soundbite] O DAE-HYEON (Visitor) : "My kids have great fun playing at this large sandy beach and enjoying the clean air. We live a quiet place, so it's nice to be here."

With daytime highs hovering above 29 degrees Celsius yesterday, over 1.1 million people visited seven beaches in Busan alone, including some 350,000 at Haeundae Beach. Beaches in Busan are expecting to see more holiday-makers in the second half of this week ahead of the peak summer vacation season.

5. Sight & Sunglasses

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Sunglasses are hot fashion accessories even among kids. But parents must be careful when buying sunglasses for their kids, because some can be quite bad for their eyes.

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The weather has been sizzling hot in Korea for a while. And eye-catching sunglasses are hot fashion items even among children. Many parents often purchase them in small stationery stores, considering that sunglasses for children are nothing more than toys or accessories.

[Soundbite] PARK JEONG-E (Parent) : "I just look at the design and buy whatever my child wants. I have several more at home besides this."

But how much protection from ultraviolet ray can they provide? Sunglasses were purchased from a stationery store, a large supermarket, and an optician's and their UV ray protection levels were tested. Almost no UV ray should pass through the lenses, but some samples showed more than 50% UV ray penetration rate. Sunglasses that cannot block out UV rays are harmful to the eyes. Dark lenses can cause the pupils to dilate and allow more UV rays to be absorbed. When the cornea is exposed to UV radiation, it causes inflammation of the cornea. Cataract can occur if UV rays penetrate into the inner part of the eye.

[Soundbite] Dr. LEE JONG-HO (Ophthalmologist) : "If such harmful rays damage several places, it could cause injuries during the developmental stage of optic nerves."

Parents who buy sunglasses for their children should be just as selective and careful as when buying sunglasses for adults.

6. Online Classes

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A growing number of people in Korea take one-on-one tutoring classes online via webcam. But many of the users end up reporting damages because online educational service providers impose long-term contracts citing discounts, but refuse to provide refunds when requested to do so, or even use unqualified instructors.

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One-on-one online tutoring is all the rage among learners in Korea these days because it costs only half as much as regular tutoring.

[Soundbite] "You can see the teacher's face and communicate with him or her via your screen in real time."

But this woman's experience in hiring an online tutor for her middle-school son ended in failure. She wired one-year's worth of the fees for the tutoring service, around 3900 U.S. dollars, in advance. But its quality fell short of her expectations. After two months she decided to quit but the service provider demanded that she pay for the two months of services if she wanted to terminate her contract and receive a full refund. After that the woman was never able to reach the company again. More than 400 people fell victim to this company alone.

[Soundbite] (Victim) : "They said their administrators would contact me. They just kept saying that but I never got a call from them again."

Some 200 users fell victim to another online educational service provider that stopped its services last year. Many such companies employ inexperienced college students as teachers and deceitfully introduce them as famous instructors.

[Soundbite] Fmr. Instructor, (Online Tutoring Company) : "They told me not to tell anyone that I was a college student because students are not trustworthy as instructors."

The number of damage reports related to online educational services surpassed 470 last year, and continues to grow each year. However, the educational authorities are not even aware whether online tutoring services are subject to monitoring.

[Soundbite] Education Official (Voice Modified) : "If they fail to fulfill their duties, we can impose a fine on them or indict them for that. But they are not subject to any punishment under the current laws."

The number of online tutoring service providers has mushroomed, with no regulations in place to keep an eye on the quality of their services.

7. Art Fans

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Hand-held fans are not as popular as they used to be in the past, edged out by electric fans and air conditioners. But the old-school summer implement has become a new art form. Let's take look.

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Before the arrival of electric fans and air conditioners, Korean parents used hand-held fans to make a soft, cool breeze for their children on a sleepless hot summer night. This artistic fan depicts the parental love carried in the breeze. This black-and-white landscape painting on a fan was drawn with yarn and wire. A fan produced by master Kim Dae-seok who is an intangible cultural asset, is the reinterpretation of the traditional Korean landscape painting in the 21st century.

[Soundbite] SONG YONG-WON (Artist, "Sound of Winds in August") : "A space overlaps another space. So I can find the hidden space."

An artwork produced under the theme of "breeze" represents the artist's wish that people will pay more attention to the traditional Korean paintings.

[Soundbite] MIN JI-HYE (Curator, Gong Art Space) : "Fans are reinterpreted in various ways not only for their shapes but also for their and roles as a device to invoke people's memories and convey their hopes."

Made with bamboo slats and thin paper, hand-held fans produce a natural breeze. In the past, people showed their appreciation for art by drawing paintings and writing poems on fans. Those artistic fans used to be given as a good gift to express one's affection and gratitude. Now the old-fashion summer implement have found a new place in modern art.

8. Entertainment News

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Jeong Yoon-hee was a super popular actress in the 1970s and 1980s. One of her long-playing record albums has been remade in a limited edition release. Meanwhile, a film by a Saudi Arabian female director has drawn more than ten-thousand people in Korea. This and more coming up.

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Actress Jeong Yun-hui was the winner of the Daejong Film Awards for best actress in 1980 and 1981. An album of music she recorded and released 35 years ago has been remade to celebrate her 60th birthday. Planned by a fan of the actress, the record contains songs like "You Would Not Know" and "A Thirsty Girl." The production company says that the reissue of the album is an expression of respect and love for a heart-throb in the 1970's and 80's. Women's rights are notoriously limited in Saudi Arabia. A Saudi Arabian female director is stealing the hearts of Korean movie-goers with her film, "Wadjda". The movie is about a young woman who challenges social taboos. Despite it being shown only at a handful of movie theaters, the number of viewers has surpassed ten thousand. The full version of the movie "The Amazing Spider Man 2" was mistakenly released on YouTube before being removed. Sneak previews of the movie were supposed to be uploaded to the domestic distributor's YouTube account, but the entire two-hour-long movie was uploaded instead, with Korean subtitles. The movie had been shown at movie theaters earlier, but its DVD has not yet been released and it is currently offered on Internet protocol television.

9. Sparkling Craze

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Carbonated water is seeing a resurgence in popularity. It's known for promoting digestion, but people who battle acid reflux shouldn't drink it. And get this; people are even using carbonated water for washing their face. Here’s more on his bubbly beverage.

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Cool drinks are the most sought-after items in summertime. Bubbly carbonated water is very popular these days. Here's why.

[Soundbite] HAN JAE-HYEON (Visitor) : "The fizzy taste makes this water ideal for drinking in summertime."

Carbonated water drew the spotlight recently after a top Korean actress said she liked to wash her face with it. Rumors also have it that carbonated water helps you shed extra pounds. Here's how it's different from ordinary water.

[Soundbite] JANG DAE-SEON (Chairman, Korea Association of Carbonated Water) : "Carbonated water can be classified into natural mineral water, like Chojeong-ri or Seoraksan ground water; carbonated water sold in bottles; and carbonated water made in special machines using regular water. It's low-acid water containing 0.6 percent of carbon dioxide and hydrogen ion concentration of 4.5-5.5. Its bubbly taste is similar to that of soft carbonated soft drinks, but it's more healthful as it contains zero phosphoric acid, sugar and artificial coloring, which are found in soft drinks."

A survey conducted by a supermarket chain showed that this year's sales of carbonated water have already surged 72 percentage points year-on-year. While demand for carbonated soft drinks such as coke and sprite keep shrinking, the carbonated water market is growing exponentially. The latest models of water purifying machines and refrigerators even feature carbonated water functions. This woman makes her own carbonated water at home. You can choose from a wide variety of carbonated water makers these days. And they're also easy to use. Place a carbon cylinder in the maker, insert a bottle of water and push the button. It takes only five seconds to make one liter of carbonated water at home. This woman says that ever since she started drinking carbonated water her health condition has improved.

[Soundbite] LEE EUN-SUK (Seoul Resident) : "I started drinking carbonated water to improve digestion and constipation. It did help me improve my digestion and my stomach feels better now. I decided to buy a carbonaed water maker because I like to drink it a lot. Homemade carbonated water also helps reduce body weight, as it doesn't contain sugar like coke and sprite do."

Here's how to wash your face with carbonated water. Mix regular water with carbonated water at a ratio of 1-1. Put your face in the water for ten seconds and then take it out. Repeat two or three times. Carbon bubbles are known to help remove dead skin cells and make the skin firmer. Here's how to use carbonated water for other purposes.

[Soundbite] "Fruit and vegetables are much cleaner when washed with carbonated water, so I can rest assured when feeding my kids."

Carbonated water has a slight acid sterilizing effect. You can wash your fruit and veggies better with carbonated water. This versatile product will help keep you refreshed and safe from germs throughout the summer.