NK Diplomatic Moves

[Anchor Lead]

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong has arrived in New York City to attend a U.N. general meeting. The U.S. State Department has stressed that North Korea should denuclearize and that it has no plans to meet with the North Korean official.

[Pkg]

Upon his arrival at Kennedy Airport in New York, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong headed to the permanent mission of the DPRK to the U.N. in Manhattan. After holding a one-hour meeting with North Korean U.N. ambassador, Ja Song-nam, Ri headed to his lodging facility. The North Korean diplomat declined to comment on journalists' questions about the purpose of his visit.

[Soundbite] Ri Su-yong(N. Korean Foreign Minister) : "(Do you have plans to hold talks with U.S. officials?) ……"

In the next two days Ri will attend a forum on sustainable development and the signing ceremony of a climate change agreement. He has also applied for making an official statement at the forum slated for April 22. A U.N. source says that the purpose of Ri's visit to the United States is to show to the world that the Kim Jong-un regime remains unwavering in the face of sanctions, and to find a pretext for a fifth nuclear test. This means that Ri will likely reiterate the North's demand for signing a peace treaty and use this as an excuse for conducting a nuclear test. A news report on Ri's visit made by North Korea's Central News Agency two days prior serves as supporting evidence. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says he has no plans to meet with the North Korean foreign minister.

2. U.S. Military Readiness

[Anchor Lead]

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s decision not to meet with the North Korean Foreign Minister comes as the U.S. government appears to be taking North Korean provocations more seriously. The U.S. Congress is set to appraise how quickly U.S. forces can be moved from the U.S. mainland to the Korean Peninsula should an emergency situations arise.

[Pkg]

This is the National Defense Authorization Act for the 2017 fiscal year presented by the House Armed Services Committee's subcommittee on military readiness. The act, which covers a variety of issues on U.S. national security, includes a separate article on transportation support for operations on the Korean Peninsula. The subcommittee declared that the U.S. Transportation Command is tasked with rapidly mobilizing U.S. troops both in the States and in other countries to boost the capability of forces stationed in Korea should an emergency situation break out on the Peninsula. It also demanded that the Government Accountability Office assess the command's capacity to send combat forces to Korea. The subcommittee further presented detailed assessment points, requiring the office to review the plans, support capacity and movable Army, Navy and Air Force assets which the command can employ in the case of an emergency on the peninsula. The subcommittee clearly explained the reasons for its demands for an assessment, saying that new threats from North Korea are growing. If the act is passed within the first half of this year, the head of the Government Accountability Office will be obligated to evaluate military capability on the Korean Peninsula and deliver a report to the House of Representatives by February 1 next year.

**News Bulletin** Analyzing Failed Missile Launch

[Anchor Lead]

The U.S. news outlet The Washington Free Beacon has reported that during Pyongyang's failed missile launch on April 15 several rocket technicians who were at the site of the launch were presumably injured or even killed and the launch vehicle was damaged. The site cited U.S. military officials and diplomatic sources as saying that the U.S. military closely monitored the launch of the Musudan missile using military satellites and air reconnaissance devices. The Washington Free Beacon added that the missile launch apparently failed due to technical problems in the missile's fuel supply system, but there was no way to verify the U.S. military's analysis.

4. Drowning in Gwangju

[Anchor Lead]

Two students attending an alternative school for children from multi-cultural families drowned in a reservoir in Gwangju. It is believed that the second student died while trying to help the first student who had fallen in water. Here is the story.

[Pkg]

Rescue workers from 119 emergency response struggle with operations in a reservoir. They managed to pull two teenagers out of the water, but it was too late to save them. A 19-year-old boy surnamed "Kim" and a 16-year-old surnamed "Jin" drowned in a reservoir in Samdo-dong in Gwangju at around 8:50 p.m. Wednesday. The two boys were both residing at the dormitory of a nearby alternative school mostly attended by children from multicultural families. Kim, a boy from China who was naturalized as a Korean citizen, was confirmed to have left the dorm at around 7:30 Wednesday night.

[Soundbite] School Official : "He went out, saying that he felt bad and needed to get some fresh air. We called him but he didn't answer."

Three of his dorm-mates went out to search for him, but Kim fell into the water just when he was found. Police believe that Jin drowned after diving into the water to save Kim. Police are questioning school officials and students to ascertain exactly how the incident occurred.

5. Drug Ring Busted

[Anchor Lead]

Police apprehended members of a gang that distributed large amounts of a new illicit liquid drug known as "Tears of God" in Korea. Perpetrators attracted customers by saying that just a few drops of the drug added to cigarettes can produce a hallucinogenic effect.

[Pkg]

Police apprehend a man high on drugs in the hall of an apartment building. The translucent liquid found in his pockets was found to be the illicit drug called "Tears of God." Produced in the U.S., the drug was brought to Korea in hand wash containers that were used to conceal it. The perpetrators even held promotional sessions at bars and seduced buyers by saying that the drug is easy to use.

[Soundbite] Perpetrator(Voice altered) : "You can use it anywhere because of its good effect. All you have to do is just add a few drops to cigarettes."

The gang brought 4,530 milliliters of the drug to Korea. Its market value surpasses 350,000 U.S. dollars and it's enough to be administered 23,000 times. The gang sold the drug in four-milliliter containers for eye drops, which are easy to carry around. It's the first case involving the distribution of an illicit liquid drug in Korea. Police have arrested eight members of the gang including its leader, and indicted without physical arrests 26 people who had purchased the drug from them.

6. Anti-Smoking Campaign

[Anchor Lead]

A district office in Seoul has decided to expand anti-smoking policies and strengthen regulations on the operation of cigarette venders on the street as a way to curb smoking among youths.

[Pkg]

Shops selling cigarettes can be found easily in busy commercial arcades with heavy foot traffic. This building has four cigarette shops along a 110-meter corridor, or one every 30 meters. Cigarette vendors are situated practically side by side at large buildings or terminals that have no distance restrictions. There are more than 1,000 cigarette vendors in Seoul's Seocho District alone. This figure means that there is one cigarette store for every 412 residents, 2.8 times higher than in the U.S. with one vendor per 1,000 people, and 7.8 times higher than in Spain. Upon concluding that there are too many cigarette vendors, the Seocho District Office has strengthened rules to increase the distance between cigarette shops from the current 50 meters to at least 100 meters. Large buildings or terminals for which no rules have been in place will also be subjected to a 50-meter distance restriction. The stronger rules are especially aimed at curbing smoking among minors. The new regulations are based on the results of a study showing that exposure to ads or displayed cigarettes nearly doubles the possibility of teenagers becoming smokers, and that 56 percent of smokers in high school purchase cigarettes themselves at convenience stores or shops.

[Soundbite] Soon Joo-hwan(Seocho District Official) : "Our key project is an anti-smoking campaign designed to reduce teenagers' exposure to cigarettes."

The Seocho District Office will announce the related regulations and implement them starting in late October following a grace period.

7. Searching for Sinkholes

[Anchor Lead]

The emergence of several sinkholes across the country has prompted authorities to launch an investigation using special equipment revealing more than a hundred locations with empty spaces right beneath some motorways. As the investigation continues, the number of sinkholes in Seoul alone could reach 300.

[Pkg]

A pedestrian walk where passengers disembark a bus suddenly collapses. Two people fell into the sinkhole that was three meters deep, and were rescued 20 minutes later. The occurrence of several sinkholes prompted the authorities to launch an investigation. A truck equipped with a special radar carefully moves on a motorway. When signs of a possible sinkhole appear on the radar, the asphalt is removed immediately to check the size. Over the past four months, 105 sinkholes were discovered on the boulevards in Seoul. If the investigation continues until the end of the year, as many as 300 sinkholes could be found. It means that there is a sinkhole in every three-kilometer section on Seoul's roads. Most of the sinkholes were found near old sewer pipes and in areas that were excavated during subway construction. The Seoul City government plans to invest over 170 million U.S. dollars to replace old sewer pipes. Some say that it's more urgent to analyze the various causes of holes occurring in the ground.

[Soundbite] Prof. Lee Soo-gon(University of Seoul) : "There is no clear proof that conduit lines cause sinkholes. It's unclear to me whether they want to install new pipes or find the cause of sinkholes."

Experts are also calling for expanding the investigation to assessing the risk of sinkholes in back alleys in residential areas.

8. Promoting Understanding

[Anchor Lead]

Marking the 36th Day of Persons with Disabilities on Wednesday, classes promoting understanding took place in schools nationwide. Making use of KBS special programs, the class encouraged students do away with any prejudices they might have toward people with disabilities.

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This is an animated movie about the friendship between Yoon-ji, a student student who is a little slow and who wanders around the classroom during lessons, and her classmate, "Seong-ho." It was produced in the form of a visual radio program and broadcast to elementary schools across the nation. Sixth graders at this school were deeply moved, as they have a classmate with a disability like Yoon-ji's.

[Soundbite] Yang Hye-min(6th Grade Student) : "It was unfamiliar at first, but the atmosphere and environment in the classroom improved as we tried to be more considerate and understand."

Eun-seo feels confused in the process of losing her eyesight. Her natural acceptance of her handicap after meeting a teacher with a visual impairment is depicted in this TV show. The show is based on the true story of a currently active teacher with a visual impairment. For students accustomed to video materials, it proved to be more helpful than text-based lessons in promoting a better understanding of people with disabilities. This year marks the 12th year of broadcast lessons on understanding disabilities. The Education Ministry plans to carry out educational programs promoting improved perception of disabilities at least twice a year in the future.

9. Frying Pan Tips

[Anchor Lead]

There are so many varieties of frying pans out there it's a challenge to choose the right one. Today we have all the tips on how to choose and use frying pans and proper maintenance.

[Pkg]

Frying pans are a kitchen essential in cooking a variety of dishes. They can be roughly divided into three groups depending on the material and how they are made. First there is the most commonly used non-stick frying pan. For these pans, aluminum is coated with a substance resistant to high temperature. Therefore the pan is light in weight and food does not stick to the pan. Cast-iron pans are made by pouring molten aluminum or iron into a pan frame. They are heavy, sturdy and preserve heat. These days, stainless pans are also gaining attention as they're known to be the safest. For non-stick pans, the coating comes off as time passes. Food begins to stick and metal elements also pose a risk. These are pans with damaged coating after being used for 3 to 5 years. After boiling water for five minutes in the pan, a test was conducted which detected aluminum and chrome in the water. This time, to be more similar to a cooking situation, water mixed with soy sauce was boiled. The test this time produced worse results. The amount and type of metal substances found dissolved in the liquid both increased.

[Soundbite] Prof. Im Jong-han(Inha Univ. Hospital) : "Heavy metals inside our body take years to be discharged and remain in the body for a long time. For children, this can cause neural developmental disorders including reduced intellect or ADHD. When seniors are chronically exposed to heavy metals, this raises the risk of developing of senile dementia."

It's best to replace non-stick pans every 2 to 3 years. When you buy a new pan, drizzle some cooking oil, heat it over low heat and rinse out the oil. Repeat this process 2 to 3 times and the coating will last longer.

[Soundbite] Oh Yong-eun(Culinary Expert) : "Use paper towel to wipe away the residue when the non-stick pan is still hot. Cool the pan and then wash it. This way, you can use the pan for a longer period."

Frying pans are an all-purpose kitchen essential. Manage them well and use them smartly.