CUBS FROM RESTORED ASIAN BLACK BEAR

[Anchor Lead]

The number of Asian black bears in Jirisan Mountain is on a steady rise thanks to the success of a project to restore the endangered animal. This year, the first-generation restored bear saw its great-grandchildren born. The new cubs were filmed coming out of hibernation with their mother.

[Pkg]

Jirisan Mountain colored in lush, deep shades of green, high ridges run across a large scope as if to reach the sky. An Asian black bear came out of hibernation and returned to the silent mountain with no human traces. This spring, she is with new welcome guests. While trying to climb up tree branches, they slide down. They hang on to their mother and play. These are Asian black bear cubs. While the cubs are having fun, the mother, born in 2018, code-named KF-94, is also on guard. She is the granddaughter of RF-05. the first Asian black bear to be released in Jirisan Mountain in 2004. A total of five cubs were newly confirmed this time. But their gender has yet to be identified.

[Soundbite] Song Hyung-geun(Chair, Korea Nat’l Park Service) : "The cubs delivered by the KF-94 bear are fourth-generation bears born in Jirisan Mountain. They are showing that the project to restore Asian black bears is progressing stably at the national park."

Eighteen years have passed since the project to restore the endangered bear began in Jirisan Mountain. The total number of the bears has increased to 79. Of them, four male bears left Jirisan and moved to other mountains including Deogyusan. As they have settled to live in broader areas, there are also safety hazards looming.

[Soundbite] Yang Doo-ha(Korea Nat’l Park Research Institute) : "The largest task for us is to create an environment in which humans and wild animals can co-exist."

The Environment Ministry plans to introduce measures to ensure the safety of both hikers and bears, such as setting up protection facilities and cracking down on poaching.