TRAINEE DOCTORS TO RESIGN EN MASSE

TRAINEE DOCTORS TO RESIGN EN MASSE

[Anchor Lead]
Trainee doctors and medical students have decided to take collective action next Tuesday. As the medical community's movements gain momentum, the government has once again stated its intention to respond firmly.

[Pkg]
Trainee doctors and med school students will begin taking collective action starting next Tuesday. The head of the Korean Intern Resident Association announced via social media that trainee doctors at the nation’s big five hospitals decided to resign en masse. The hospitals include Samsung Medical Center, Severance Hospital, Asan Medical Center, Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital and Seoul National University Hospital. KIRA President Park Dan said that all trainee doctors at the five hospitals will tender resignations by next Monday and leave their jobs from 6 a.m. the following day. Students of medical schools across the nation also decided to submit applications for a leave of absence on the same day. In an emergency meeting held on Thursday, representatives of medical students agreed to collectively submit leave-of-absence applications on next Tuesday with all 40 medical schools participating. The health ministry confirmed that as of Thursday midnight, 154 trainee doctors at seven hospitals submitted resignations. The Korean Medical Association’s emergency committee will hold a meeting on Saturday and discuss potential future moves. As doctors’ organizations are moving to take collective action, the health ministry is taking stern responses. In order to discourage trainee doctors from resigning, the ministry took additional measures and ordered them to maintain essential medical services.

[Soundbite]
Park Min-soo (Second vice minister of Health and Welfare): The gov’t issues a ban on trainee doctors at 221 hospitals from taking collective leave and an order to maintain essential medical services, effective immediately.

The ministry will also carry out on-site inspections of hospitals where trainee doctors are known to be boycotting duties. It will individually order the trainee doctors to return to work. Stressing that it has devised contingency measures, the health ministry pledged to make rapid responses and ensure that the people will experience no inconveniences in using medical services.

POSSIBLE LEE-WON BIG MATCH

[Anchor Lead]
The electoral lineup for the general election is rapidly taking shape across the political spectrum. The People Power Party has heightened the stakes by nominating former Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong in Gyeyang-eul, directly challenging the constituency of Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, thereby increasing the possibility of their face-off. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party has strategically deployed incumbent lawmakers to the 'Nakdong-gang River belt,' an expected key battleground, indicating a proactive approach to fortify its stronghold.

[Pkg]
The ruling People Power Party has nominated former transport minister Won Hee-ryong as a sole candidate to run in the April general election for the Gyeyang-eul district in Incheon which has long been held by main opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung. The possibility of a big match between Won and Lee has become more likely.

[Soundbite]
Won Hee-ryong (Former Land minister (Feb. 14)): Forces behind the bulletproof parliament and standing in the way of regional development must be eliminated.

The PPP has further announced a list of 25 candidates for the upcoming election who will not undergo a primary with other contenders. The early announcement is meant to give more time to underdog candidates facing an uphill battle. In particular, the PPP has nominated a large number of recruited talent to run in the so-called "Suwon belt" area where the ruling camp failed to win a single seat in the previous election. Jun Hee-kyung, a former presidential office secretary, has won PPP's ticket for Uijeongbu-gap district in Gyeonggi-do Province, another stronghold of the opposition DP. This made Choi Young-hee the first sitting lawmaker to be excluded from party nomination. Conservative heavyweight Kim Moo-sung who headed the former Saenuri Party, a PPP predecessor, has withdrawn his nomination application expressing hopes to pave the way for junior candidates to clinch election victory. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party has also announced early nominations especially of incumbent lawmakers in a strategy to defend the DP-held "Nakdong-gang River belt" area which includes Gimhae, Yangsan and Busan in the Gyeongsangnam-do region. DP Supreme Council member Ko Min-jung has been nominated uncontested to run for Seoul's Gwangjin-eul district, where she will face former ruling party lawmaker Oh Shin-hwan in what is the first clearly set rival party match-up. The DP will hold primaries to select the final candidate for Seoul's Yangcheon-gap and Gyeonggi-do Province's Gimpo-gap districts, as the competition is shaping up to be a race between incumbent lawmakers and figures in the pro-Lee Jae-myung camp.

[Soundbite]
Kim Byung-kee (Democratic Party's Nomination Committee): Candidates facing primaries meet the requirement but holding such races better serves our party's election prospects.

The DP has also nominated candidates, including many new talent recruited into the party, for Seoul's Gangnam, Busan's Saha and Ulsan's Namgu districts, regions where the opposition has traditionally struggled. As both rival camps accelerate their nominations, individual matchups are expected to take shape and increasingly come to light in the coming days.

N. KOREA-CUBA FUTURE RELATIONS

[Anchor Lead]
Cuba, often referred to as North Korea's "brother country," has boasted a close relationship for decades. Given this context, the establishment of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Cuba is likely causing considerable consternation in North Korea. We look into North Korea's potential response and the future outlook for North Korean-Cuban relations.

[Pkg]
[Soundbite]
(N. Korean Documentary Film): Comrade Kim Il-sung had a meaningful reunion with Cuban Communist Party Secretary and President Fidel Castro.

Footage of then-Cuban President Fidel Castro's visit to North Korea in 1986. Since Kim Il-sung and Fidel Castro were considered the first generation of revolutionary forces, the two countries have shown off close relations over three generations. Until recently, North Korean newspapers reserved space for news about Cuba almost every day. When these North Korean papers reported on an event for foreign diplomatic delegations in Pyongyang Thursday, immediately after South Korea forged diplomatic ties with Cuba, the papers specified Russia, Vietnam, Syria and other allies but did not mention Cuba at all. This omission was unprecedented, hinting at North Korean authorities' displeasure.

[Soundbite]
Prof. Park Won-gon (Ewha Womans University): Diplomatic relations between Cuba and S. Korea are symbolic because it shows that N. Korea has become more isolated diplomatically.

Experts say that it wouldn't be easy for North Korea to drastically improve its relations with Cuba, one of its few allies. Instead the regime could rely more heavily on Russia and China.

[Soundbite]
Suh Bo-hyuk (Korea Institute for Nat’l Unification): Only China and Russia remain to provide benefits to N. Korea in terms of diplomatic and symbolic support as well as military strategy and economic cooperation.

Some 150 countries already have diplomatic ties with both South and North Korea. But as North Korea has been flaunting an extremely friendly partnership with its revolutionary ally, Cuba's recent establishment of ties with South Korea could cause significant changes in Pyongyang's relations with Havana.

"KISHIDA MAY VISIT PYONGYANG"

[Anchor Lead]
One of the causes of South Korea's biggest social problem, the low birthrate, is being attributed to the heavy housing burden due to high property prices. In response, the launch of the special newborn loan product, boasting a minimum interest rate of 1%, has garnered considerable popularity. However, there are also concerns regarding the potential increase in household debt.

[Pkg]
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister, Kim Yo-jong, says that her country and Japan can open up a new future together if Japan makes a political decision to improve bilateral relations. In a statement reported by the state-run KCNA, Kim, a deputy director in the ruling Workers' Party, responded positively to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's recent remarks hoping to improve relations with Pyongyang. She said there is no reason for the two nations to remain distant as long as Japan doesn't create more stumbling blocks, such as getting in the way of Pyongyang's defense rights or raising the issue of Japanese abductees. She even added that there could come a day when the Japanese prime minister visits Pyongyang. But Kim was quick to add that it was only her personal view and she is not in the position to officially assess relations between North Korea and Japan. She also added that the North Korean leadership has no plan to make contact and improve ties with Japan for now and that they need to take a wait-and-see approach to understand Kishida's real intention. This indicates that Pyongyang intends to make more specific responses after observing Tokyo's follow-up moves. Kim's statement came in less than a day after Cuba, which is considered a brother country of the North, announced its decision to establish diplomatic relations with South Korea. Given the timing, some interpret that North Korea made the offer to Japan as a way to break out of diplomatic isolation.

NEWBORN LOAN PROGRAM

[Anchor Lead]
One of the causes of South Korea's biggest social problem, the low birthrate, is being attributed to the heavy housing burden due to high property prices. In response, the launch of the special newborn loan product, boasting a minimum interest rate of 1%, has garnered considerable popularity. However, there are also concerns regarding the potential increase in household debt.

[Pkg]
To be eligible for the special newborn loan, an individual has to have given birth or adopted a child in the past two years. That individual can borrow up to 500 million won or more than 375,000 U.S. dollars for at least five years when buying a house. The annual interest rate is between 1.6 and 3.3%, but if more babies are born, a prime rate will be given and the loan period extended. On the day of the loan program launch, the ministry's website was overloaded and applicants had to wait for up to an hour, and examination of loan applications have been partially delayed.

[Soundbite]
Kim Ji-hee (Korea Housing and Urban Guarantee Corp.): The system was ready for simultaneous access of 100,000 people, but public interest has driven up the number of inquiries to our call center.

Nearly 10,000 applications for home purchase and lease loans have been filed in the first week. The sum amounts to about 2.5 trillion won or nearly 1.9 billion U.S. dollars. The available fund for this year is 32 trillion won, roughly 24 billion dollars.

[Soundbite]
Jeong (Father of Two in His 30s): I need money for their toys and childcare. If I can reduce the interest payment, I could perhaps have one more child.

There was a request to remove the house size limitation to allow families to live in bigger homes if they have more babies. Some experts note that expanding public housing is a more fundamental solution while voicing concerns over mounting household debts.

[Soundbite]
Prof. You Hye-mi (Hanyang University): It's uncertain how many households would decide to have babies due to this loan. But it could cause housing prices to rise or household debts to increase.

The number of childbirths last year is likely to set a new record low again as it is expected to be around 230,000, about 20,000 fewer than the 2022 figures.

PROBE INTO ILLEGAL SHORT SELLING

[Anchor Lead]
Prosecutors looking into illegal short selling of stocks by global investment banks have launched an investigation. The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office said Thursday that raids were carried out at BNP Paribas Securities Services, HSBC Securities and HSBC Bank, who are accused of violating the Capital Markets Act. Earlier, the Financial Services Commission discovered that BNP and HSBC handed in naked short sale orders worth tens of millions of dollars. It slapped fines on the companies and filed a complaint with the prosecution.

MIGRATORY BIRD FEEDING DRONES

[Anchor Lead]
Below the Demilitarized Zone, the plains of Cheorwon in Gangwon-do Province are recognized as a prime migratory bird habitat. Local residents have traditionally provided feed to these birds annually to prevent them from starving. However, in recent years, the task of feeding has become challenging due to outbreaks of livestock infectious diseases. Surprisingly, drones have emerged as a solution. How? We take a look.

[Pkg]
A sandbank in the Hantangang River, formed by water flowing down from the north. Hundreds of wild geese gather in groups. Flocks of swans are seen leisurely strolling along the water. Red-crowned cranes, which is designated as a natural monument in Korea, are also spotted in the river. This winter, some 30,000 migratory birds visited Cheorwon, the largest number to be reported in an inland region of the nation. In a nearby field, large drones fly up into the air and spread rice seeds across the area. They are supplying feed to the migratory birds. Until last year, residents came out to sprinkle rice seeds themselves. But this year, drones are mobilized to feed the birds. After deliberate discussions, this solution was devised to continue feeding migratory birds without coming into contact amid the spread of infectious animal diseases such as the avian influenza or the foot-and-mouth disease.

[Soundbite]
Yoo Jong-hyun (Cheorwon crane protection group): Once bird flu breaks out, human access is banned within a ten-kilometer radius from the affected region. So there are few ways for people to get in.

Four farming drones measuring three meters in size are mobilized. Each can carry up to 60 kilograms of rice seeds on the top. It takes at least an hour for people to spread one ton of feed. Drones complete the task in just half an hour.

[Soundbite]
Yoo Jae-woo (Cheorwon resident): We are happy to participate in a local project. We also plan to continue this project every winter.

Cutting-edge technology is being used to feed migratory birds and protect them from starving during the winter season.