FEUD OVER IMPEACHING PROSECUTORS

FEUD OVER IMPEACHING PROSECUTORS

[Anchor Lead]
The Democratic Party criticized Prosecutor General Lee Won-seok, labeling him a ‘do-nothing prosecutor’ engaged in politics. The People Power Party strongly condemned this, asking what illegalities prosecutors committed besides investigating former Chairman Lee Jae-myung.

[Pkg]
The Democratic Party has ramped up its offensive on the prosecution. It directly criticized Prosecutor General Lee One-seok for making political remarks even after failing to prevent prosecutors from committing illegalities.

[Soundbite]
Park Chan-dae (Floor Leader, Democratic Party): When prosecutors are supposed to avoid political acts and remarks, are you making political moves explicitly? Prosecutor General, you should reflect on yourself.

The main opposition party condemned the top prosecutor for his inability to get to the bottom of stock manipulation allegations involving the first lady.

[Soundbite]
Jang Kyung-tae (DP supreme council member): Lee One-seok has long been vegetative as prosecutor general. When will you summon Kim Keon-hee?

[Soundbite]
The people are furious over the move to impeach prosecutors for Lee Jae-myung.

The People Power Party held a rally denouncing the Democratic Party. The ruling party lashed out at the main opposition for wielding its power unduly and seeking a legislative tyranny to protect its former Chairman Lee Jae-myung through attempting to impeach prosecutors.

[Soundbite]
Choo Kyung-ho (Floor Leader, People Power Party): What have the prosecutors done wrong while investigating Lee Jae-myung cases? Their only fault is that they have probed into his cases.

The PPP blasted the main opposition party, saying that illegal acts committed by its leader cannot be hidden even if it summons and questions four prosecutors at the National Assembly.

[Soundbite]
Han Dong-hoon (Former Chair, PPP Emergency Committee): It is a build-up and threat to impeach judges who would find Lee guilty.

However, the DP plans to summon the prosecutors in question and key figures in cases, which it calls the reason for impeachment, as witnesses at the parliamentary legislation and judiciary committee. It will begin related discussions in detail next week.

PARTISAN FEUD OVER SPECIAL PROBE

[Anchor Lead]
The bill for a special counsel to investigate a young marine's death last year, discarded in the previous National Assembly, was reintroduced yesterday by the opposition. The People Power Party initiated a filibuster to obstruct proceedings. Consequently, the planned economic affairs interpellation session was cancelled.

[Pkg]
The National Assembly plenary session started over an hour later than scheduled...as rival parties clashed over a bill calling for a special counsel probe into the death of a marine last year.

[Soundbite]
Bae June-young (Chief deputy floor leader, PPP): The legislative onslaught continues. Is this what lawmakers have pledged to demonstrate in parliament? (Yes.)

[Soundbite]
Park Sung-joon (Chief deputy floor leader, DP): It'd be the most symbolic change to accept the marine death probe bill which relates to the president.

As Assembly speaker Woo Won-shik tried to table the bill ahead of a parliamentary interpellation session as requested by the main opposition Democratic Party, the ruling People Power Party lawmakers protested the move.

[Soundbite]
Choo Kyung-ho (Floor leader, People Power Party): Why do you keep changing the schedule at random?

The PPP demanded the speaker maintain neutrality but Woo went ahead and tabled the bill.

[Soundbite]
Woo Won-shik (Nat‘l Assembly speaker): I hope the gov't will accept public sentiment and make a wise decision.

In the bill, the DP added new provisions allowing lawmakers of non negotiation groups to join in the recommendation of the special counsel and for the president to automatically appoint the recommended counsel.

[Soundbite]
Kim Seung-won (Democratic Party): I sincerely ask lawmakers to look after the public's wellbeing rather than that of the president.

The PPP then launched a filibuster.

[Soundbite]
Yoo Sang-bum (People Power Party): No one from the DP attended the funeral of the deceased. This is typical DP hypocrisy and contradiction.

As a result, an interpellation session on economic affairs scheduled for the day was canceled and Cabinet ministers who came to parliament for the Q&A had to leave without fielding a single question.

[Soundbite]
Song Mi-ryung (Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs): It would've been great if there was an opportunity to share what I prepared.

The ever increasing partisan standoff is crippling the newly launched 22nd National Assembly.

VARIABLES IN COLLEGE ADMISSIONS

[Anchor Lead]
Recruitment for some sections of the 2025 early university admissions began this month. Notable influences on this year's admissions include the first medical school slot expansion in 27 years, major-less admissions, and enlarged quotas for advanced courses tied to major corporations. We have the details.

[Pkg]
Sungkyunkwan University's natural sciences department includes majors such as math, physics and bioengineering. Of the 310 students who were admitted last year with an undetermined major, 44 of them or some 14% have dropped out.

[Soundbite]
(Sungkyunkwan Univ. official (VOICE MODIFIED)): The dropout rate for this department is 3-4 times higher than average. I think the main reason is students' change of heart in deciding a major.

It's a similar situation at other universities. Departments that selected students on the non major status rule have seen dropout rates as much as 5 times higher than other regular disciplines. This totally defeats the purpose of the rule which is meant to guarantee students right of choice and tear down barriers between academic studies. Reasons behind the dropout include dissatisfaction with assigned majors and aspirations to enter medical school.

[Soundbite]
Choi Hwa-yeon (Graduate school student): Non-major students need a good score to enter the department they want. Some don't make it while others don't like what they're studying the major.

[Soundbite]
Lee Jae-yun (Undergraduate student): I want to study more for another chance at medical school at a better university such as SNU.

Circumstances are no different at the so-called high-tech majors which saw a sharp increase. Even majors that guarantee jobs at leading conglomerates after graduation recorded as high as 220% in non enrollment rate last year, more than double the admissions quota. This is mainly due to students who were admitted to both high-tech and medical majors but relinquished the former. A larger number of dropouts are expected especially this year due to the med school quota expansion.

[Soundbite]
Im Eun-hee (Korea Higher Education Research Institute): Popular majors will see deteriorating learning conditions while unpopular ones will eventually shut down. This kind of discrepancy is only expected to worsen.

To prevent such desertion, the education sector advises universities to establish adequate curricula and teaching staff that can help students find their career paths from the early stages.

NEWJEANS BECOMES HONORARY AMBASSADOR

[Anchor Lead]
K-POP girlgroup 'NewJeans' has been appointed as the promotional ambassador to introduce Korea and Korean tourism. According to the music industry, NewJeans has been appointed as the 2024 honorary ambassador of Korean tourism by the Korean Tourism Organization. The official appointment ceremony will take place this month. In May, the girl group performed their hit songs at Gyeongbokgung Palace, wearing hanbok. At the time, they were praised for introducing the beauty and charms of the traditional Korean attire worldwide Recently, NewJeans successfully held a meeting with fans at Tokyo Dome in Japan. The quintet is taking K-pop fans by storm across Asia. The girl group is said to be the perfect pick for the honorary ambassador of Korean tourism. Former honorary ambassadors of Korean tourism include stars and celebrities like actor Lee Jong-suk, singer Hwang Chi-yel and footballer Son Heung-min.

FIRED AFTER INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT

[Anchor Lead]
A worker was nearly killed by a forklift. but then was abruptly fired, citing company closure. The company's representative claims financial difficulties necessitated the closure. However, accusations of unfair dismissal are now emerging.

[Pkg]
A small plant in Jincheon, Chungcheongbuk-do Province. A fully loaded forklift comes at a high speed...before hitting a worker crossing the yard. The worker is dragged a few meters, trapped under the forklift. This accident left the worker in her 30s seriously injured.

[Soundbite]
(Husband of injured worker (VOICE MODIFIED)): The doctors said that she would likely die. I just collapsed. They said they would perform surgery but her chances were very low.

Surgery saved her life and she applied for industrial accident medical care to cover her treatment cost. But then, she was suddenly fired from her job in April. She was laid off just one day before her first year on the job, which happens to be just a day under the minimum one-year employment requirement for severance eligibility. According to the Labor Standards Act, an employer cannot lay off a worker who is not working due to an injury sustained on the job. The employer, however, went ahead and fired her anyway, claiming that the company was shutting down. The employer was running three separate companies and only the one the injured worker belonged to was subject to a closure. The employer claims that he didn't intend to lay her off on a particular day and that the company closure was not a cover-up.

[Soundbite]
(Employer (VOICE MODIFIED)): We faced financial trouble and the accident disheartened me from operation.

Recently, the employer and the forklift driver were each sentenced to respectively, four months and six months in prison and two-year suspended sentence for professional negligence resulting in injury. The injured worker recently petitioned the Labor and Employment Ministry to investigate her unfair layoff separately from the criminal trial.

DAD-LINKED FETAL INJURY RECOGNITION

[Anchor Lead]
'Fetal Injury' recognizes diseases in newborns from exposed pregnant workers as occupational injuries. Implemented early last year, it has acknowledged four female workers so far. This system has also recognized a male worker for the first time, confirming a link between his work and his child's illness.

[Pkg]
This man surnamed Jeong has been working at the LCD production part of Samsung Electronics since 2004. He says he has handled toxic substances without proper safety devices.

[Soundbite]
(Father applying for fetal injury recognition (VOICE MODIFIED)): I use substances when cleaning dust. I had symptoms like vomiting.

His son was born in 2008. In 2011, the baby was diagnosed with CHARGE syndrome, which causes genetic deformities in the eyes, ears and heart. In December 2021, Jeong applied to have his son's case be recognized as fetal injury in the workplace. Two and a half years after he filed the application, the correlation between his work environment and his son's disease was acknowledged. This marks the first time the correlation between a fetal injury and the father's work has been recognized. A government-affiliated committee on occupational disease decisions concluded that Jeong's son had gotten the disease for a genetic problem, which was likely caused by an abnormal reproductive cell of the father. However, Jeong's demand for compensation was not accepted. Under the current act on industrial accident compensation, fetal injuries are recognized only when pregnant female workers are affected. Jeong called for a law revision, saying that it is necessary to have the father's workplace conditions be recognized as the source of fetal injuries.

PETROCHEMICAL INDUSTRY IN CRISIS

[Anchor Lead]
Recently, the business world has seen a rise in ’emergency management‘. In particular, the petrochemical sector, a key industry pillar, shows no end to its recession.

[Pkg]
This Yeosu LG Chem plant that produces synthetic resin stopped operations in March. Having declared a company-wide emergency recently, Lotte Chemical decided to cut down on the number employees that go on both its domestic and overseas business trips by 20% from last year. The two companies took these cost-cutting measures because the longer they run the plants, the more money they are to lose. Ethylene spread refers to the difference between the selling price of ethylene and the price of its raw material. The industry sees the difference of 300 U.S. dollars or less as a loss. But the ethylene spread fell below 200 dollars two years ago and has failed to bounce back. The global demand has long been sluggish...and China, a major ethylene importer, has rapidly increased its local manufacturing facilities.

[Soundbite]
(Petrochemical industry insider): Our major exporting destination China's self-sufficiency rate has risen rapidly and China's oversupply has pushed down the ethylene price.

The petrochemical industry's operating loss continued in the first quarter of this year. And the plant operation rate hovers around only 80%. Experts say that the industry must find new solutions from producing high-value products.

[Soundbite]
Shin Hak-cheol (LG Chem Vice Chair): We announced three growth engines - new drugs, environmentally-friendly materials and battery materials.

Since it's not easy to produce tangible results in a short time, however, emergency operation of petrochemical companies is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

HOLLYWOOD STARS WATCH KBO GAME

[Anchor Lead]
Imagine spotting a Hollywood star at a baseball game completely out of the blue. That happened to many fans yesterday. Let's see who appeared at Seoul's Gocheok Sky Dome. A match between the LG Twins and the Kiwoom Heroes is in full swing at the Gocheok Sky Dome. But there is a familiar face in the stands. It's Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds, also famous as Deadpool. And there's even Hugh Jackman of Wolverine fame standing right next to him. They came to Korea yesterday afternoon to promote their upcoming film, ’Deadpool and Wolverine‘. The two actors came to the baseball stadium as part of their unofficial schedule. They uploaded their photos taken in the Gocheok stadium on their social media sites to announce that they have arrived in Korea. The movie's distributor said the two stars kicked off their official schedule with a press briefing this morning.