Students:This is Mrs. Blazer's first-periodclass from Fruitland Middle School in Fruitland, Idaho, and Channel One News starts right now!
Arielle: Check it out: Fruitland Middle School, with plenty of fruit — and did I see some cheese there?Got to love it! Thanks, guys. I am Arielle Hixson, andit is Thursday, so let's get to it.
First up today, North and South Koreaare feeling the Olympic spirit. The Winter Games are less than a month away, taking place in Pyeongchang,South Korea. And the two nations — which, by the way, are still at war — have agreed to do something shocking, and South Korea is hoping this will be dubbed the Peace Olympics.
For the first time, the two Koreas will compete as a united team in the Olympicsby forming a combined women's hockey team.AndNorth Korea and South Korea say their athletes will march together at the Winter Olympics under one flag.The two countries have joined forces at other international sports events before, but never at the Olympics — a major event.
North Korea said it will also send a cheering squad and a performing arts group to the games, which kick off next month in South Korea.It is a big deal because tensions have been high between the two nations since the Korean War began in 1950.
North and South Korea have been talking for a few weeks now about the Olympics. The last time leaders came face to face was more than two years ago. But the talks did not touch on controversial topics, like the North's weapons program.
Now, North Korea and South Korea maybe showing a message of unity next month, but the message the people of North Korea get is very different from the news and information people get in the South.
The North is a closed-off country with no access to internet, social media or open news, and the South is a democratic country similar to the U.S. And, as Tom Hanson shows usfrom his recent trip to the region, some people are putting their life at risk to try to get news, TV shows and open information to the North.
Tom: Every few months, when the wind is right, Park Sang-hak heads to one of the most tense borders on Earth and launches helium-filled balloons full of anti–North Korean leaflets, thumb drives with Western soap operas and U.S. dollars across the DMZinto the world's most secretive country — North Korea.
Park Sang-hak: We need thousands of leaflets, winds blowing north and, finally, lots of helium gas. With these three conditions, we can launch our balloons.
Tom: Park is one of several self-proclaimed soldiers in a quiet propaganda war against the North Korean government.North Korea is known for its widespread propaganda, information that is biased or misleading, used to promote a particular political cause or point of view.
With complete control over media and access to information in the country, the government can say whatever it wants, and the people have no way of knowing what is true or false.
For instance, legend has it a double rainbow and glowing star appeared in the heavens to celebrate the birth of former leader Kim Jong-il.The first time he picked up a golf club, he made 11 holesinone and then gave up the sport for good.These tales create a larger-than-life, almost god-like image of a leader most North Koreans have never even seen in person.The Kim family has ruled North Korea for nearly 70 years.
Park: The leaflets, in some ways, are an open letter to my North Korean family. The Kim family has made so many absurd lies to our people, and the thing that a liar fears most is truth.
Tom: Park's life has been threatened so many times that he has two security guards with him night and day for protection.
Park: The North Korean government has tried to assassinate me with poisonous needles and a gun inthe past. This shows just how much the Kim family is trying to prevent the truth from getting out.
Tom: Like many North Korean defectors — people who escaped — he became skeptical of the information he was told growing up, especially after finding a leaflet himself from a propaganda balloon sent by the South Korean government.
What did it say?
Park: It was a story about a North Korean defector who had received an education from one of the prestigious colleges in South Korea and also a picture of aNorth Korean defector living in really wealthy and good conditions.
Tom: So he left everything behind, including his bride-to-be, to make the dangerous journey to the South.And once he found out the South Korean government planned to end its balloon program, he created his own.
While exposing the truth might seem like a worthy cause, it is controversial among the hundreds of thousands who live in border communities, like Woo Jong-il.He still remembers the day that bullets would fly across, pushing him to build a bunker in the event of a North Korean attack.
So this would just be a temporary thing until you can find a safer place?
Woo Jong-il: I'm no expert on military tactics, but I think this bunker would help me survive for a few extra days until we could be evacuated.
Tom: With less than a mile separating Woo's family from the enemy, their lives, like many others’, are affected by a constant war of words on both sides.
President Donald Trump: North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States.
Woo: When the leaders of the United States and North Korea start to threaten each other, or when the North and South get really tense, that's when I start to get nervous.
Tom: He hopes thatU.S. military presence in the region will send a strong message to the North Korean regime and sees it as a real solution to this ongoing issue.Park, however, says true change can only come from the people within North Korea.
Park: Kim Jong-un is such a godly figure, and everyone worships him.I think that by exposing the truth and telling the North Korean people how monstrous Kim Jong-un is, I can change the way people think about their leader.
Tom: Tom Hanson,Channel One News.
Arielle: Great story.Thanks,Tom.
And to learn more about the two Koreasand take a pop quiz, just head on over to ChannelOne.com.
Okay, up next, why humans aren't alone when it comes to facing the bitter cold.
Arielle: Are you planning on watching a little TV tonight? Well, watch what you eat, because a new study says sitting in front of the tube for more than three hours can cause you to snack on more junk food.
The report found young viewers could down as many as 500extra snacks a year compared to kids who watched less TV. That is a lot of sugar and calories. The report followed over 3,000 studentsbetween the ages of 11 and 19 in the United Kingdom, and one of the main findings was that TV ads for junk foods triggered junk food cravings among teens.
Now, regularly consuming high-calorie foods and drinks, which have higher levels of fat and sugar, increase the risk of becoming overweight or obese, which also increases the chance of cancer.And a recent report on obesity found that, worldwide in 2015, about 604 million adults and 108 million children were obese.In the U.S. almost 13 percent of children are obese — the highest rate in the world.
Okay, the winter chill that is gripping much of the nation has stretched all the way down to a usually warm Florida, and Emily, I know a lot of people are not happy.
Emily: Yeah, Arielle, but humans are not the only ones who are suffering. The cold weather and frigid temperatures put reptiles like sea turtles in danger. Take a look.
In the unusually cold waters of Florida's St. Joe Bay, an urgent rescue mission is underway.Scientists and law enforcement officers joined forces to scoop up hundreds of sea turtles floating in the water, stunned by the cold, fighting for their lives.
These endangered sea turtlesare cold-blooded animals, which means their body temperature changes along with the external temperature.So the colder it gets outside, the colder they become.
Dr. Lauren Thielen: The turtles are not used to this.Their metabolic demand is shutting down, and they're getting a little bit stranded and disoriented as a consequence.
Emily: Their bodies can even shut downwhen water temps drop below 50 degrees.So, with the help of volunteers, rescuers loaded them in crates and pickup trucks and took them to their next home: Gulf World Marine Institutetook in more than 850 cold-stunned sea turtles since the first week of January. The turtles are brought back to life in temperature-controlled kiddie pools, where they are carefully monitored.
Woman: We'll check their flippers, feel for any swellings or abnormalities that might indicate broken bones.
Emily: Odds are also stacked against many other cold-bloodedanimalsbattling the freeze in the South this winter, like the Florida manatees, considered a threatened species, huddled together in canals and springs to stay warm.
In North Carolina alligators trapped in frozen ponds were spotted poking their noses through the ice.And residents in south Floridawoke up to this sight: frozen iguanas falling from trees, lying unconscious on the ground.
Thielen: As they're falling from the trees, they're actually not dying. What's happening is their metabolic demand is shutting down, and they just simply can't contract their muscles, and they just can't move. We just want to make sure that these temperatures start to rise.
Emily: Emily Reppert, Channel One News.
Arielle: Tough time for the animals, and it isn't over yet. This winter could present even more cold snaps as the season goes on.
And you just heard today's Word in the News: threatened species, which is any living species — animal or plant — that is likely to become extinct, or wiped out, in the near future.
All right, guys, time is up, but stay warm out there, and we will catch you right back here tomorrow.
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