February 05, 2005 ㅡ A Buddhist nun fighting to save the habitat of a rare amphibian from a railroad tunnel construction project has given up her 100-day hunger strike after government officials promised a new environmental impact study while work continues on the project.

Officials said yesterday while construction would not be stopped, they had reached an agreement late Thursday with the nun, the Venerable Jiyul, that disruption of the area where the tunnel will be built would be kept to a minimum until the new assessment is completed.

The study is expected to take three months.
Jiyul staged her protest to protect a salamander that lives in the watershed of Mount Cheonseong near Busan.

"The government and environmental groups will conduct the new research jointly; if it proves that the rail tunnel is not damaging the environment, construction will resume," said Nam Yeong-ju, the prime ministers' chief secretary of civil affairs. "But if it does [affect the habitat of salamander], the government promised that it will concede."

The Venerable Beomryun, a Buddhist monk and aide to Jiyul, said the 48-year-old nun had begun drinking vegetable stock instead of water and salt, which was virtually all she had consumed during her protest. He said she would be taken to hospital for medical treatment in a couple of days after she has recovered enough to step outside.

Doctors said her teeth have started deteriorating and they are particularly worried about her immune system.

"First of all, she's very weak and could develop life-threatening pneumonia," said Ji Je-hwan, a doctor at Samsung Medical Center. "It is important that her surroundings are kept hygienic."
Beomryun delivered the news that Jiyul was giving up her hunger protest Thursday night. She had turned away dignitaries including Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan and Prime Minister Lee Hai-chan earlier.
"I think Jiyul is going to live now," said Beomryun as he announced the news.
He said that Jiyul wanted to send a message of gratitude to everyone who had supported her throughout the long campaign.

The hunger strike had been her fourth since February 2003 when she started her first fast, which lasted for 38 days.

Despite President Roh Moo-hyun's campaign pledge that the rail tunnel through Mount Cheonseong would be stopped, it continued. Jiyul started her second hunger strike in October 2003, lasting 45 days. Her third strike, in front of the Blue House, lasted 58 days until the government promised an environmental assessment. When the promise was broken, she started her fourth fast, beginning in front of the Blue House.


by Kang Kap-saeng, Lee Min-a <mina@joongang.co.kr>