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Taiwan Quick Take

■ Missing person
Student's body found
The body of a South Korean student who came to Taiwan to study Chinese was found at a water pumping station near National Chengchi University in Mucha, police said yesterday. Police said that initial investigations showed that Ryeo Yun-koo, 24, who had been missing since March 22, appeared to have drowned, however, the exact cause of his death will be determined after an autopsy. They said that Ryeo had transferred from Chi-nese Culture University to National Chengchi Univer-sity on March 3. On March 22, he went out with South Korean friends for dinner and drinks. Ryeo's guardians in Taiwan then reported him missing. National Chengchi University officials looked for the student on campus.
Police suspected that Ryeo, under the influence of alcohol and not familiar with the terrain of the school, might have fallen into the water at the pumping station.

■ Humanitarian aid
Tzu Chi aids refugees
Taiwan's Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation in Amman, Jordan yesterday sent eight volunteers to deliver toys, biscuits and drinking water to a refugee camp on the border between Jordan and Iraq. A spokesman for the foundation said there are 250 refugees, including 40 children, in the camp some 300km east of Amman. The foundation also sent 26 volunteers on April 4 to deliver bottled drinking water, clothing, sugar, tea leaves and stationery to refugee camps on the border between Jordan and Iraq, the spokesman said. The foundation plans to send school bags for the children in the camps in the near future, he added.

■ Diplomacy
First lady encourages
First lady Wu Shu-chen (吳淑珍) praised a women's group yesterday for its contribution to "people's diplomacy" and urged them to take part more in international exchanges. Wu was addressing the 2003 annual convention of Soroptimist International of Taiwan Region in Kaohsiung, in which more than 200 representatives from around the country participated. Wu praised the performance of the organization and its regional head, Chen Ku Mei-kuei (陳辜美貴), saying that what she described as "the feminine attributes" of caring and tenderness have built the momentum to push the society upward. She also expressed the hope that more women will dedicate themselves to international exchanges. Chen Ku noted that group is one of the few organizations that has joined the UN's non-governmental organizations in the capacity as a country, adding that with the excellent perfor-mance of the nation's women and their selfless devotion, the group has raised Tai-wan's international profile.

■ Nuclear power
No further cancellation
Premier Yu Shyi-kun said yesterday that there is no question that construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant will be suspended again. The premier was responding to questions by KMT Legislator Liu Cheng-hung (劉政鴻), who expres-sed concern about who would be responsible for another possible suspension of the plant, saying that the government paid a hefty price when it suspended construction before. His query follows the suspen-sion of dredging for a wharf for the power plant because of erosion to Fulung Beach -- which could affect delivery of the plant's nuclear reactor and the scheduled opera-tional date of July 15, 2006 of the first unit of the plant's two reactors.
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