South Korean nun ends 100-day fast for salamander

SEOUL: A South Korean Buddhist nun has ended a 100-day hunger strike protesting plans to blast a tunnel through the habitat of several endangered species including a rare salamander, South Korean media reports said on Friday. Venerable Jiyul Sunim, 48, opposed government plans to carve a tunnel through southern Mount Chunsung to extend South Korea’s bullet train network to the second-biggest city, Pusan. She agreed to end the fast late on Thursday by accepting a government proposal to conduct a new environmental study on the impact of the project on the mountain’s ecology. “The government has decided to accept a joint study based on the value of appreciating life after considering a proposal by religious leaders and a resolution of parliamentary Construction and Transportation Committee,” a government spokesman was quoted as saying by the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper. reuters

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