South Korean cosmetics giant AmorePacific and the Korea Breast Cancer Foundation kicked off the 2016 Pink Ribbon Love Marathon for breast cancer awareness in Busan on Sunday.

The Busan race was the first of an annual series of races that aim to spread public awareness about breast cancer -- the most common form of cancer among women -- and raise funds for low-income breast cancer patients.


The races are hosted by the Korea Breast Cancer Foundation, which was founded with funding from AmorePacific in 2000. As of 2015, some 275,000 people have participated in the races, raising more than 2.9 billion won ($2.52 million) for the foundation.

On Sunday, over 5,000 men and women gathered at the Busan Yachting Range to take part in the race, which is celebrating its 16th anniversary this year.

The event featured various sponsored booths that offered participants free breast cancer consultations, guidelines on conducting self-examinations at home as well as opportunities to partake in campaign activities.

The breast cancer marathon will continue as a nationwide event over the coming months, with thousands of runners set to participate in the race in Daejeon in May, Gwangju in June, Daegu in September and Seoul in October.

For more information on the Pink Ribbon Love Marathon, visit www.pinkcampaign.com.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)