One in three South Koreans hope to stay at state-run nursing facilities should their health become impaired in their postretirement years, instead of relying on and living with family members, a study showed Friday.　The statistics indicate a change in the Korean tradition of grown children financially and physically supporting their elderly parents, researchers said.　The study by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs surveyed some 1,000 Koreans aged 20-64 last year. Among the partici

World leaders kicked off two days of G7 talks in Japan on Thursday, with the creaky global economy taking centre stage and disquiet over China's growing influence looming over proceedings.Heads of state and government from the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and host Japan are meeting in Ise-Shima, a mountainous region about 300 kilometres (200 miles) southwest of Tokyo. The group, including US President Barack Obama -- who is making a historic trip to the atomic-bombed ci

KIEV, (AFP) -- Two pro-Russian rebels were killed and another injured in fresh clashes with government forces in the country's war-torn east as simmering violence showed little sign of abating, separatist authorities said on Thursday.The new casualties came the day after Ukraine scored a major diplomatic  victory by securing the return of Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko as part of a  prisoner swap with the Kremlin.Senior rebel commander Eduard Basurin said Ukrainian forces attacked rebel positi

North Korea's official news agency is criticizing U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Hiroshima on Friday.The Korean Central News Agency published a commentary Thursday calling the visit a "childish political calculation'' aimed at hiding Obama's identity as a "nuclear war lunatic" determined to modernize the U.S. nuclear arsenal.The commentary also accused Japan of trying to use the visit to masquerade as a victim and cover up its atrocities during World War II.Obama is to become the first s

The British Embassy in Seoul on Thursday held a dinner gathering to celebrate the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, an event that it seized on to highlight the evolving partnership between the two nations.The celebratory event brought together some 800 people including South Korea's Culture Minister Kim Jong-deok, Yonhap News Agency CEO Park No-hwang, former Prime Minister Han Seung-soo and Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin.British Ambassador to Seoul Charles Hay said that Thursday's event w

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (AP) -- Wrapping up a historic visit to Vietnam, U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday praised the country's next generation of leaders for being more conscious of the environment than previous ones and urged them to ``do something about'' climate change.During his final public event here, Obama basked in the admiration of hundreds of young leaders who participated in a town hall-style event and prefaced some of their questions to him with praise about his leadership

BERLIN (AFP) - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Wednesday hailed the release of Ukrainian helicopter pilot Nadiya Savchenko after nearly two years in a Russian prison."I am happy and relieved that Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko has finally been released and can return to her family in Ukraine," said Steinmeier, also the current chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe."This is good news for which we worked a long time and for which we also had to wait

The recent murder of a 23-year-old woman at the hands of a man with a history of schizophrenia in Seoul’s Gangnam district has triggered debate on misogyny and mental illness here. 　The 34-year-old suspect told the police earlier this week that he committed the crime because he had been “belittled by women” many times in the past. The victim and the suspect had no prior contact with each other prior to the incident that occurred Tuesday.　While police announced Thursday that the case should not b

The South Korean government announced Friday that it will stick to its conventional measures on emergency contraception pills -- birth control measures used after sexual intercourse to prevent pregnancy -- and continue to disallow over-the-counter sales at pharmacies. 123RF　Since 2012, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has been considering the option of designating the “morning-after pill” an OTC drug. It is known to be effective up to 72 hours after unprotected sex. The requirement of a doct

　The number of South Korean babies with birth defects has increased significantly since the early 1990s, likely due to traffic-related air pollutants and endocrine disruptors, a study showed Monday. 　The report, by Inha University’s Social and Preventive Medicine department, researched the national health insurance data of 403,250 infants aged 0-1 living in Korea’s seven metropolitan areas between 2009 and 2010. It found that 5.5 percent of all infants researched during the period had birth defe

A government study showed Monday that as of this year nearly 14 percent of South Korean schoolchildren are addicted to either smartphones or the Internet. 　By surveying 1.5 million students aged 11, 13 and 15, the study found that 200,000 of them were obsessed with their devices, with 55,000 of them addicted to both the Internet and smartphones.　Notably, the number of 11-year-olds -- fourth graders in elementary schools -- who are at risk of Internet or smartphone addiction increased from the ye

Fewer Koreans believe that grown-up children should be responsible emotionally and financially to care for their aging parents, a study showed Sunday. 　According to the report released by the Korean Women’s Development Institute, 16.6 percent of Koreans said in a survey conducted in 2014 that an individual is responsible to finance their own post-retirement years. It showed a 1.7-fold increase from 9.6 percent in 2002. 　At the same time, the number of those who think family members, including gr

BURLINGAME (AFP) -- Hundreds of demonstrators jostled with police in riot gear outside a California hotel where Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump gave a speech, forcing the candidate to duck into a back entrance.At one point, several dozen protesters broke through barricades and attempted to storm the hotel where the California Republican Party Convention was taking place on Friday, but police, some wielding batons, were able to push them back.The demonstrators waved banners that

Tens of thousands of unionized workers will hold rallies across the country to criticize the government's labor reform plans that they say will make firing people easier, the nation's two largest umbrella unions said Saturday.On Sunday, 50,000 members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) will stage protests in 15 cities to urge the government to nullify the agreement made in September between management and labor representatives.The trilateral deal allows companies to dismiss worke

The foreign ministers of China and Japan held bilateral talks in Beijing on Saturday with the aim of improving ties strained by territorial and historical disputes. Meeting Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Beijing is willing to develop a "healthy and stable" relationship with Tokyo, according to a statement released by China's foreign ministry. But, Wang told Kishida that China would judge Japan's hope to improve relations with China by its actions,

BOGOTA, (AFP)  -- Colombia's widespread illegal mining is blamed for causing environmental damage and holding workers in slave-like conditions -- and now is also being blamed for a malaria outbreak.Critics point to stagnant water buildups at the clandestine sites and poor sanitary conditions at the workers' camps for an increase in mosquitos spreading the disease, which has quadrupled in jungle regions of the hard-hit and impoverished western department of Choco."The country had more or less con

North Korea on Saturday condemned South Korea and the United States for conducting joint military drills that it called the "worst military provocation in the history of the Korean Peninsula."South Korea and the U.S. wrapped up this year's Foal Eagle exercise earlier in the day, with the Key Resolve command post drill having concluded last month. The two exercises have been carried out annually to deter nuclear and missile threats by wayward North Korea.This year's exercises were the biggest of

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) -- A judge on Friday sentenced a Colorado woman who cut a baby from a stranger's womb to 100 years in prison, including the maximum penalties for attempted murder and unlawful termination of a pregnancy.Judge Maria Berkenkotter said the harshest sentences for the most serious charges were justified by the brutality of the 2015 attack, which she described as performing a cesarean with a kitchen knife. Berkenkotter also said the victim, Michelle Wilkins, as well as her family a

South Korean President Park Geun-hye will leave for Iran on Sunday to help South Korean businesses expand into the Middle East's least-tapped market, Cheong Wa Dae said.Park is the first South Korean president to visit Iran since the two countries formed diplomatic ties in 1962. Her trip that will last through Wednesday comes after a landmark nuclear pact between the United States and Iran that has led to the alleviation of international sanctions on the Islamic country.In Iran, Park and her cou

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) -- North Korea sentenced a U.S. citizen of Korean heritage to 10 years in prison with hard labor after convicting him of espionage and subversion, the second American it has put behind bars this year. Kim Dong Chul was sentenced Friday after a brief trial in Pyongyang by North Korea's Supreme Court, which found him guilty of espionage and subversion under Articles 60 and 64 of the North's criminal code.North Korea regularly accuses Washington and Seoul of sending spie