South Korea’s Health Ministry plans to broadcast a more “explicit” antismoking TV commercial starting next week, replacing the current one featuring ballet dancers expressing the agony of smoking’s side effects through dance movements. 　The new commercial, currently in production, is aimed to curb smoking among Koreans more effectively, using a combination of possibly disturbing images and messages, said Choi Shin-gwang from the Health Ministry. 　“We’ve been told that the current commercial with

 Boys in South Korea are nearly twice as likely to be obese than girls, a new report released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development showed.　According to the report Health at a Glance 2015, 26.4 percent of boys aged 5-17 were either overweight or obese as of 2013. Meanwhile, only 14.1 percent of girls had the same health condition.　The gender disparity in Korea was significantly high considering the OECD average for childhood obesity was 24.3 percent for boys and 22.1 perce

　Following a number of violent crimes against Korean tourists and residents in the Philippines in recent years, the Korean National Police Agency announced on Saturday it will increase the numbers of agents on its special task force teams to help the Philippine police tackle the problem.　The plan was announced during a meeting between Kang Sin-myeong, the commissioner general of the Korean National Police Agency, and his Filipino counterpart Ricardo C. Marquez, the chief of the Philippine Nation

Some 10 years since South Korea enacted its antiprostitution law, new forms of sex trade have continued to evolve in legal loopholes, including sex services for women and overseas prostitution. With the law vocally opposed by an increasing number of sex workers, its efficacy has constantly been questioned. The Korea Herald will publish a three-part series shedding light on the hidden side of Korea’s sex industry. The following is the first installment. -- Ed.　At first glance, he looks like an or

South Korean prosecutors said Saturday they have arrested the son of the country's largest pyramid schemer and the conman's mistress for their alleged involvement in concealing huge profits from the investment fraud.Cho Hee-pal, who has been at large since 2008, is suspected of swindling about 4 trillion won (US$3.5 billion) from an estimated 50,000 people between 2004 and 2008, according to prosecutors. Cho is rumored to have died from cardiac arrest in China four years ago, but his death has n

SINGAPORE, (AFP) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping told Taiwan's leader Ma Ying-jeou that the two sides are "one family" and cannot be pulled apart, as they began a landmark summit on Saturday in Singapore."No force can pull us apart," Xi told Ma. "We are one family."Xi and Ma had earlier exchanged a historic handshake, smiling broadly and waving to a huge pack of assembled media before going behind closed doors. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou wave to journalists du

TAIPEI, (AFP) - Angry protesters tried to storm parliament in Taiwan and 27 were arrested at the airport Saturday as leader Ma Ying-jeou headed to a historic summit in Singapore with Chinese President Xi Jinping.There were also reports that three members of the anti-China Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) were escorted by police from a hostel in Singapore -- it is not clear whether they are under arrest.Demonstrators say they will gather outside the presidential office in Taiwan Saturday afternoon a

CHICAGO, (AFP) -- Two law enforcement officers were arrested on charges of murder and attempted murder Friday over the fatal shooting of a six-year-old boy in the US state of Louisiana, authorities said.The death of Jeremy Mardis will add to growing criticism in some quarters about perceived brutality in US police forces after several high-profile incidents in the last year.Marshals Norris Greenhouse and Derrick Stafford were placed on administrative leave after the vehicle chase on Tuesday that

SINGAPORE (AP) -- China's President Xi Jinping on Saturday promised to safeguard freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, where tensions have flared over overlapping claims and the U.S. Navy's moves to challenge Beijing's massive island building.   Speaking at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore, Xi said that there has never been any problem with freedom of navigation and overflight and "nor will there ever be in the future."He said that China ne

TOKYO (AP) -- The crew's decision to use the most direct route to bring out the injured is the likely cause of a U.S. military helicopter crash that killed 13 people during earthquake rescue operations in May in Nepal, the U.S. Marine Corps said Saturday.The choice, which may have been made because one or more of the injured was in need of urgent treatment, took the UH-1Y ``Huey'' helicopter for a brief period over unfamiliar terrain in unstable weather, according to a news release from the 3rd

BEIJING, (Yonhap) -- South Korea and China will hold a fresh round of bilateral talks on the delimitation of sea boundaries next month, China's foreign ministry has said, an issue that has been a constant source of diplomatic tension between Seoul and Beijing.President Park Geun-hye and her Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping agreed to launch a new round of talks on sea boundary demarcation this year during their summit last year.South Korea and China have long been at loggerheads over the submerged,

South Korea and the European Union have reaffirmed their commitment to deepening their strategic partnership as their top diplomats discussed bilateral and regional issues including North Korea, the Foreign Ministry said Saturday.Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini held talks in Luxembourg on Thursday on the sidelines of a foreign ministers' session of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), which ended a two-day session on Friday.ASEM brings together

The United States gains benefits from its military alliance with South Korea, such as selling arms to the Asian ally, an American expert said Friday, rejecting Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump's claims that the U.S. provides defense to the South for free.David Straub, a former State Department director for Korea and currently associate director for the Korean Studies Program at Stanford University, also said that South Korea is paying a sizable amount of money for the upkeep of

Physically disabled children aged 1-9 in Korea were 38 times more likely to die than their nondisabled peers in 2012, partly because of inadequate number of medical institutions specializing in patients with special needs, a government study showed.　According to the study released by the Health Ministry and the National Rehabilitation Center this week, disabled children had a mortality rate of 580 per 100,000 children in 2012, while the mortality rate of nondisabled children was dramatically low

When Annie Kim was 15, she was convinced that popular Korean actress Lee Young-ae was her birth mother after watching the famous TV drama series “Dae Jang Geum.” The Korean adoptee would gaze at photographs of the actress, secretly hoping to meet her one day. 　Born in 1988 and adopted by a U.S. couple at age 1, Kim arrived in South Korea last year in hopes of finding her birth parents. 　Kim finally began her search in Korea as an adult, but the process was far from easy. A visit to the Korea Ado

A total of 44 individuals are currently being treated or monitored for possible infection after an outbreak of pneumonia was reported last week at Konkuk University in Seoul, health authorities said.　According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 44 individuals, mostly graduate students at Konkuk University, have been showing symptoms of the condition after working at three laboratories at the College of Animal Bioscience and Technology building from Oct. 19. The exact cause

South Korea is one of the world’s most connected countries, with more than 80 percent of the population owning smartphones as of this year. But spending too much time with smart devices can be a serious threat to eye health, a group of Korean ophthalmologists said this week.　According to the Korean Ophthalmological Society, one of the biggest representative bodies of eye doctors here, the number of Korean patients with dry eye syndrome has more than doubled in the last 10 years, from 970,000  to

The presidential office on Wednesday denied allegations by the opposition that it had operated a secret task force for the state-published history textbooks, stressing that the team’s operation was “completely legal.”　On Sunday, members of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy alleged that the Education Ministry has been running a covert 21-member team -- reporting directly to Cheong Wa Dae -- to develop and promote history textbooks for secondary education. The NPAD members vi

South Korea’s health authorities on Wednesday announced a set of stricter safety measures to address sanitation and health concerns at the nation’s postnatal care centers.　Worries about standards at the centers were raised after some 120 newborns were exposed to tuberculosis by a nurse at a Seoul-based facility about three months ago.　Postpartum care centers in which newborns stay in a separate room with other babies, away from their mothers, and are looked after by nurses in shifts, are a popul

Although it is commonly believed that obesity is more of a health threat than being underweight, a recent South Korean study suggests otherwise.　The research report, published by Korea University, found that underweight Koreans had a higher chance of developing fatal health conditions than those who are obese or overweight. The report was written after analyzing government data on medical records of some 1 million Koreans aged 30 or older, from 2002-2010.　The report found that underweight Korean