Earlier this year, a local investigative TV program featured the story of a 19-year-old who died from cirrhosis, after years working as an illegal sex worker. The report revealed the teenager had run away from home after falling victim to sexual violence at 12 years old. Her alcoholic father, a single parent, had been physically abusive. She soon became involved in juvenile crime, habitually intoxicated with alcohol, and was eventually forced by other runaway teens to sell herself for money.The

Education is a significant factor in the prevalence of diabetes in middle-aged Korean women, a recent study by Ajou University has shown.The study, “Effect of Socio-Economic Status of the Prevalence of Diabetes,” surveyed some 14,000 patients with diabetes nationwide. Among the surveyed women aged 30 to 64, those who received education for seven years or less were eight times more likely to develop diabetes than women who received education for 12 years or more.Also, women who belong to the poor

The desire to eat is not only driven by hunger, but also by the emotional state and psychological stress. Binge eating, which is different to anorexia where one does not eat enough food, is another common eating disorder. This eating disorder is becoming more prevalent with the increase of interest in weight loss, as in Western countries, and in a rise in socioeconomic status as in Korea. Eating disorders, including both bulimia and anorexia, mostly occur in young women, particularly in adolesce

More South Koreans have been visiting traditional Korean medicine clinics lately, while the industry has been pushing to expand its business into conventional medical services in felds such as dermatology, government data showed Tuesday.According to data, Koreans spent 2.4 trillion won ($2.2 billion) last year on traditional Korean medical treatment, such as acupuncture. The spending has increased significantly since 2010, with an average annual growth rate of 7.7 percent per year, according to

Prosecutors on Monday launched an investigation into 800 million won ($730,000) in funds that are suspected to have been delivered by a now-deceased businessman to four political heavyweights.They have formed a special team to investigate the case sparked by a memo left by Sung Woan-jong, a former businessman and lawmaker who was facing prosecution probe into irregularities, before he committed suicide last Thursday.Eight political heavy hitters, including President Park Geun-hye’s former and in

Korean elderly women are much more vulnerable to social isolation and illnesses compared to their male counterparts, a government study showed Sunday.According to the study which surveyed 10,452 individuals aged 65 or older nationwide, more than 60 percent of elderly men were living with their spouses, while only 32.5 percent of elderly women were doing the same last year. Almost one-third of elderly women, in particular, were living by themselves. The number of elderly people who lived by thems

South Korea’s Health Ministry plans to establish a think tank to research the additives used in cigarettes manufactured and distributed in the country, as part of measures to support the state health insurer’s high-profile damage suit against major tobacco firms.The think tank, to be established in August, will conduct research to determine if local tobacco makers use additives, such as ammonia, sugar and cocoa beans, to make their products more addictive. Sugar, for example, is known to generat

The debate on legalizing prostitution has heated up in South Korea as the Constitutional Court began reviewing the law that criminalizes the sex trade. The court held its first public hearing Thursday.The antiprostitution law was enacted in 2004 to protect human rights, partly prompted by fire that killed 14 sex workers who were locked in a brothel in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, in 2002. The law stipulates that both purchasing and selling of sex carry a penalty of up to one year in prison or

Every morning at Sungwon Daycare Center in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, when children exchange their hellos, the routine is to go around asking each other how they feel. “I am sad,” says one of the 5-year-olds in the classroom. “Why?” the whole class asks him.“Because my mom came home late last night. I couldn’t see her before going to bed. And when I woke up this morning, she already left for work.”“It’s OK! It’s OK!” the kids tell him loudly with impish grins, as the teacher consoles him. “Going to wo

Seoul said Wednesday it would strengthen education on Japanese sex slavery during World War II in the public school curriculum. The ministries of gender equality and education announced they would jointly distribute supplementary textbooks on the comfort women issue, along with teaching aids including video clips and PowerPoint files, to 193 education offices and 800 public libraries starting this month. The move follows Japan’s approval this week of new textbooks that downplay its wartime atroc

More Koreans are smoking less but also exercising less, recent government data showed Tuesday.According to the Health Ministry, the smoking rate among Korean men dropped from 49.2 percent in 2008 to 45.3 percent last year. Yet the number of Korean men who regularly exercise by walking also dropped from 50.6 percent in 2008 to 37.5 in 2014.Meanwhile, Korean men who considered themselves to be obese increased from 21.6 percent in 2008 to 25.3 percent. The number of heavy drinkers stayed about the

Margaret Jane Edmunds, a late American nurse who founded Korea’s first nursing school in 1903, has been posthumously awarded the Order of Civil Merit by the South Korean government 70 years after her death, according to the Korean Nurses Association.Edmunds (1871-1945) is the founder of the Pogunyogwan Training School for Nurses, which is now the division of nursing science at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. The first Korean nurses in history ― Kim Martha and Lee Grace ― were taught by Edmunds

In author Kim Jung-hyun’s 1997 best-selling novel “Father,” which sold more than 2 million copies, its protagonist is a father who is never home.A public servant in his 50s, the father, named Jeong-su, has spent most of his time at work ― unable to attend any of the milestone events of his children. He missed their school entrance ceremonies, convocations and countless birthday dinners. As his grown-up children ended up despising him for his lack of presence in the house, Jeong-su abruptly gets

A woman in her 40s has been indicted for attempting to rape a man after drugging him, becoming the first woman to face such charges in Korea.Until June 2013, South Korean law did not acknowledge rape by women and therefore it was impossible for male victims to file complaints with the police.The law was revised that year to include adult men as potential victims of rape by women. It was also only in 2012 that the law acknowledged women as capable of raping male teenagers and children. According

Local wet-wipe producers will be banned from using certain chemicals in their products ― including xylene, a chemical often used to make certain liquids dry slowly ― South Korea’s health authorities announced Thursday.Wet-wipes, moistened tissues often used for cleaning purposes, such as personal hygiene, have been categorized as industrial products by the Korean government. Starting from July, they will be officially classed as cosmetic products and will be regulated by the Ministry of Food and

The majority of Korean single women choose not to seek medical help even if they experience symptoms of gynecological disorders including STDs, as they fear social prejudice against unmarried women who are sexually active, a study showed on Monday.Of 1,314 unmarried women surveyed by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, 53.2 percent said they have experienced symptoms, such as abnormal vaginal bleeding or pelvic pain. However, almost 57 percent of those who developed the symptoms c

Suicide is much more common in underweight Koreans who think they are too heavy, a study showed on Sunday.Among 1,122 underweight Koreans surveyed by the Samsung Medical Center, 101 of them said they had tried to lose weight as they thought they were not thin enough.Those respondents were 2.5 times more likely to die by suicide than those without, the study found. The group with the disorder also had a 2.2 times higher risk of depression.The average body mass index of the group with the disorder

A district court in Japan on Friday ordered an anti-Korean extremist group to pay 2.31 million yen ($19,389) in compensation for attacking teachers who supported Korean schools in Tokushima.According the Tokushima District Court, eight members of the group ― named Zaitokukai ― stormed into the office of a teachers union in Japan’s southern region in 2010. The members physically attacked the unionized workers for offering financial support to schools for ethnic Korean children, established by a m

Prosecutors have launched an investigation into one of South Korea’s top steelmakers, Dongkuk Steel Mill Co., over allegations of large-scale embezzlement and tax evasion.The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office on Saturday raided Dongkuk Steel’s headquarters in central Seoul, affiliate offices and the home of the company chairman, Chang Sae-joo, to seize the company’s account books, tax records and domestic and international transaction records.The prosecution is also looking into allegat

In 2010, popular author and TV personality Choi Yoon-hee committed suicide with her husband, after two years of suffering from lupus. The death of the couple ― her husband was believed to have helped her end her life before killing himself ― left the nation in shock because she was known as the ultimate advocate of a positive frame of mind. In fact, the 63-year-old had often been dubbed the “happiness preacher,” publishing more than 20 books on happiness. What led her to end her own life, accord