In 2010, Kim Sun-young, an unwed mother, sued her ex-boyfriend for child support. The 35-year-old had no income at the time and was relying on a state subsidy to take care of her son. It took her a year and a half to win the case, with the court ordering her ex to pay her 300,000 won ($270) every month.Kim’s uphill battle, however, continued, as her ex-boyfriend cut off all contact shortly after the verdict, leaving Kim still empty-handed.“I didn’t want to go through that lawsuit ever again. ...

During the recent trial of her famous husband facing domestic violence charges, Seo Jung-hee revealed that she was in fact forced to marry comedian Seo Se-won after being nearly raped at age 19, and that she’d been constantly abused and confined during their 32 years of marriage.“Your honor, do you think I ended up here because I was abused only once?” the 55-year-old who filed for divorce said in tears during the hearing. CCTV footage showing Seo being dragged by the ankle and physically abused

Seok Gwang-soo, a 40-year-old single father living in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, often feels as if he is forced to neglect his own children. Two years ago, the divorced father of three was diagnosed with cerebellar ataxia, a rare brain disease with no effective treatment.Unable to move and work and with no viable help from his families, he relied on government-certified nannies to take care of his kids -― aged 10, 7 and 5 ― in the evenings and on weekends when they are out of school and

Female defectors from North Korea are at a higher-than-average risk of infection by human papillomavirus, or HPV, which can lead to cervical cancer, a recent study found.Almost 30 percent of the women in the study, whose ages ranged from 20 to 70, were HPV-positive. In South Korea, only 10 to 15 percent of women are known to have the infection.The study, led by professor Lee Im-soon at Soonchunhyang University’s medical school, involved health checks on 138 female North Korean defectors from 201

A study showed Thursday that the wage gap between female contract workers and male full-time employees is widening, a reverse effect of the government’s plan to support employment for women by creating more irregular job opportunities for women returning to work.According to the Korea Labor and Society Institute, female temporary workers here earned only 36 percent as much as full-time male workers’ average salary last year, a 1.4 percent decrease from 2004. The number of temp workers of both ge

Stressed teenagers in South Korea are vulnerable to temporomandibular disorders, a condition that affects the muscles and nerves surrounding the jaw, experts say.The condition is known for pain and restricted movement, and stress is thought to be a major contributing factor, along with poor posture and overuse of the joint muscles.According to the National Health Insurance Service, some 457,500 teenagers were treated for TMD in 2012, making up the highest proportion of all patients with the diso

During the spring, there are increased changes in the daily temperature and biorhythms become unstable so that the body’s immune system becomes weaker, making you more susceptible to diseases. The spring season is particularly a concern for children who have weak immune systems but are highly active, or other people who have allergic conditions or respiratory diseases. Yellow dust can cause various diseases, or make preexisting conditions worse. The main conditions associated with it include res

Kimchi and Doenjangjjigae (soybean paste stew) may be some of the signature comfort food for Koreans, but not for pregnant marriage immigrants, as the foreign nature of the dishes may lead to malnutrition and in worse cases cause newborns to be underweight, a recent study showed.Female marriage immigrants are 1.3 times more likely to give birth to low birth weight babies than Korean women, apparently due to poor nutrition during pregnancy, not being used to Korean food and coping with cross-cult

A significant number of migrant wives from Southeast Asian countries and China intend to return to their home countries eventually, as “reverse immigration,” a study showed on Friday.The report, released by the state-run Korean Women’s Development Institute, surveyed a total of 534 migrant wives from the Philippines, Vietnam and China last year.Among those who participated, 34.5 percent said they have thought of moving back to their native countries at least once since moving to South Korea. Of

In 2004, 41 high school boys in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, were caught by the police after raping five schoolgirls on multiple occasions over the course of a year.On top of the brutality of the crime, the case triggered public outrage for the way the victims were treated by the offenders’ parents. One of the girls reportedly had to quit school as she was repeatedly visited by the boys’ parents in the classroom and verbally attacked for reporting their sons to the police. The victims wer

Four Korean pharmaceutical companies will export their products, including antibiotics and anticancer drugs, to a Saudi Arabian firm for the next five years, the Health Ministry said Wednesday, as a result of President Park Geun-hye’s business-oriented trip to the country this week.The representatives of the Korean firms ― JW Holdings, Chong Kun Dang Holdings, Boryung Pharm and BC World Pharm Co. ― signed a memorandum of understanding with the Saudi firm Sudair Pharmaceutical Co. on Tuesday in S

The Seoul Metropolitan Government is speeding up its investigation into alleged water contamination near the Yongsan Garrison, the U.S. military base in central Seoul.The city’s inspectors plan to request approval from the United States Forces Korea next month to obtain a sample of underground water from the base for further research after completing a preliminary investigation last month.About 10 city officials accessed the site last month to begin inspecting the ground water tube wells, the ci

South Korean nationals who run international marriage agencies in the Philippines may be subject to legal punishment including prison terms, the Philippines government recently told Seoul.According to South Korea’s Gender Equality Ministry, it is the first time the Southeast Asian country has sent an official notice on the matter. Under the Philippines’ Anti-Mail-Order Bride Law, which was established in the 1990s, matchmaking agencies that connect Filipino women to foreign nationals for marriag

South Korea’s government report to be submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council has excluded issues affecting sexual minorities and Sewol ferry victims, local NGOs and activists claimed Sunday.Human rights experts say the government omitted some of the most crucial issues to avoid international criticism.The UNHRC asks its member countries’ governments and NGOs to each submit a report about their human rights situation. Once submitted, the UNHRC reviews the documents and releases its

More language support programs will be launched for multicultural families this year, according to the Gender Equality Ministry and municipal governments.The programs have been organized to encourage multicultural children to learn their parents’ mother tongues as well as the Korean language.They consist of classes for the migrant’s spouse and Korean in-laws on the importance of bilingual education, as well as separate sessions for foreign-born parents on how to support their children in a bilin

An expensive drug for the treatment of myelofibrosis, a rare bone marrow cancer, will be covered by the national health insurance in South Korea starting next month.With the coverage, patients only have to pay 170,000 won ($154) compared to 6 million won, previously, for the same amount of the drug ― one pill per day. The Health Insurance Review & Assessment service predicts that some 450 patients with high-risk myelofibrosis will benefit from the coverage. About 700 South Koreans suffer from th

Health experts recommended for all children aged 6 to 7 to get their eyes examined before attending elementary school, as developing eye diseases and conditions at a young age can lead to permanent visual impairment.“Most of such conditions are treatable and preventable,” said optometrist Im Gi-hwan, who practices at Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital in Seoul. “But it is important for parents to pay close attention and detect such conditions early, as many children may not be able to do it

For a healthy post-menopausal life, regular exercise, good nutrition, sufficient sleep and rest, and stress relief is important. Exercises can easily be adapted to one’s likes. Regular exercise helps to maintain weight and improves the heart and lung functions. It also increases stamina for a better life and negates psychological stress, such as anxiety and depression. In addition, it prevents osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease.The right exercise program should include workouts to improve t

The Gender Equality Ministry has been seeking to inflate the success of its child care program without increasing spending by pushing to recruit families that do not require financial support, while blanking those most in need, according to an official of the union for recruiters and workers in the program.  As families in the top income bracket can participate in the ministry’s child care program without requesting extra government support, the government can claim that subscription to child ca

Less-educated women in South Korea have an increased chance of dying of cancer, including breast cancer and cervical cancer, a study showed.The statistics show that socioeconomic inequality in women’s cancer mortality is rising here, the researchers said.According to Samsung Medical Center in Seoul, the death rate of women who never finished elementary school and died from breast cancer was 8.5 out of 100,000 in 2001. A decade later, that statistic jumped to 29.1 out of 100,000.However, the deat