The proportion of newborns who need critical medical care, including premature babies, has been rising in South Korea since 2010, while general fertility rate has been going down in the country, a study showed Tuesday.According to the report released by the Health Insurance Policy Research Institute in the National Health Insurance Corporation, the number of newborns decreased in Korea from 425,786 in 2010 to 402,516 in 2014. However, the proportion of newborns who needed critical medical attent

In 2012, when Kang Min-jin was 17 years old, she decided to go public about her sex life. Back then, in a rally focusing on youth rights in Seoul, she held a banner which she thought was both deeply personal and political. It said: “I’m not a virgin (and I’m a teenager).”“Yes, it was a political statement,” she said in an interview with The Korea Herald. “When you live in a country where you can be punished at school for dating a fellow student, where you need to be 19 or older to get informatio

South Korea on Thursday released a set of measures to reduce its citizens’ sugar consumption, after a recent government study revealed almost half of young Koreans aged 3-29 are eating too much sugar, leaving them vulnerable to a number of health conditions, including obesity and diabetes. “Our goal is to make sure every citizen’s sugar consumption only makes up 10 percent of their daily calorie intake,” said an official from South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. “For example, if an in

When Alaina Yildiz started taking her Korean language class at a state-run institute in Busan in February, she could not believe what her teacher told her and her classmates. 　The class, officially named the Korea Immigration and Integration Program, was offered by South Korea’s Justice Ministry and specifically targeted marriage immigrants who wish to obtain South Korean citizenship after marrying Korean nationals.　“My Korean teacher said Vietnamese names aren’t beautiful so Vietnamese women sh

Almost 80 percent of South Koreans take no follow-up actions after being sexually harassed at work, while 45 percent of such cases involving female victims occur at drinking gatherings at the hands of those in managerial positions, a government study showed Tuesday.The study, which surveyed workers at 400 public institutions and 1,200 private firms, showed that a total of 6.4 percent of 7,844 surveyed workers had been sexually harassed at work. Among all surveyed women, 9.6 percent had been hara

South Korean medical experts from the Seoul-based Ewha Womans University Medical Center visited Uzbekistan last week to share tips on the nation’s ongoing project to build its first state-run hospital catering to women, the hospital said Wednesday.Ewha Womans University Medical Center, one of South Korea’s leading institutions for women’s health, is especially known for its treatment for women’s diseases, such as ovarian cancer and breast cancer. During the week-long visit, the hospital’s direct

Kim Myung-hun (not his real name), a 29-year-old worker at one of South Korea’s biggest home shopping channels, was stunned last month when his female colleague was threatened to be killed by one of her customers over the phone. “It was late at night, and the customer was drunk. He wanted to exchange a purchase,” Kim said.“When my colleague said she could not help him unless he told her his name, he all of a sudden started screaming and cursing. He eventually said, ‘I know where you are right no

Ethnic Korean women living in Brazil are the most satisfied with life, while those in Guatemala are the least content, a study showed Monday. Those who live overseas also face difficulties in dealing with language barriers, cultural differences, racism and financial problems.The research, written and published by the Korean Women’s Development Institute, surveyed 1,360 ethnic Korean women living in 20 countries, including the U.S., Canada, Japan, Russia, and Germany.South Koreans attend an exhib

South Korean women were found to be emotionally dependent on the employment status of their spouses, with more women likely to suffer from depression when their partners retire, a study showed Monday.The results were also connected to the low employment rate of women in South Korea, with only 55.7 percent of women aged 15-65 in the workforce. This is lower than the average of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries.123rfThe study on depression researched a total of 5,

The number of newly diagnosed tuberculosis patients in South Korea last year was the lowest in 15 years, government data showed Thursday. According to the report, 63.5 per 100,000 Koreans were newly diagnosed with the infectious disease last year. This is 8.1 percentage points lower than the year before. However, the report showed the number of newly diagnosed patients aged between 10 and 14 had also increased over the same period, from 4.2 patients per 100,000 to 5 patients. South Korea has the

South Korean health authorities said Thursday all Koreans are now required to be tested for latent tuberculosis at least twice in their lives, at ages 15 and 40, as a part of measures to drop the high prevalence rate of the infectious disease in the country.  According to the World Health Organization, over 95 percent of TB cases and deaths occur in developing countries. South Korea, the fourth-largest economy in Asia, has the highest incidence rate of TB among members of the Organization for Ec

South Korean single parents are vulnerable to depression and job insecurity, and their young children are often left by themselves after school, a government study showed Tuesday. The study, which surveyed a total of 2,552 single-parent households nationwide last year, revealed that 27 percent of the parents said they have no meaningful social support network at all -- not a single person they can speak or rely on -- when they face financial difficulties. (123rf)More than 65 percent of the house

 When Do Thanh Quy gave birth to her first child 17 years ago in South Korea, she was made to eat “miyeokguk” by her Korean in-laws. The Korean seaweed soup is traditionally served on birthdays and to women who have just given birth. The Vietnamese-born worker married her Korean husband in 1998, after spending four years as a factory worker. “I couldn’t bear the smell of the soup, especially just a few hours after delivery,” Do said in an interview with The Korea Herald. After spending more than

When Jen Kim, a Korean-American in her 20s, went to use a public restroom inside a local cafe franchise in Ilsan two years ago, she couldn’t help but notice a trash can that was overflowing with used toilet paper that emitted an unbearable odor.  “I left the stall immediately, telling myself I would rather hold it in and risk getting a urinary tract syndrome than use that bathroom,” she told The Korea Herald.On the door of the stall, there was a sign that asked users not to flush toilet paper do

South Koreans who work in fishing, farming and construction industries are less tolerant of immigrants than those who belong to other professional fields, a report by the Gender Ministry showed on Monday.Those industries in South Korea currently employ a large number of foreign-born laborers.The research results reflect how South Korea’s working population may feel “threatened” by migrant workers, many of whom are male, said Ahn Sang-soo, a researcher at Korea Women’s Development Institute who l

South Korea’s Health Ministry on Monday released a set of measures to better protect foreign patients from possible medical accidents and negligence, as well as being overcharged while being treated at health care institutions here. The measures include enforcing all Korean general hospitals that receive foreign patients to be insured for at least 200 million won ($170,000) for medical accidents and disputes. Smaller clinics will be required to be insured for at least 100 million won.(Yonhap)All

 The number of multicultural children in South Korea has gone up more than eight fold from 2006 to 2015, showed a report released by the Gender Ministry and the Office for Government Policy Coordination. A multicultural child mainly refers to a child born in Korea to a Korean national and his or her foreign-born spouse. As of last year, more than 85 percent of all marriage migrants in Korea were women. The report showed that there are 208,000 individuals born to multicultural families living in

Police on Thursday arrested a couple in their 20s who are suspected of letting their 2-month-old daughter die by not taking her to the hospital after she suffered an injury at their home in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province.According to the police, the 22-year-old father is suspected of pushing the baby off the bed and leaving the injured child on the floor for more than 10 hours without getting her necessary medical attention. The infant died early Wednesday morning. Police said the father had also in

Drinking up to two cups of coffee a day can significantly reduce the risk of osteoporosis, a bone disease that can lead to higher risk of fractures, a South Korean study showed Wednesday. Organized and published by the Seoul National University Hospital, the research only analyzed symptoms among menopausal women. It conducted research on 4,066 menopausal women who had been tested for bone density between 2008 and 2011. According to the study, those who drank less than a single cup of coffee dail

One of the most feared infectious diseases in 19th century Korea was inarguably cholera. The first outbreak of the acute diarrheal disease took place on the peninsula in 1821, after the virus spread from India to China’s Qing Dynasty. It is believed the disease killed more than 200,000 in two years starting from 1821. In 1859, another cholera outbreak occurred. This time, some 400,000 people in Korea -- about 50 percent of the entire population at the time -- were killed by the disease. It’s no