Conservative civic groups will start a signature-gathering campaign Wednesday, and aim to have a plebiscite vote on the controversial free school meals at schools issue, Seoul city officials said Tuesday.The Commission for Anti-Welfare Populism, an association of some 160 conservative civic groups, filed a petition Tuesday ahead of collecting signatures from Seoul citizens. Despite Seoul City Coun

An ambitious plan to produce home-grown medical scientists who could win the Nobel Award in Physiology or Medicine by 2030 was unveiled by the government Monday.The plan, tentatively called “Nobel Project in Physiology or Medicine,” will support young medical scientists in their 20s or 30s for their own long-term research work, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said in its annual budget for healt

Founder Park says Koreans are not stingy but lack system for monitoring charitiesPark Won-soon, then a human rights lawyer, was surprised to drop in to an Oxfam charity shop in London back in 1991. In the early 1990s, Korea’s tradition of sharing had weakened over the years of rapid modernization and democratization. There was almost no culture of giving in Korea.For Park, who spent a year in the

A state-run human rights watchdog has decided to investigate recent abuse cases among police troops, officials said Monday. The National Human Rights Commission of Korea said it will look into three separate cases, involving two deaths, to see if the policemen suffered physical assault or other forms of bullying in their barracks. A 21-year-old policeman at a combat unit in South Chungcheong Provi

A riot police squad in Wonju, Gangwon Province, was disbanded on Friday after its seniors were found to have physically and emotionally abused young conscripts.The Gangwon Regional Police Agency said it broke up the 90-member unit, relocating 59 police officers to other areas. The other 31 members are victims of the abuse, and they will be transferred out after questioning, the agency said. The de

Some 4,000 adults will sit a trial version of a state-run English test Saturday, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said Friday. The National English Ability Test, or NEAT, is currently under development to be introduced as early as 2012. The online test is to be divided into three different levels ― one adult level to substitute TOEIC and TOEFL, and two student levels to substitute

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Children who are over-active, cannot concentrate or act impulsively as early as age 3 tend to become troubled adults unless they learn self-control along the way, a new study said.An international team of researchers examined young children in New Zealand and Britain and found that the low-scorers on measures of self-control as kids faced more financial, health and substance abu

The government has launched a large-scale investigation into physical assault and other abuses among conscripted police officers, with more than 100 cases reported in Seoul alone. Starting from Wednesday, the National Police Agency is interviewing junior police officers who have been in the service for less than six months in its local branches nationwide. In the first day of the inspection, the p

DALLAS ― Jennifer Tyler was driving down a country road in Oklahoma a couple of years ago when she noticed something odd. The telephone poles all had kinks in them.“I thought, ‘Wow, what’s all that about?’” says Tyler, a Dallas fundraising consultant. “They all had distinctive bends in the middle.”She pulled off the road and called a friend. “I knew something bad was happening,” she says. “It was

Gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD, is a common chronic digestive disease that occurs when stomach contents such as acid or, occasionally, bile refluxes into the esophagus. The backwash of acid irritates the lining of the esophagus and causes various GERD signs and symptoms. Typical symptoms include acid reflux and heartburn. Acid reflux is a regurgitation of sour liquid into your mouth, and

Lee Ji-hyun, a 28-year-old office worker, plans to visit Bangkok next week during the Lunar New Year’s holiday. “I just want to run away from the prolonged cold wave in Seoul. I’ve been scared to go out in recent weeks due to the very cold weather,” Lee said. Indeed the worst cold spell in years continues to grip the nation. The temperature at Christmas fell to minus 14 degrees Celsius in Seoul, i

The new leader of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, the nation’s largest umbrella labor group, hinted at breaking up the strategic alliance with the ruling Grand National Party.Lee Yong-deuk, 58, who served in the position between 2004 and 2008, was re-elected as the group’s new chairman by winning a majority vote of 53.4 percent in member voting Tuesday. “We all have to work together and joi

American school teacher donates organs to save three livesAn American woman who died after a brain hemorrhage has given new life to three Koreans through life-saving organ donations, a local hospital said Tuesday. Linda Freel, 52, who was a teacher at the International Christian School of Euijeongbu, became the first American to donate organs in Korea. Fourteen years ago she settled here to teach

The government on Monday unveiled 101 welfare goals aimed at improving people’s daily life in more specific ways. The Ministry of Health and Welfare has selected the 101 policy items that will be implemented within the year without additional budgeting or legal revisions. “Even though the economy is getting better since last year, the recovery has not yet been reflected in people’s lives, especial

A former pastor has been sentenced to nine years in prison for having sex with underage members of his congregation, the Seoul High Court said Sunday. The 65-year-old man, surnamed Kang, had been indicted on charges of having sex with his victims, including a then 11-year-old girl, and sexually molesting three others at his church in 2006.He was also found to have taken photos of them in sexual po

The new secretary general of the Community Chest of Korea said Sunday that he will donate 1 million won ($890) from his salary every month. The announcement came after the nation’s only legal charity was dealt a serious blow in an internal corruption scandal at the end of last year. “There were some criticisms that the salary of our executives is too high. As I’m working for a charitable organizat

The government is considering making those convicted of repeated robberies wear electronic anklets, which are currently required for sex offenders and murderers, from next year. The Justice Ministry said Thursday that it is pushing to revise the law to apply the traceable electronic device to robbers.The law is currently imposed only on criminals considered likely to repeat crimes such as sex offe

A drug commonly used to shrink enlarged prostate glands also increases the accuracy of the test used to detect aggressive forms of prostate cancer, Washington University researchers have found.Dr. Gerald Andriole, chief of urologic surgery at Washington University School of Medicine, said a four-year study confirms that men who used the drug Avodart (the generic form is called dutasteride) receive

Another new year, another ― fill in the blank ― doughnut ditched, gym membership bought, resolution made, cute workout top purchased.A few weeks into January, though, resolve has a tendency to subside. Even those with the best of intentions sometimes stand at the foot of the fitness mountain. Unused gym cards remain in sweaty little hands, price tags are still attached to moisture-wicking fabric s

A 65-year-old lady suffered walking difficulties for about five months. She visited five hospitals but was not diagnosed with any specific disease. Her symptoms only continued to get worse and finally she could not walk. An MRI scan found that her spinal cord was squeezed by a narrow spinal canal and multiple disc herniation in the cervical spine. This is called cervical myelopathy. Patients with