A 22-year-old woman who had been in a coma for nine days after a cosmetic surgery procedure died Saturday, police in Busan said.The college student only identified by her last name Kim received facial bone contouring surgery for more than five and a half hours on Oct. 7. She was found unconscious by a nurse in the hospital’s recovery room that evening and immediately moved to a nearby general hospital.Investigators said they found no wounds other than those from the cosmetic surgery. An investig

The Ministry of Education has ordered regional educational offices to take measures to return the full-time officials of the recently delegalized progressive teachers’ union to their respective schools within 30 days. The government will take disciplinary measures including dismissal, to those who refuse to return within the given time.The Korean Teachers and Education Workers’ Union was stripped of its 14 years of status as an industrial trade union on Thursday after it refused the government o

A festival aimed to promote the cultural diversity of 10 Southeast Asian countries is to be held in Konkuk University’s Millennium Hall in Seoul on Saturday.Hosted by the ASEAN-Korea Center, the fifth “Bravo! ASEAN in Korea” will feature traditional and modern music performances by those from member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Out of 42 teams that vied for spots in preliminary sessions held in Hongdae in Seoul and Ansan in Gyeonggi Province, 10 teams were selected to

The government’s move leading to the delegalization of the country’s largest teachers’ union could infringe upon its freedom of association, the head of the human rights watchdog said Tuesday.“We already advised the government that weaker disciplinary action should be considered in this case,” Hyun Byung-chul, the chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, said in a statement.Hyun’s statement was released the day before the deadline of the ultimatum provided by the Labor Minis

A progressive teachers’ group vowed Monday to escalate its fight against the government’s move to deprive it of its status as a legal trade union. The Korean Teachers and Education Workers’ Union is planning to file a petition to the U.N. Human Rights Council and International Labor Organization to press the government to reverse its decision to deregister the union, KTU spokesman Ha Byeong-soo said in a press conference on Monday.The union will also file suits against the decision at local cour

Lawmakers on Monday raised concerns about worsening water quality and environmental damage at the nation’s four major rivers after a massive project of dredging, damming and straightening up the waterways under the former Lee Myung-bak administration. At the National Assembly’s Environment and Labor Committee’s parliamentary audit, the main opposition Democratic Party members blamed the 22.2 trillion won river project for the ecological deterioration at the Hangang, Nakdonggang, Youngsangang and

A recent proposal by politicians and the government to cut maximum working hours is raising eyebrows among businesses worried about possible cost increases and limits to flexible work shifts.Labor circles are also less than enthused with the legislation. It may come later than they anticipate, could affect their wages and could still give leeway for employers to lengthen work time. Despite such concerns the government and the ruling Saenuri Party are firmly committed to what would be one of the

At least 28 people were injured and 16 were detained in a three-day clash between police and protestors fighting over the construction of 52 electricity towers in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province.The state-run Korea Electric Power Corporation has been pushing ahead with the construction since Wednesday, at the first five of the planned construction sites in Danjang-myeon, Sanoe-myeon, Sangdong-myeon and Bubuk-myeon. Three were hurt on Friday while power corporation officials tried to break thr

Like falling leaves, hair loss in autumn is a natural phenomenon that most people experience. But experts say it could become serious for some if not treated at an early stage. Regular hair loss is assumed to be influenced by a number of factors including genetics and stress. Some experts believe seasonal loss is believed to be exacerbated by the cold, dry weather extracting moisture from the scalp. “Everyone experiences hair loss during aging, but it is more noticeable when there is a huge temp

WASHINGTON, (AFP) ― Many people hospitalized in intensive care for conditions like a heart attack face lasting mental deficits similar to traumatic brain injury, US researchers said Wednesday, urging families to push for minimal sedation.The problem is “very common,” with a condition known as delirium affecting about three-quarters of those treated in the ICU and subsequent brain damage enduring for at least a year in up to one in three of them, said the study in the New England Journal of Medic

Construction workers and police clashed with local residents in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, early Wednesday morning as the state-run Korea Electronic Power Corporation pushed ahead with the construction of 52 towers for a high-voltage transmission line in the area. More than 2,000 riot police were stationed at five of the planned sites to control the crowds of protesting residents.KEPCO workers arrived at the sites at 5 a.m. to lay the groundwork and deliver construction materials by hel

The state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. is set to resume work Wednesday to erect high-voltage transmission towers in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, despite concerns of a possible clash with protesting villagers.KEPCO chief executive Cho Hwan-ik announced Tuesday that there must be no more delay in finishing the 765-kilovolt transmission line crossing five localities including Miryang in order to meet the peak power demand next summer. “We’ll carry on with the construction while avoiding a

An appeals court has lowered the sentence for a South Korean man charged with making an unauthorized visit to North Korea after finding him not guilty of paying his respect to late North Korean founder Kim Il-sung, a court official said Sunday.The defendant, identified only by his surname Cho, 54, made the visit to the North via Germany, Japan and China in 1995, and attended a series of events, including paying homage at Pyongyang's Kumsusan Palace, where the embalmed body of the country's found

The government seeks to revise related laws to allow consumers to cancel trips anytime before departure without being charged cancellation fees starting in the first half of 2014.The Ministry of Justice said on Sunday the revision would ban the widespread practice as part of efforts to strengthen customers’ rights.Travelers will also be able to request price reductions when travel programs are different from those stated in the contract. Travel agencies require customers to pay penalties for boo

The government plans to increase its support for small and medium enterprises to create jobs next year including 37,000 part-time positions, the Ministry of Employment and Labor said Sunday. The government has set aside about 11.8 trillion won ($11 billion) of its proposed 357.7 trillion won budget for next year to help create jobs as part of the Park Geun-hye administration’s goal of raising the employment rate to 70 percent by 2017 from the current 64.2 percent. Spending for job provision will

The government and ruling party decided Tuesday to loosen a new regulation that requires companies to register chemical substances, in the face of strong backlash from businesses.During a policy consultation, the Ministry of Environment and the ruling Saenuri Party agreed to exempt chemicals used in small amounts or used for research and development purposes from the requirement, which will come into force in late 2014. The National Assembly passed the new law in April to tighten rules on indust

A progressive teachers’ group pledged Tuesday to fight the government’s order to expel fired teachers or risk losing its status as a full-fledged trade union.The Ministry of Employment and Labor on Monday sent a one-month ultimatum to the Korean Teachers and Educational Workers’ Union to change a contentious bylaw which allows dismissed teachers to be members.Unless the group complies with the order by Oct. 23, the ministry said it would be deprived of its rights as a trade union, including the

The Japanese government is moving to protest South Korea’s ban on all fisheries products from Fukushima and adjacent regions for fear of radioactive exposure, posing another strain on the bilateral relations already frayed by historical rows. A high-ranking official at Japan’s Fisheries Agency is set to visit South Korea on Monday in an apparent move to pressure Seoul into lifting the import ban, reports said.Kenji Kagawa, director-general of Resources Enhancement Promotion Department, will requ

The Korea Electric Power Corp. is set to resume its stalled power-line project in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, after next week’s Chuseok holidays despite continued resistance from some residents. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Chung Hong-won visited the county saying that resumption was an “unavoidable choice” and announced a revised 18.5 billion won ($17 million) compensation plan. The compensation package also includes plans to build the country’s largest solar power generation facility i

One of Korea’s two major umbrella union groups decided to boycott talks with the government and management over the so-called ordinary wage system, dampening the Park Geun-hye administration’s hopes of settling the controversy through social compromise within the year. The Federation of Korean Trade Unions said on Wednesday that it will not attend the dialogue panel being hosted by the Labor Ministry’s advisory committee on wage. The decision is expected to further aggravate the already wide cha