Lupus awareness campaign in Seoul

The Korean Lupus Support Group is holding a campaign to raise awareness about lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease, at Cheonggye Plaza in central Seoul on Friday. The event marks World Lupus Day that fell on Tuesday.According to the Lupus Foundation of America’s definition, lupus is disease that can affect any part of the body as the “malfunctioning” immune system turns the body against itself. Nor

TechnologyMay 12, 2011

St. Mary’s Hospital adds sickbeds

Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital added 161 beds to its 1,159 sickbeds in the main building on Wednesday. A total of 44 beds and 16 armchairs will be located at the cancer center for use by chemotherapy outpatients. About 87 percent, or 125, of the beds will be allocated to wards that have five beds covered by the national health insurance. “The increase of sickbeds will enable more patients to receive in

TechnologyMay 12, 2011

U.S. schools debate chocolate milk ban

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Chocolate milk has long been seen as the spoonful of sugar that makes the medicine go down, but the nation’s childhood obesity epidemic has a growing number of people wondering whether that’s wise.With schools under increasing pressure to offer healthier food, the staple on children’s cafeteria trays has come under attack over the very ingredient that made it so popular ― sugar.

TechnologyMay 12, 2011

Study: Prostate cancer surgery helps younger men

Men under 65 with early prostate cancer had better survival odds if they had surgery right away instead of waiting for treatment only if their cancer got worse, a study in Sweden found.That was true even for tumors thought to be low-risk because they didn’t look very aggressive under a microscope.Doctors have long debated whether and how to treat such early cases, and the study shows “there clearl

TechnologyMay 12, 2011

Office workers spend more on booze than culture

The average Korean office worker spends twice as much money on drinking as culture and entertainment, a survey showed.According to a survey of 640 people conducted by recruitment website Career, white collar workers typically spend about 109,000 won ($100) a month on alcohol.Just 54,000 won is spent on going to the theater or exhibitions. As the most popular cultural activity, 82 percent of respon

May 12, 2011

S. Korea unlikely to face fast spread of 'unidentified virus': gov't agency

  The unidentified virus that might have caused the death of a South Korean woman earlier this week does not seem to be spreading quickly, the nation's disease control agency said Wednesday.   The 36-year-old woman died on Monday in the intensive care unit at a Seoul hospital after being admitted last month for tuberculosis. Her infection and death were caused by an unidentified virus, the first o

TechnologyMay 11, 2011

KTX-II train examined due to structural fault: sources

One of the 19 KTX-Sancheon high-speed trains has been pulled off line as the system is now under examination by the manufacturer due to a serious structural fault, sources said Wednesday. KTX-Sancheon, or KTX-II, is the first high-speed train produced with locally developed technology that went into service early last year. The train has been in the spotlight in recent months due to frequent break

IndustryMay 11, 2011

Samsung denies reports of abandoning solar batteries

Samsung Group on Wednesday denied news reports that its owner Lee Kun-hee instructed his company to reconsider the plans for developing solar batteries, saying Samsung has already earmarked the business as one of its future engines of growth.“We will continue to push forward in the (solar battery) business,” said Rhee In-yong, vice executive president of Samsung’s communications team, in a press b

IndustryMay 11, 2011

Korean Air refuses to let cancer patient onto flight

Korean Air denied a terminal cancer patient in the United States a seat on a flight to Korea because she “looked too frail.”Crystal Kim, a Korean-American with stage 4 breast cancer, was to take the flight on Saturday for Mother’s Day. Even though she had two doctors’ notes explaining that her terminal breast cancer wouldn’t be a problem during the flight, Korean Air still refused to let her board

IndustryMay 11, 2011

Ministry sets area of new park in Yongsan

The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs on Wednesday designated 2.43 square kilometers of the land currently occupied by the U.S. Army’s Yongsan Garrison to be converted into a park.Central government agencies and the Seoul city government have been reviewing plans to convert the land occupied by the Yongsan Garrison into a park since 2008 once control of the land is returned to the K

May 11, 2011

Road map for Woori Finance sale due out next week: FSC

Korea will unveil its road map for the sale of a controlling stake in the second-biggest banking group Woori Finance Holdings Co. next week in a bid to restart its stalled privatization, the financial regulator said Wednesday.The Public Fund Oversight Committee, which handles the sale of state-owned firms, will announce on May 17 how to sell the 56.97 percent government stake in Woori Finance, the

May 11, 2011

BOK likely to hike key rate: poll

Korea’s central bank is widely expected to resume its tightening move in May by raising the key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point in a bid to stem inflationary pressure, a poll showed Wednesday.A total of 14 out of 17 economists forecast that the Bank of Korea will raise the benchmark seven-day repo rate to 3.25 percent on Friday, according to the survey by Yonhap Infomax, the finan

May 11, 2011

Real interest rates below zero percent

Real interest has stayed below inflation for the past year, devaluing returns on bond investments and deposits at banks, a government report said Wednesday.The interest rate on 1-year savings products at most commercial banks is just over 4 percent, leaving no room for profit given on-year inflation in the 4 percent range on top of a 15.4 percent tax on interest income. “Real returns on deposits w

May 11, 2011