The Korea Herald

‘Single Korean women avoid gynecologists’

The majority of Korean single women choose not to seek medical help even if they experience symptoms of gynecological disorders including STDs, as they fear social prejudice against unmarried women who are sexually active, a study showed on Monday.Of 1,314 unmarried women surveyed by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, 53.2 percent said they have experienced symptoms, such as abnormal vaginal bleeding or pelvic pain. However, almost 57 percent of those who developed the symptoms c

Social Affairs March 30, 2015

Koreans with poor body image at higher risk of suicide

Suicide is much more common in underweight Koreans who think they are too heavy, a study showed on Sunday.Among 1,122 underweight Koreans surveyed by the Samsung Medical Center, 101 of them said they had tried to lose weight as they thought they were not thin enough.Those respondents were 2.5 times more likely to die by suicide than those without, the study found. The group with the disorder also had a 2.2 times higher risk of depression.The average body mass index of the group with the disorder

Social Affairs March 29, 2015

Japanese court orders anti-Korean extremists to pay compensation

A district court in Japan on Friday ordered an anti-Korean extremist group to pay 2.31 million yen ($19,389) in compensation for attacking teachers who supported Korean schools in Tokushima.According the Tokushima District Court, eight members of the group ― named Zaitokukai ― stormed into the office of a teachers union in Japan’s southern region in 2010. The members physically attacked the unionized workers for offering financial support to schools for ethnic Korean children, established by a m

Social Affairs March 29, 2015

Dongkuk Steel under probe for embezzlement, tax evasion

Prosecutors have launched an investigation into one of South Korea’s top steelmakers, Dongkuk Steel Mill Co., over allegations of large-scale embezzlement and tax evasion.The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office on Saturday raided Dongkuk Steel’s headquarters in central Seoul, affiliate offices and the home of the company chairman, Chang Sae-joo, to seize the company’s account books, tax records and domestic and international transaction records.The prosecution is also looking into allegat

Social Affairs March 29, 2015

Korea needs more narcotics

In 2010, popular author and TV personality Choi Yoon-hee committed suicide with her husband, after two years of suffering from lupus. The death of the couple ― her husband was believed to have helped her end her life before killing himself ― left the nation in shock because she was known as the ultimate advocate of a positive frame of mind. In fact, the 63-year-old had often been dubbed the “happiness preacher,” publishing more than 20 books on happiness. What led her to end her own life, accord

Technology March 26, 2015

Agency to help single parents get child support

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. ...

Social Affairs March 24, 2015

Agency to help single parents get child support

[Reporter's Column] Cutting vicious chain of violence

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

Social Affairs March 22, 2015

Child care cuts devastate parents

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

Social Affairs March 18, 2015

Female N.K. defectors prone to cancer-causing virus

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

Social Affairs March 15, 2015

Female N.K. defectors prone to cancer-causing virus

Wage gap widens for female contract workers

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

Social Affairs March 12, 2015

Stressed teens vulnerable to jaw disorder

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

Technology March 12, 2015

Stressed teens vulnerable to jaw disorder

Yellow dust

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

Technology March 12, 2015

Immigrants’ babies more likely underweight

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

Social Affairs March 10, 2015

Immigrants’ babies more likely underweight

35% of migrant wives intend to return home

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

Social Affairs March 6, 2015

Korea educates families of juvenile sex offenders

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

Social Affairs March 5, 2015

Korea educates families of juvenile sex offenders

Articles by Claire Lee