Korean children’s physical fitness level deteriorates as they grow older, as they spend more time studying and less on outdoor activities, a survey showed. The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education released Sunday the result of its physical ability tests with 840,000 students in 2012. The data showed that just eight percent of fifth and sixth grade elementary school students belonged in the lowest fourth and fifth levels in the five-level scale, while 13.9 percent of middle school students and

Social Affairs Feb. 3, 2013

Civic groups and politicians on Wednesday stepped up criticism of Samsung Electronics over a toxic chemical leak at one of its semiconductor lines that killed one worker and injured four others. The workers were from a subcontractor.Approximately two to 10 liters of hydrofluoric acid leaked in the incident that took place on Sunday.According to the Industrial Safety and Health Law, business operators that deal with toxic chemicals are legally responsible for safety matters.“The accident occurred

Social Affairs Jan. 30, 2013

Police have sought an arrest warrant for a CJ CheilJedang Corp company executive and booked 14 others for investigation on charges of giving kickbacks to doctors.The sales executive, 50, whose name is withheld, allegedly offered doctors kickbacks worth around 4.5 billion won ($4.2 million). The company officials are suspected of giving corporate credit cards to 266 doctors across the nation, according to the National Police Agency on Sunday.　They purportedly offered the illegal kickbacks to the

Social Affairs Jan. 27, 2013

Police are investigating an English language institute on charges of breaching a copyright belonging to The Economist, a British weekly magazine, officials said Wednesday.The publisher Economist Group filed a lawsuit against the English language school in southern Seoul in November for infringing its intellectual property. The publisher said in the complaint that the language school used its articles and columns in their textbooks from 2009 to 2011, earning up to 160 billion won ($150 million) f

Social Affairs Jan. 23, 2013

The population of Seoul decreased for a second consecutive year in 2012 to around 10.4 million, according to statistics released by the city government on Tuesday. Around 10.6 million people lived in the capital city in 2010 and 10.5 million in 2011.The decline was due to a bigger outflow of citizens than inflow to the city, with 487,000 moving in and 596,000 people moving out. The number of births was 95,000, and 41,000 died last year. The foreign population decreased by 86,000 from a year befo

Social Affairs Jan. 22, 2013

The recent food waste stink caused by disputes between district governments of Seoul City and private food waste management firms could have been prevented if measures prepared by the Ministry of Environment five years ago had been swiftly implemented.The food disposal firms at 16 district governments have been refusing to pick up food waste, demanding a price increase in food waste treatment services. District governments, however, are reluctant to pay more, saying the demands are too high: the

Social Affairs Jan. 22, 2013

A North Korean defector who has been working as a Seoul city official assisting fellow refugees is under investigation on charges of spying for the communist country, officials said.The 33-year-old identified by his surname Yoo is suspected of handing information about defectors to the North’s intelligence agents. He was apprehended by the National Intelligence Service on Jan. 11. The contract public servant Yoo was hired by the Seoul Metropolitan Government through an employment procedure for N

Social Affairs Jan. 21, 2013

A two-year-long collective lawsuit filed by a group of Korean iPhone users against Apple Inc. wrapped up as the plaintiffs withdrew the case, citing the difficulty of proving the alleged irregularities by the tech company. Twenty-nine iPhone users filed the complaint in 2011 against Apple Korea Inc. and U.S.-based Apple Inc. insisting that the tech giant had illegally gathered users’ location information in a hidden file “consolidated.db” on the handset. “It was impossible to acquire evidence fo

Social Affairs Jan. 18, 2013

The Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office said Friday it will call in around 100 doctors at hospitals and medical centers across the nation on charges of receiving illegal commission from Korea’s largest pharmaceutical firm Dong-A Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.The prosecutors have already sent summonses to some of the doctors, who allegedly received kickbacks from pharmaceutical firms. The rest will be summoned in the coming days. The doctors are thought to have received money or goods worth more than 3 m

Social Affairs Jan. 18, 2013

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Thursday that influenza could fast spread across the nation. During the second week of this year, 4.8 per 1,000 people were infected with the flu. The figure, which is less than the 11.3 recorded in the same period last year, nonetheless surpasses the threshold of 4 that indicates an epidemic, according to the KCDC.The Gangwon area and cities of Seoul, Incheon, and Gwangju recorded relatively high infection rates. Those aged between 20

Social Affairs Jan. 17, 2013

Gray pollutants that have turned China’s Beijing into “Gray-jing“ appear to be affecting Korea as well, government researchers said Wednesday.The level of particulate matter and air pollutants including sulfur oxide and nitrogen oxide in major cities surpassed two times the standard in recent days, prompting authorities to issue health advisories and environmentalists to take to streets. “The recent smog in Korea is a mixture of air pollutants coming from China, water vapor and polluting substan

Social Affairs Jan. 16, 2013