Foreigners who visited Korean clinics expressed hesitation over revisiting them, mainly due to costs and service, although they were satisfied overall, a survey showed Sunday. According to the state-run Korea Health Industry Development Institute’s report, foreigners’ satisfaction rate toward clinics was around 3.82 to 4.30 out of 5 points. The survey was conducted online on some 1,200 patients from countries such as China, Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates to analyze the recognition of Korea

Social Affairs March 13, 2016

Seoul City’s plan to use the new slogan “I.Seoul.U” is being delayed due to a conflict between the city and the city council, sources said Sunday. Seoul Metropolitan Government submitted a revised ordinance to the city council last month to give the new slogan a legal status. This would provide a legal framework for the city to use the slogan with private companies and for public use. Once the ordinance revision passes the council, the city had planned to kick off the promotion measures starting

Social Affairs March 13, 2016

Cho Hyeon-jeong, a final year college student in Seoul, spends a couple of hours daily studying for TOEIC, while working as an intern at a media company. Her goal is to get a score of over 900 out of 990 before May. “I would like to discard the TOEIC stress before the format changes. Even a little change to the test template will add more burden to job seekers like me, when having one or two questions wrong affects the overall score,” the 24-year-old said. The Educational Testing Service, which

Social Affairs March 10, 2016

More leisure facilities are being built near rivers and streams these days and while this benefits urban dwellers, another party is being exposed to higher risks -- more amphibians are being killed by cyclists and pedestrians, raising ecological concerns about their well-being.  A bicyclist passes over the ecological corridor installed under a bike road at Yangjaecheon Stream in southern Seoul. (Lee Hyun-jeong/The Korea Herald)According to Chung-Ang University’s Green River Research Center, a la

Social Affairs March 9, 2016

It is not just up to individuals to conserve nature, industries have an important role to play too, says the Korean office of global conservation group World Wide Fund for Nature. In an interview with The Korea Herald, WWF-Korea’s CEO Simon Yoon said, “About 1.2 billion of the 7 billion world population are major consumers who pollute the environment. Meanwhile, about 500 major global conglomerates make up 70 percent of the total priority commodity market. Which party do you think would be more

Social Affairs March 4, 2016

A doctor who was suspected of reusing syringes and causing hundreds of hepatitis C infections has been found dead in an apparent suicide, police said Friday. Wonju Police said that the 59-year-old doctor surnamed Noh was found at his home in Gwangwon Province. He was pronounced dead after he was moved to a nearby hospital. No suicide note was found, they said. The doctor, who ran an orthopedic clinic, was under investigation on suspicion of reusing syringes for platelet-rich plasma injections an

Social Affairs March 4, 2016

Seoul City vowed to expand its stray cat neutering project as part of efforts to reduce the number of such animals, amid growing concerns over the measure’s effectiveness. Seoul Metropolitan Government said Wednesday it will expand its stray cat neutering project such as by providing subsidies of up to 75 million won ($61,000) per civic organization which carries out the “Trap-Neuter-Return” project. The TNR is a project that captures and sterilizes free-roaming cats to control their numbers. Th

Social Affairs March 2, 2016

Military law allowing heavier penalties for insulting the head of state is constitutional, Korea’s top law court said Tuesday.In a 7-2 decision, the Constitutional Court decided that the tougher punishments for soldiers who affront the president is constitutional, as the president is the commander-in-chief, making him or her the highest position in the military command system.  (Yonhap)An army sergeant, whose information was withheld, filed a constitutional appeal after he was sentenced to a six

Social Affairs March 1, 2016

The Constitutional Court on Monday ruled that punishing those who post slanderous comments online with libel charges is constitutional. Two individuals, one of them identified by the surname Choi, filed a constitutional appeal after they were fined 1.5 million won ($1,200) for posting defamatory comments online against a businessman who failed to return their investment costs. They claimed that the definition of “slanderous purpose” in the information network law is ambiguous and that the regula

Social Affairs Feb. 29, 2016

A Seoul lower court on Monday ruled that the state must provide partial compensation for victims who were tortured and forced to make false confessions under Korea’s 1980s military dictatorship. Seoul Central District Court handed down the ruling that the government should give 3.3 billion won ($2.66 million) to four victims and their families from the manipulated probe that has been dubbed the “Hakrim” case.(Yonhap)In 1981, the Chun Doo-hwan military government illegally detained and tortured d

Social Affairs Feb. 29, 2016

The manufacturer of the toxic humidifier disinfectant that allegedly caused lung damages to 126 people and killed 95, refuted the health impact of its product with experiment data, prosecutors said Friday. The special probe team of the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office said that it has received a product harmfulness test result from Reckitt Benckiser, which produced Oxy Ssak Ssak, the disinfectant used by about 70 percent of the victims. The test result, which was independently conducte

Social Affairs Feb. 26, 2016

The Constitutional Court on Thursday closed the legality case on the state’s wiretapping of civilians, citing the death of the claimant as the reason. In 2011, a high school teacher surnamed Kim had filed the lawsuit against the state over the legality of the communication restriction measures. Kim claimed that he was unnecessarily wiretapped by the National Intelligence Service while he was under a probe for making up school test questions about the inter-Korean summit deal. Kim was a member of

Social Affairs Feb. 25, 2016

Samsung heiress Lee Boo-jin’s husband on Thursday appealed against the court’s recent acceptance of divorce claims filed by her. Lim Woo-jae, the former vice president of Samsung Electro-Mechanics, told the media that he would like to keep his family. “I cannot accept the unfair ruling. (The ruling) is excessively cruel. I decided to appeal in order to secure my visitation and parental rights,” he said in a two-page note handed to the media in front of the court.  Lim Woo-jae heads to submit the

Social Affairs Feb. 4, 2016

Seoul passengers of subway Line No. 1-4 were found to have lost about 1.2 billion won ($998,000) in total while using the subway in the past three years, a lawmaker said Thursday. According to Rep. Lee No-geun of Saenuri Party, quoting subway operator Seoul Metro’s data, an average of about 5,200 items of lost cash have been reported in the past three years, containing a total of about 390 million won a year on average.  Passengers take the subway in Seoul. (Yonhap)Of the missing cash, 94 percen

Social Affairs Feb. 4, 2016

Former Prime Minister Lee Wan-koo, who was found guilty of receiving kickbacks from a business tycoon, appealed against the lower court’s ruling, court officials said Thursday. Late last month, the 66-year-old was sentenced to eight months in jail with probation of two years on charges of taking 30 million won ($25,000) of illegal political funds from a deceased businessman in a high-profile bribery scandal.  Former Prime Minister Lee Wan-koo answers questions after being found guilty of corrupt

Social Affairs Feb. 4, 2016