By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
Walk into any subway car in metropolitan Seoul, and it won't take long to spot a hefty-looking 20-something standing by the door despite plenty of leftover seats. This is one snapshot of South Korea's obesity problem growing large.
``The plastic molded seats aren't big enough for many commuters,'' says Kim Pil-kyu, a subway worker who monitors the busy Sadang station on the Green Line 2.
People huffing and puffing up and down the stairs, and walkers stopping for a short breath have become other frequents sights, he explains.
``I see hundreds of people walking by me everyday, and it definitely seems like many Koreans, especially the young ones, are out of shape,'' added Kim. ``What happened to the `well-being' fad?''
Ironically, alongside the lucrative growth of the country's booming diet business is the soaring number of Koreans suffering from obesity and its costs.
According to the Health Insurance Research Institute, Thursday, obesity cost the country nearly 2 trillion won ($2 billion) in 2005. This is 3.8 percent of the nation's health care costs, and 0.22 percent of GDP.
The institute tracked 1.9 million adults who got medical checkups in 2000 and later developed obesity, and found that those overweight spent the most money on medicine with pharmaceutical expenses accounting for almost 30 percent of the socio-economic cost.
Obesity is a known risk factor for several disorders, including diabetes, hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases. Its main cause includes excessive caloric consumption and lack of physical activity.
``Being obese will cost you,'' said Kim Oh-kyun, a doctor at Woori Clinic in southern Seoul. ``From medical treatment to dietary supplements, people these days spend a fortune in trying to stay thin.''
The study showed that the direct costs from obesity were 1.109 trillion won, while indirect costs were 715.2 trillion won.
This is below the costs in countries like France and the U.S., but experts say South Korea's figure will soon catch up if proper measures aren't taken.
The report, the first of its kind in the country, comes as a surprise, as a recent OECD data indicated that Korea's obesity rate was one of the lowest among OECD countries.
``Instead of trying to lose weight after getting fat, people should try to stay in shape in the first place,'' advised Kim Oh-kyun, stressing that proper diet is the foremost way to do this.
The Korea Food and Drug Administration has tried to help Koreans watch their weight by enforcing food makers to label calorie details on product packages, but medical experts say that this isn't enough.
Yoon Hae-sung, a nutritionist at a state-run agency, says Korean restaurants should start labeling their menus like those in the United States.
Eatery chains in New York have been required to post caloric information on their menus from July to battle the soaring obesity rate. Chains like McDonald's, Burger King, Starbucks, KFC, Dunkin' Donuts have started to comply with the new rule.
Although global chains like McDonald's and Starbucks have started to apply the same rules here, a majority of fast food joints in South Korea haven't joined the move yet.
``People commonly think that Korean food isn't fattening, but that's no longer the case,'' Yoon said.
She said many popular menu choices like ``ddukbokgi'' (spice rice cakes) have become Westernized with heavy cheese toppings.
The changing lifestyle of city dwellers is another reason, says Yoon.
``Many people are pretty much sedentary workers, meaning there's very little exercising unless you make the point to go out, sign up at a gym and start running,'' she said.