By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter

Health authorities need to come up with a state-level response to fight obesity, a lawmaker said, Friday, over findings last year that one out of three Koreans was overweight.

Rep. Jeon Hyun-heui of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) said that 2008 saw a record-high obesity rate among people who had a government-sponsored medical check-up.

According to the lawmaker, about 33 percent of Koreans had a Body Mass Index (BMI) over 25, which is considered to be obese. The figure compares a person's weight and height to figure out if they are overweight.

This was a 9-percent increase from the rate in 2007.

According to Jeon, the sharp rise is having a serious impact on the health of Koreans.

``About 20,000 people reported that they went to the hospital last year for obesity-caused diseases such as hypertension and diabetes,'' Jeon said during the National Assembly inspection of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs.

``This is more than a 50 percent increase from 2004.''

The dentist-turned-lawmaker urged authorities to set up an integrated program to fight overweight and obesity-caused diseases, saying the record-high obesity rate in the nation requires the government to take immediate action.

hkang@koreatimes.co.kr