Over 50% of young Korean women have unprotected sex

Fewer than half of women in their 20s practice contraception, according to a survey health authorities released on Monday. / Korea Times file

By Lee Jin-a

More than half of Korean women in their 20s do not use contraception, a survey showed Monday.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 96 percent of the 1000 women in their 20s surveyed said they had received education on birth control while nearly 80 percent said they were taught how to use condoms. But among the 674 respondents who said they had sex in the past year, only 47 percent said they used contraception.

The experts said Korea's sex education system is behind the times, making it less useful for young people.

"The curriculum of public schools is more focused on college entrance exams," the researchers said. "Therefore, the educators spend less time on physical education and teach sex education in a one-time event.

"Like the Netherlands and Switzerland, Korea should provide practical educational programs to students so they can prevent unwanted pregnancies and have healthy sex lives."

In Korea, public schools are only required to provide 17 to 34 hours of sex education for teenagers a year.

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