1 Out of 3 South Koreans Overweight
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.