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CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jinDigital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.krTel: 02-724-2114Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844Date of registration: 2020.02.05Masthead: The Korea TimesCopyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.

(241) Endless questions that start with 'what if?'

By Janet Shin When things go wrong, people usually ask questions such as: “What if I did something else? What if I didn’t do that? What if I didn’t meet him/her? Or, what if I was somewhere else?”Is there anything we can do in order to avoid further misfortune or promote a golden opportunity? As the word “fate” implies something we can’t alter, people are rather afraid of acknowledging the destiny in one corner of their mind. Nevertheless they keep on trying one thing or another to change their fate until they grasp the truth.I remember the 1986 Korean drama titled “Whitlow.” I found it quite impressive because of its novel scenario. There is a Korean saying “Every finger hurts if you bite,” which means that every child is dear to his parents. All the parents hope their children grow well and be happy no matter what price they have to pay.The story begins with a maid working for the gentry. The maid and the lady of the house give birth at the same time and the maid becomes a nanny for the baby girl. When she saw t

Jun 13, 2013
(241) Endless questions that start with 'what if?'

Fetishism: disorder or preference?

Racing model Choi Yu-jung poses for a photo, wearing black stockings. Some people have a fetish for something black.    / Courtesy of Choi Yu-jungAcceptable unless it is dysfuctionalBy Park Jin-hai, Kwon Ji-youn, Yoon Sung-wonEveryone has his or her own little secret. If you have peculiar sexual inclinations like fetishism, however, beware. If your secrets are revealed, you will be judged not only by people around you but also by the rule of law as well.Sexual fetishism is the state of sexual arousal a person feels toward an object or situation, for instance, certain body parts or articles of clothing.A recent court ruling heated up the debate about whether fetishism is a harmless inclination or a pathological disorder. On March 7, a district court in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, sentenced two men to six and eight months, respectively, in prison, for uploading pornographic video clips featuring adult women in school uniforms performing sexual acts. Under the revised Youth Protection Law, adult pornographic actors dressed in school uniforms are considered underage youth. U

Jun 11, 2013By Park Jin-hai
Fetishism: disorder or preference?

Pistachio Principles: Fool yourself full to lose weight

When pistachios are in shells, people tend to eat less of them compared with shelled-nuts. They consume even less when the empty shells are left on the desks as a visual reminder of consumption./ Courtesy of Pistachio Health InstituteBy Yoon Ja-youngWith the arrival of summer, many people are rushing to get in shape. They probably resort to extreme calorie-cutting methods such as carbohydrate restrictions or not eating. However, we know that this mostly ends in failure each year. Dr. James E. Painter, a food psychologist and professor at the University of East Illinois, suggests applying behavioral psychology to dieting. His “Pistachio Principles” suggest that we can fool ourselves to eat less through simple visual modifications and still feel equally sated.At a meeting with the media in Seoul, Monday, the professor pointed out that Korea is not an exception to the global epidemic of obesity — now one out of three Koreans are categorized as fat. Why are people around the world gaining weight? Lack of exercise, sedentary lifestyle, stress and advertising are som

Jun 7, 2013By Yoon Ja-young
Pistachio Principles: Fool yourself full to lose weight

Abortions and future pregnancies

By Lee Hye-jun During a fertility consultation with me, a woman makes a confession. “There is something I did not tell you. When I was young...” She pauses. I sense it is about a previous abortion. She continues with tears in her eyes, “Is this why I am not getting pregnant?”When women have difficulty having a baby or experience miscarriages, many of them blame their problems on previous abortions. Many women are overwhelmed by feelings of guilt and refuse to talk to anyone about this, even their husbands. While an abortion can cause future complications, it’s not always the case.We sometimes make mistakes, even with contraceptives — condoms break, women forget to take birth control pills, and ovulation occurs on an unexpected day. Nearly half of all pregnancies in the United States are unintended, and about 40 percent of these are aborted. It is illegal to have an induced abortion in Korea except for particular reasons such as genetic disorders of parents, the pregnancy being life-threatening to the mother or pregnancy from rape. Yet, illegal

Jun 7, 2013
Abortions and future pregnancies

Chronic diseases complicate spine or joint surgery

By Chung Hung-tae Changes in lifestyle and the aging of society are resulting in an increasing number of people suffering from spine and joint disorders. The numbers of spine surgeries and joint surgeries increased by 67 percent and 66 percent respectively over the past five years, to mark 150,000 and 50,000 cases in 2011. Worse still, these people probably have multiple health problems. According to data by Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, patients of any chronic disease, aged 65 or older, have 3.45 chronic diseases on average.Hence, more emphasis is being put on “total care” for patients who have spine or joint problems accompanied by chronic disease, to manage not only the spine or joint problem but also the accompanying diseases.In particular, it is risky to perform such surgery without considering the condition of the patient because an emergency situation can occur during an operation. For instance, a clinical report shows that the risk of infection is 3.2 times higher when a diabetic undergoes a spine surgery compared with the normal blood sugar

Jun 7, 2013
Chronic diseases complicate spine or joint surgery

Practice 4Ds to quit smoking

By Yoon Ja-youngLast Friday was World No Tobacco Day. It was designated by the World Health Organization to create smoke free societies. Many smokers usually try quitting smoking on special occasions such as New Year’s Day, but this often ends in failure. Prof. Choi Hyun-rim at Kyunghee University Medical Center says that one should keep in mind the“4Ds,” or “Delay, Deep breathing, Drink water, and Distract,” to succeed in this extremely difficult task.According to statistics released by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the smoking rate of the country’s male adults stood at 48.3 percent in 2010, and for females it was 6.3 percent. The ratio of smokers among male adults fell somewhat steeply from 66.3 percent in 1998 to 45 percent in 2007, but it has been static since then — though many people try to quit smoking each year, most of them end up smoking again.Doctors say only 3 to 5 percent of those who try to kick the habit on their own will succeed. The success rate goes up to 15.1 percent when one participates in quit smoking consulting pr

Jun 7, 2013By Yoon Ja-young

Healing recipes

/ Courtesy of Media WillChija-nokdu Bindaeddeok: Mung bean and gardenia seed pancake In the summer, many people get sick from exposure to air conditioning due to the huge gap between outdoor and indoor temperatures. However, this is preventable depending on how you manage your health.Imagine you have a headache and your hands feel cold, being exposed to too much air conditioning in the office in summer. Then what should you choose for lunch? The best option is light and warm food. Cold, hard to digest foods like “mulnaengmyeon,” or buckwheat noodle in cold beef broth, are the worst choices.Even people with no digestion problems feel their abdomen turning cold when they are exposed to cold wind for hours. Eating cold food in this situation will stress the stomach, leading to indigestion.Likewise, after excessive perspiration, your body temperature falls and your digestion becomes sluggish. The saying “Iyeolchiyeol,” or fighting fire with fire, applies to such circumstances. After perspiring too much on a hot day, your body is cold inside and you have to ba

Jun 7, 2013
Healing recipes

Kwang Dong, Jeju bolstering ties

A green tea plantation on Jeju Island is shown in this file photo. Kwang Dong Pharmaceutical has been launching diverse products using agricultural products from the island, including green tea.  / Korea Times fileKwang Dong Pharmaceutical is strengthening its cooperation with Jeju Island, using diverse crops grown on the island in its products.The company said it signed contracts with farmers in Jeju Province to obtain black beans for its soy milk and help farmers increase their income.The black beans will be planted in around 20,000 pyeong, or 66,000 square meters of land, in Samyang-dong, Jeju Island, to be harvested in autumn. The pharmaceutical company will purchase the whole harvest to make its soy milk products, and added that it will increase the quantity of the bean purchases from Jeju farmers each year.The contract is part of the company’s effort to bolster ties with the island. Kwang Dong was chosen as the distributor of Samdasoo, a popular bottled water brand of Jeju Island, early this year, and it has been launching diverse products using agricultural pro

Jun 7, 2013By Yoon Ja-young
Kwang Dong, Jeju bolstering ties

Healthline

Class on ADHD scheduled A class on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is scheduled at Ewha Womans University Medical Center in western Seoul, at 2 p.m., June 13.Professors at the hospital will give a lecture on diverse topics related to the symptoms increasingly affecting children these days. The class is open for anybody who registered via phone. To do this and for answers to further questions, call (02) 2061-8881~3. Medical checkup for healthy aging Seoul National University Hospital is giving a lecture on healthy aging and medical checkup. Prof. Cho Be-long at the hospital will explain what it means to age healthily and which checkups to have for healthy aging. A Q&A session will follow the lecture, which is open to anybody with free registration.The lecture will be at the children’s hospital building of the hospital complex in downtown Seoul, at 4 p.m. on June 21. For further inquiries, contact the health promotion center at the hospital at (02) 2072-3336.

Jun 7, 2013By Yoon Ja-young

(240) A fortunate position for your desks

By Janet ShinWhy are people interested in feng shui? It is because they appreciate the consequence of the surroundings. Everything around us, whether it is a living creature or an inanimate object, influences our life tremendously. People get to know and feel it even though it is hard to prove by scientific measurements. We learn that some experienced awful misfortune after moving to a new residence, or bringing in an odd object, such as an antique or things that once belonged to others. Others are suffering for sleepless nights after changing their bedroom curtains or even get a cancer. People often ask my opinion about their feng shui when they experience serious of misfortune after move or renovation of their place. While people are trying to utilize feng shui to improve their life, not all of them know how to exactly apply it. Some may regard it as a way of how to do their house interior. In the meantime, it is still regarded as picking an auspicious site for their houses, offices or graves. If we combine these two concepts in modern perspectives, it is how we locate applian

Jun 6, 2013
(240) A fortunate position for your desks
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