South Korea - The Korea Times

Only 3.8% ministry officials took paternity leave

By Lee Kyung-min Only 3.8 percent of public servants working for the country's 13 ministries took paternity leave last year, data showed Thursday. According to the data submitted from the Ministry of Interior and Safety to Rep. Yoon Jong-pil of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, out of 18,206 ministry officials eligible, only 691 took the leave last year. This indicates only four out of 100 male officials with children aged between eight and nine took the leave for at least one month. Of the total, officials from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family accounted for 22.2 percent, followed by the education ministry (8.9 percent), unification (6.1 percent) and defense (5.8 percent). The number of male officials taking the leave is on the rise over the past few years. Last year's figure at 3.8 percent was an increase from 3.2 in 2016; 2.5 in 2015 and 1.9 percent in 2014. Currently, public servants can take up to three years of parental leave including one year of paid leave. Those who are on leave are eligible to receive up to 80 percent of their regular monthly wage between 70

Jul 19, 2018

Scorching heat: Child dies in nursery bus

A girl died after being left for seven hours in a nursery bus. YonhapBy Jung Hae-myoungA girl, 4, was found dead inside a nursery bus where she was left for seven hours in scorching weather in Dongducheon, north of Seoul, Wednesday. The likely cause of death was heat exhaustion. The temperature hit 32.3 degrees Celsius outside, which meant the temperature in the closed-up bus was far higher. The girl was found face down in the back of the bus. She was left behind when the other children got off the bus and went to the daycare center. Nobody at the daycare apparently noticed she was missing until it was too late. On July 4, a grandfather left his 27-month-old grandson in a car for four hours. The baby died.

Jul 19, 2018

Scorching heat: Child dies in nursery bus

Sizzling weather grips Korea

By Kang Seung-wooThe government warned against heat-related illnesses after extreme hot weather sweeping the country, which has resulted in four deaths so far, shows no signs of abating.People in downtown Seoul use parasols Tuesday to avoid the scorching heat at the temperature in Seoul peaked at 34 degrees Celsius. / Yonhap“A heat wave is covering the peninsula swing, so people are required to pay attention to heat-related illnesses,” the Korea Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (KCDCP) said Tuesday“When an excessive heat warning is issued, people are advised to refrain from doing outdoor activities.” The caution came after the heat wave coupled with tropical nights began hitting the entire country. According to the KCDCP, 551 people were reported as suffering from heat-related illnesses from May 20 to July 15, two of whom died. The situation drastically worsened from last Thursday to Sunday with 285 cases, or 52 percent of the cases, were reported, including the two heat-linked deaths -- both of whom were people in their 80s.Between 2013 and 2017, 6,5

Jul 17, 2018

69% of fine dust comes from China

By Kim Hyun-binThe National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) released data revealing that up to 69 percent of fine dust could come from China.According to the findings, in 2015 an average 45 percent of fine dust in Korea originated from China, but on days with high concentrations up to 69 percent could have come from Asia's largest economy. This mark the first time a numerical analysis has been made on Chinese fine dust concentration by region.The reports states depending on the seasonal winds fine dust arrives from different parts of eastern China.The highest level of fine dust came during the summer accounting for 53 percent of Korea's fine dust concentration. However, the level of fine dust tends to weaken during winter and spring, falling to 31 and 25 percent respectively. Considering increasing industrialization in the eastern part of China in recent years, experts believe the fine dust concentration has increased this year.“By conducting the research we realized it's urgent to cooperate with the four eastern regions of China,” an official from NIER said. &

Jul 17, 2018

'What is a normal family?'

Korea urged to break prejudice amid low birthrate By Lee Kyung-min A law, which defines a family as a union formed through marriage, blood or adoption, should be revised to break social prejudice against babies born outside the conventional makeup of a family, a professor said at a recent forum. “Korea's dismally low birthrate is closely linked to a culture that lacks tolerance about accepting differences in who should be recognized as family,” said Kim Soon-nam, a professor at Sungkonghoe University, at a forum on ways to fight discrimination of babies born outside of marriage. Jointly organized by the Presidential Committee on Aging Society and Population Policy, Democratic Party of Korea Policy Committee and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the forum was held at the National Assembly on July 9. Public discourse should continue to challenge a common perception that a family having a mother and a father is the only normal and acceptable form, to the exclusion of children raised by single parents or born out of wedlock. “A family should be a union with mo

Jul 15, 2018

INTERVIEW Cafe owner breaks bias against refugees

Mun Jun-suk poses for a photo inside his cafe, “Tomorrow's Coffee,” in Hyehwa, Seoul, that trains and employs African refugees as baristas. / Korea Times photo by Lee Suh-yoonBy Lee Suh-yoonMun Jun-suk, 35, looks at three things when recruiting baristas for his small coffee shop, Tommorow's Cafe — communication skills, love for coffee and the ability to overturn negative social stereotypes.Mun left his office job in 2014 to open the cafe in Hyehwa, Seoul. The motivation behind this sudden career change was not simply to leave his dreary office job. Mun wanted to break down negative stereotypes of African refugees he met while doing volunteer work with his church.“I used to hold prejudices against African refugees before the volunteer work,” Mun said in a recent interview at his cafe. “But as I interacted with them and was invited into their homes, I realized they were good people, full of energy, optimistic about life and full of talent. Sometimes, I felt like the one who was being consoled.” Mun's experience led him to open the cafe and

Jul 13, 2018

[INTERVIEW] Cafe owner breaks bias against refugees

Korea's lightest newborn grows strongly, leaves hospital

Three months after birth, Sarang, Korea's lightest newborn at 302 grams(left), weighed 600 grams(right). YonhapProud parents: Sarang with her mother and father before she was discharged from hospital. YonhapBy Jung Hae-myoungSarang, who was born four months premature and weighed 302 grams, left hospital Thursday strong and healthy. Her weight set a Korean record for the lightest newborn. She had spent much of the past six months in the intensive care unit at Asan Medical Center (AMC) since her birth in January. Three months after her birth, she doubled in weight but still was much less than a healthy newborn, who weighs between 2,500 and 4,000 grams. Her mother had Sarang through artificial insemination. During her pregnancy, the mother got sick and had to give birth by Caesarean delivery. “I was able to feel the awe of life every time Sarang overcame one of many crises,” Professor Jung Eui-seok, the doctor in charge of saving Sarang, told Yonhap.

Jul 13, 2018

Korea's lightest newborn grows strongly, leaves hospital

Korean clinic treats more foreigners with fertility problems

The CHA Bio Bank at the CHA Fertility Center Seoul Station in Seoul, also known as the “37 Oocyte Bank,” stores female patients' ova. Courtesy of CHA Fertility Center Seoul StationBy Ko Dong-hwanSeoul Station provides easy access for overseas and Korean patients to the CHA Fertility Center Seoul Station. Courtesy of CHA Fertility Center Seoul StationMarina, a Russian woman from Khabarovsk, is having in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment at the CHA Fertility Center Seoul Statoin in Seoul because she says it is more convenient than her home country. She first visited in April, when she checked her uterus with hysteroscopy and began IVF to become pregnant. This month, her embryo transfer will be done. “I came to Seoul because I couldn't trust Russian medical system and services,” said the patient, who withheld her last name. “Although I could have the same treatment in Russia for free, it requires a long list of documents of proof and a long waiting period before I can start using the service. It is unlike Korea, where I can conveniently make an appointmen

Jul 12, 2018

Korean clinic treats more foreigners with fertility problems

Sex offenders against children to be banned from teaching

By Lee Kyung-min Starting next month, those convicted of sex crimes against children under 19 will not be able to land job at kindergartens, schools and medical institutions. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said Wednesday a revised law set to take effect July 17 will strengthen the employment standards at facilities where supervisory and authority figures maintain close contact with children every day. The revision, which had been under review for about two years, follows a Constitutional Court ruling that declared unconstitutional a law that banned such offenders from landing jobs for 10 years. The court recognized the need for criminal punishment of the offenders, but said an outright 10-year ban without consideration of the degree of severity of their crimes was too excessive a punishment and infringed upon their right to choose a profession. The ruling that took immediate effect allowed about 40,000 convicts to seek and land jobs without any restrictions, setting off a chain of concerns from parents. “We expect the new measure will help alleviate concerns from pa

Jul 11, 2018

Free replacement pill due for 'possibly cancer-causing' drugs

By Lee Kyung-min The government said Tuesday it will exempt patients, who have been taking high blood pressure treatment drugs found to contain traces of a possible carcinogen, from paying for doctor's replacement prescriptions. The Ministry of Health and Welfare said the 178,536 patients will be able to ask for new prescriptions or get new pills at pharmacies to replace 115 drugs containing Chinese-made Valsartan. These patients account for 2.9 percent of the country's 6 million high blood pressure patients. “Patients need not pay for new prescription or for the price of pills to replace the 115 drugs regardless of whether the replacements cost more,” a ministry official said. Discussions will soon be under way between the ministry and the state-run National Health Insurance Serves on ways to shoulder the cost. The measure will only be effective for those who bring their doctors and pharmacists the remaining pills prescribed earlier. If a patient cannot go to a doctor, the replacement pills will be given to them from a pharmacist based on prior prescription records. The one-off, em