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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.

Gov't to offer 100,000 won extra in childcare allowance

By Kim Se-jeong Parents with a child up to six years old will receive 100,000 won extra each month starting July 2018.According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Wednesday, a childcare allowance will be given for all in that age group, regardless of parents’ income level. Approximately 2.53 million people are expected to benefit, the ministry said.Currently, families with a child up to seven years old receive between 100,000 won and 200,000 won monthly, depending on the age of the child and whether the child is enrolled in a daycare center. The new allowance will be offered in addition to this existing childcare allowance.A mother, for example, who will have a baby next August will receive 300,000 won from the central government per month.President Moon Jae-in pledged the extra 100,000-won allowance during his presidential campaign. Many welcomed his pledge but weren’t sure if it could be made possible because he spoke of so many similar pledges.“It’s time for the government to make a hard decision for the future of the country,” the ministry s

Aug 16, 2017

Four more egg farms found contaminated

Inspectors check eggs at a farm in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday. / Korea Times photo by Bae Woo-hanSafe eggs allowed release to marketBy Jung Min-hoEggs contaminated with insecticides have been found on four more farms here, the government said Wednesday, bringing the total to six.According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the eggs were contaminated with either fipronil or bifenthrin.Both chemicals are used to kill insect pests; but are also harmful to humans.Seen above are eggs believed to have been contaminated with harmful insecticides. The markings on them indicate the region and farm they came from. / Courtesy of Ministry of Food and Drug SafetyThe ministry noted some eggs at a farm with 55,000 hens in Cheorwon, Gangwon Province, were found to contain fipronil, which is banned from being used on poultry products here.Eggs from three other farms in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province; Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province; and Naju, South Jeolla Province were also found to be contaminated with bifenthrin that were over permissible levels.The ministry has c

Aug 16, 2017
Four more egg farms found contaminated
  • 66 egg farms contaminated with pesticide: gov't

Same-sex couples flee to wed

Expats call for legalization of same-sex marriageBy You Soo-sun This wedding cake symbolizes the marriage of Chris and Ari, a Korean female couple who wed in Canada, 2013. / Courtesy of Chris and AriSame-sex marriage in Korea is unlikely to be legalized in the foreseeable future. For some, fleeing is no longer a choice, but a necessity to have their marriage recognized. The Korea Times interviewed same-sex couples to understand what marriage means for them and what it is like to live in a place where it is banned.Chris and Ari, a Korean female couple in their 40s, wed in Canada four years ago. Their parents and relatives are still unaware of this.“My father tells me marriage (between man and wife) is a duty one owes to his or her parents. The pain I suffer from hiding our marriage is my way of fulfilling that duty,” Chris said.  They often feel misunderstood, even by their close friends. “They do not consider our relationship as being serious. They see us as close friends living together,” Chris explained. “There was an instance when a fri

Aug 16, 2017
Same-sex couples flee to wed

Making a living, from the dead

Kil Hae-yong, CEO of the trauma scene cleanup service Sweepers, poses in protective clothing in front of his working tools at his office in Bulgwang-dong, Seoul, Monday. / Korea Times photo by Kim Hyo-jinBy Kim Hyo-jinBlood stains, maggots crawling on the floor, rancid odors of a rotting corpse are the basics Kil Hae-yong, a 33-year-old trauma scene cleaner, encounters at his workplace.“There’s no single difficulty I’ve felt in doing my job,” Kil said against common expectations during an interview with The Korea Times, Monday.Kil sometimes cleans up spaces where dead bodies have been laying for days, sometimes for months. Unattended deaths, suicide, or murder cases are what he deals with.The ex-barbeque restaurant owner set up the trauma scene cleanup service Sweepers in 2011. The sudden change of career was simply led by his eagerness to find a job with rosy prospects. “To be successful, I had to do something no one else does,” Kil said. It was not only a niche business, but also a business that was sure to have solid growth, he said. “Abou

Aug 16, 2017
Making a living, from the dead

All eggs from insecticide-tainted farms to be destroyed

The ruling Democratic Party and government agreed Wednesday to recall and destroy all egg products from local farms contaminated with any insecticide amid escalating food safety concerns here, party officials said.The agreement came two days after some eggs at a farm with 80,000 hens in Namyangju, east of Seoul, were found to contain the insecticide fipronil, triggering the inspection of all egg farms across the country.After a party-government policy coordination meeting, Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon said that four of the 245 inspected farms have so far been found to be tainted with insecticides or other pesticides, and that contaminated eggs have not spread widely across the country."Of the total 1,239 farms, we have so far looked into 245 farms, four of which were found to be contaminated," Lee told reporters, referring to the ongoing inspection slated to end Friday."But it is not that (the tainted eggs) have spread as pervasively as many people fear," he added.The prime minister, in addition, said that all eggs from the contaminated farms will be discarded, while those from the unt

Aug 16, 2017
  • Egg sales suspended nationwide after finding of pesticide-tainted eggs
  • 66 egg farms contaminated with pesticide: gov't

Egg sales suspended nationwide after finding of pesticide-tainted eggs

Officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs collect eggs laid by hens at a farm in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday, whose owner is suspected of using a banned insecticide. Yonhap Eggs written 08 and 08LSH contaminated: food safety ministryBy Lee Kyung-min  The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said Tuesday that eggs with the coding 08 and 08LSH printed on them were produced at farms that used a banned insecticide or used a legal one over the maximum amount allowable.“We identified the eggs by matching the code on them. We are conducting additional tests to determine whether the eggs have been contaminated with 27 harmful substances. Those that fail to meet the safety standard will be discarded immediately,” a ministry official said.Every egg has a production code printed on them. The first two digits indicate where they were produced in 17 provincial areas.Those labeled 08 come from Gyeonggi Province. The last three digits or letters identify the name of the farm.The announcement came 18 hours after the country’s major discount s

Aug 15, 2017
Egg sales suspended nationwide after finding of pesticide-tainted eggs
  • All eggs from insecticide-tainted farms to be destroyed

Pesticide-tainted eggs found in S. Korea; retailers stop selling egg products

Some egg products in South Korea have been contaminated with a potentially harmful pesticide, the government said Tuesday, amid a growing health scare in Europe over tainted egg products.Some eggs at a farm with 80,000 hens in Namyangju, east of Seoul, were found to contain the pesticide fipronil on Monday, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said.The ministry temporarily banned farms with more than 3,000 hens from producing eggs from Tuesday so it can carry out an inspection.It was not known how many samples tested positive for the pesticide, but the Namyangju farm had produced 25,000 eggs per day.The same pesticide has been found in eggs in 17 European countries since the health scandal broke out early this month.With the government beginning to check egg farms, the nation's top three discount store chains said they have stopped selling eggs starting Tuesday.Homeplus, Lotte Mart and E-Mart said they decided to pull eggs off the shelf until results of the government's inspection into egg farms are released.Homeplus described its decision to stop selling eggs as a "pr

Aug 15, 2017
Pesticide-tainted eggs found in S. Korea; retailers stop selling egg products

Sick body and sick mind requires early treatment

By  Ko Jeong-minYes, there are definitely more people around the world having “sick mind,” mainly neuropsychiatric disorders like anxiety, depression, insomnia, and panic disorder to name a few. It is no more a shame to be treated for these kinds of conditions since any one can come along with at least one of them in a lifetime. It may bother one for very short period of time, but may also linger for years as to ruin one’s life.With numbers of patients with neuropsychiatric disorders increasing, there are interests and inquiries for treatment with Korean medicine more than ever: some seek for herbal medicine after being frustrated by western medication, others who want to quit their long-time western medication, and some other may want to be treated naturally and want other conditions improved as well.Sick mind and sick body are considered as one in Korean medicine. The two root for each other and they are inseparable. The treatment for the sick mind also takes a thorough look at the person, not just the sick mind.Sick mind ruins the person’s life: the pe

Aug 13, 2017
Sick body and sick mind requires early treatment

Staying healthy through summer

By Lee Sung-hunOne of the advantages of living in Korea is that we have four distinctive seasons and thus we can enjoy our seasonal activities.The flipside is that as the changes of the seasons bring about fluctuations in the weather, we have to somehow force our bodies to adjust to each season.Summer in Korea means hot temperatures with high humidity through most of the season.It is when we tend to sweat profusely and any physical activity can be quite taxing on our stamina.Many of us prefer to stay in the well-air-conditioned indoors while sitting in front of the cool breeze from a fan and drinking cold beverages to cool ourselves down.However, while doing so can make us feel cooler right away, it can sometimes be harmful to our health.In summer, our bodies push warm heat to the external organs _ the skin _ to dissipate it.As heat is congregated on the outer layers, our insides are prone to becoming cold by comparison.For some, consuming cold food and beverages is like adding ice to an already chilled body, and it becomes even more chilled and deficient.Those who suffer from freque

Aug 13, 2017

Korea leads efforts tackling global health security threats

Kim Gang-lipBy Kim Gang-lipAfter the 2015 MERS outbreak, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) began to provide daily reporting on infectious disease outbreaks occurring and spreading in and outside of Korea. As of the last week of July, the following infectious disease trends were detected worldwide. MERS-CoV continues to occur sporadically in Saudi Arabia. The number of confirmed cases is 158 so far this year.Bird flu, Avian influenza (H7N9), continues to occur in China. Between 2016 and 2017, there were 759 confirmed cases.Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever continues to occur in Iran. So far, 80 cases have been confirmed.Dengue fever has sharply increased in Sri Lanka, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian Countries. So far, 110,000 cases have been confirmed.Even at this moment, infectious diseases continue to occur and spread somewhere in the world, causing pain.What is even worse is that infectious diseases can break out anywhere due to increased cross-border mobility, climate change and other factors.It was not an overstatement when Bill Gates warned that prepari

Aug 13, 2017
Korea leads efforts tackling global health security threats
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