South Korea - The Korea Times

Korea reviews military law banning homosexual activity

By Kim Se-jeong After a gay soldier was convicted of having sex with another gay soldier in May, the Korean government said it’s reviewing the military law banning homosexual activity.The government is working on a human rights report it will submit to the United Nations that states, “We are reviewing the law so it will make the rules clearer for gay soldiers,” adding that not all gay soldiers will be punished for homosexual activity. The report will be submitted to the U.N. human rights body later this month.Yet, it defended the law’s fundamental purpose: “In a given circumstance where only men stay together, the law is necessary to keep order. Punishment of gay soldiers also serves this purpose.”In May, the military court sentenced an Army captain to six months in prison, and suspended him for a year, for homosexual activity. According to the Military Criminal Act, sodomy can be punished with up to two years in prison.The conviction came amid a revelation that the military orchestrated efforts to hunt down gay soldiers and humiliate them ope

Aug 2, 2017

Life satisfaction lower for single-person households

People living alone showed lower levels of life satisfaction than households with a larger number of members, according to a recent report.Gyeonggi Research Institute released the report based on a survey conducted last year on the quality of life of 20,000 residents aged 19 and above.The report shows 49.8 percent of single-person households reported they were satisfied with their lives, while 56.8 percent of two-person, 56.4 percent of three-person and 60.7 percent of four-person and larger households said so.The largest percentage of people living alone were satisfied (61.9 percent) when they spent leisure time with their families in comparison to when they spent time with colleagues, friends or acquaintances. Only 40.6 percent of the respondents were satisfied with spending their leisure time alone.Life satisfaction increased by 45.5 percent in the case of single-person households kept a pet, but decreased to 34.1 percent in the cases when they stopped having one.“Policies which have been focused on single-person households consisting of senior citizens or the underprivilege

Jul 31, 2017

Airport, expressways filled with summer vacationers

109,000 depart at Incheon AirportBy Kim Bo-eunIncheon International Airport bustled with travelers and the nation’s expressways were heavily congested, as the summer vacation season began over the weekend.An estimated 109,439 people left the airport on Sunday, up from last year’s record of 104,467 on July 31.The Incheon International Airport Corporation estimates 6.84 million travelers will use the airport from July 15 to Aug. 20, up 3.4 percent from last summer.This means 184,834 are using the airport daily during the period, exceeding the number of travelers in the winter as well as during the traditional holidays of Chuseok and Lunar New Year.Summer vacationers are concentrated during this period, as workers with families arrange their vacations in time for their children’s summer break.During this period, Aug. 13 is estimated to have the greatest number of travelers at 204,500, due to the Liberation Day holiday falling on Aug. 15.The airport corporation has temporarily increased the number of staff on duty, expanded the airport’s parking lot and started of

Jul 30, 2017

Airport, expressways filled with summer vacationers

Trash bins to vanish from Seoul subway restrooms

By Lee Han-sooTrash bins are set to vanish from public restrooms in Seoul subway stations in phases from Aug. 1, according to Seoul Metro Friday.The men’s restroom trash bins will be removed first. The women’s bins will be removed from Sep. 1 to allow sanitary waste bins to be installed.The project, “Trash bin free restroom,” aims to make public restrooms cleaner without the bad odor. It is already in effect on subway lines five to eight and will be extended to all Seoul subway lines except nine.Seoul Metro is positive that after a trial the project will reduce odors and make the restrooms more welcoming."By eliminating the trash cans in restrooms, it will reduce foul odors and make it easier to maintain cleanness,” a Seoul Metro official said. “This will allow citizens using the subway to use restrooms more comfortably.”Seoul Metro said it will concentrate its workforce on maintaining and repairing restrooms in the early stages of the project to minimize inconvenience in case toilets get clogged."The number of toilets clogged went up 6.6 tim

Jul 28, 2017

Trash bins to vanish from Seoul subway restrooms

Korea urged to stop US beef imports

State inspectors check beef imported from the U.S. at a refrigerated warehouse in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, on July 20. After the detection of mad cow disease in the U.S., the government increased the ratio of U.S. beef inspections from 3 percent to 30 percent. / YonhapBy Park Jae-hyukThe Korean government should suspend the import of U.S. beef by amending terms of trade, a group of experts said Wednesday.Amid growing concern on the safety of U.S. beef after an outbreak of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), in Alabama, the experts refuted the government’s argument, presenting scientific evidence at a press conference in Seoul.“The Korean government groundlessly claims, without any epidemiological survey by the U.S. government, that an atypical case of BSE is not dangerous to humans,” said Prof. Woo Hee-jong of the Seoul National University College of Veterinary Science. “The terms of trade are unfair as well.”The professor urged the Moon Jae-in administration to confidently request a renegotiation of the deal with the U.S. gover

Jul 28, 2017By Park Jae-hyuk

Website opens on mad cow disease after Moon's order

Website opens on mad cow disease after Moon's order

A banner of a special website on mad cow disease / Courtesy of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural AffairsBy Park Jae-hyukPresident Moon Jae-inThe Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs has established a special website on mad cow disease, following President Moon Jae-in’s order to give people details about it.The ministry has added a banner to its official Korean website and started uploading press releases and information on mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), to the special website.It plans to update questions and answers on BSE with the latest research on the disease.The government also promised to provide updates on BSE from the U.S. government.Before opening the website, the ministry was criticized for failing to provide enough information about the disease. People have been concerned about the safety of beef imported from the U.S. since a recent BSE outbreak in Alabama.In response to demands, the ministry searched previous articles and reread the government’s explanations written in 2008 when candlelit protesters demand

Jul 28, 2017By Park Jae-hyuk

Website opens on mad cow disease after Moon's order

Korea urged to stop US beef imports

S. Korea's vaccination rates for children higher than U.S., Britain: data

South Korea's vaccination rates for hepatitis B and several other major diseases are higher than those of the United States, Britain and Australia, government data showed Thursday.South Korea's vaccination rates for HepB, BCG, DTaP, IPV, Hib and MMR stood at 96.6 percent, according to the statistics by the Korea Centers for Disease Control (KCDC) which analyzed the vaccination records of 440,000 children born in 2013 in the four countries.The comparable figures were 90.9 percent for the U.S., 94.5 percent for Australia and 93.7 percent for Britain.South Korea's vaccination rate for BCG and MMR were the highest at 97.8 percent, followed by IPV at 97.6 percent, HepB at 97.3 percent, DTaP at 96.2 percent and Hib at 95 percent."Children who are over three years old are more susceptible to infectious diseases," Gong In-sik of the KCDC said, asking parents of children to complete vaccination in a timely manner so they will be protected from illnesses. (Yonhap)

Jul 27, 2017

Health authorities look into cat bite risk

By Jung Min-hoThe Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) is now looking into the risks of cat bites after a woman in Japan died of a tick-borne disease caused by a cat bite earlier this week.The 50-year-old woman reportedly died of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) 10 days after a stray cat bit her. Given her body showed no signs of a direct tick bite, Japan’s health ministry concluded the cat transmitted the disease to her ― the world’s first such animal-to-human transmission.The KCDC is checking facts about the woman’s death. A KCDC official said the organization may have to change its safety guidelines for the disease if Japan’s announcement is true.SFTS has a fatality rate as high as 30 percent. The disease is most commonly found in Central Asia and China and known to be transmitted only through bites from virus-carrying ticks.After an incubation period of six days to two weeks, SFTS starts to cause symptoms such as fever, drowsiness, vomiting, diarrhea and organ failure.  

Jul 26, 2017

Health authorities look into cat bite risk

Trust-building key to Kwangdong's success

Choi Soo-boo, center, the late founder and chairman of Kwangdong Pharmaceutical, talks with employees in this undated photo. The company marks the fourth anniversary of his death Monday. / Courtesy of Kwangdong Pharmaceutical Company remembers late founder Choi Soo-boo on 4th anniversary of his deathBy Lee Kyung-minChoi Soo-boo, the late founder and chairman of Kwangdong PharmaceuticalFor the late Kwangdong Pharmaceutical founder Choi Soo-boo, selling drugs was not merely a way to make money, but to begin a trust-based relationship.Born in 1936, Choi, one of the pioneering leaders of Korea’s pharmaceutical industry, always sincerely cared about the people he met, and taught the importance of it to his employees until he died on July 24, 2013. Today marks the fourth anniversary of his death.Choi, the second eldest among seven siblings, had to support his family from the age of 12 after his father’s business went bankrupt.An elementary school dropout, he spent most of his time in the streets selling things while his friends were in class studying. This, in hindsight, h

Jul 23, 2017

Trust-building key to Kwangdong's success

Police to crack down on dating violence

Surveillance camera footage shows a man dragging his girlfriend by the hair in Sindang-dong, central Seoul, Tuesday. / Captured from YTNBy You Soo-sunThe police launched a 100-day action plan to crack down on violence against women, which takes effect today and will proceed until Oct 31. The announcement came Sunday amid increasing concerns on dating abuse, recently stirred by revelation of video footage that showed a man assaulting his ex-girlfriend and then chasing her down a narrow alley with a one-ton truck in Sindang-dong, central Seoul.While drunk, the 22-year-old man, surnamed Son, repeatedly hit the woman with his fists and kicked her, knocking her to the ground several times before pedestrians came to her aid. He then drove his one-ton truck chasing the woman down the alley. According to the victim, the incident occurred about a week after they broke up. The video footage went viral online.The incident demonstrates the increasing need to curb violence against women. According to the National Police Agency, 8,367 people were taken into custody on charges of physical viol