A former worker of Ssangyong Motor was found dead Tuesday at a subcontractor’s plant in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, the company’s union said Wednesday. His death is the 15th among Ssangyong Motor’s former employees or their family members, which recently completed a bailout program after bankruptcy. According to the union, the 45-year-old man identified by the family name Kang was working at th

More than half of Seoul’s citizens believe they belong to society’s lower middle class, marking a slight increase from last year, a survey showed Wednesday.By political, economic and social status, a total of 51.3 percent said they fall under the category of “lower middle class,” while 23.2 percent said they belong to the upper middle class, according to the survey by the Seoul Metropolitan Govern

A group of researchers has found a new way of detecting Alzheimer’s at an early stage using a biomarker, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday. The finding will help in the early treatment of the disease, which is one of the most common forms of dementia in Korea, Dr. Kim Young-yeul, who was in charge of the study, said. According to his report, the amount of interleu

Nearly nine out of 10 child abuse cases were committed by family members, and the majority of offenders were biological parents, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said Wednesday. About 40 percent of victims were assaulted every day. Experts say both victims and offenders need special therapyAccording to the ministry, a total of 5,657 cases of child abuse were reported in 2010. Among them, 530 wer

Military manpower chief says measures will close loopholesThe military conscription agency has been implementing or seeking to introduce a series of measures to block those looking to exploit legal loopholes to dodge their compulsory service, the agency chief said Wednesday.They include toughening screening processes, securing an independent investigative authority, allowing elementary-school grad

Samsung Group on Wednesday denied news reports that its owner Lee Kun-hee instructed his company to reconsider the plans for developing solar batteries, saying Samsung has already earmarked the business as one of its future engines of growth.“We will continue to push forward in the (solar battery) business,” said Rhee In-yong, vice executive president of Samsung’s communications team, in a press b

Korean Air denied a terminal cancer patient in the United States a seat on a flight to Korea because she “looked too frail.”Crystal Kim, a Korean-American with stage 4 breast cancer, was to take the flight on Saturday for Mother’s Day. Even though she had two doctors’ notes explaining that her terminal breast cancer wouldn’t be a problem during the flight, Korean Air still refused to let her board

The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs on Wednesday designated 2.43 square kilometers of the land currently occupied by the U.S. Army’s Yongsan Garrison to be converted into a park.Central government agencies and the Seoul city government have been reviewing plans to convert the land occupied by the Yongsan Garrison into a park since 2008 once control of the land is returned to the K

Korea will unveil its road map for the sale of a controlling stake in the second-biggest banking group Woori Finance Holdings Co. next week in a bid to restart its stalled privatization, the financial regulator said Wednesday.The Public Fund Oversight Committee, which handles the sale of state-owned firms, will announce on May 17 how to sell the 56.97 percent government stake in Woori Finance, the

Korea’s central bank is widely expected to resume its tightening move in May by raising the key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point in a bid to stem inflationary pressure, a poll showed Wednesday.A total of 14 out of 17 economists forecast that the Bank of Korea will raise the benchmark seven-day repo rate to 3.25 percent on Friday, according to the survey by Yonhap Infomax, the finan

Real interest has stayed below inflation for the past year, devaluing returns on bond investments and deposits at banks, a government report said Wednesday.The interest rate on 1-year savings products at most commercial banks is just over 4 percent, leaving no room for profit given on-year inflation in the 4 percent range on top of a 15.4 percent tax on interest income. “Real returns on deposits w

The number of unemployed fresh college graduates increased by 0.2 percent in April from a year earlier despite a drop in the overall jobless rate, Statistics Korea said Wednesday. Some 63.6 percent of college graduates in their twenties were part of the workforce, posting a 0.3 percent drop from a month earlier, indicating a persistent structural mismatch between the reality of the job market and

Samsung C&T Corp.’s executive vice president Park Pil was appointed as the head of Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee’s assistant team on May 1.Operating under the chief of Samsung’s corporate strategy office, the head of the chairman’s assistance team is widely considered to be an important step on the way to key posts within Samsung Group.Although the team acts as the chairman’s assistance