The Korea Herald

Doctors accept agreement with government, put strike plan on hold

Mar 20, 2014

South Korean doctors said Thursday they will put their plan to stage nationwide strikes on hold after voting to accept an agreement with the government over contentious medical policies.The Korean Medical Association (KMA) said that 25,628, or 62.12 percent, of the 41,226 members who took part in the voting were in agreement with the government's plan to introduce a new system of telemedicine and allow hospitals to set up for-profit subsidiaries, among other policies.The KMA said 15,598 members
FSS official involved in loan scam

Mar 19, 2014

Police said Wednesday that they believed a financial watchdog official was implicated in a massive loan fraud involving an affiliate of the country’s No. 2 mobile carrier KT Corp.Last month, police launched an investigation into employees of KT ENS Co., a subsidiary of KT, for illegally borrowing 1.83 trillion won from 16 local banks using forged documents between May 2008 and January 2014. The loans were extended to a special purpose company set up by KT ENS’ subcontractors, with fabricated rec
[Graphic News] Per capita health care spending tops 1 million won

Mar 19, 2014

South Koreans spent an average of more than 1 million won ($930) on medical treatment last year, according to data released Tuesday. The National Health Insurance Service said that some 50 million public insurance subscribers spent about 51 trillion won for medical purposes, up 6.5 percent year-on-year. This means that each Korean paid an average of 85,000 won per month for health care.People over the age of 65 spent about 19 trillion won, accounting for 35.4 percent of the total medical spendin
[Uniquely Korean] Pledging allegiance and saluting the flag

Mar 19, 2014

Some argue patriotic demonstration is outdated
(Photo News) Fire protection

Mar 19, 2014
Saenuri unilaterally submits nuke bill

Mar 19, 2014

Ruling party denounces opposition for taking terrorism bill hostage
Seoul mayor takes legal action against men behind smear attacks

Mar 19, 2014

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon took legal action against two men for allegedly spreading false information about his son’s military service record, officials said Wednesday. Park filed the complaints with the Seoul City Election Commission on Tuesday. A man surnamed Lee is accused of sending more than 20,000 letters and emails that detailed claims that Park’s son deliberately avoided military service using fabricated medical records. The recipients included a large number of public officials, includi
Women in their 20s outsmart men in job market

Mar 19, 2014

The employment rate among women in their 20s exceeded that of men in the same age group for the fourth year in a row last year, widening the gap between genders in the South Korean job market, according to Statistics Korea on Wednesday. The percentage of working women in their 20s was 57.8 percent in 2013, as opposed to 55.7 percent among men. The gap has been on the rise since the employment rate of young women first surpassed that of their male counterparts by 0.1 percentage point. The figure
Korea approves first foreign casino operator

Mar 18, 2014

Caesars-Lippo group set to build Incheon gambling resort by 2018
P.M. calls for measures to keep meteorites in Korea

Mar 18, 2014

Prime Minister Chung Hong-won on Tuesday told government officials to cook up ways to prevent recently found meteorites from being taken out of the country.The comments appear to be a response to reports that foreign and domestic “meteorite hunters” are scouring the country’s southern region in search for more of the rare space rocks. “Since meteorites are invaluable material for space research, we must find ways to keep them within the country for research,” Chung said in a meeting of high-rank
Cohabitation offer equates to promise to marry: court

Mar 18, 2014

Having sex without contraception and implying future cohabitation count as a promise of marriage, a Seoul court said Tuesday.The Seoul Family Court on March 6 ruled in favor of a female school teacher who filed a compensation suit against her former colleague for giving false hope of marriage and cheating. Both women involved with the defendent became pregnant in March 2012.The court ordered the man to pay 25 million won ($23,400) to his ex-fiance in compensation.“It is clear that the victim and
Deal with doctors stokes fears of medical fee hikes

Mar 18, 2014

South Korean doctors and the government reached an agreement on a set of hot-button issues such as a trial run of telemedicine services, but civic groups voiced concerns on Tuesday about a possible hike in medical costs in connection with the agreement. On Monday, the Korean Medical Association, the country’s largest group of medical doctors, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare worked out agreements over telemedicine and for-profit subsidiaries for hospitals, about a week after doctors launch
Ex-policeman gets 14 years in prison for killing mistress

Mar 18, 2014

A Seoul appellate court on Tuesday upheld a lower court’s ruling to sentence a former police officer to 14 years in prison for murdering his mistress. Chung Wan-geun, 41, was found guilty of murdering a 40-year-old woman surnamed Lee, who was found dead at a closed fishery in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, in July 2013.The prosecution initially asked the court to sentence the defendant to 20 years behind bars, but the Seoul High Court reduced the imprisonment period.“Heavy punishment was appropr
Prolific professor confronts plagiarism charge

Mar 18, 2014

A South Korean professor, known for her prolific academic work, has come under the suspicion of plagiarism, prompting an internal probe, school authorities said Tuesday.The 45-year-old professor, who teaches at the humanities and arts department of Sunchon National University, has published about 70 articles in local academic journals since 2009, with 21 of the papers put out in 2012 alone. Her academic output is far higher than the yearly average of 0.6 papers for other full-time faculty member
Reports on celebrity suicides trigger copycat effect: study

Mar 18, 2014

Media coverage of suicides by prominent figures can lead to a spike in suicide rates among ordinary people, a Korean researcher said Tuesday.A team led by Kim Nam-kug, an assistant professor of convergence medicine at Asan Medical Center, analyzed the 15 celebrity suicides most covered by the media between 1990 and 2010, and compared the number of suicides following those deaths. They saw a correlation coefficient of 0.74 between the number of news articles and the number of deaths.This means fo