Childless households are sharply increasing in Korea due to the low birthrate and an aging population, a governmental think tank’s research showed on Thursday. According to the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs’ report, the proportion of two-member families without children increased to 27.9 percent in 2013, up 18 percentage points from 1990.The share of three-member childless households also jumped from 6.9 percent to 17.1 percent during the period, according to the report written b

South Korean law enforcement officials tend to have a lower sensitivity to child abuse than the general public, a survey suggested on Thursday.The survey, the first of its kind here, was commissioned by the Ministry of Justice and conducted last year on 190 professionals handling child abuse -- 51 prosecutors, 54 judges, and 85 police officers.One question on the survey involved a scenario in which a sick child is left unattended. While about 90 percent of the general public viewed the case as c

South Korea has called on each ministry and agency to take the lead in reforming public organizations in a move aimed at accelerating its push to tackle lax management and growing debt problems rampant in the public sector, government sources said Thursday.According to the sources, Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok emphasized during a meeting with other economy-related policymakers on Wednesday that the responsibility for monitoring public organizations lies with each relevant ministry and agency. H

South Korea has enjoyed the largest gains in life expectancy over the past four decades among a group of 34 mostly rich nations, new health data showed Thursday.In 1960, life expectancy in South Korea was almost 16 years below the average of member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).But as of 2011, South Korea's life expectancy stood at 81.1 years, a full year above the OECD average of 80.1, according to the health data posted on the website of the OECD.Th

South Korean students are exposed to violence mostly through movies and TV programs, a survey showed on Wednesday. The study, conducted on 3,115 elementary and middle school students, creates food for thought for policymakers and parents, many of whom vehemently view video and online games as the primary transmitter of violent images. The survey, which allowed multiple responses, reported that 66.6 percent of respondents said movies were the medium through which they have seen violent scenes the

High school students from the affluent Gangnam area in Seoul are strengthening their dominance on the admission roster for Korea’s top university, a lawmaker’s report showed on Wednesday.In a report by Rep. Yoo Ki-hong of the main opposition Democratic Party, seven out of 10 high school graduates from Seoul that were accepted to the prestigious Seoul National University came from the three Gangnam districts: Gangnam-gu, Seocho-gu and Songpa-gu. Out of the total 187 Seoul-based students who made

Democratic Party lawmaker Lim Su-kyung on Wednesday lost a defamation suit against a lawmaker and a former spokesman of the ruling party, who claimed she called former North Korean leader Kim Il-sung “father” on a visit to Pyongyang.“Although there is no evidence to prove the Saenuri Party’s accusation as true, (the comments) were neither malicious nor libelous enough to constitute as illegal,” the Seoul Central District Court said in its ruling. The court added that the comments, made by Saenur

An international inspection of South Korea's nuclear power plants and its state-run operator has identified nearly 200 minor problems, though they do not warrant any immediate safety concerns, the country's nuclear commission said Wednesday.According to the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC), the special inspection by Germany's TUV SUD concluded that South Korea's nuclear power generation system is largely immune to any immediate threat, while identifying 35 findings, along with 145 r

South Korea's policies and efforts to enable publicly-available government data to be easily accessible still has a long way to go with the country coming in 12th among the surveyed 77 nations, data showed on Wednesday.The so-called Open Government Data Barometer ranked Britain as the most advanced country for open data readiness, implementation and impact with a score of 100. The United States came in second with a score of 93.38, followed by Sweden with 85.75 and New Zealand with 74.34, accord

A third of young South Koreans are negative on possible unification with North Korea, a poll showed Tuesday.The survey of 814 adults and 105 security and foreign affairs experts released by Hyundai Research Institute found that 31.6 percent of the respondents in their 20s said they don't need unification with North Korea.It also showed that 22.6 percent of the respondents in their 30s said they are not in favor of unification.Still, it showed that 78 percent of the 814 ordinary adults and 98.1 p

About seven out of 10 South Koreans think that Internet games are as addictive as gambling, alcohol and drugs, a survey showed on Tuesday.A poll by research firm Real Meter found that 72.1 percent of people answered yes to the question, “Are Internet games as addictive as gambling, alcohol and drugs?” The survey was conducted on 1,000 men and women last Wednesday and Thursday, and it has a margin of error of 3.81 percentage points.Some 20.9 percent answered yes to the question, “Have you or some

Child abuse continued to increase in Korea, up to 6,403 cases last year, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare. There were 6,058 cases in 2011 and 5,657 in 2010, officials said.In 2012 parents accounted for 83.9 percent of the abusers, followed by teachers or neighbors standing at 8.2 percent and grandparents at 3.7 percent. “Such crimes, including parental cruelty, come from people’s generous attitude towards physical and mental punishment,” Park Chang-pyo, an official from the Nation

South Korea has toughened the application procedures for Chinese cruise passengers visiting the country without visa, the Justice Ministry said Monday. The move is widely seen as a response to a spike in the number of illegal immigrants.An official from the Korea Immigration Service at the Justice Ministry said that local travel agencies hosting Chinese cruise tourists are now mandated to submit documents issued by Chinese authorities. The documents should confirm the identity of the tourists an