The state-run National Health Insurance Service is considering filing lawsuits against cigarette companies to seek compensation for rising health costs from smoking-related illnesses.Its president Kim Jong-dae told sources that tobacco companies should “no longer be free” of responsibility for smoking-related diseases that cost massive amounts of money to treat every year. In 2011, NHIS spent 1.56 trillion won to treat smoking-related diseases, he added.The health insurance corp. also told the K

The U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific plans to announce its annual survey of the region next Thursday to offer policy options for governments to pursue inclusive and sustainable development.Its Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2013 will be announced at a conference cohosted by the Kyung Hee Institute for Human Society in Seoul. Simultaneous launch events of the publication will take place in 37 cities around the world.The survey shows that inclusive a

A nursing assistant was found dead at a private hospital in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, on April 2, after allegedly injecting himself with a large dose of propofol.Police said Thursday that the 31-year-old was found at a consulting office at the hospital he worked for. He had a needle in his arm and 10 bottles of propofol were found near him, investigators said. They have requested an autopsy of his body, they added.Propofol has been classified as a psychotropic drug in Korea since 2011 as an in

A middle school student in Incheon was apprehended Thursday for allegedly killing a mentally disabled girl after a failed rape attempt.Police said the 16-year-old suspect tried to rape the 12-year-old victim at a building after kidnapping her on her way home from school Wednesday.After failing to rape her, he lured her to a nearby field by asking her to play. He reportedly made a hole in the field with a small shovel he had brought with him, made her lie in the pit, and suffocated her to death b

A mother and father who allegedly killed their two children after failing to commit family suicide were apprehended, according to police Thursday. Police said they caught the husband surnamed Lee, 46, and his wife surnamed Jeong, 37, at a farm in Busan on Wednesday. The family left their home in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, in February 2011 and were out of contact since then. The bodies of their two daughters, aged 10 and 12, were found near a valley in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province in December of th

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education announced on Wednesday that it has identified 163 students who were illegally admitted to international schools. The education office said it had ordered eight international schools to suspend the students, who were admitted without meeting the principal admission requirements, following its special inspection into all of the city’s 19 international schools.Under the current law, only children with a parent with foreign citizenship or who have lived ove

The gap in perceptions of marriage between genders has widened in three years, a recent survey showed. According to research on nationwide marriage trends conducted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, 13.3 percent of single women said “marriage is a must,” about half the rate of unmarried men, at 25.8 percent. In the same survey conducted three years ago, the gap between women and men was 6.5 percent, with 23.4 percent of men and 16.9 percent of women calling marriage a necessity.Although pos

A Seoul court on Wednesday sentenced TV personality Koh Young-wook to five years in prison for raping and sexually assaulting minors.Koh, 37, the former member of the 90s popular singing group Roo-La, was found guilty of a total of four accounts of rape and sexual assault against three teenagers between July 2010 and December 2012.The Seoul Western District Court also ordered that Koh wear an electronic monitoring anklet for 10 years and that his personal information be made available to the pub

The Seoul Metropolitan Government backed down from a controversial plan to ban major retailers from selling 51 everyday items. The move, meant to redirect customers to beleaguered smaller merchants, had been criticized by customers, subcontractors and retailers alike. Last month, the Seoul government announced a list of 51 products to be banned from sale in large stores. The metropolitan government reportedly said it would submit a bill to the National Assembly so that its recommendation would b