As the main patent for Viagra, the world’s bestselling anti-impotence pill, nears its expiration, Korean pharmaceutical companies are gearing up to push generics into the market. However, their efforts may hit a snag as Pfizer, the maker of the drug, holds a separate patent for it’s main use. According to the Korea Food and Drug Administration, three out of 29 companies that have applied to sell generic Viagra have passed testing to show that the products are equivalent. The name of their produc

51% says bullied verbally; 13% suffer physical bullying, a nationwide poll showsOver 12 percent of students have experienced school violence during the past year, and verbal assault and group bullying were the most frequent types, a nationwide survey showed.According to the interim findings from the survey on school violence by the Education Ministry on Wednesday, a total of 171,637 students said they have been victims of school violence during the past year.Of them, 51.2 percent said bullying i

Nationwide poll shows 51% of students say abused verbally; 13% suffered physical bullyingOver 12 percent of school children have experienced abuse by fellow pupils during the past year, and verbal assault and group bullying were the most frequent types, a nationwide survey showed.According to the interim findings from the survey on school violence by the Education Ministry on Wednesday, a total of 171,637 students said they have been victims of school mistreatment during the past year.Of them, 5

Jeju Island’s Seogwipo Police Station on Wednesday filed for arrest warrants on two foreign activists protesting against the naval base in Gangjeong village.The police said that Angie Zelter of the U.K. and French activist Benjamain Monnet broke through the fences around the construction site to protest.Zelter, a well-known anti-war activist, ripped through the fencing on Monday. Monnet is said to have cut through the fences from the seaward side and staged a demonstration atop an excavator on t

Incheon Metropolitan City has been selected by the Ministry of Finance and Strategy as the South Korean candidate for the location of the U.N. Green Climate Fund’s secretariat.The Green Climate Fund or GCF is a U.N.-operated fund that supports developing countries’ efforts to fight climate change.The plans for establishing the GCF were drawn up in November 2010, and plans to direct $100 billion per year into the fund until 2020 were approved in the same month last year. The ministry said Tuesday

Seoul City announced plans Wednesday to crack down on call vans illegally picking up tourists and overcharging them.Seoul Metropolitan Government said is patrolling tourist destinations and has set up several ways for tourists to report overcharging.The issue has taken the media by storm, with one call van driver reported has having charged Japanese tourists 330,000 won ($293) for a 2 kilometer ride that should have cost roughly 4,500 won.As of Feb. 10 there were 329 posts on Yahoo Japan’s site,

A U.S. university will offer a public administration course on Seoul City for their graduate program, officials here said Tuesday.According to Seoul Metropolitan Government, Central Michigan University signed a memorandum of understanding with the capital and will offer a graduate-level course on the capital which includes a week-long fieldtrip to Seoul.Seoul City officials say that the Central Michigan University will be the 10th U.S. university to offer a case study course of the capital.Durin

Bahrain and Belarus moved from "under surveillance" to "enemies" on the Reporters Without Borders annual "Enemies of the Internet" list Monday.The report said Libya and Venezuela were dropped from a list of countries "under surveillance" while India and Kazakhstan were added to it.The countries list

South Korea's customs office said Tuesday that illegal transactions in cyberspace jumped seven-fold over the past five years amid the growing popularity of Internet shopping.The Korea Customs Service said that it seized a total of 699.9 billion won (US$623.2 million) worth of illegal items traded th

South Korea on Tuesday confirmed an outbreak of a low pathogenic avian influenza (AI) virus that is less damaging, both to birds and humans, than a highly pathogenic strain.The outbreak was confirmed at a poultry farm in South Chungcheong Province, where some 100 chickens were showing symptoms of AI