The nation’s antismoking campaign saw great progress in 2010, with the smoking rate among men falling below 40 percent for the first time. The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Sunday that 39.6 percent of male adults smoked as of December, down 3.5 percent from 43.1 percent in the same period of 2009.Men in their 40s and 50s were found to have driven down the overall smoking rate, the ministry s

South Korea confirmed seven additional foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks at beef and milk cattle farms and a pig farm in provincial areas on Sunday despite nationwide quarantine efforts to contain the spread of the highly contagious animal disease, central and provincial government officials said.The South Chungcheong provincial government said two milk cows at a farm in the central city of C

South Korea confirmed five additional foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks at two beef cattle farms and a milk cattle farm in provincial areas on Sunday despite nationwide quarantine efforts to contain the spread of the highly contagious animal disease, provincial government officials said.   The South Chungcheong provincial government said two milk cows at a farm in the central city of Cheonan,

S. Korean quarantine officials find dead duck infected with bird flu

Police continued their search on Sunday for a man suspected of stealing 530 million won (US$472,760) in cash from a armored van in this southeastern city on New Year's Eve.   The suspect, thought to be in his 20s or 30s, is still at large after robbing the cash-carrying van that was parked on a college campus on Friday afternoon in Gumi, 261 kilometers south of Seoul.At the time of the theft, the

A business arm of South Korea's largest Buddhist sect said Sunday it has expanded its Web site on temple stay programs to support Chinese, Japanese and three other foreign languages as well as English.   The Cultural Corps of Korean Buddhism, affiliated with the Jogye Order, said it has retooled the site (http://eng.templestay.com) so that information on programs is also available in German, Frenc

Two sailors were killed and 15 remain missing after a North Korean-registered cargo ship sank in the Yellow Sea off China, according to a news report Saturday.The North Korean ship "Kang Bong" sank on Friday morning amid strong gales off Lianyungang Port in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu, China's Xinhua News Agency reported.Three sailors had been rescued, and rescuers recovered the bodies

The government confirmed two additional foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks on Saturday, despite nationwide quarantine efforts to contain the spread of the highly contagious animal disease.The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said cattle at farms in North Gyeongsang Province in the country's southeastern region and Gangwon Province on the east coast tested positive for FMD.All 9