Patients suffering from more than three symptoms of metabolic syndrome surged by 16.5 percent between 2010 and 2014 in South Korea, data showed.Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service said that a total of 9,911,000 patients received treatment for metabolic syndrome last year compared to 8,505,000 in 2010. They include those who suffered from at least three of the five major symptoms ― abdominal obesity, hyper-blood pressure, blood sugar disorders, triglyceride and low HDL cholesterol. The

The growth of commercial banks’ lending to the household sector climbed to its highest rate in seven years last month in the wake of the brisk trading in the real estate market, data showed Sunday.According to the Bank of Korea, banks’ outstanding household loans (including transferred mortgage loans) reached 579.1 trillion won ($534 billion) in April, posting an 8.46 trillion won increase from a month earlier.This marked the largest monthly increase since 2008. Economists cited home purchases a

South Korea’s rank in the Global Retail E-Commerce Index dropped to seventh place due to the economic slowdown, data showed Thursday.According to the latest index by global consulting firm A.T. Kearney, Korea’s rank slipped from fifth place in the previous year.The index analyzes nine indicators of e-commerce such as macroeconomics, consumers’ technology acceptance, shopping habits, e-commerce infrastructure and potential in 30 countries.The United States ranked first this year, followed by Chin