The majority of Korean single women choose not to seek medical help even if they experience symptoms of gynecological disorders including STDs, as they fear social prejudice against unmarried women who are sexually active, a study showed on Monday.Of 1,314 unmarried women surveyed by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, 53.2 percent said they have experienced symptoms, such as abnormal vaginal bleeding or pelvic pain. However, almost 57 percent of those who developed the symptoms c

Suicide is much more common in underweight Koreans who think they are too heavy, a study showed on Sunday.Among 1,122 underweight Koreans surveyed by the Samsung Medical Center, 101 of them said they had tried to lose weight as they thought they were not thin enough.Those respondents were 2.5 times more likely to die by suicide than those without, the study found. The group with the disorder also had a 2.2 times higher risk of depression.The average body mass index of the group with the disorder

A district court in Japan on Friday ordered an anti-Korean extremist group to pay 2.31 million yen ($19,389) in compensation for attacking teachers who supported Korean schools in Tokushima.According the Tokushima District Court, eight members of the group ― named Zaitokukai ― stormed into the office of a teachers union in Japan’s southern region in 2010. The members physically attacked the unionized workers for offering financial support to schools for ethnic Korean children, established by a m

Prosecutors have launched an investigation into one of South Korea’s top steelmakers, Dongkuk Steel Mill Co., over allegations of large-scale embezzlement and tax evasion.The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office on Saturday raided Dongkuk Steel’s headquarters in central Seoul, affiliate offices and the home of the company chairman, Chang Sae-joo, to seize the company’s account books, tax records and domestic and international transaction records.The prosecution is also looking into allegat

During the recent trial of her famous husband facing domestic violence charges, Seo Jung-hee revealed that she was in fact forced to marry comedian Seo Se-won after being nearly raped at age 19, and that she’d been constantly abused and confined during their 32 years of marriage.“Your honor, do you think I ended up here because I was abused only once?” the 55-year-old who filed for divorce said in tears during the hearing. CCTV footage showing Seo being dragged by the ankle and physically abused

A study showed Thursday that the wage gap between female contract workers and male full-time employees is widening, a reverse effect of the government’s plan to support employment for women by creating more irregular job opportunities for women returning to work.According to the Korea Labor and Society Institute, female temporary workers here earned only 36 percent as much as full-time male workers’ average salary last year, a 1.4 percent decrease from 2004. The number of temp workers of both ge

A significant number of migrant wives from Southeast Asian countries and China intend to return to their home countries eventually, as “reverse immigration,” a study showed on Friday.The report, released by the state-run Korean Women’s Development Institute, surveyed a total of 534 migrant wives from the Philippines, Vietnam and China last year.Among those who participated, 34.5 percent said they have thought of moving back to their native countries at least once since moving to South Korea. Of