VILLEPINTE, France (AFP) ― Once firmly entrenched in their traditional gastronomy, consumers in gourmet havens like France and Italy are slowly starting to demand gluten-, dairy- and meat-free diets as environmental and health concerns kick in.No-allergen pasta, vegan croissants, meatless hamburgers ― “free-from” food is one of the leading trends at this week’s SIAL international food fair outside Paris, where companies say Europeans are starting to care as much about what is left out of their f

South Korea’s low birthrate is generating deep concern among policymakers. The government is scrambling to shore up the falling birthrate, a threat that could jeopardize Asia’s fourth-largest economy, which is saddled with a rapidly aging population. What many policymakers have failed to tackle is the underlying problem that forces Koreans to delay or forgo having children. Just ask Kim Jin-ah, a 28-year-old Seoulite who still hasn’t been “properly” employed, despite her two university degrees.

Safety concerns are mounting over preparations to send South Korean medical teams on their first trip to West Africa to help treat Ebola patients.Following the South Korean government’s announcement on Monday that it would send a group of medical officials to Ebola-hit countries next month, local experts expressed worries about the lack of safety training to guard against the deadly virus among health-care workers here. Shin Hyun-young, a physician and the spokeswoman for the biggest representat

Public servants who have not already worked for a long time would be most disadvantaged by the government’s latest proposal to cut the monthly pension for public workers by more than 30 percent. The Ministry of Security and Public Administration on Saturday officially submitted to the ruling Saenuri Party its latest proposal to reform public servants’ pensions. According to the proposal, which has been fiercely opposed by unionized public workers since earlier this year, all public employees wil

Amid growing concerns about the spread of Ebola worldwide, health experts and lawmakers in South Korea say the country is ill-prepared for a possible outbreak of the deadly virus.Fears escalated here last week as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the first case of transmission of the virus in the U.S. Oct. 12.While the government says it is doing everything necessary to prevent the disease from spreading in South Korea, experts say that the country’s health-care workers ar

One in four South Korean male children aged 5 to 17 are obese, a rate that is higher than the OECD average, according to the nation’s Health Ministry.According to the ministry, 25 percent of young male Koreans are obese, compared to the OECD average of 23 percent.The ministry announced the statistics using Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development data from no earlier than 2010. “Some 60 percent of obese children end up becoming obese as adults as well,” said the Health Ministry in a

WASHINGTON (Yonhap) ― A former deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul has been appointed vice president of the Washington-based think tank Korea Economic Institute of America, the institute announced Wednesday.Mark Tokola retired as a career diplomat after 38 years of experience in the U.S. Department of State, where he served as the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassies in South Korea, Mongolia and Iceland. Most recently, he served as the minister-counselor for political a