In an effort to raise awareness on Japan’s sexual enslavement of Korean and other Asian women during World War II, Korea’s Gender Equality Ministry will hold an academic forum on wartime sexual violence against women on Thursday in Seoul.The international event is held about a month after the ministry announced its plan to apply for UNESCO designation for documents related to Korean victims of Japan’s military sexual slavery.“The forum is to discuss what we can do as an international community t

Almost a month after Korean seniors received their first payout under the new basic pension program in July, some district municipalities in Seoul announced on Tuesday that they may not be able to give out payments starting next month due to budget deficits. The Seoul district offices demanded that the central government finance the needed budget for the revised program, which is one of the key pledges of the Park Geun-hye administration. The municipalities are currently 60.7 billion won ($59 mi

Korean medical research has identified a specific gene that is associated with leukopenia ― a decrease in white blood cells ― in patients with autoimmune diseases receiving immunosuppressive treatment, Korea’s Health Ministry announced on Monday.The research findings may help medical experts identify patients with a high risk of developing the disease prior to immunosuppressive therapy, the ministry said. Thiopurine-induced leukopenia is one of the most dangerous side effects of immunosuppressan

Local physicians are calling for stricter preventive measures against the entry of the deadly Ebola virus, which has claimed almost 900 lives in West Africa since March.“Korean citizens who have visited the countries affected by the virus must be monitored for at least three weeks upon their return to Korea,” a spokesman of the Korea Medical Association, a major representative body of 100,000 physicians here, said on Wednesday.“It is extremely important that they see a medical expert if they are

South Korea’s hospitals are not fully ready for the revised privacy law that bans public agencies and private companies from collecting or processing resident registration numbers.The bill, which will take effect on Aug. 7, is feared to spark a slew of problems at medical institutions, including mix-ups such as referring to the wrong patient profile, or confusing patients’ results, hospitals said. Under the revised bill, hospitals are not allowed to ask for a patient’s registration number when t