Cancer biggest cause of death in Korea

Cancer, cerebrovascular disease and heart problems claimed nearly half of all deaths in Korea last year, data showed on Thursday.

According to figures released by Statistics Korea, a total of 257,396 people died last year, up 0.8 percent from the previous year.

Cancer topped the list of the causes for death in 2011. The number of those who died of cancer was 142.8 per every 100,000 people. It was followed by celebrovascular disease (50.7 people) and heart problems (49.8 people). Suicides came in fourth, followed by diabetes and pneumonia.

By Park Min-young (claire@heraldcorp.com)