SEOUL, Sept. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea is preparing to abolish a decades-old system that requires family members to act as legal guardians for psychiatric patients, a move hailed by advocates as a long-awaited step toward strengthening state responsibility for mental health care. According to officials and welfare experts on Sunday, the draft of the [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea is witnessing the rapid spread of so-called “warehouse-style pharmacies,” large outlets that display and sell medicines and health supplements in bulk, fueling a heated debate over public health and market fairness. The trend began earlier this year in Seongnam, south of Seoul, and has since spread to [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s reliance on U.S. pharmaceuticals deepened in 2024, with imports topping $1 billion for the first time, government data showed Tuesday. The trend, fueled by surging demand for cancer treatments and rare disease drugs, has stirred warnings about supply vulnerabilities at a time of heightened trade and tariff tensions [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — South Koreans are experiencing relatively high levels of anxiety about aging, particularly over declining health and financial insecurity, with younger adults reporting greater unease than their elders, according to new research released Tuesday. The Hanyang University Institute on Aging surveyed 4,254 adults nationwide last year and developed what it [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — More than one in 10 young South Koreans who rarely leave their homes — so-called “hikikomori” or socially withdrawn youth — reported having contemplated suicide, four times the rate of their peers, according to new government-backed research. The findings, published Tuesday in the Health and Welfare Forum by the [...]
POHANG, Sept. 12 (Korea Bizwire) — A team of South Korean researchers has unveiled a wearable device that can measure blood sugar in real time using only a person’s sweat, a potential breakthrough for diabetes management that avoids the need for finger pricks or invasive patches. The research team, led by Professor Han Sae-kwang at POSTECH [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — In a precedent-setting ruling, South Korea’s Supreme Court said Thursday that pharmacists may seek the cancellation of a rival pharmacy’s license if it opens directly next to a medical clinic in violation of pharmacy law. The decision overturned a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit brought by pharmacists in [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — A team of South Korean researchers has developed an artificial intelligence model that allows parents to screen toddlers for autism spectrum disorder at home using nothing more than a smartphone. The study, led by Professors Chun Geun-ah and Kim Hwi-young of Severance Hospital and Professor Kim Boong-nyun of Seoul [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — A new government-commissioned study has found that nearly four in ten South Korean adolescents view e-cigarettes as either a substitute for conventional cigarettes or a tool to quit smoking, underscoring the growing influence of targeted marketing campaigns by tobacco companies. The report, released Tuesday by Sahmyook University at the [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s latest public health research suggests that smokers who turn to e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products believing them to be safer may in fact be developing stronger nicotine addictions than users of traditional cigarettes. Commissioned by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Korean Association on Smoking or Health [...]