WICHITA, Kansas (AP) -- Providing new evidence that there's no quick end in sight to the fractious Republican Party race for president, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump each captured two victories in a four-state round of primary voting. Bernie Sanders won Saturday in Nebraska and Kansas in the Democratic race, while front-runner Hillary Clinton took Louisiana, another divided verdict from the American people.Cruz, a Texas senator, claimed Kansas and Maine, and declared it "a manifestation of a real sh

International March 6, 2016

Kim Sae-byul has arguably one of the most unusual jobs in South Korea. His company, named “Bio Hazzard,” offers cleaning services after murders, suicides and unattended deaths in private homes. He is also often contacted by South Korean hoarders, who have inability to discard large quantities of objects -- including food garbage and animal feces -- that literally overwhelm the living areas of their properties. 　The cleanup specialist in his 40s cleans the homes of the loneliest, including hoarde

Social Affairs March 6, 2016

Children of foreign-born residents in South Korea suffer from racial discrimination and lack of access to social resources and opportunities as Korea has yet to pass a comprehensive antidiscrimination law, the latest research findings by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea showed. 　According to the report, children of undocumented immigrants were especially vulnerable to social isolation as well as lack of basic medical care. Children who were born overseas and moved to Korea as one of

Social Affairs March 6, 2016

South Korean police announced Sunday plans to introduce legislation that would allow Koreans to browse their romantic partners’ criminal history, after discovering nearly 60 percent of Korean date abuse offenders arrested last month had previous convictions.　The National Police Agency launched its special one-month campaign to crack down on date abuse in early February. During the campaign period, 1,279 cases were reported from abuse survivors and witnesses nationwide, and 61 offenders were plac

Social Affairs March 6, 2016

Park Myeong-eun (not her real name), an office worker in her 30s in Seoul, was devastated when her father abruptly collapsed and lost his consciousness back in 2012. She and her family took him to the nearest general hospital, where he was admitted to its emergency facility, which was packed with patients. Her father soon awoke, but he had to wait more than five hours to get an x-ray done. 　“It was really frustrating,” she told The Korea Herald. “We were just repeatedly told that we needed to wa

Social Affairs March 3, 2016

Lee Soo-jin (not her real-name), a single woman in her mid-30s in Seoul, recently decided to freeze her eggs, should she later want to have a child. She’s not currently dating anyone and doesn’t have any plans to get married in the near future. 　“I have high professional ambitions, and I’m passionate about my work,” she said through a representative at the Cha Fertility Center, where she underwent the procedure. “Right now I’m not sure if I ever want to get married or have children. The procedur

Social Affairs March 2, 2016

Zolpidem, a sedative often used for the treatment of insomnia, is the drug that is most frequently used by South Korean drug-facilitated sexual abuse offenders, according to a report released by the National Forensic Service on Monday.　The report was written after analyzing a total of 148 reported cases of drug-facilitated sexual assault that took place from 2006-2012. Among the cases, the largest number of them, at 31, involved using Zolpidem. When the drug is taken with a large amount of alcoh

Social Affairs Feb. 29, 2016

In South Korea, older men with relatively low education levels are more lenient towards social violence, especially sexual harassment, while younger women with post-secondary education tend to be the most intolerant of violence, a study showed Thursday.　People respond differently to violence based on their gender, education levels and age, and young women in their 20s with university degrees are most sensitive to abuse including sexual violence, showed a report released by the Gender Ministry. 　

Social Affairs Feb. 25, 2016

A significantly higher number of South Korean drugs were approved for phase 3 clinical trials last year, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced Thursday.　Phase 3 clinical trials are the final testing of drugs on patients to assess efficacy and safety before they are distributed to the public.　The ministry said that the largest number of newly approved drugs were anticancer medicine.  Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (Yonhap)　Clinical trials involving new drugs in Korea are commonly class

National Feb. 25, 2016

Debate is brewing over whether or not South Korea should loosen its abortion laws to allow the procedure for Zika-affected pregnant women should there be an outbreak of the virus in the country. 　The Zika virus, which is transmitted through an infected mosquito, has been claimed to be linked to cases of microcephaly, in which babies are born with abnormally small heads and underdeveloped brains. Earlier this month, the World Health Organization issued a worldwide warning that the virus is a glob

Social Affairs Feb. 23, 2016