The number of umbilical cord blood samples in storage in Korea has increased to near 500,000 as public awareness has grown of its potential use in treating cancers and genetic diseases, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Cord blood collection began 13 years ago and the number of samples reached 497,095 as of June, with the growth rate averaging 10 percent since mid-2000s. The data...

Pays respects to late conservative presidents who Moon skipped Independent presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo launched his campaign Thursday with a visit to Seoul National Cemetery, as his campaign team began to take shape including a key opposition figure as chief. Accompanied by aides, Ahn paid his respect to former presidents Syngman Rhee, Park Chung-hee and Kim Dae-jung, POSCO founder Par...

A huge meteor striking Earth 2.5 million years ago may have generated a massive tsunami and plunged the world into the Ice Ages, Australian researchers suggest. Scientists at the University of New South Wales say because the meteor -- more than a mile across - crashed into deep water in the southern Pacific Ocean, most researchers have discounted its potential for catastrophic impacts on coastli...

Says not time to discuss unified opposition candidacy; will remain in politics even in case of defect in Dec. poll After months of hearsay and speculation, popular professor Ahn Cheol-soo announced his presidential bid Wednesday, pledging to be an alternative political force that will put the people’s desire for change into action. Standing before a packed crowd of journalists, supporters and a...

True test of Ahn as third candidate begins Revered by young voters tired of established politics, the entrepreneur-turned-professor Ahn Cheol-soo finally confirmed Wednesday he is running for president as an independent. Describing his bid as the “choice of the people,” Ahn distanced himself from the existing parties with a pledge to create new politics that go beyond division and hatred. “Alt...

Ahn Cheol-soo may yet be a rookie in the political arena but holds a decades-long reputation as Korea’s leading software entrepreneur and science professor. Born in Busan in 1962, Ahn majored in medicine at Seoul National University and engaged himself in that field after graduation. However, his path curved during his postgraduate years, as he took an interest in computer antivirus vaccines. ...

True test of Ahn as third candidate begins The news conference by professor Ahn Cheol-soo on Wednesday offered a glimpse of a wide network of advisers in civil society, academia and business as public attention focuses on who will be in his inner circle and election camp. The most prominent participant was Lee Hun-jae, one of the most respected economic bureaucrats in the nation, who is expecte...

An organization dedicated to helping North Korean defectors plans to open a school next month to educate and heal the physical and psychological wounds of young refugees from the North. Named after a flower called forget-me-not in English, Mulmangcho School will be run by Dream Makers for North Korea, led by former lawmaker Park Sun-young. “Our aim is to provide art therapy in the form of poetr...