Tag: obesity

To be fair a growing number of students may be overweight, but compared to U.S. obesity levels South Korea is doing way better:

The percentage of South Korean students who are overweight or obese inched down in 2023 compared to the year before, but a growing percentage of students were categorized as heavy drinkers, a government report showed Thursday.

Some 29.6 percent of elementary, middle and high school students across the country fell into the overweight or obese categories, according to the joint report by the Ministry of Education and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. This figure marked a slight decrease of 0.9 percentage points from the year before, and of 1.2 percentage points compared to 2021.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Despite this news I see far less obese people in Korea compared to the U.S.:

South Korean men have become more obese over the past 13 years due to drinking and lack of exercise, a government report showed Friday.

The percentage of males aged 19 and over who have body mass indexes (BMIs) of 25 kilograms per square meter or over reached 44.8 percent in 2021, up from 35.9 percent in 2008, according to the report compiled by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

In particular, male adults who had a BMI of 30 ㎏/㎡ accounted for 7.6 percent of all men last year, up from 4.1 percent in 2008.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but somebody needs to tell Yonhap that tracking obesity rates is now considered racist.

It is pretty ironic that North Korea is making this request at the same time they are promoting their obesity cure:

North Korea has made a state request to officials in China pleading for them to stop referring to ‘glorious leader’ Kim Jong-un as fat.

Ministers have reportedly asked their neighbours to refrain from referring to the chunky Swiss cheese fan as Jin San Pang or ‘Kim Fatty III’ in media or conversations.

Apparently ‘Kim Fatty III’ is a widely used nickname for Kim in China along with Jin Pang Pang (Kim Fat Fatty) or Jin San Fei (Kim Abundant III).

Now According to the Apple Daily in Hong Kong, terrified North Korean government officials have called on their old comrades to take action before heads roll.  [FOX News]

You can read more at the link.

North Korea’s researchers have obviously not tested their obesity cure on Kim Jong-un:

North Korean scientists have announced that they have invented a pill that cures obesity, in an article published by the country’s state media on Monday.

The article, entitled “Researchers in Metabolic Diseases,” outlines the ten-year research project which resulted in what’s described as “the Golden Pill Against Obesity.”

The new pill is supposedly superior to other treatments and allegedly works without lifestyle or diet changes.

“As it decreases the body-weight and the thickness of subcutaneous fat without applying any diet or exercise cure, the pill is believed to be superior to existing remedies of obesity or foreign pills or other means of treatment,” the article reads.  [NK News]

You can read more at the link.

Considering the poor meal choices offered on US military bases, fitness programs focused on PT tests and not health and the change of lifestyle many younger troops live in front of video game screens it is easy to understand why soldiers’ weight have increased:

It’s not exactly clear why America’s military personnel are getting fatter. Could be that 15 years of war have weakened the focus on fitness. Could be that millennials, with their penchant for sedentary activities like playing video games and killing time on social media, aren’t always up to the rigors of military life. Could be all the burgers, fries, cakes and pies served in chow halls around the world.

And maybe, too, the military is simply reflecting the nation’s broader population, whose poor eating habits are fueling an alarming rise obesity rates.

This much is clear, though: Today’s military is fatter than ever.

For the first time in years, the Pentagon has disclosed data indicating the number of troops its deems overweight, raising big questions about the health, fitness and readiness of today’s force.  [Army Times]

You can read more at the link, but like I have always said I have had a lot of so called overweight soldiers that were actually very good troops who could pass the PT test just had problems with the tape test.

Should South Korean society be more accepting of obesity?  That is what some advocates are saying:

Alina Shamsutdinova thinks she can’t dress up to her potential in South Korea. The 23-year-old Kazakhstani arrived in Seoul in 2011, as an international student, in hopes to learn about the country of her ethnic origin. Born to third-generation ethnic Koreans in Kazakhstan, she grew up thinking she was beautiful, feeling confident and comfortable in her skin.

Yet things started to change when she realized some people in Korea didn’t see her the way she saw herself. “Among the things I heard was ‘It’s okay to be ugly, but being fat is unforgivable,’” she said in an interview with The Korea Herald.

“Another was ‘You’re really lucky that you have a pretty face. Otherwise you would never be able to have a boyfriend.’”

While she has always considered herself a confident person, Shamsutdinova said a part of her struggled with her self-image during her stay in Korea. She was often told by Koreans that she should lose weight. Most local clothing stores didn’t have any items available in her size.  [Korea Herald]

You can read more at the link.

Obesity emerges as major health threat in South Korea http://t.co/yEGCAho2V3 #Korea #Health #Obesity pic.twitter.com/RUGYpSji3z

— The Korea Herald 코리아헤럴드 (@TheKoreaHerald) August 13, 2015