Police and emergency rescue teams searched for Kang until 2:30 a.m., and finally found the dead body downstream the next morning. Police said Kang was driving without a license since he had been caught for drunk driving three times between 2002 and 2006 and his license was revoked.

(englishnews@chosun.com )

At the Wednesday meeting, the Science and Technology Ministry said both candidates Ko and Yi were qualified to fulfill space science duties but Ko scored higher and performed better during a training program in Russia and during a space science experiment training program in Korea. Ko will continue training programs in a team with two Russian cosmonauts until March next year. As the backup in case Ko should be unable to board the spacecraft, Yi will undergo the same training separately.

The two candidates were given their certificates by Korean Ambassador to Russia Lee Kyu-hyung at the Korean Embassy in Moscow on Wednesday. At the ceremony, Ko said, "I'm very happy at this moment. I'll do my best until the moment I take the first step into the space as a citizen of the Republic of Korea." Ko has a B.S. in mathematics and an M.S. in cognitive science from Seoul National University. He was a researcher at the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology before becoming one of 36,206 applicants to be the first Korean in space.

(englishnews@chosun.com )

That means it takes a Korean worker an hour and a half to do what an American needs just one hour to do.

According to the ILO's "Key Indicators of the Labor Market" report, the average Korean worker toils 2,305 hours per year. That's the most of 54 surveyed countries.

Six Asian nations have annual work hours per person of greater than 2,200 hours -- Korea, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand.

However, the report said Korea's annual work hours are shrinking at the fastest pace in the world. The largest decrease in annual labor hours was found in Korea, followed by Ireland, Japan, France and Spain.

Meanwhile, the productivity gap between the U.S. and Korea is still wide, though it has been closing steadily.

The ILO said Korean productivity, which is the country's GDP divided by the number of people employed, increased from 28 percent of that of American workers in 1980 to 68 percent in 2005.

The annual average productivity growth rate in Korea was 4.7 percent, the third fastest of 122 countries, following Bosnia and Herzegovina with 7.8 percent and China with 5.7 percent.

When it comes to productivity, the U.S. ranked first. U.S. workers produced US$63,885 of wealth per person in 2006, followed by Ireland with $55,986, Luxembourg with $55,641, Belgium with $55,235 and France with $54,609.

However, Americans work longer hours than workers in other advanced nations. When productivity is measured by wealth produced per hour, Norway ranked first with $37.99. Also on the list were the U.S. with $35.63 and France with $35.08.

(englishnews@chosun.com )

One out of two Korean office workers in a survey considered themselves so-called "speedaholics" who are constantly under pressure to get things done quickly.

When recruiting agency Saramin asked 1,737 workers if they see themselves as speedaholics, more than half or 55.8%, said they are.

When asked why, the majority at 36.6 percent said they are always short on time. Some 30.2 percent said they can't stand doing things slowly, and 13.6 percent said they get nervous when they do things too slowly.

The majority at 27 percent pointed to an excessive workload as the number one reason for becoming a speedaholic. Other culprits were fierce competition (22.6 percent), and personal traits (21.3 percent).

Sixty-three percent of the respondents considered being a speedaholic a negative, with most (77.1 percent) saying it generates excessive stress.

The remaining 633 saw being a speedaholic as a positive attribute, with 33.8 percent saying it helps them better manage their time.

(englishnews@chosun.com )

Source:  http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200708/200708200018.html