Capital Of Korea Research Articles

Are South Korea’s Environmental Policies Rational? An Analysis Focusing on Fine Dust Programs in the Seoul Metropolitan Area

Since 2018, the government of South Korea has strengthened its environmental policies to solve the problem of fine particulate matter in the air. Because of these strict regulations, diesel cars have been replaced with cleaner vehicles, and coal power plants have been shut down. Despite these government efforts, some researchers assert that fine dust programs have failed in Seoul, the capital of Korea. In other words, they conclude that the central and local governments designed and implemented the policies unreasonably. Despite these critics, this study attempts to prove that the government has thoroughly and meticulously prepared its policies on fine particles. Also, it tries to demonstrate that the policy scheme has been properly established. To attain these research goals, the theory of procedural rationality is adopted and utilized. As a result of the analysis, six steps of procedural rationality were identified in the Korean policy on fine dust: problem identification, goal setting, searching for alternatives, consequence prediction, comparison of alternatives, and policy decision. In conclusion, this study provides suggestions for environmental policies in other metropolitan cities, especially in developing countries that suffer from severe air pollution.

Employees’ social capital in South Korea: A systematic review and implications for HRD research and practice

ABSTRACT As the workplace is calling for more collaboration and teamwork, social capital has become increasingly popular in the human resource development (HRD) and management fields. In this article, we systematically reviewed social capital research in South Korea by focusing on the definitional and methodological issues as well as the impact of social capital, as documented in 57 empirical studies analysed. Our findings showed that social capital researchers have witnessed an upsurge of interest in social capital in Korea since the 2010s. In addition, we mapped out the nomological network of social capital research by incorporating all prior empirical evidence. Finally, we identified the lack of indigenous conceptualisations of social capital and methodological limitations in previous research. We proposed that utilising social network analysis and diversifying research approaches would provide additional insights that will advance current social capital and HRD literatures.

“We bet on humans; you’re our horses”: the second phase of neo-poverty in South Korea as portrayed in Squid Game

Abstract This essay highlights the portrayals of three “new underdogs” in the hit television show, Squid Game: Sang-woo, Gi-hun, and the Front Man. We argue that these characters personify a new type of underdog, one that has internalized the ideologies inherent in neoliberal capitalism in Korea. The “winner takes all” system accelerated the polarization of wealth and inequality, which is in part the result of what scholars called “neo-poverty,” or the collapse of the middle class caused by the 1997 financial crisis. Neoliberalism was adopted to address neo-poverty, but rather than cure the crisis, it has ushered in a second phase of neo-poverty that is manifest in the underdogs’ narratives in Squid Game.

Roles of meteorological factors in inter-regional variations of fine and coarse PM concentrations over the Republic of Korea

This study examined meteorological effects on airborne concentrations of particulate matter (PM) of <2.5 μm (PM2.5) and 2.5–10 μm (PM2.5–10) diameter in 16 regions of Korea, including seven metropolitan cities and nine provinces. Regional distributions of mean PM concentrations indicate that PM2.5 concentrations were higher in provinces than in metropolitan cities, while PM2.5–10 concentrations were higher in the western than eastern regions, in the season with the highest concentrations during 2015–2019. Concentrations of PM of diameter <10 μm (PM10), the sum of fine and coarse PMs, decreased over all regions during 2001–2019, particularly in Seoul, the capital of Korea. Mechanisms by which meteorological factors such as air temperature, wind, humidity, and air pressure control PM concentrations in Korea vary with region, season, and PM size. Regardless of emissions, >25% of PM2.5 variability can be explained by Random Forest regression with only atmospheric variables, compared to little accountability for PM2.5–10. The two most important variables that affect PM2.5 variability are surface air temperature and wind. Transboundary transport controlled by atmospheric factors causes fine PM from northeast and east China to affect PM2.5 variations a day after emissions in the northern-central and southern regions of Korea, respectively; and coarse PM from east China affects PM2.5–10 variations in Korea on the same day. The present results suggest that local governments of regions with high PM concentrations should strengthen regulation policies with a long-term perspective, considering future changes in atmospheric conditions that may cause increases in PM levels.

Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak in The Emergency Department Designed for Emerging Infectious Diseases in Korea.

BackgroundAccording to the recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic experience, many emergency departments experience difficulties in responding to emerging infectious diseases and this has led to a public health crisis. Our emergency department (ED) is designed to respond to mass outbreaks of infection. Three major preparations were taken to respond to infectious disease; first, to improve the emergency department facilities; second, to created programs to respond to each phase of an epidemic of COVID-19; lastly, to implemented education and training to promote the safety of medical staff. We would like to share the actual responses and statistics of patients visiting emergency department during COVID-19 periods of pandemic.Materials and MethodsThis research was conducted through a retrospective chart analysis provided by a public medical center with 502 beds since the first report of a COVID-19 confirmed case on January 19, 2020 to June 15, 2020 in Seoul, the capital of Korea. Our emergency department was designed based on Korean Regional Emergency Center Facility Standards, and modified throughout each phases of COVID-19 outbreak. Patients suspected to be infectious are screened in the triage, separating them from general patients, and then receive isolation treatment in isolated wards.ResultsA total of 4,352 patients visited the ED. 3,202 screenings were conducted with 5 confirmed cases. Another 1,150 patients were treated with general emergent symptoms. There were no problems such as closure of the emergency department or isolation of medical staff while managing COVID-19 confirmed patients.ConclusionImproving emergency department facilities, create an operational program to respond to each phase of COVID-19 outbreak and implement educational programs enabled large number of screening tests and hospitalization for COVID-19 suspected patients while maintaining general medical services. Research in emergency department designs and operational programs should increase to combine research data with better ideas to respond not only during regular periods but also during periods of pandemic.

Determination of Deep Learning Model and Optimum Length of Training Data in the River with Large Fluctuations in Flow Rates

Recently, developing countries have steadily been pushing for the construction of stream-oriented smart cities, breaking away from the existing old-town-centered development in the past. Due to the accelerating effects of climate change along with such urbanization, it is imperative for urban rivers to establish a flood warning system that can predict the amount of high flow rates of accuracy in engineering, compared to using the existing Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models for disaster prevention. In this study, in the case of streams where missing data existed or only small observations were obtained, the variation in flow rates could be predicted with only the appropriate deep learning models, using only limited time series flow data. In addition, the selected deep learning model allowed the minimum number of input learning data to be determined. In this study, the time series flow rates were predicted by applying the deep learning models to the Han River, which is a highly urbanized stream that flows through the capital of Korea, Seoul and has a large seasonal variation in the flow rate. The deep learning models used are Convolution Neural Network (CNN), Simple Recurrent Neural Network (RNN), Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), Bidirectional LSTM (Bi-LSTM) and Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU). Sequence lengths for time series runoff data were determined first to assess the accuracy and applicability of the deep learning models. By analyzing the forecast results of the outflow data of the Han River, sequence length for 14 days was appropriate in terms of the predicted accuracy of the model. In addition, the GRU model is effective for deep learning models that use time series data of the region with large fluctuations in flow rates, such as the Han River. Furthermore, through this study, it was possible to propose the minimum number of training data that could provide flood warning system with an effective flood forecasting system although the number of input data such as flow rates secured in new towns developed around rivers was insufficient.

From Catch-up to Convergence? Re-casting the Trajectory of Capitalism in South Korea

This paper raises a fundamental question with regard to the trajectory of capitalism in Korea, whether Korea is still “fast-following” developed countries and on-track to converge with their economic systems, or continues to forge a unique development path different from that of the mature capitalist economies. In an explorative effort to answer this question, this paper compares the key outcome variables of the Korean economy with those of other economies by taking the variety of capitalism (VoC) perspective. Existing evidence may point to the possibility of Korean capitalism converging with a U.S.- and U.K.-style liberal market economy (the so-called “Anglo–Saxon” economy) in terms of slow-down of growth, rising unemployment, and higher income inequality, despite the differences in several underlying institutions, such as the national innovation systems and corporate governance and ownership. The driving forces for convergence seem to be the ongoing trend of financialization and the rise of shareholder capitalism, which is perceived to be the cause of low investment and high inequality. This paper is one of the first calls to consider a switch from the existing “catch-up and post catch-up” framework to the new “catch-up and convergence” framework when assessing the past, present, and future capitalism in South Korea.

2001년 이후 한국의 노동생산성 성장과 인적자본: 교육의 질적 개선 효과를 중심으로 &lt;br&gt;The Role of Human Capital in Explaining Labor Productivity Growth in Korea Since 2001

Korean Abstract: 본 연구에서는 2001년부터 2018년까지 한국의 노동생산성 증가율을 자본 심화, 인적자본 증가, 그리고 총요소생산성 향상으로 분해하였다. 특히 인적자본 증가는 교육수준의 확대에 따른 노동 구성의 변화와 교육비 지출 증가에 따른 교육의 질적 향상으로 구분하여 측정하였다. 분석 결과 2001년부터 2018년까지 한국의 인적자본은 연평균 1.07% 증가하였으며 이 중 0.46%는 노동구성의 변화, 0.61%는 교육의 질적 향상에 기인한 것으로 나타났다. 이런 인적자본의 증가는 동기간 중 노동생산성 증가율의 30%를 설명한다. 2001년 이후 노동생산성 증가율은 하락 추세를 보였는데 이는 자본 심화의 축소와 총요소생산성 증가율 하락에 주로 기인하며 동 기간 중 꾸준한 성장세를 보인 인적자본과는 무관한 것으로 나타났다. English Abstract: This paper explores the role of human capital in explaining labor productivity growth in Korea between 2001 and 2018. To this aim, a Ben-Porath type human capital production function is estimated where human capital accumulates through both time spent in school and spending on educational goods. The estimation result shows that human capital in Korea increased by 1.07% per year over the sample period, 0.61%p of which is attributable to the increased educational expenditures. This human capital growth explains about 30% of the labor productivity growth. The result also implies that the downward trend in Korea’s labor productivity growth since 2001 is mainly due to a decline in both capital deepening and TFP growth rather than a stagnation in human capital growth.

1910년대 조선총독부의 조세징수제도와 납세자의 체납 - 국세징수위임제도를 중심으로 -

After its forceful annexation of Korea in 1910, the Japanese Government-General initiated its colonial administration of the territory. To establish colonial capitalism in Korea and obtain the necessary financing for colonial administration through “local procurement,” the Japanese Government-General implemented the “National Tax Collection Ordinance,” related to tax legislations and tax collection methods according to tax items. The “National Tax Collection Ordinance” was a legislation intended to stabilize Korea’s tax collection system by implanting the modern coerciveness of the “Japanese homeland” with regard to tax collection. However, the tax collection policy of colonial Korea was dependent on the administrative “support” of the police due to the weak administrative power of the myeon (unit of Korean township), and was designed such that the modern coerciveness would operate with a higher degree of violence, owing to its opportunistic administrative enforcement regulations.BR By implementing the Financial Independence Plan in 1914, the Japanese Government-General sought to increase the tax items and raise tax rates to increase its tax revenue. Taxpayers responded to the tax increase with arrears. With the number of delinquent taxpayers rising after 1914, front-line regional administrative organizations gradually increased the intensity of response measures, starting with encouraging tax payment and seizing properties, and ending with enforcing dispositions. As such, the number of delinquent taxpayers declined rapidly after 1917, giving the impression that the modern coerciveness of tax collection had been accomplished; in fact, it reflected the conflict between regional administrative organizations and taxpayers.BR The reasons for late payment were broadly categorized as “poverty,” “negligence,” and “unfavorable financial circumstances.” The rapid tax increase by the Japanese Government-General during the 1910s and the coercive attitudes of administrative officials created the class of “negligent delinquent taxpayers,” who did not pay taxes in a timely manner despite possessing the means. On the other hand, the establishment and imposition of additional taxes under the Mass Consumption Tax System—as represented by the tobacco tax and liquor tax—put the burden of the increased tax on the lower class, leading to the creation of “poor delinquent taxpayers,” who had neither the money nor any properties for seizing. Lastly, “financially unfavorable delinquent taxpayers” denoted those in unfavorable financial circumstances who owned properties but did not have cash at their disposal for immediate tax payment, leading them to delay tax payment as long as possible.

Skilled Migrants as Human and Social Capital in Korea

South Korea faces a shortage of highly skilled labor, but with a low tolerance for diversity, it lags behind in its global competitiveness to retain mobile skilled talent. Using data on foreign students and professionals, we demonstrate the potential of skilled migrants as both human and social capital for Korea and suggest that the country is poised to adopt a study-bridge-work framework to compensate for its competitive weaknesses.

차별인가 한계인가? : 식민지 시기 경성 하수도 정비의 ‘좌절’

Seoul, the capital of Korea since the Joseon Dynasty, is surrounded by mountains and traditionally utilized the streams from the mountains as its main sewerage. For example, the Cheonggye stream, which runs across the capital’s downtown from east to west, was used as the sewer of the city as early as the fifteenth century. However, as the old open sewer systems no longer serviced the expanding city in the late nineteenth century, an idea of its modern alternative of the covered sanitary drains under the redeveloped roads took its root.<BR> The Japanese Colonialists also declared the open sewerage in Gyeongseong (now Seoul) unsanitary and planned to cover it. But the work needed an amount of capital the colonial power could not afford. Limited funds for public engineering tended to be allocated for the “more conspicuous” road improvement works. Also the areas where major colonial facilities and Japanese settlements were located took the top priorities in finance allocation. Throughout the colonialist regime, the public repeatedly criticized the colonial governments’ policy, but with little effect.<BR> The colonial power called Gyeongseong a modern city and attempted to build a sanitary system the modern metropolis deserved. However actual works of construction were pushed back on the priority list.

Abstract WP395: Improved Outcomes After Stroke Unit Establishment in a Regional Public Hospital

Background: Stroke unit care is recommended as a standard care for acute stroke. We sought to determine whether morbidity and mortality of patients who admitted for acute ischemic stroke have been improved after implementation of stroke unit care in a regional public hospital. Methods: Seoul Medical Center is a regional public hospital in Seoul, the capital of Korea. Stroke unit has been established at June, 2011. Information of all consecutive stroke patients admitted to our hospital including functional outcome has been collected prospectively from April, 2008 as a part of a nationwide multicenter stroke registry. We compared outcomes of pre and post commencement of stroke unit, obtained from April, 2008 to December, 2010 and from January 2012 to November 2017, respectively. Primary outcome was a good functional outcome defined as a modified Rankin scale score of 2 or less at 3 months. A secondary outcome was death at 3 months. Results: Of all acute ischemic stroke, 366 and 1540 patients were identified as pre and post commencement of stroke unit. There were no significant differences in mean age (69.5±13.1 years versus 69.2±12.2 years; p =.684), sex distribution (male, 59.8% versus 59.4%, p =.906) and mean National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score at admission (5.7±5.4 versus 5.6±5.9, p =.759) between two epochs. Good functional outcome was increased from 46.4% to 53.6% ( p =.015) while mortality at 3 months dropped from 11.7 % to 5.4% ( p &lt;.001). Adjusted odds ratio for good functional outcome and mortality of post-stroke unit epoch was 1.74 (95% CI, 1.29-2.34), 0.34 (95% CI, 0.22-0.53), respectively, controlling for age, sex, stroke severity, prestroke disability, vascular risk factors, thrombolytic treatment, relevant steno-occlusive artery lesion. Conclusions: Our study shows the improvement of outcomes in patients with acute ischemic stroke after commencement of stroke unit care. Stroke unit care service needs to be expanded in other regional public hospitals in Korea.

서울시 폭염 취약지역의 공간적 패턴 및 적응능력 취약지역 분석

With more than 10 million inhabitants, in particular, Seoul, the capital of Korea, has already experienced a number of severe heat wave. To alleviate the potential impacts of heat wave and the vulnerability to heat wave, policy-makers have generally considered the option of heat wave strategies containing adaptation elements. From the perspective of sustainable planning for adaptation to heat wave, the objective of this study is to identify the elements of vulnerability and assess heat wave-vulnerability at the dong level. This study also performs an exploratory investigation of the spatial pattern of vulnerable areas in Seoul to heat wave by applying exploratory spatial data analysis. Then this study attempts to select areas with the relatively highest and lowest level of adaptive capacity to heat wave based on an framework of climate change vulnerability assessment. In our analysis, the adaptive capacity is the relatively highest for Seongsan-2-dong in Mapo and the relatively lowest for Changsin-3-dong in Jongno. This study sheds additional light on the spatial patterns of heat wave-vulnerability and the relationship between adaptive capacity and heat wave.

Book Review: Gi-Wook Shin and Joon Nak Choi, Global Talent: Skilled Labor as Social Capital in Korea and Anthony P. D’Costa, International Mobility, Global Capitalism, and Changing Structures of Accumulation: Transforming the Japan–India IT Relationship

Book Review: Gi-Wook Shin and Joon Nak Choi, <i>Global Talent: Skilled Labor as Social Capital in Korea</i> and Anthony P. D’Costa, <i>International Mobility, Global Capitalism, and Changing Structures of Accumulation: Transforming the Japan–India IT Relationship</i>

Recreating Dongdaemun Stadium in South Korea: Beyond Japanese Colonial Memories and towards a Global City

Built in 1925 during the Japanese colonial period, Dongdaemun Stadium was the first modern sports stadium in Seoul, the capital of Korea. During the Japanese colonial occupation and after liberation, especially in the 1960s–80s, Korean sports fans experienced numerous significant victories at Dongdaemun. This article investigates how Dongdaemun Stadium, part of the Japanese colonial legacy, became the Dongdaemun Design Plaza and Park (DDP), a landmark of the new Seoul and a social, cultural, and economic hub. From the perspectives of heritage studies, it illuminates how colonial legacies were dealt with in post-colonial Korean society, and how urban heritage sites influence the re-creation of city identities and represent city memory. In particular, it examines memory conflicts between city authorities and a diverse cohort of opponents: civic groups, sports fans, baseball professionals, and small-scale merchants. Analyzing three main conflicts—concerning the site's history, sporting events, and the surrounding market as a space to live and work—this article scrutinizes how the stadium's accumulated city memories were negotiated and managed, and how selected memories have been visually represented here as an outcome of these memory conflicts. Finally, considering the controversies regarding the DDP project, this article addresses how new visual representations and newly constructed narratives affect city identities.

A Comparative Study on Dietary Habit and Nutrition Knowledge of Middle School Students in Seoul area, Korea

This study was conducted to provide basic information for nutrition education to establish growing students' dietary habit. 518 middle school students(276 boys and 242 girls) were cross‐sectional surveyed in the region of Seoul, the capital of Korea. Data were analyzed with SPSS 18.0 program.The average Body Mass Index (BMI) of male and female students was 19.5 kg/m2 in the normal weight range. In the aggregate, 43.8% of students had unbalanced eating habit, the girls had higher ratio of having unbalanced eating habit than the boys. But there was no significant differences according to BMI. And unbalanced‐eating students tended to leave vegetables significantly more than students with balanced eating habit(p&lt;.05).According to their nutrition knowledge test, the students were categorized into 3 groups, 28.8% of ‘high’, 31.5% of ‘middle’ and 39.8% of ‘low’, while 30.3% of entire students had experienced nutrition education program at school. 80.9% of the students agreed with the essentiality of nutrition education, while there was a significant difference according to the degree of Nutrition knowledge (p&lt;.005). Two major reasons for essentiality of nutrition education were ‘proper growth’ (45.9%) and ‘good dietary habit’ (15.3%). And they preferred an active program including “cooking practice” by professional nutrition teacher.Therefore, the correlation between nutrition education and students' dietary life was proven and continuous nutrition education programs for growing students are required to enhance their dietary life.Support or Funding InformationGrant Funding Source: Inha University

Book Review: Global Talent: Skilled Labor as Social Capital in Korea

Book Review: Global Talent: Skilled Labor as Social Capital in Korea

새마을운동과 사회적 자본의 관계: 결속형(bonding), 가교형(bridging), 연계형(linking)을 중심으로

본 논문은 새마을운동과 사회적 자본과의 관계를 분석하는 것이 그 목적으로, 특히 결속(bonding), 가교(bridging), 연계(linking)형 사회적 자본에 초점을 둔다. 새마을운동이 절대 빈곤 감소를 위한 지역발전의 모델로 전세계적, 특히 저개발국의 관심을 받으면서 많은 저개발국에서는 새마을 ODA(공적개발원조) 프로젝트가 시행되어 왔다. 그러나 지금까지의 원조 규모에 비해 성과가 미미하다는 평가와 함께, 저개발국 또한 물질적 원조만이 더 이상 해결책이 될 수 없다는 것을 인지한 듯하다. 이에 원조 시행기관뿐 아니라 학계에서는 새마을운동의 성공 요인 중 사회적 자본 측면에 초점을 두기 시작했다. 본 논문에서는 Lin(2001)의 사회적 자본 이론을 연구틀로 하면서, 사회적 자본의 요인을 정부 문헌을 포함하여 새마을운동 관련 선행 연구 분석과 함께, 새마을 시대를 실제로 겪었던 당시 공무원, 마을 주민, 그리고 새마을 지도자 등과의 인터뷰를 통해 분석하였다. 결과적으로 새마을운동은 신뢰, 규범, 네트워크, 협동 등 마을 저변의 사회적 자본 요인을 기반으로, 마을 간 가교형 사회적 자본, 국가와 마을 간의 연계형 사회적 자본 형성에 촉매제가 되었으며, 이는 경제발전으로까지 이어졌다. 이러한 결과는 가까운 이웃과의 관계에서도 신뢰가 부족한 저개발국에서 어떠한 사회적 자본 요인이 생성될 수 있으며, 어떻게 발전되어야 하는지, 그리고 왜 국가발전으로까지 이어져야하는 지에 대해 시사점을 줄 수 있을 것이다.

The Possibilities and Limitations of Studies on Cultural Capital in Korea

The Possibilities and Limitations of Studies on Cultural Capital in Korea

Shin, G., &amp; Choi, J. N. (2015). Global Talent: Skilled Labor as Social Capital in Korea

Shin, G., &amp; Choi, J. N. (2015). <i>Global Talent: Skilled Labor as Social Capital in Korea</i>