South Korea's Policy Research Articles

The North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004: More Rhetoric or a New U.S. Policy Statement?

The Freedom ActOn November 20, 2003, Senators Evan Bayh and Sam Brownback introduced Senate Bill S.i903-the North Korean Freedom Act. One day later Representative Jim Leach (R-Iowa), Congressman Eni Faleomavaega (D-American Samoa) and Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) cosponsored virtually an identical Bill, H.R. 3573. The two bills differ only in that in the House version Line 8 on Page 7 addresses the responsibility of the United States to ...accept a number of refugees for domestic resettlement. The word limited was then changed to credible. The House bill also gives North Koreans who have suffered at the hands of the North Korean government P2 status which would give them access to U.S. refugee processing without United Nations Human Rights Commission referral. The Bill increases the discretion of the Secretary of Home Security to temporarily parole North Koreans into the U.S. and it also incorporates the Hyde Bill-H.R. 367 that allows North Koreans to be treated as North Koreans and collectively as citizens of the Republic of Korea (South Korea).The Freedom Act is basically divided into five sections with the actual text beginning with Section 3. This Section states that Congress has made the following Findings. Not withstanding the fact that North Korea if not the most secretive and nontransparent entity in the world, it is probably at the top of the list. The outside world has virtually no contact with the inner workings of North Korea yet Congress finds that the economic base of North Korea is less than one half that of South Korea, that the health of the North Korean people is significantly worse than that of South Korea, that the life expectancy of North Korean babies is less than that of South Korean babies, that ten percent of North Korean children suffer from acute malnutrition, that the differences in economic performance and health of North Koreans as compared with South Koreans cannot be attributed to differences in land area or natural resources, and that the people of the Korean peninsula, are ...unjustly divided into two different countries one of which offers its citizens freedom while the other threatens them with imprisonment. starvation and death.The Findings are that North Koreans are forbidden free speech, that the citizens are imprisoned in a series of prison and labor camps, that the economy and food production are mismanaged, that the national food system has been dismantled, and that the government is ...forbidding nearly all contact with the outside world.They go on to note that there are between i00,000 and 300,000 North Korean refugees in China, that as many as 3,500,000 North Koreans have died from hunger in the past ten years, and that there are fewer than 3,000 North Korea refugees in South Korea. It does not give importance to the fact that in recent years the number of immigrants from the whole of Korea into the Unites States was to 3,500 persons. The Freedom Act does, however, propose that this limitation be lifted. The last clause of the Findings proposes that a credible number of refugees be admitted into the U.S. for domestic resettlement.This is a considerable indictment of not only United States policy but also the policies of South Korea, China, and virtually the whole of the rest of the world. One would be extremely naive to believe that there is not a problem with North Korea, but with these Findings the immediate question is-where is the documentation? If, as the Freedom Act indicates, the outside world is barred form North Korea, where does this data come from and under what circumstances?North Korea, as of 2005, has a projected population of 22,9i2,i77 persons. If there are i00,000 to 300,000 North Koreans in China (the estimate in the Freedom Act), then approximately .004 percent to .0i percent of the population has gone to China. As the Freedom Act suggests it is possible that more North Koreans would go into China except for the threat of government reprisal. …

Historicization of Homeless Spaces: The Seoul Train Station Square and the House of Freedom

This paper historicizes "deserving" citizenship of South Korea by tracing spatial changes and meanings of two places: Seoul Train Station Square and a former textile factory renovated to a homeless shelter. Both have been emblematic space where the most homeless people were populated since the break of the Asian Debt Crisis. However, each place embodies different history of "deserving" citizenship in a complementary way. The square, a politically charged literary and physical topography, became a location of protecting "normal" citizen from potentially violent homeless people. The factory, a spatial marker for the state regulation of laborer, became a site to promote the benevolent image of welfare state for protecting homeless people through a demarcation of short-term street living people—as "deserving" homeless citizens—from long term street living people. The embedded history in two places would be the transition of developmental state towards the welfare state that shifted its capitalist state focus from labor/economic policies to welfare policy: neoliberalization of state governance in South Korea. In concrete, this paper examines how homeless people emerged as new welfare subjects in an urban landscape; how only short-term street living people were selected as proper; how various social agents were involved in the process of implementing homeless policies; and how dualistic capitalist control over labor power, such as regular workers and surplus laborer, was imposed.

The Six-Party Talks: A Critical Assessment and Implications for South Korea's Policy Toward North Korea

Abstract In February 2005, North Korea declared that it had no intention to continue the Six-Party Talks and already possessed nuclear weapons, and asked the United States to abandon its hostile policy. South Korea, the United States, and China have made strenuous efforts to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue through dialog. In September 2005, the fourth round of the Six-Party Talks dramatically adopted the joint statement, which provides a fundamental principle to resolve the decade-old North Korean nuclear issue. At the joint statement North Korea agreed to abandon all nuclear weapons and all nuclear programs. South Korea, the United States, China, and Japan expressed their willingness to provide energy assistance to North Korea. They also agreed to discuss the provision of the LWR to the North at an appropriate time. However, the Six-Party Talks has been stalemated since the first round of the fifth such talks due to North Korea's demand for provision of a light-water reactor (LWR) before any implementation of the joint statement. To resolve the North Korean nuclear issue, a step-by-step approach might be desirable. At the first phase, all countries that signed on the joint statement should exert every effort to build favorable conditions for the North to implement the joint statement. North Korea must return to the NPT and accept IAEA inspection and related countries must prepare to give energy assistance to the North. At the second phase, North Korea must begin nuclear dismantlement process, and the United States and Japan need to improve their relations with North Korea. At the third phase North Korea must complete nuclear dismantlement, and the United States, Japan and North Korea must normalize their diplomatic relations.

Policy context of the poor progress of the pro-poor policy: A case study on the Medical-Aid policy during Kim Dae-jung's Government (1998–2002) in the Republic of Korea

Why did not the Medical-Aid 1 1 Medical-Aid is a public medical assistance program for the poor, similar to Medicaid in the United States. policy for the poor progress as expected during Kim Dae-jung's government in the Republic of Korea, despite his pro-egalitarian position and his campaign pledge to expand welfare benefits? To answer this question, Korea's history was briefly reviewed and summarized in this paper to describe “a triple burden”. The study presents three major characteristics of the policy context that acted as barriers to progress of the Medical-Aid policy: the overflowing ideologies against the pro-poor policy, the governance crisis, and the immaturity of the civil society. The paper argues that any discussion about the health policy processes and consequences must stem from a clear understanding of the policy context. The future of pro-poor policies in Korea, such as Medical-Aid, will greatly depend on how Korean society overcomes these contextual barriers. The observed characteristics of the context surrounding the Medical-Aid policy can also help us understand, in part, the dynamics of other recently introduced health policies in South Korea. Moreover, other countries that share a similar historical background and policy context with South Korea can learn valuable lessons from Korea's experience.

The United States and Korea's Reunification

This article first reviews the official policies of South Korea and the United States toward reunification, second examines the division of Korea during the Cold War, third the division since the Cold War, fourth analyzes the North's nuclear issue, and finally discusses the continuing impasse to reunification and what constructive role the United States should play. The paper shows that there are some striking dissimilarities between the postures of the U.S. and South Korea toward North Korea. The article concludes that South Korea's dramatic change from confrontation to reconciliation toward North Korea, that promises eventual reunification, presents an opportunity for the United States to do the same.

America's Views of China-South Korea Relations: Public Opinions and Elite Perceptions

Abstract This paper explores how Washington views the burgeoning across-theboard ties between Seoul and Beijing in the midst of the strained alliance relationship with the former. On the basis of poll and interview data, the paper demonstrates (1) average Americans' perceptual bias in favor of Europe and general lack of interest in Asian affairs at large, (2) Americans' (both public and elite) strong antipathy toward China and indifference to Korea, and (3) the potentially adverse impact of such perceptions on the future U.S.-Korea relations within the context of rapidly expanding Sino-Korean bilateralism. In the short run South Korea's strategic choice will be invariably to stick with the U.S.-centered alliance structure and, at the same time, to expand the burgeoning ties with China. South Korea's policy will increasingly resemble hedging. This approach will require much prudence. In the mid-term—by 2030—China's shadow over South Korea will perhaps have eclipsed that of the United States in Asia and, given that China may become a de factor “hegemonic” player in its traditional sphere of influence, the time will come when South Korea has to decide whether or not to jump on the Chinese bandwagon. Much of this, however, will certainly by largely predetermined in the next decade during which the future pattern of U.S.-China relations and the “revisionist” disposition of China will become increasingly manifest.

The Demand for Cigarettes in the Republic of Korea and Implications for Government Policy to Lower Cigarette Consumption

The government of the Republic of Korea has become concerned with reducing cigarette consumption, which historically has been very prevalent. This study contributes to the debate over cigarette policies in South Korea, with implications for other Asian countries with similar economic and cultural backgrounds. The authors estimate cigarette demand in South Korea over the period 1960–97, considering various government policies employed to reduce cigarette consumption. Results of the estimation suggest that taxation appears to be a viable means of reducing cigarette consumption, but methods to inform the public about the health hazards of smoking should be reconsidered and strengthened. (JEL H51, I18, L66)

Mixing versus Sorting in Schooling: Evidence from the Equalization Policy in South Korea

This paper examines the effects of sorting and mixing on academic performance of high school students in South Korea. The Korean government has vigorously promoted mixing for more than three decades, replacing competitive entrance examinations at individual schools by a lottery-based enrollment system. As a result, about half of high schools (grades 10 to 12) as well as all middle schools (grades 7 to 9) are subject to what is locally known as the Equalization Policy (EP), and passively accept students randomly assigned. In contrast, outside the designated EP areas, students are sorted with stratification along ability among schools. This paper employs the difference-in-differences empirical strategy to analyze the newly available data from the Korean National Assessment of Educational Achievement. Two main results emerge. First, sorting raises test scores of students outside the EP areas by roughly 0.3 standard deviations, relative to mixing. Second, more surprisingly, quantile regression results reveal that sorting benefits students across the ability distribution.

Language Policy in South Korea and the Special Case of Japanese

Abstract. At the beginning of the 21st century, South Koreans have embraced foreign languages with almost unbridled enthusiasm. Most of the enthusiasm is directed toward English of course but, for both economic and cultural reasons, Japanese also looms large. Moreover, the decision by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in October 1998 to open up the country to Japanese popular culture has increased the appetite for the Japanese language, especially among the young. Koreans now study Japanese again; they access Japanese Web sites; they travel to Japan. Yet Koreans' enthusiasm for Japanese is qualitatively different from their appetite for English. Japanese may be learned, but it is to be kept out of the Korean language itself. English loans may be adopted "out of necessity," but not Japanese. The South Korean policy of linguistic purism is aimed explicitly at Japanese, and numerous books, manuals, and pamphlets instruct the public on how to recognize and purge Japanese influences from their speech and writing. Newspapers and other media wage periodic campaigns to do the same. The Korean public generally supports and cooperates with these policies and campaigns, which, for the most part, are surprisingly effective. There are numerous problems with Korean linguistic purism, however, and prescriptive intervention in the Korean language by government and media requires a continued investment of research, resources, and public support. How successful these efforts will be in the face of ever-closer ties with Japan remains to be seen.

Issues and concerns about a prospective child support enforcement policy in south korea

A rapidly growing number of unwed mothers is now forcing Korean society to look to the previously forgotten population of unwed fathers. For the first time, the Korean government is considering imposing child support enforcement on unwed fathers. This article explores potential problems, as well as possible benefits, of a child support enforcement policy in South Korea by analyzing both the unique characteristics of Korean society and the previous child support enforcement policy experiences of other countries. A prospective enforcement policy might be beneficial to Korean unwed mothers by decreasing the moral stigma placed on them, by increasing Korean men's awareness about the consequences of their sexual relationships, and by providing them with financial resources. However, in practice, child support enforcement may increase unwed mothers' risk of being threatened by unwed fathers and may decrease their autonomy from unwed fathers. The practical barriers to establishing this enforcement policy are also discussed.

Issues and concerns about a prospective child support enforcement policy in south korea

A rapidly growing number of unwed mothers is now forcing Korean society to look to the previously forgotten population of unwed fathers. For the first time, the Korean government is considering imposing child support enforcement on unwed fathers. This article explores potential problems, as well as possible benefits, of a child support enforcement policy in South Korea by analyzing both the unique characteristics of Korean society and the previous child support enforcement policy experiences of other countries. A prospective enforcement policy might be beneficial to Korean unwed mothers by decreasing the moral stigma placed on them, by increasing Korean men's awareness about the consequences of their sexual relationships, and by providing them with financial resources. However, in practice, child support enforcement may increase unwed mothers' risk of being threatened by unwed fathers and may decrease their autonomy from unwed fathers. The practical barriers to establishing this enforcement policy are also discussed.

Fertility control policies in South Korea and Taiwan

This article presents a comparative case study of the fertility reduction policies in the Republic of Korea (ROK or South Korea) and the Republic of China (ROC or Taiwan) from 1961 to 1992.1 Drawin...

Social Policy in South Korea: Cultural and Structural Factors in the Emergence of Welfare

Abstract There are a number of features that make South Korea an interesting place to study social policy. First, it has experienced rapid economic development with the associated changes in urbanization and demography. This change has created social problems, which the state has had to address. Second, the country retains a strong cultural tradition and repeated affirmation of the values and practices of Confucianism. In this paper, these two features are considered in relation to the way social policy has been addressed. The thrust of the paper will be on the policy responses to perceived social problems and the way in which other social problems are individualized within families. These policies are informed and shaped by Korean politics and culture.

Reforming government with information technology in South Korea

The South Korean government recently launched 11 major e‐government services after a long period of inter‐ and intra‐ministry politics concerning the allocation of jurisdiction over various e‐government services. This article analyses the politics of e‐government efforts in South Korea. It begins by describing the development of e‐government policy in South Korea for the past two decades, and identifies its four major features as comprehensiveness, fragmentation, the orientation toward operational efficiency and citizen services, and the inclination toward new technological solutions. The article concludes that these features can be attributed to the heavy involvement of the macro political system, its high susceptibility to inputs from experts, and the institutional design of the informatisation subsystem.

Population Control Policy in South Korea:

Population Control Policy in South Korea:

The Viability of Fiscal Policy in South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand

The Asian financial crisis of 1997 led to output declines in South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. In response, the three countries have turned to fiscal policy to stimulate output. This study investigates the empirical evidence on the viabiltiy of fiscal policy for these three Asian countries using data starting in the 1950s. While fiscal expansion can raise output under certain theoretical conditions, deficit spending implies higher taxes that could eliminate even transitory effects. This article explores these issues, and examines the empirical relationships between government spending, taxes, and output in these three Asian tigers. The literature includes varying views on the links between fiscal policy, government spending, and output. The tax-and-spend hypothesis of Buchanan and Wagner (1978) and Friedman (1978) is that taxes lead to government spending. On the other hand, according to the spend-and-tax hypothesis of Peacock and Wiseman (1979), temporary increases in government spending lead to permanent tax increases. Meltzer and Richard (1981), describe fiscal synchronization and state that spending and taxes would adjust as the public chooses an optimal package of taxes and government spending. The related literature using Granger (1988) causality includes yon Furstenberg, Green, and Jeong (1986), Owoye (1995), Hasan and Lincoln (1997), and Darrat (1998). In addition, Koren and Stiassny (1998) consider whether taxes and spending are cointegrated. The dynamic responses of taxes, spending, and income are examined in this article using vector autoregression (VAR) analysis. Impulse response and variance decomposition are also included as in Baffes and Shah (1994) and Koren and Stiassny (1998), because coefficients of a VAR are difficult to gauge. Impulse responses trace the reaction of an endogenous variable to an innovation, capturing dynamic interactions and adjustment speeds. Variance decomposition measures the share of forecast error variance due to a shock to the system and own innovations would explain the forecast error variance of exogenous variables. This article focuses on real government spending, taxes, and gross domestic product. Fiscal policy could affect interest rates, and in turn investment spending. Interest rates could be included in the study, but it is not clear which rate to use and expected inflation clouds the issue. The empirical links between the fiscal variables and output may provide some indication of the viability of a more active fiscal policy stance in these Asian economies. The article is organized as follows. The next section briefly describes the recent history of fiscal policy in South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. Section II presents empirical tests of fiscal policy and output, while Section III concludes. I. The Recent History of Fiscal Policy in South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand have achieved relatively high growth since the 1960s and in all three countries, macroeconomic policies have focused on export-led growth. Thailand's growth, in particular, was very high during the 1990s. Among the three countries, South Korea and Taiwan share many similar features in terms of economic growth, size, population, and dependency on energy imports. With regard to their characteristics, public spending patterns are also similar in these three countries. Mundle (1999) points out that public spending has been under 30 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in Taiwan, 25 per cent in South Korea, and 20 per cent in Thailand, relative to an average of about 50 per cent for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. The relatively low spending levels in these three countries has been combined with government surpluses or low deficits. Episodes of inflation have generally been followed by fiscal restraint, at least up to the financial crisis of 1997. Since the crisis, along with structural reforms, South Korea and Thailand have been pursuing expansionary fiscal policy to revive economic growth. …

Cultural identity and cultural policy in South Korea

(2002). Cultural identity and cultural policy in South Korea. International Journal of Cultural Policy: Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 37-48.

Korea's Place in the Axis

ON JANUARY 29, President George W. Bush announced what seemed a new U.S. policy toward the Korean Peninsula-and threw observers worldwide into conftision. In his state of the union address that night, Bush outlined the steps to come in his administration's war on terrorism. Among them was a tough new approach to what he termed an axis of evil: North Korea, Iraq, and Iran. The president's speech seemed, at first, to bring new clarity to the U.S. security agenda, signaling the high priority the administration placed on countering links between terrorists and rogue nations that seek chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons to threaten the United States and the world. The only problem was that, at least with respect to North Korea, this new posture seemed to contradict the strategy suggested by the Bush administration seven months earlier. In June 2001, a comprehensive policy review authorized by the White House had recommended that Washington hold unconditional talks with Pyongyang on a wide range of issues, including the posture of North Korea's conventional military, its ballistic missile program, and its suspected nuclear weapons program. This recommendation, in turn, had been at odds with a previous set of Bush remarks on the subject. In March 2001, he had scorned the sunshine, or engagement, policy of South Korea's president, Kim Dae Jung, and expressed skepticism about North Korea's supposedly

An Analysis of South Korea's Policy Toward North Korea

Pacific FocusVolume 16, Issue 1 p. 89-102 An Analysis of South Korea's Policy Toward North Korea Uk Heo, Uk HeoSearch for more papers by this authorChong-Min Hyun, Chong-Min HyunSearch for more papers by this author Uk Heo, Uk HeoSearch for more papers by this authorChong-Min Hyun, Chong-Min HyunSearch for more papers by this author First published: 02 October 2008 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1976-5118.2001.tb00250.xRead the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume16, Issue1March 2001Pages 89-102 RelatedInformation

Taiwan's path to national health insurance (1950–1995)

This study explores the evolution of statutory health insurance in the Republic of China on Taiwan from its inception in 1950 through to the inauguration of the National Health Insurance Programme in 1995. The main focus of the study is the timings of the adoption of the different statutory health insurance schemes targeted to the various segments of the population. It is argued that Taiwan's adoption of Labour Insurance for workers in 1950 could be best explained by the country's specific historical circumstance. The then‐ruling Nationalist government was keen to build up Taiwan as a showcase for the whole of China. The inauguration of the National Health Insurance Programme in 1995 was predominantly subjected to the Nationalist government's adjustment to its changing political position.