• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.155-172
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• 2024

The COVID-19 pandemic not only posed an enormous human crisis, but also had a profound impact on firms' survival. Social distancing and global lockdown measures designed to protect human lives have paradoxically impaired the business environment. As a result, firms that sought to gain competitive advantage by leveraging external resources were cut off from the external world and faced unexpected challenges. Under these circumstances, researches were conducted in the early stage of the pandemic to explore how certain firms survived while others fell, but they were limited to re-examining business performance using traditional financial factors. However, this study aims to investigate the role of entrepreneurs' competency in crisis situations from the Resource-Based View (RBV), as such competency plays an important role in improving business performance and subsequently the probability of startups' survival. Specifically, we evaluated the performance as of end of 2019 of 1,127 startups evaluated by the Korea Technology Finance Corporation (KOTEC), which provides policy financing based on technology assessment, in 2016. We then conducted an empirical study to determine the mediating role of business performance in the relationship between entrepreneurial competencies and firm survival by verifying how many of the sample firms were still in operation at the end of June 2023, when the Korean government declared COVID-19 as an endemic. For this purpose, we defined technological, financial, and marketing competencies as the sub-factors of entrepreneurial competency, and sales growth rate and employment growth rate as the sub-factors of business performance. The results of the empirical analysis showed that technological and financial competencies of the entrepreneur had a positive impact on both business performance and firm survival, and that sales growth rate and employment growth rate mediated the relationship between technological competence and firm survival. However, the positive influence of entrepreneurs' financial competence of the survival of startups was only evident through the growth of employment. This study is the first study in South Korea to define the survival factors of startups in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and is expected to contribute to the theoretical and practical discussions on the importance of entrepreneurs' competency as a firms' survival factor based on RVB.

• Korean small business review
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.77-93
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• 2011

Since 2000, the employment rate of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has dwindled while the creation of new jobs and the emergence of healthy SMEs have been stagnant. The fundamental reason for these symptoms is that the economic structure is disadvantageous to SMEs. In particular, the greater gap between SMEs and large enterprises has resulted in polarization, and the resulting imbalance has become the largest obstacle to improving SMEs' competitiveness. For example, the total productivity has continued to drop, and the average productivity of SMEs is now merely 30% of that of large enterprises, and the average wage of SMEs' employees is only 53% of that of large enterprises. Along with polarization, rapid industrialization has also caused anti-enterprise consensus, the collapse of the middle class, hostility towards establishments, and other aftereffects. The general consensus is that unless these problems are solved, South Korea will not become an advanced country. Especially, South Korea is now facing issues that need urgent measures, such as the decline of its economic growth, the worsening distribution of profits, and the increased external volatility. Recognizing such negative trends, the MB administration proposed a win-win growth policy and recently introduced a new national value called "ecosystemic development." As the terms in such policy agenda are similar, however, the conceptual differences among such terms must first be fully understood. Therefore, in this study, the concepts of win-win growth policy and ecosystemic development, and the need for them, were surveyed, and their differences from and similarities with other policy concepts like win-win cooperation and symbiotic development were examined. Based on the results of the survey and examination, the study introduced a South Korean model of win-win growth, targeting the promotion of a sound balance between large enterprises and SMEs and an innovative ecosystem, and finally, proposing future policy tasks. Win-win growth is not an academic term but a policy term. Thus, it is less advisable to give a theoretical definition of it than to understand its concept based on its objective and method as a policy. The core of the MB administration's win-win growth policy is the creation of a partnership between key economic subjects such as large enterprises and SMEs based on each subject's differentiated capacity, and such economic subjects' joint promotion of growth opportunities. Its objective is to contribute to the establishment of an advanced capitalistic system by securing the sustainability of the South Korean economy. Such win-win growth policy includes three core concepts. The first concept, ecosystem, is that win-win growth should be understood from the viewpoint of an industrial ecosystem and should be pursued by overcoming the issues of specific enterprises. An enterprise is not an independent entity but a social entity, meaning it exists in relationship with the society (Drucker, 2011). The second concept, balance, points to the fact that an effort should be made to establish a systemic and social infrastructure for a healthy balance in the industry. The social system and infrastructure should be established in such a way as to create a balance between short- term needs and long-term sustainability, between freedom and responsibility, and between profitability and social obligations. Finally, the third concept is the behavioral change of economic entities. The win-win growth policy is not merely about simple transactional relationships or determining reasonable prices but more about the need for a behavior change on the part of economic entities, without which the objectives of the policy cannot be achieved. Various advanced countries have developed different win-win growth models based on their respective cultures and economic-development stages. Japan, whose culture is characterized by a relatively high level of group-centered trust, has developed a productivity improvement model based on such culture, whereas the U.S., which has a highly developed system of market capitalism, has developed a system that instigates or promotes market-oriented technological innovation. Unlike Japan or the U.S., Europe, a late starter, has not fully developed a trust-based culture or market capitalism and thus often uses a policy-led model based on which the government leads the improvement of productivity and promotes technological innovation. By modeling successful cases from these advanced countries, South Korea can establish its unique win-win growth system. For this, it needs to determine the method and tasks that suit its circumstances by examining the prerequisites for its success as well as the strengths and weaknesses of each advanced country. This paper proposes a South Korean model of win-win growth, whose objective is to upgrade the country's low-trust-level-based industrial structure, in which large enterprises and SMEs depend only on independent survival strategies, to a high-trust-level-based social ecosystem, in which large enterprises and SMEs develop a cooperative relationship as partners. Based on this objective, the model proposes the establishment of a sound balance of systems and infrastructure between large enterprises and SMEs, and to form a crenovative social ecosystem. The South Korean model of win-win growth consists of three axes: utilization of the South Koreans' potential, which creates community-oriented energy; fusion-style improvement of various control and self-regulated systems for establishing a high-trust-level-oriented social infrastructure; and behavioral change on the part of enterprises in terms of putting an end to their unfair business activities and promoting future-oriented cooperative relationships. This system will establish a dynamic industrial ecosystem that will generate creative energy and will thus contribute to the realization of a sustainable economy in the 21st century. The South Korean model of win-win growth should pursue community-based self-regulation, which promotes the power of efficiency and competition that is fundamentally being pursued by capitalism while at the same time seeking the value of society and community. Already existing in Korea's traditional roots, such objectives have become the bases of the Shinbaram culture, characterized by the South Koreans' spontaneity, creativity, and optimism. In the process of a community's gradual improvement of its rules and procedures, the trust among the community members increases, and the "social capital" that guarantees the successful control of shared resources can be established (Ostrom, 2010). This basic ideal can help reduce the gap between large enterprises and SMEs, alleviating the South Koreans' victim mentality in the face of competition and the open-door policy, and creating crenovative corporate competitiveness. The win-win growth policy emerged for the purpose of addressing the polarization and imbalance structure resulting from the evolution of 21st-century capitalism. It simultaneously pursues efficiency and fairness on one hand and economic and community values on the other, and aims to foster efficient interaction between the market and the government. This policy, however, is also evolving. The win-win growth policy can be considered an extension of the win-win cooperation that the past 'Participatory Government' promoted at the enterprise management level to the level of systems and culture. Also, the ecosystemic development agendum that has recently emerged is a further extension that has been presented as a national ideal of "a new development model that promotes the co-advancement of environmental conservation, growth, economic development, social integration, and national and individual development."

• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.37
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• pp.361-392
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• 2014

Regarding works that express objects realistically in painting, Gustave Courbet advocated realism in the mid-19th century, France, resisting the then academist style of painting, and works in realist style were produced in earnest by painters such as H. Daumier or Jean F. Millet, who went along with him. Later, realism has expanded into the realm of general literature, including fine art, which has had profound impacts on works of art and literary works. In comics, too, in the same historical context as a form of painting, realistic comics began to be produced by painters or cartoonists at the time. These realism comics are those dealing with stories based on facts, and in terms of contents, objective description and representation of the social realities of the times is one of the most important objectives, but it could not be concluded that in their visual aspect, that is, that of expressing the objects, they were realistic. In the meantime, a graphic novel was born, which was the intermediate form between comics and novels around the United States and Europe since the 1980s. Graphic novels appeared in forms and styles with strong literary and artistic values in the comics market in the U.S. which was full of the superhero genre (comics around heroes), and their major characteristics are very realistic expressions in terms of contents and visual aspect. They are complex and delicate and even have artistic, literary values as if readers read a fiction or literary work of which its narrative structures or pictures are produced with graphics. The characteristics of realistic expressions shown in graphic novels are very different from the previous works of comics. It is noteworthy that they began to be acknowledged as works of art like painting or illustration, thanks to their features of strongly individual auteurist painting style, a fairly high degree of completion of the works, and creative and experimental expression techniques or methods, instead of following the fashion of the times. In recent years, in South Korea, Hollywood blockbuster films have been released one after another and become box office hits, there are increasing interest and demand for the original graphic novels. Accordingly, many original graphic novels have been translated and started to be sold, and keeping pace with this global flow of fashion, some writers in Korea began to produce works of graphic novels. However, to look into the domestic works produced claiming to be graphic novels, there are various opinions on their format and authenticity. In this sense, this study focused on Ga-ya Kwon's Namhansanseong, one the representative works of Korean style graphic novels, and in particular, it attempted to analyze their characteristics and commonalities focusing on the visual aspect of realistic expressions of objects. It is expected that there would be an opportunity to seek for ways so that Korean style graphic novel can be further developed as a genre of comics, with competitiveness by looking back on the identity and present state of domestic graphic novels and developing and applying Korea's original subject matters differentiated from those of graphic novels in the U.S., Europe or Japan through this study. In addition, it is desired that they will be a new energizer for the stagnant domestic comics market.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.137-146
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• 2007

This study was conducted to determine fertilizer nutrient and pollutant production of Holstein dairy cattle by estimating manure characteristics. The moisture content of feces was 83.9% and 95.1% for urine. The pH of feces and urine were in the ranges of 7.0～7.4 and 7.5～7.8, respectively. The average BOD5, COD, SS, T-N, T-P concentrations of the dairy feces were 18,294, 52,765, 102,889, 2,575, and 457mg/ℓ, respectively. Dairy urine showed lower levels of BOD5(5,455mg/ℓ), COD(8,089mg/ℓ), SS(593mg/ℓ), T-N(3,401mg/l), and T-P(13mg/ℓ) than feces. The total daily produced pollutant amounts of a dairy cow were 924.1g(Milking cow), 538.8g(Dry cow), 284.4g(Heifer) of BOD5, 2,336.5g (Milking cow), 1,651.8g(Dry cow), 734.1g(Heifer) of COD and 4,210.1g(Milking cow), 2,417.1g(Dry cow), 1,629.1g(Heifer) of SS and 194.8g(Milking cow), 96.4g(Dry cow), 58.3g(Heifer) of T-N and 24.0g(Milking cow), 10.2g(Dry cow), 6.1g(Heifer) of T-P. The calculated amount of pollutants produced by a 450kg dairy cow for one year were 181.3kg of BOD5, 492.5kg of COD, 899.9kg of SS, 36.0kg of T-N and 4.1kg of T-P. The total yearly estimated pollutant production from all head(497,261) of dairy cattle in Korea is 90,149 tons of BOD5, 244,890 tons of COD, 447,491 tons of SS, 17,898 tons of T-N and 2,008 tons of T-P. The fertilizer nutrient concentrations of dairy feces was 0.26% N, 0.1% P2O5 and 0.14% K2O. Urine was found to contain 0.34% N, 0.003% of P2O5 and 0.31% K2O. The total daily fertilizer nutrients produced by dairy cattle were 197.4g (Milking cow), 97.4g(Dry cow), and 57.9g(Heifer) of Nitrogen, 54.2g(Milking cow), 22.2g(Dry cow), and 14.2g(Heifer) of P2O5 and 110.8g(Milking cow), 80.4g (Dry cow), and 39.5g(Heifer) of K2O. The total yearly estimated fertilizer nutrient produced by a 450kg dairy animal is 36.2kg of N, 8.8kg of P2O5, 24.6kg of K2O. The estimated yearly fertilizer nutrient production from all dairy cattle in Korea is 18,000 tons of N, 4,397 tons of P2O5, 12,206 tons of K2O. Dairy manure contains useful trace minerals for crops, such as CaO and MgO, which are contained in similar levels to commercial compost being sold in the domestic market. Concentrations of harmful trace minerals, such as As, Cd, Hg, Pb, Cr, Cu, Ni, Zn, met the Korea compost standard regulations, with some of these minerals being in undetected amounts.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.31-68
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• 1990

The concentration of economic power takes the form of one or a few firms controlling a substantial portion of the economic resources and means in a certain economic area. At the same time, to the extent that these firms are owned by a few individuals, resource allocation can be manipulated by them rather than by the impersonal market mechanism. This will impair allocative efficiency, run counter to a decentralized market system and hamper the equitable distribution of wealth. Viewed from the historical evolution of Western capitalism in general, the concentration of economic power is a paradox in that it is a product of the free market system itself. The economic principle of natural discrimination works so that a few big firms preempt scarce resources and market opportunities. Prominent historical examples include trusts in America, Konzern in Germany and Zaibatsu in Japan in the early twentieth century. In other words, the concentration of economic power is the outcome as well as the antithesis of free competition. As long as judgment of the economic system at large depends upon the value systems of individuals, therefore, the issue of how to evaluate the concentration of economic power will inevitably be tinged with ideology. We have witnessed several different approaches to this problem such as communism, fascism and revised capitalism, and the last one seems to be the only surviving alternative. The concentration of economic power in Korea can be summarily represented by the "jaebol," namely, the conglomerate business group, the majority of whose member firms are monopolistic or oligopolistic in their respective markets and are owned by particular individuals. The jaebol has many dimensions in its size, but to sketch its magnitude, the share of the jaebol in the manufacturing sector reached 37.3% in shipment and 17.6% in employment as of 1989. The concentration of economic power can be ascribed to a number of causes. In the early stages of economic development, when the market system is immature, entrepreneurship must fill the gap inherent in the market in addition to performing its customary managerial function. Entrepreneurship of this sort is a scarce resource and becomes even more valuable as the target rate of economic growth gets higher. Entrepreneurship can neither be readily obtained in the market nor exhausted despite repeated use. Because of these peculiarities, economic power is bound to be concentrated in the hands of a few entrepreneurs and their business groups. It goes without saying, however, that the issue of whether the full exercise of money-making entrepreneurship is compatible with social mores is a different matter entirely. The rapidity of the concentration of economic power can also be traced to the diversification of business groups. The transplantation of advanced technology oriented toward mass production tends to saturate the small domestic market quite early and allows a firm to expand into new markets by making use of excess capacity and of monopoly profits. One of the reasons why the jaebol issue has become so acute in Korea lies in the nature of the government-business relationship. The Korean government has set economic development as its foremost national goal and, since then, has intervened profoundly in the private sector. Since most strategic industries promoted by the government required a huge capacity in technology, capital and manpower, big firms were favored over smaller firms, and the benefits of industrial policy naturally accrued to large business groups. The concentration of economic power which occured along the way was, therefore, not necessarily a product of the market system. At the same time, the concentration of ownership in business groups has been left largely intact as they have customarily met capital requirements by means of debt. The real advantage enjoyed by large business groups lies in synergy due to multiplant and multiproduct production. Even these effects, however, cannot always be considered socially optimal, as they offer disadvantages to other independent firms-for example, by foreclosing their markets. Moreover their fictitious or artificial advantages only aggravate the popular perception that most business groups have accumulated their wealth at the expense of the general public and under the behest of the government. Since Korea stands now at the threshold of establishing a full-fledged market economy along with political democracy, the phenomenon called the concentration of economic power must be correctly understood and the roles of business groups must be accordingly redefined. In doing so, we would do better to take a closer look at Japan which has experienced a demise of family-controlled Zaibatsu and a success with business groups(Kigyoshudan) whose ownership is dispersed among many firms and ultimately among the general public. The Japanese case cannot be an ideal model, but at least it gives us a good point of departure in that the issue of ownership is at the heart of the matter. In setting the basic direction of public policy aimed at controlling the concentration of economic power, one must harmonize efficiency and equity. Firm size in itself is not a problem, if it is dictated by efficiency considerations and if the firm behaves competitively in the market. As long as entrepreneurship is required for continuous economic growth and there is a discrepancy in entrepreneurial capacity among individuals, a concentration of economic power is bound to take place to some degree. Hence, the most effective way of reducing the inefficiency of business groups may be to impose competitive pressure on their activities. Concurrently, unless the concentration of ownership in business groups is scaled down, the seed of social discontent will still remain. Nevertheless, the dispersion of ownership requires a number of preconditions and, consequently, we must make consistent, long-term efforts on many fronts. We can suggest a long list of policy measures specifically designed to control the concentration of economic power. Whatever the policy may be, however, its intended effects will not be fully realized unless business groups abide by the moral code expected of socially responsible entrepreneurs. This is especially true, since the root of the problem of the excessive concentration of economic power lies outside the issue of efficiency, in problems concerning distribution, equity, and social justice.

• The Journal of Korean Philosophical History
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• no.32
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• pp.215-249
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• 2011

This essay reflects on the modernity of Korea by examining the transformation of the traditional knowledge system from a historico-semantic perspective with its focus on the opposition and collision of the old and the new conception occurred in the early period(1890~1910) of the acceptance of the Western modern civilization. With scientific success, trick of reason, Christianity and evolutionary view of history, the Western modernity regarded itself as a peak of civilization and forced the non-Western societies into the world system in which they came to be considered as 'barbarism(野蠻)' or 'half-enlightened(半開).' The East Asian civilization, which had its own history for several centuries, became degraded as kind of delusion and old-fashioned customs from which it ought to free itself. The Western civilization presented itself as exemplary future which East Asian people should achieve, while East Asian past traditions came to be conceived as just unnecessary vestiges which it was better to wipe out. It can be said that East Asian modernization was established through the propagation and acceptance of the modern products of the Western civilization rather than through the preservation of its past experience and pursuit of the new at the same time. Accordingly, it is difficult to apply directly to East Asian societies Koselleck's hypothesis; while mapping out his Basic Concept of History, he assumed that, in the so-called 'age of saddle,' semantic struggle over concepts becomes active between the past experience and the horizon of expectation on the future, and concepts undergoes 'temporalization', 'democratization', 'ideologization', 'politicization.'The struggle over the old and new conceptions in Korea was most noticeable in the opposition of the Neo-Confucian scholars of Hwangseongsinmun and the theorists of civilization of Doknipsinmun. The opposition and struggle demanded the change of understanding in every field, but there was difference of opinion over the conception of the past traditional knowledge system. For the theorists of civilization, 'the old(舊)' was not just 'past' and 'old-fashioned' things, but rather an obstacle to the building of new civilization. On the other hand, it contained the possibility of regeneration(新) for the Neo-Confucian scholars; that is, they suggested finding a guide into tomorrow by taking lessons from the past. The traditional knowledge system lost their holy status of learning(聖學) in the process of its change into a 'new learning(新學),' and religion and religious tradition also weakened. The traditional knowledge system could change itself into modern learning by accepting scientific methodology which pursues objectivity and rationality. This transformation of the traditional knowledge system and 'the formation of the new learning from the old learning' was accompanied by the intersection between the old and new conceptions. It is necessary to pay attention to the role played by the concept of Sil(hak)(實學) or Practical Learning in the intersection of the old and new conceptions. Various modern media published before and after the 20th century show clearly the multi-layered development of the old and new conceptions, and it is noticeable that 'Sil(hak)' as conceptual frame of reference contributed to the transformation of the traditional knowledge system into the new learning. Although Silhak often designated, or was even considered equivalent to, the Western learning, Neo-Confucian scholars reinterpreted the concept of 'Silhak' which the theorists of civilization had monopolized until then, and opened the way to change the traditional knowledge system into the new learning. They re-appropriated the concept of Silhak, and enabled it to be invested with values, which were losing their own status due to the overwhelming scientific technology. With Japanese occupation of Korea by force, the attempt to transform the traditional knowledge system independently was obliged to reach its own limit, but its theory of 'making new learning from old one' can be considered to get over both the contradiction of Dondoseogi(東道西器: principle of preserving Eastern philosophy while accepting Western technology) and the de-subjectivity of the theory of civilization. While developing its own logic, the theory of Dongdoseogi was compelled to bring in the contradiction of considering the indivisible(道and 器) as divisible, though it tried to cope with the reality where the principle of morality and that of competition were opposed each other and the ideologies of 'evolution' and 'progress' prevailed. On the other hand, the theory of civilization was not free from the criticism that it brought about a crack in subjectivity due to its internalization of the West, cutting itself off from the traditional knowledge system.

• Maritime Security
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.1-53
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• 2022

One manifestation of the contemporary era of renewed great power competition has been the deepening relationship between China and Russia. Their strengthening military ties, notwithstanding their lack of a formal defense alliance, have been especially striking. Since China and Russia deploy two of the world's most powerful navies, their growing maritime cooperation has been one of the most significant international security developments of recent years. The Sino-Russian naval exercises, involving varying platforms and locations, have built on years of high-level personnel exchanges, large Russian weapons sales to China, the Sino-Russia Treaty of Friendship, and other forms of cooperation. Though the joint Sino-Russian naval drills began soon after Beijing and Moscow ended their Cold War confrontation, these exercises have become much more important during the last decade, essentially becoming a core pillar of their expanding defense partnership. China and Russia now conduct more naval exercises in more places and with more types of weapons systems than ever before. In the future, Chinese and Russian maritime drills will likely encompass new locations, capabilities, and partners-including possibly the Arctic, hypersonic delivery systems, and novel African, Asian, and Middle East partners-as well as continue such recent innovations as conducting joint naval patrols and combined arms maritime drills. China and Russia pursue several objectives through their bilateral naval cooperation. The Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation Between the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation lacks a mutual defense clause, but does provide for consultations about common threats. The naval exercises, which rehearse non-traditional along with traditional missions (e.g., counter-piracy and humanitarian relief as well as with high-end warfighting), provide a means to enhance their response to such mutual challenges through coordinated military activities. Though the exercises may not realize substantial interoperability gains regarding combat capabilities, the drills do highlight to foreign audiences the Sino-Russian capacity to project coordinated naval power globally. This messaging is important given the reliance of China and Russia on the world's oceans for trade and the two countries' maritime territorial disputes with other countries. The exercises can also improve their national military capabilities as well as help them learn more about the tactics, techniques, and procedures of each other. The rising Chinese Navy especially benefits from working with the Russian armed forces, which have more experience conducting maritime missions, particularly in combat operations involving multiple combat arms, than the People's Liberation Army (PLA). On the negative side, these exercises, by enhancing their combat capabilities, may make Chinese and Russian policymakers more willing to employ military force or run escalatory risks in confrontations with other states. All these impacts are amplified in Northeast Asia, where the Chinese and Russian navies conduct most of their joint exercises. Northeast Asia has become an area of intensifying maritime confrontations involving China and Russia against the United States and Japan, with South Korea situated uneasily between them. The growing ties between the Chinese and Russian navies have complicated South Korean-U.S. military planning, diverted resources from concentrating against North Korea, and worsened the regional security environment. Naval planners in the United States, South Korea, and Japan will increasingly need to consider scenarios involving both the Chinese and Russian navies. For example, South Korean and U.S. policymakers need to prepare for situations in which coordinated Chinese and Russian military aggression overtaxes the Pentagon, obligating the South Korean Navy to rapidly backfill for any U.S.-allied security gaps that arise on the Korean Peninsula. Potentially reinforcing Chinese and Russian naval support to North Korea in a maritime confrontation with South Korea and its allies would present another serious challenge. Building on the commitment of Japan and South Korea to strengthen security ties, future exercises involving Japan, South Korea, and the United States should expand to consider these potential contingencies.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Food Science of Animal Resources Conference
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• 1995.11a
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• pp.1-48
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• 1995

식생활은 인간 생활의 주체이고 먹는다는 것은 그 수단이다. 그중 중요한 하나의 명제는 인간이 놓여진 여러 환경에서 어떻게 건강을 유지하고 그 개체가 소유하고 있는 능력을 최대치까지 생리적으로 성장 발전시킴과 동시에 최대한 수명을 연장시키기 위한 식물 섭취방법을 마이크로 레벨까지 해명하는데 있다. 인간은 일생동안 엄청난 양의 음식물을 먹는다(70세 수명일 경우 200만 파운드 즉 체중의 1,400배). 그러나 먹기는 먹되 자신의 건강과 장수를 위하여 어떤 음식을 어떻게 선택하여 어떻게 먹어야 하는 문제가 매우 중요하다. 최근 우리나라도 국민 소득이 늘면서 식생활은 서구화 경향으로 기우는 듯하다. 공해를 비롯한 수입식품 등 여러 가지 문제점이 제기됨에 따라 자연식과 건강식을 주장하는 소리가 높이 일고 있다. 그중에는 축산 식품이 콜레스테롤 함량이 다른 식품에 비하여 높게 함유하고 있다는 것으로 심혈관질환의 주범인양 무차별 강조하는 나머지 육식공포 내지는 계란 등의 혐오감 마저 불러 일으키는 경향까지 있는 듯하다. 따라서 본논고에서는 축산식품중의 콜레스테롤 함량수준이 과연 성인병의 주범인지 아니면 다른 지방산과 관련해서 올바르게 평가하고 그 문제점과 대책을 개관해 보고 요약하면 다음과 같다. 1. 사람은 유사이래 본능적으로 주변의 식물이나 동물의 고기를 먹고 성장하여 자손을 증식시키고 어느 사이에 늙으면 죽음을 맞이 하는 싸이클을 반복하면서 기나긴 세월동안 진화를 하여 오늘날의 인간으로서의 자태를 이루었다. 유인원과 같은 인류의 선조들은 수렵을 통해 육식을 많이 하였을 것이므로 인간은 원래 육식동물이 아닐까? 구석기시대의 유물을 보면 많은 뼈가 출토되고 “얄타미라”나 “라스코” 동굴벽화가 선명하게 묘사되고 있다. 2. 우리나라 선조 승구족의 일파가 백두산을 비롯한 만주 송화강 유역에 유입되면서 수렵과 목축을 주요 식품획득의 수단으로 식품문화권을 형성하면서 남하하여 한반도 민족의 조상인 맥족(貊族)으로 맥적(貊炙)이라고 하는 요리(오늘날의 불고기)를 먹었다는 기록이 있다. 3. 인간의 수명을 1900년대로 거슬러 올라가서 뉴질랜드가 세계최장수국(호주는 2위)로서 평균수명은 남자 58세, 여자 69세인 반면 일본과 한국은 당시 남자 36세, 여자 37세이던 것이 일본은 1989년에 이르러 세계 최장수국으로 등장했으나 1990년 당시 뉴질랜드${\cdot}$호주 등은 목축 및 밀(小麥) 생산국가였기 때문이라는 것과 일본은 오늘날 합리적인 식생활 국가라는 것을 간과해서는 안된다. 4. 우리나라 10대 사망원인중 (1994년도) 뇌혈관질환이 1위, 교통사고 2위, 암이 3위 순위로서 연령별로는 10~30대의 불의의 사고(교통사고), 40~60대는 암, 70대 이상은 뇌혈관질환이 가장 많다. 구미${\cdot}$일 7개국 정상국가들은 심질환 사망이 가장 높다. 5. 식생활의 변화에 있어서 우리나라는 주식으로 섭취해 왔던 곡류는 70년 대비 94년에는 0.7배 감소된 반면 육류 5배, 계란 2.4배, 우유는 무려 29.3배 증가되었다. 식생활 패턴이 서구화 경향으로 바뀌는 것 같다. 6. 71년도 우리나라의 지질섭취량은 국민 1인당 1일 평균 13.1g에 섭취에너지의 5.7%수준이었으나 92년도에는 34.5g으로서 총에너지 섭취량의 16.6%에 달하고 총섭취 지방질중 동물성 섭취 비율은 47%를 차지 한다. 국민 평균 혈청콜레스테롤 농도는 80년에 비해 88년에는 11%가 증가되었고 80년에 210mg/dl 이상 되는 콜레스테롤 혈증인 사람의 비율이 5%에서 88년에는 23%로 크게 증가했다. 7. 세계 정상국가들의 단백질 즉 축산식품의 섭취는 우리나라보다 적게는 2배, 많게는 6~7배 더 섭취하고 90년도 우리나라의 지질섭취량은 일본의 1/3수준에 불과하다. 8. 콜레스테롤은 인체를 비롯한 모든 동물체에 필수적으로 분포하고 있는 것으로 체내 존재하고 있는 총량은 90~150g, 이중 혈청콜레스테롤은 4%(6g)를 차지하고 있음에도 불구하고 이 아주 적은 콜레스테롤에 일희일비(一喜一悲) 논쟁은 60~70년 끄러오고 있다. 9. 콜레스테롤의 생체내 기능으로서는 (1) 세포벽의 지지물질 (2) 신경세포 보호막물질 (3) 담즙산의 합성 (4) 비타민 D의 합성 (5) 임신시에 반듯이 필요한 분자 (6) 기타 여러 가지 기능을 수행하는 것으로 필수적인 물질이다. 10. 우리가 식이를 통해서 섭취 콜레스테롤을 550mg정도를 섭취한다고 하더라도 이 정도의 양은 배설 소모되는 양과 거의 맞먹는 양이다. 피부와 땀샘에서 소실되는 양만도 100~300mg에 달하기 때문에 미국농무성에서 섭취량을 300mg로 제한하는 것은 무의미하다. 11. 콜레스테롤 운반체로서의 지단백질은 그 밀도가 낮은 것으로부터 킬로미크론(chylomicron), 초저밀도 지단백질(VLDL), 저밀도 지단백질(LDL) 및 고밀도 지단백질(HDL)으로 나누는데 LDL은 혈청콜레스테롤 중 약 70%, HDL은 약20%를 함유한다. 12. 혈중 콜레스테롤 수준에 영향을 미치는 요인을 열거하여 보면 다음과 같다. 1) 음식을 통해서 섭취되는 콜레스테롤 중 단지 10~40%정도가 흡수되고, 체내에서 합성되는 콜레스테롤이 증가할수록 식이콜레스테롤은 실제 혈청콜레스테롤 수준에 거의 영향을 미치지 않으므로 식이중함량에 대하여 공포를 느끼고 기피할 필요가 없다. 2) 고도불포화지방산, 단가불포화지방산, 포화지방산의 비 즉 P/M/S의 비가 균형되도록 권장한다. 3) 동맥경화를 비롯한 성인병의 원인이 되는 혈전증에는 EPA의 양을 높여줌으로서 성인병을 예방할 수 있다. 4) 오메가6지방산 아라키도닉산과 오메가3지방산인 EPA로 유도되는 에이코사에노이드 또는 프로스타노이드는 오메가6와 3지방산을 전구체로 하여 생합성되는 중요한 생리활성 물질이다. 5) 사람은 일반적으로 20세에서 60세까지 나이를 먹어감에 따라 혈중 콜레스테롤 수준이 증가하고 60세 이후부터는 일정한 수준을 유지하며 심장보호성 HDL-콜레스테롤은 감소하는 반면에 죽상경화성 LDL콜레스테롤은 증가한다. 6) 높은 HDL콜레스테롤 수준이 심장병 발생 위험요인을 감소시키는 기능을 갖고 있기 때문에 좋은 HDL이라 부르고, LDL은 나쁜 콜레스테롤이라 부르기도 하는데, 이것은 유전적 요인보다도 환경적 요인이 보다 큰 영향을 미친다. 7) 이것은 생활 형태와 영양섭취상태를 포함해서 개인적 생활패턴에 영향을 받는다. 8) 많은 실험에서 혈중 콜레스테롤 상승은 노년의 가령(加齡)에 적응하기 위한 자연적 또는 생리적인 세포의 생화학적이고 대사적인 기능을 위해 필수적일 수 있다는 것을 간과해서는 안될 것이다. 이 점으로 미루어 노년의 여성들을 위한 콜레스테롤 농도를 200mg/dl이 가장 알맞은 양이 아닌 듯하다. 9) 스트레스는 두가지 모양으로 유발되는데 해로은 스트레스(negative), 이로운 스트레스(positive)로서 긴장완화는 혈중 콜레스테롤 농도를 10% 떨어진다. 10) 자주 운동을 하는 사람들은 혈중 HDL콜레스테롤치가 운동을 하지 않는 사람보다 높다. 육체적인 운동의 정도와 혈중 HDL콜레스테롤 농도와는 정비례한다. 11) 흡연은 지방을 흡착시키므로 혈전증의 원이이 되며 혈관속의 HDL농도를 감소시킨다. 12) 에너지의 과잉섭취에 의한 체중 증가느 일반적으로 지단백질대사에 영향을 미치고, 간에서는 콜레스테롤 과잉 생산과 더불어 VLDL콜레스테롤의 LDL콜레스테롤 혈증을 나타냄으로 운동과 더불어 비만이 되지 않도록 하여야 한다. 13. 콜레스테롤 함량에 대한 조절기술 1) 식품의 우열을 평가할 때 단순히 동물성 또는 식물성 식품으로 분류해서 총괄적으로 논한다는 것은 지양되어야 한다. 이것은 그 식품에 함유하고 있는 지방산의 종류에 따라서 다르기 때문이다. 2) 인체의 원할한 기능 유지를 위해서는 P /M /S비율 뿐만 아니라 섭취 지방질의 오메가6 /오메가3계 지방산의 비율이 모두 적절한 범위에 있어야 하며 한두가지 지방산만이 과량일 때는 또 다른 불균형을 일으킬 수 있다는 점을 알아야 한다. 3) 닭고기는 오메가6지방산 함량을 높이기 위하여 사료중에 등푸른 생선이나 어분이나 어유를 첨가하여 닭고기는 첨가수준에 따라 증가됨을 알 수 있다. 4) 오늘날 계란내의 지방산 조성을 변화시켜 난황내의 오메가 3계열 지방산 함량을 증가시킨 계란의 개발이 활발해졌다. 14. 계란 콜레스테롤에 대한 소비자들의 부정적 인식을 불식시키고자 계란의 클레스테롤 함량을 낮추는 과제가 등장하면서 그 기술개발이 여러모로 시도되고 있으나 아직 실용 단계에 이르지 못했다. 15. 계란의 콜레스테롤 문제에 대한 대책으로서 난황의 크기를 감소시키는 방법에 대한 연구도 필요하다. 16. 계란 중 콜레스테롤 함량 분석치는 표현 방식에 따라서 소비자들을 혼란시킬 가능성이 있다. 또한 과거에는 비색법으로 분석했으나 오늘날은 효소법으로 분석하면 분석치에 상당한 차이가 있다. 17. 소비자의 요구를 만족시키고 버터 소비를 촉진시키기 위해 콜레스테롤을 감소시키는 물리적${\cdot}$생물학적 방식이 제안되어 있으나 현장적용이 가능한 것은 아직 없다. 18. 우리나라에서 이미 시판되고 있는 DHA우유가 선보였고 무콜레스테롤 버터의 경우 트란스(trans)형 지방산에 관해서는 논란의 여지가 많을 것이다. 끝으로 국가 목표의 하나는 복지사회 건설에 있고 복지국가 실현에는 국민 기본 욕망의 하나인 식생활 합리화가 선행되어야 한다. 소득이 늘고 국가가 발전해감에 따라 영양식${\cdot}$건강식 및 기호식을 추구하게 됨을 매우 당연한 추세라 하겠다. 우리의 식생활이 날로 향상되어 지난날의 당질 위주에서 점차 축산물쪽으로 질적 개선이 이루어진다는 것은 고무적임에 틀림없다. 이 축산물을 통한 풍요로운 식의 문화를 창출하면서 건강과 장수 그리고 후손에 이르기까지 번영하고 국가 경쟁력 강화에 심혈을 기우려야 할 때이다.