• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.47-84
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• 2018

Domestic debates on 'international development' has hitherto been rather more focused on the narrow topic of Official Development Assistance (ODA) - therefore, practical and practice-oriented enquiries for the former's effective implementation have dominated the field as a result. However, such lack of foundational debates on 'development' has rendered the field inept to respond to the rapidly changing development landscape since the new millennium both globally and in Southeast Asia. With this particular problematique in mind, the paper argues for the utility of critical Southeast Asian studies in enriching theoretical debates in Korea's international development studies. In doing so, we analysed the trend of academic research published since 2000, of which theme concern international development with a specific geographical focus on Southeast Asia. The result shows that such publication and the thematic issues have witnessed rapid quantitative growth since 2007 - while the nature of the publications still clearly remained practical and practice-oriented for effective execution of ODA. We therefore propose the critical Southeast Asian studies to overcome the problematique above by emphasising more inter-/multi-disciplinary approaches that challenge the hegemonic paradigm in the field.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.253-262
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• 2014

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.121-144
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• 2018

The year 2016 in Cambodia witnessed the collapse of Cambodian democracy. Promising results in terms of fairness the communal elections achieved were eclipsed by the dissolution of the Cambodia National Rescue Party. With press and civil society also being silenced, the ruling Cambodian People's Party expects no more challenge to its authoritarian rule. The economy continued it growth in 2017. However, serious problems embedded in its structure threaten the likelihood of sustainable development. Cambodia with solid China backing began to amp up its voice on the international stage, heading to a head-on collision with big donators including the United States.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.117-136
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• 2004

The main purpose of this paper is to review the research on the border region, especially herein to consider theoretical models critically and then to gain the implication for appropriate analytical framework or rather theoretical model on the basis of the findings. Through the review of various literature, major finding are as follows. First, the term of border or frontier was used in a rather ambiguous way. Second, the early models in the border region research have been developed to explain barrier effects, of which the border was considered to playa role. However, as border regions change from the closed regions to the opened ones, more adequate models have accordingly been developed. Third, there were several attempts to typify border regions and they tend to focus on the issue of regional development of the regions. Fourth, according to the case studies of the border region research, many border regions are not in isolation or peripheral position any more. Rather they are transformed into potentially prosperous regions through the support of authority as well as inter-regional cooperation.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.23-42
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• 2000

This study is to investigate spatial patterns of urban labor market growth driven by marketization process and its implication for understanding regional uneven development in post-reform China. Using a shift share analysis, it shows that the geography of employment growth in China's industrial labor market has closely interacted with the space economy of industrial output, which in turn indicates a deepening of economic reform. By decomposing net employment growth into output and productivity effects, it is shown that the non-state sector holds rapid growth of both output and productivity and contributes to net employment growth through positive net shifts. On the contrary, this study also presents that the state sector with relative decrease in output and productivity holds employment decline effects during the reform period. Since there is a significant spatial dimension for the trend above, it is contended that labor market dynamics together with space economy of industrial production play an important role in determining regional patterns of economic development. In addition, through situating this investigation in the context of structural and institutional changes in the reform period, our understanding of regional patterns of labor market growth will be much furthered.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.1-50
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• 2016

This paper aims to investigate the cultural conflicts and characteristics of anti-Korean Wave discourse taken placed among Southeast Asian countries. To do this, it takes Vietnam and Indonesia as the study cases, which have been showing a trend of anti-Korean Wave discourse as well as high popularity of Hallyu. As research methods, the paper analyzes both on-line discourses of anti-Korean Wave and the email audience interviews from both countries. The results show some significant differences between the two countries as well as the similarity that Anti-Korean Wave discourses have been actively produced and disseminated through on-line media. As for Indonesia, the Anti-Korean Wave discourse pivots on the elements clashing between Indonesia's religion and cultural values and Korean consuming culture. According to the Anti-Korean Wave discourse, K-pop contents and entertainers are criticized for damaging the society's morals and cultural identities based on Islamic rules and values. Thus, the sentiment of the Anti-Korean Wave is likely to lead to the cultural nationalism for the sake of their cultural identity. As for Vietnam, anti-Korean Wave discourse mainly consists of issues on enthusiastic K-pop fans' anti-social behaviors and generational conflicts which are presumed attributed as the chief factor of the Anti-Korean Wave. In the Vietnamese discourse, social elites and adults treat the enthusiastic K-pop fans as those who are in need of educational care or psychological therapy. Unlike the Indonesian case, anti-Korean Wave discourse in Vietnam criticized the K-pop and the performer's competence for being cheap sexy and incompetence. They also denounce Korean dramas for their trite, typical story lines, use of excessive emotion, and unrealistic nature. However, the two country's interview participants have in common both acknowledged that rather than considering the Anti-Korean Wave as an issue that needs to be resolved it should be embraced as a natural cultural phenomenon.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.95-129
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• 2017

This study surveys and reviews political change, economic performance, and regional cooperation that were carried out in 2016 by Southeast Asian countries and ASEAN. This paper reports that what has followed the inauguration of new governments in Myanmar, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Laos fails to live up to the expectation and optimism that arose in the aftermath of elections and party congresses that took place in the first half of the year. In other countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, and Cambodia, where authoritarian regimes are faced with strong oppositions, the prospects for democratic change worsened to a substantial degree, as schisms and internal strives complicated the opposition camp as a result of instigation and intervention by the authoritarian leaders and their followers. In stable political systems, both democratic and authoritarian, no significant changes that may entail serious political implications were noticed. In 2016, the national economy of almost each and every country continued its slow but steady recovery that had started in 2014 and grew by 5% on the average. For 2017 onward, however, the earlier optimism that it would grow at least as fast dimmed down as uncertainty about the world economy looms larger due to the unexpected win by Donald Trump as U.S. president and the expected 'hard landing' of the Chinese economy around 2018. ASEAN declared the launch of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) only one day before the New Year, but its track record looked already bad and unpromising by the end of 2016. ASEAN leaders were tied up by their domestic politics and affairs too tightly to take time off to work seriously to observe the schedule as laid out in the AEC Blueprint 2025. Korea's relationship with Southeast Asian countries and ASEAN was "as good as it gets" in 2016 as ever but could become subject to tough review in the near future, if the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is found out to have been implicated in the ongoing Choi Sun Sil scandal and if the opposition wins the next presidential election to be held by this year.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.12-24
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• 2017

This paper analyzed the representation of migrants in television with the example of KBS's My Neighbor, Charles. This primetime TV show with consistent popularity has showcased different types of migrants from other Korean television shows in terms of gender and race, and, partly the difference brought popularity to it. This study finds the major reason of the difference from changed migration patterns in Korea. Until recently, the main population of immigrants in Korea was composed of female brides and workers, but it became diversified to include male and the West migrants. This triggered the changes in media representation, but not thoroughly. Though the faces of migrant protagonists have been diversified, the remaining ideology of nation-centric that has been the main frame to regard migrants as someone to be integrated through traditional values persists. This study finds a few conflicts between the traditional and the change. For example, represented realities of migrants are extends to include their activities in public domain, disputes of multicultural society such as social differentiation and bias, and the criticism of Korean traditional culture. In a gender perspective, while all the marriages represented showed different kinds of vulnerability, discourses of traditional familialism were also clearly presented through different tools of representation. This study aims at contributing existing studies of media representations of migrants with a more complicated pictures in the context of social changes and migration population changes.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.213-247
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• 2018

Thailand in 2017 the public sentiment has turned against the military government. The four pledges the military declared immediately after the 2014 coup, restoration of democracy, addressing of divisive politics, eradication of corruption, and stimulation of the economy have all failed. In the same year, however, Thai military junta began to recover it's diplomatic relationship with western countries including US and EU owing to promulgation of the new constitution endorsed by King Maha Vajiralongkorn and the lavish funeral of late King Bhumibol Adulyadej which was attended by huge number of condolence delegations from around the world including US Defense Secretary James Mattis. Since the 2014 coup, US has sanctioned the country under military junta led by General Prayuth Chan-o-cha for urging them back to the barracks. EU also joined this sanction measures. US signaled change in it's policy when General Prayuth got the chance to visit US and meet President Donal Trump in 2017. General Prayuth Chan-o-cha's military junta could start to restore it's reputation internationally. Domestically, he used absolute powers based on section 44 of the interim constitution, also guranteed in the new constitution. Oversea and national human rights groups have criticized that the interim constitution for permitting the NCPO, Thai military junta's official name, to carry out policies and actions without any effective oversight or accountability for human rights violations. On 1 December 2017, Thailand marked the one-year anniversary of King Maha Vajiralongkorn's accession to the throne as the country's new monarch, Rama X. In the first year of King Rama X's reign, arrests, prosecutions, and imprisonment under Article 112 of Thailand's Criminal Code (lese-majeste) have continued unabated in Thailand. NCPO has continued to abuse Article 112 to detain alleged violators and curb any form of discussion regarding the monarchy, particularly on social media. In this worsening human rights environment General Prayuth Chan-o-cha enforced continuously campaign like Thai-style democracy- an effort to promote largely autocratic 'Thainess' in such a way that freedom of expression is threatened. It is a resurgence of 'Sarit Model'. In the beginning of 2017 Thai military government raised the slogan of 'opportunity Thailand' in the context of 'Thailand 4.0' project which attempts to transform Thai economy based on industry-driven to innovation-driven for recovering robust growth. To consider freedom and liberty as a source of innovation, 'Thailand 4.0' led by 'Sarit Model' without democracy would be skeptical.