• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.800-823
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• 2004

This paper aims at examining the ways in which foreign immigrant workers in South Korea have been "forgotten" and "marginalized" in the regulatory politics of globalization and how the politics of "forgetting" has influenced the formation of immigrant local communities in South Korea. More specifically, by focusing on the immigrant community in Wongok dong, Ansan, it explores the forming questions. First, under what conditions has Wongok' dong become one of the biggest communities for foreign workers in South Korea? Second, how has the growth of the Wongok-dong immigrant community been influenced by the politics of "exclusion", and "inclusion" taking place at various geographical scales? Based on this case study, this paper suggests that the practices of "exclusion" and "forgetting" should not be seen as an inevitable outcome of globalization; instead, they need to be seen as an outcome of political processes, in which the practices of "exclusion" and "inclusion" are intertwined with one another through interactions and negotiations among different interests and ideas that take place in the multi-scalar regulatory processes, which contribute to the (material and discursive) construction of globalization.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.240-259
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• 2009

This study aimed to reveal that a local city was recreated by tourism, and to discover a general process in which the regional identity as a tourist destination was reconstructed. Specifically, firstly, this study suggested that the social construction of cultural tourist destinations was composed of a series of dynamic stages such as 'reinterpretation', 'institutionalization', and 'recognition' conceptually. Secondly, the dynamic stages were analyzed on the ethnographic study of Otaru where the movement of preservation of the historical canal was raised and strategies to attract tourism had been implemented. Thirdly, a main mechanism acting on each stage was examined. In conclusion, it was shown that the region was reinterpreted through the politics of identity and the meaning was institutionalized through political and economic negotiation. Moreover, while being established as a constructed authenticity by politics of memory, the regional identity was embedded in the socio-spatial consciousness constantly.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.348-365
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• 2013

This paper aims to examine the complexities of the state-nature relations in Korea by emphasizing the complex processes of interactions between the state and nature. In doing so, it relies on the literature of "political ecology of state-nature" which problematizes the conventional modernist views on nature assuming the dualistic separation between the state and nature. First, we critically review the existing Korean literature on the state-nature relation (e.g., the ecologism, the metabolic rift theory, the social construction of the nature, the green state thesis, etc.) and argue that these studies significantly lack the recognition of the interactions between the state and nature. Second, we discuss the possibilities of seeing the state-nature relations from the perspective of political ecology as an alternative approach to the state-nature relation. Last, we conclude that the political ecology approach to the state-nature can deepen our understandings of the Korean capitalist development.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.613-632
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• 2016

The recent diagnosis of the Anthropocene challenges public understanding of nature as a pure and singular entity removed from society, as the diagnosis confirms the earth-changing force of humans. In geography, the nature-society divide has been critically interrogated long before the diagnosis of the Anthropocene, developing several ways of theorizing nature-society relations. This paper introduces a new frontier for such theoretical endeavors: more-than-human geography. Inspired by the material and performative turn in geography and the social sciences around the 2000s, more-than-human geographers have sought to re-engage with the livingness of the world in the study of nature-society relations. Drawing on actor-network theory, non-representational theory (NRT) and vitalism, they have developed innovative ways of thinking about and relating to nature through the key concepts of 'nonhuman agency' and 'affect'. While more-than-human geography has been extensively debated and developed in recent Euro-American scholarship on cultural and economic geography, it has so far received limited attention in Korean geographical studies on nature. This paper aims to address this gap by discussing the key concepts and seminal work of more-than-human geography. I first outline four theoretical strands through which nature-society relations are perceived in geography. I then offer an overview of more-than-human geography, discussing its theoretical foundations and considering ontologies, epistemologies, politics and ethics associated with nature-society relations. Then, I compare more-than-human geography with political ecology, which is the mainstream critical approach in contemporary environmental social sciences. I would argue that more-than-human geography further challenges and develops political ecology through its heightened attention to the affective capacity of nonhumans and the methodological ethos of doing a careful political ecology. I conclude by reflecting on the implications of more-than-human geography for Korean studies on nature-society relations.

• 한국지형공간정보학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.67-72
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• 2004

21세기 지식정보화 사회를 당면하면서 정치, 경제, 문화 등의 환경이 다양한 형태로 급속히 변하고 있다. 다양한 형태의 정보를 적절한 기술을 이용하여 보다 효율적으로 수집하고 이를 신속하고 정확하게 분석하여 합리적인 의사결정을 하여야 하는데 사회변화의 속도가 급변함에 따라 당면한 문제들의 해결과 미래의 정보 수요에 부응하기 위한 핵심 기술로서 GIS는 정보화시대에서 무엇보다 정보시스템의 구축을 위한 계획 수립이 절실하게 되었다. 이러한 지리정보시스템에 동영상데이터의 연계기능을 더하여 영상을 기반으로 직접 사용자와 상호작용을 하며 데이터를 분석, 관리, 출력하는 동영상지리정보시스템(Video Geographic Information System: Video GIS)이 GIS 분야에 있어 새로운 연구 분야로 떠오르고 있다. 본 연구에서는 사회변화의 속도가 급변하는 도시기반시설물들을 효율적으로 개발, 관리하고 비행선촬영시스템을 통하여 취득된 동영상 자료를 객체추적 알고리즘에 의해 데이터의 양을 줄였다. 수치지도와 동영상데이터의 공간정보를 연계시켜 도시지역에 존재하는 각종 시설물을 관리할 수 있는 동영상 정보시스템을 Prototype으로 구축하여 그 가능성을 제시하였다.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.691-709
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• 2007

This paper investigates the social and political construction of geographical scale in conjunction with Korean housing politics. Recently, attention has been drawn to the issue of the social and political construction of geographical scale. Spatial scales have increasingly been regarded as socially constructed and politically contested rather than ontologically pregiven or fixed. The scale literature has paid attention to how different spatial scales can be used or articulated in social movements, with an emphasis on 'up-scaling' and 'scales of activism' rather than 'down-scaling' and 'scales of regulation.' Furthermore, the scale literature has focused on the aspect of empowerment. However, it is worthwhile to examine how scale-especially 'down-scaling' and 'scales of regulation'-can be used not only for marginalizing or excluding unprivileged social groups, but also for controlling the (re)production of space, including housing space. Under a regulatory regime, the Korean central government gained more control over the (re)production of housing space at geographical multi-scales by means of 'jumping scales,' specifically 'down-scaling.' The Korean central government has increasingly obtained the capacity to 'jump scales' by using not only multiscalar strategies for housing developments, but also taking advantage of various scales of institutional networking among the central and local governments, quasi-governmental institutions, and Chaebols, across the state. Traditionally, scale has been regarded as an analytical spatial unit or category. However, scale can be seen as means of inclusion(and exclusion) and legitimation. Choosing institutions to include or exclude cannot be separated from the choices and range of spatial scale, and is closely connected to 'scale spatiality of politics.' Facilitating different forms of 'scales of regulation,' the Korean central government included Chaebols and upper- and middle-income groups for the legitimization of housing projects, but excluded local-scale grassroots organizations and unprivileged social groups as decision-makers.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.270-296
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• 2011

The named source kept in all place names alludes to the close relationship between place name and its place while it also becomes a fundamental condition for geographical research on place names. Meanwhile, the named source may be recognized differently according to who the social subjects producing and changing place names Life. Place names represent and constitute the identity and the ideology of the diverse social subjects. This aspect is related to cultural politics concerned with conflicts and contestation among different social subjects over the meaning of place names. Particularly, the Gongju-Mok Jingwan Area in the Korean peninsula has long history and geopolitical location as a borderland and a buffer zone. As a result, it has provided many conditions for cultural diversity and power relations, both of which have caused social subjects to contest their social power across space and time, and has led to produce the several types in the changes of place names. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the types according to the named source, especially that of the forepart of place names morpheme, and those cultural-political meanings. These place names are classified into three large groups, such as the physical place names, the social place names, and the economic place names. These types of place names have represented the place identity and the ideology of diverse social subjects, and also accompanied the changes by power relations between themselves.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.139-155
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• 2018

This study investigates the processes of the "Production of Nature" and the preservation and exploitation of nature in the local festival. The recent discussions in tourism geography address the neoliberalization of nature with its political-ecological interpretation. Yangyang-gun has been one of the main regions that have made efforts to make salmon back to the streams. Also, the Yangyang Salmon Festival was organized to celebrate and symbolize the successful restoration of nature. In fact, however, the festival focuses on the commercialization of salmon. Moreover, it is hard to consider Namdaecheon as the successfully restored ecosystem for salmon. As the returning number of salmon has not significantly increased and the festival itself has not been successful to attract many tourists, the local people show declining interest on the conservation of salmon. Contrast to the catchphrase of the festival to emphasize the conservation of nature and restoration of ecosystem, there are still many hurdles that jeopardize returning of salmon. This controversy leads diverse actors into conflict over the conservation of salmon and Namdaecheon. The players in the dispute encompass local people, local and national governments and international organization. Nature appropriated for ecotourism is selectively defined, used and emphasized by the interests of agencies at multiple scales. The findings of this study show that the concept of "Produced Nature" is more useful than intrinsic or original perspective on nature as long as we try to understand the commercialization of nature that is appropriated for the repertoire of local festival.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.475-495
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• 2006

This paper is to analyse a changing space of energy flows in Northeast Asia from geopolitical and geoeconomic perspectives that have been recently promoted for energy security of countries in this region. The research is based on an analytical framework in an integration of political ecology and political economy. Because of an ever-increasing input of energy resources for economic growth and of dramatically increasing price of crude oil and recent instability of oil market, South Korea, China and Japan have been deeply concerned with energy security and conducted very actively geopolitical strategies. And hence the space of energy flows in the region is now in a process of dynamic reconfiguration, in which the project for development of oil and natural gas fields in East Siberia and construction of pipelines to transport them can be seen as one of competitive issues among these countries. In spite of worrying about stagflation due to rapid increase of oil price, such geo-strategies for energy security and reconfiguration of space of energy flows seem to keep the accumulation of capital in this region continue with generation of huge privatized oil companies.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.599-619
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• 2008

Korean peninsula has a long history and a geopolitical location as a buffer tone, which has provided the conditions for cultural dynamism and diversity across space and time. The changing processes of place names in Korea is considered to be better suited to the study on cultural politics that is interested in the culture wars over the meaning of culture among different social subjects. In order to ensure the legitimacy of cultural politics for the study of place names in Korea, this study attempts to make a theoretical construction based on the concepts of place identity, territorial contestation, and the politics of scale. Cultural and linguistic theories to be best applied to the study of place names in Korea are the theories on Angehm's and Castells' identity, $P{\hat{e}}cheux's$ identification, Hall's decoding, and Voloshinov's ideological sign. Power relations involved in the inclusion and exclusion are necessarily concerned with the process of constructing a place identity or territorial identity by means of a place name, which represents identity and ideology of a social subject. In the examination of this process, it is necessary to take the elements of identity, ideology and power relations into consideration. In this study, therefore, the politics of scale is experimented for its applicability in the study of place name in Korea, which is expected to accommodate concepts of boundary, territory, territoriality and territorialization. In the end, it is suggested in this study that a series of basic and interdisciplinary studies on the cultural politics of place names in a range of area should be undertaken along with the enough theoretical knowledge of cultural politics.