• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.450-460
• /
• 2015

Metropolitan-wide economic region policy which was enforced by Lee Myeongbak government was a timely policy at least to Dongnam region. However, examining the activities and outcomes of Dongnam Regional Development Committee, there are many doubts about the policy as metropolitan-wide governance. Dongnam Regional Development Committee had many operational problems. It had few independent labor force and low budget. Also its authority was limited. Above all, its purpose and function was unclear. As a result, the policy was abolished as new government suceeded. Henceforth Dongnam region needs metropolitan-wide governance for metropolitan-wide economic development. If an organization which supports industrial and regional development of Dongnam region would be reestablished, the orientation of governance has to be determined. In this case, the main function of the organization would be researching about Dongnam metropolitan-wide economic region, and suggesting and recommending metropolitanwide development strategy. For the benchmark of the organization, Metropolitan Planning Organization of the US, Joint Venture at Silicon Valley and Regio Randstad of the Netherlands would be appropriate. Above organizations receive budgets from central and regional government and private sector. They research about regional economics and urban development which is comprehensive and metropolitan-wide and could not be done by local government alone.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
• /
• v.9 no.3
• /
• pp.297-317
• /
• 2006

This article is aimed to find a more successful way to build a metropolitan-wide governance for enhancing industrial cluster in South-East region, Korea. We begin a research with reviewing a current study of regional cluster and its governance. New industrial system and agglomeration changed regional growth theory and urban system. In traditional system, a central city dominated economy of the metropolitan area. However, with development of new transportation and communication technology, a central city lost their superiority to suburban cities. In other words, growing competition between central and suburban cities changed traditional concentration and diffusion theory of urbanization which dominated urban geography for last decades. Next, current situation of development of industrial cluster in South-East region is examined to suggest policy for more competitiveness. South-East region has grown as the most prominent cluster of mechanical engineering and metal industry in Korea since the late 1970s. In the form of agglomeration and network of a specific and its related industry, South-East region has formed a linear industrial belt along with the inter-regional South Coast Highway and contain about ten industrial cities. Accompanying with this growing South-East region, a problem has risen from geographic mismatch between metropolitan-wide industrial cluster and its administrative boundary. Since industrial cluster has no specific administrative boundary, adequate government support for developing industrial cluster has not been provided. Responding to the problem, academics and policy makers maintain need in establishing a metropolitan-wide governance for supporting a cluster. At the end, this paper provides some implication to planners and policy makers.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.240-250
• /
• 2018

By the end of 2017, in a world of 7.6 billion people, there were inequalities in healthcare indices both within and between nations, and this gap continues to increase. Therefore, this study aims to understand the current status of regional inequalities in healthcare indices and to find an action plan to tackle regional health inequality through a geo-economic review in Korea. Since 2008, there was great inequality in life expectancy and healthy life expectancy by region in not only metropolitan cities but also districts in Korea. While the community health statistics from 2008-2017 show a continuous increase of inequality during the last 10 years in most healthcare indices related to noncommunicable diseases (except for some, like smoking), the inequality has doubled in 254 districts. Furthermore, health inequality intensified as the gap between urban (metropolitan cities) and rural regions (counties) for rates of obesity (self-reported), sufficient walking practices, and healthy lifestyle practices increased from twofold to fivefold. However, regionalism and uneven development are natural consequences of the spatial perspective caused by state-lead developmentalism as Korea has fixed the accumulation strategy as its model for growth with the background of export-led industrialization in the 1960s and heavy and chemical industrialization in the 1970s, although the Constitution of the Republic of Korea recognizes the legal value of balanced development within the regions by specifying "the balanced development of the state" or "ensuring the balanced development of all regions." In addition, the danger of a 30% decline or extinction of local government nationwide is expected by 2040 as we face not only a decline in general and ageing populations but also the era of the demographic cliff. Thus, the government should continuously operate the "Special Committee on Regional Balanced Development" with a government-wide effort until 2030 to prevent disparities in the health conditions of local residents, which is the responsibility of the nation in terms of strengthening governance. To address the regional inequalities of rural and urban regions, it is necessary to re-adjust the basic subsidy and cost-sharing rates with local governments of current national subsidies based mainly on population scale, financial independence of local government, or distribution of healthcare resources and healthcare indices (showing high inequalities) overall.