• 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.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.5-9
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• 2014

Purpose - The purpose of this study was to compare and contrast the applicability and effectiveness of both teukyakmeip contracts of Korea and consignment contracts of the United State to demonstrate the effectiveness and practicability of teukyakmeip in Korea. These are popular contract agreements between large retailers and their suppliers and vendors. In recent years, teukyakmeip was critically examined and scrutinized by the politicians, the media, and the public of Korea. Consequently, this paper focusesheavily on identifying and analyzing different types of contract agreements between large retailers and their suppliers that currently exist in Korea and compares and contrasts those analyzed contract agreements with teukyakmeip. The article also comparesand contrasts teukyakmeip with the consignment agreements of the United States to identify similarities and differences. Research design, data, and methodology - This study is a descriptive study and has used personal interviews to collect and analyze the data. This study also fits the definition of the case study wherein it is entirely focused on investigating a real-life event: analyzing and examining contract agreements in the distribution industry. Both randomly selected management and vendor representatives from the three major department stores, Lotte, Hyundai, and Shinsegae, in Korea were interviewed between July and September 2013. The analysis of the consignment agreement was conducted based on existing secondary data. Results - Although the evidence of the abuse of teukyakmeip and consignment by large retailers from both countries clearly exists, the findings suggestthat both contract agreements would remain as the most relevant and effective legal contracts between large retailers and their suppliers. Based on the comparisonanalysis of teukyakmeip and consignment, both contracts indicated that suppliers are fully responsible for inventory and inventory management. If sales person is necessary for promoting special product, then suppliers are responsible for providing a sales person and their wages under both contracts. However, American department stores, those located outside urban area, tend to use their own employees to perform special product and sales promotion. The retailersare fully responsible for any interior or floor design or redesign of the retail store to accommodate the products from vendors under consignment; however, both suppliers and retailers share the cost of designing and redesigning the interior to accommodate vendors'products under teukyakmeip. Suppliers are responsible for pricing and supplying the quantity of the products under both agreements. Both contracts allow special sales commission as long as vendors agreed. Vendors use this special commissionto introduce their new products or apply market penetration strategy. Conclusions -The findings of this study showed the changing pattern of contract agreements between large retailers and their suppliers from both countries. Furthermore, this study evidently generated policy implications of teukyakmeip which recently became the major social issue in Korea and attracted many policymakers to gain political points by criticizing the teukyakmeip system and the large retailers. The findings of the study would be valuable to policy makers in making appropriate decisions and to large retailers and vendors in making beneficial agreements. The major implication of this study is that teukyakmeip and consignment agreements include very similar or almost identical characteristics, and they are popular among department stores and suppliers. The issue of abolishing teukyakmeip in Korea needs to be examined cautiously because teukyakmeip is the best one available at the moment, and the study suggests that no one benefits from abolishing this system.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.100-119
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• 2020

During recent years, the heat environment and particulate matter (PM₁₀) have become serious environmental problems, as increases in heat waves due to rising global temperature interact with weakening atmospheric wind speeds. There exist urban heat islands and urban pollution islands with higher temperatures and air pollution concentrations than other areas. However, few studies have examined these issues together because of a lack of micro-scale data, which can be constructed from spatial data. Today, with the help of satellite images and big data collected by private telecommunication companies, detailed spatial distribution analyses are possible. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the spatial distribution patterns of urban heat islands and urban pollution islands within Busan Metropolitan City and to compare the distributions of the two phenomena. In this study, the land surface temperature of Landsat 8 satellite images, air temperature and particulate matter concentration data derived from a private automated meteorological observation system were gridded in 30m × 30m units, and spatial analysis was performed. Analysis showed that simultaneous zones of urban heat islands and urban pollution islands included some vulnerable residential areas and industrial areas. The political migration areas such as Seo-dong and Bansong-dong, representative vulnerable residential areas in Busan, were included in the co-occurring areas. The areas have a high density of buildings and poor ventilation, most of whose residents are vulnerable to heat waves and air pollution; thus, these areas must be considered first when establishing related policies. In the industrial areas included in the co-occurring areas, concrete or asphalt concrete-based impervious surfaces accounted for an absolute majority, and not only was the proportion of vegetation insufficient, there was also considerable vehicular traffic. A hot-spot analysis examining the reliability of the analysis confirmed that more than 99.96% of the regions corresponded to hot-spot areas at a 99% confidence level.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.364-388
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• 1995

Even though rarely recognized as a separate approach, the institutional approach in geography is defined as an attempt to seek an explanation of the phenomena of geographical interest through focusing on the effects of institutional structure and actions. It can provide interdisciplinary links with other works and can offer complementary explanations for geographical interests. The concerns for institutions in geography can be found in early studies, the study of the state, the managerial approach, and the regulation approach. The Korean financial systems can provide good examples to apply institutional concepts into creating spatial outcomes, as it has been regarded as a useful tool to promote Korean economic development. Behind the current spatial pattern of financial systems, four different stages of institutional changes are identified in Korea. Each stage has different institutional features reflecting unique spatial implication.

• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.1-21
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• 2012

The objective of this study is to suggest improvement plan for invention gifted education based on the awareness of teachers and professionals who related to the invention gifted education for the expansion and development of invention gifted education through improvement of relevant problems. To this end, invention gifted education system and its operational status were analyzed, and questionnaire survey on the awareness of the development plan and satisfaction level was conducted, targeting professionals related to the invention gifted education and teachers in charge of invention gifted education classes or gifted education center. The research results are as follows. First, the level of satisfaction on the invention gifted education was greater than normal (M=3.0) in general, but in the field of 'educational materials', 'teacher training programs' and 'human and material support system of support agencies', the level of satisfaction was relatively low, which requires expansion of the support. Second, it is necessary for Korean Intellectual Property Office and Korea Invention Promotion Association to designate and establish specialized research institution to play a key role in enhancing development and efficiency of invention gifted education. As a result of the questionnaire survey, it turned out that expectation and necessity of the specialized research agency was highly recognized. In particular, demand for 'research and development of gifted education method and materials' and 'research and development of teacher training materials and implementation of teacher training' was high among the key areas of the specialized research institution. Third, teachers and professionals related to the invention gifted education responded that 'invention knowledge' in the areas of invention knowledge and thinking and 'entrepreneurship' in the area of invention attitude was somewhat low toward the question on the level of the 9 characteristics of gifted students with invention talents which current beneficiaries of invention gifted education have, which leads to conclusion that review on the model for the selection of gifted children with invention talents as well as research and development of invention gifted education program to enhance characteristics with low levels is required. If long-term development plans and initiatives are deduced based on this, an effective framework for the invention gifted education will be established in the near future. In addition, it is expected that the differentiated political visions and goals will be established in connection with master plan for the promotion of gifted education.

• Korean Security Journal
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• no.36
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• pp.417-442
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• 2013

This study considers the characteristics of the separation of public and private security service during Koryo dynasty, and compares it with the modern security service. Modern day security service's definition of private and public security service was used to distinguish them. Given the different historical settings, it's difficult to argue that the distinction between public and private service during Koryo dynasty was clear, but it can be said that public security service was centered around palace guard and concerns the activities of protest, and military made for the relationship, and private security service was centered around power of DoBang and includes the activities of malingering, and Byolchogun. During the early days of Koryo, protest, district military and soldiers who stay in the palace were all parts of a palace revolt and this institutional improvement of soldiers who stay in the palace was accomplished during King Seongjong's rule. The tradition of a palace revolt can find its roots in the middle military, and after the unification, a palace revolt was reformed into the king's palace revolt of second and the 6th along the course of establishing the nation's system. All of the changes stem from the reformation for consolidating the royal authority. Gyung Dae Seoung wanted to protect himself and he slept with his army night and days and because of that, group of soldiers was created and it was called DOBANG. Some members were from dobang gyeonryong, The forced were powerful because it was gathered with a warriors with extraordinaire martial arts and competent management. Most of the soldiers followed gyeong dae seung because they believed that he has a strong leadership and loves his people, and had a strong faith in him. However, the general gyeong jang had a belief that politics must be reverted to the previous so the relationships between jungbang wasn't smooth. Because of the economic operational problems, due to fraud committed by the mens under his command failed to maintain integrity and was criticised.The misconception also fed up with the emperor and the deepening relationships between the soldiers, his dobang was dismantled. After he took over the dobang, for his personal safety and to strengthen his position he compensated gyeon dae seong's dobang and developed the organization. In the process of extending the dobang Choi chung heon recruited many talented people to strengthen the military base, and also accepted the advice and expanded the power of Dobang. Choi Chung Heon thus consolidated his political gains by weakening the power of the king's army and adjusting the myth, which could've threatened his regime, and this was called Dobang number 6th. Dobang number six got even more powerful by his son named Choi woo, and after ruling, he expanded into a room, and a substantial reorganization of Dobang was developed. And then the creation of yabyeolcho also showed the effect to prevent the crisis. Although the palace guards who were public security service of Koryo Dynasty was still maintained during the military rule era when the royal authority was incapacitated, it was only maintained to have a symbolic meaning as the actual authority including military power was with Choi, the master of Dobang, private security service group. Likewise, during the rule of Choi, private securty service could reign over public security service, and the noteworthy characteristic of Dobang is that it assisted the private soldier groups to seize the military power by reorganizing and modifying military system. Although both differences and similarities can be found when comparing the guards of Koryo Dynasty with those of contemporary society, they have a similarity in terms of the essence of guards that they guarantee the safety of their clients. As for differences, the royalty of Koryo Dynasty and the pursuit of profit of contemporary society are in contrast, and contemporary guards can be seen as the fulfillment of responsibility and duty by free will, whereas guards of Koryo Dynasty were ruled with military coercion.

• Korean Security Journal
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• no.36
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• pp.349-386
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• 2013

This research analyzes and evaluates The Korean Security Industry Law(TKSIL) putting the regulation of the present government about the private security industry. It nowadays becomes the important axis of the police services offered in the aspect of 'the national life safety' in connection with 'the materialization of society which is safe from the crime'. TKSIL is one of the national administration strategies which Park Gun-hye government aims on supervision policy. After seeking out the core values of the private security industrial policy which sets up in order to approach the national life safety which Park Gun-hye government aims, we make some assessments of this revised security industry law systematically. Particularly all keynote of policy about the private security of the police tried to be confirmed and the desirable direction of policy tries to be presented as to the security industry law application and real operation. In the site of organized civil complaint, the revised security industry law was revised as the direction which intensifies the administrative regulation as to the partial regulation such as it established the reason of the introduction of the arrangement license system. And grounds for disqualification of security instructor and guard, and rules of punishment is intensified order to intercept previously illegal and violent act of the security company etc. However it has the feature that it accomplishes 'the law principle(principle of statute)' the substantial portion through the effort of them changing a lot the content for the form of the law when being the clauses of the fundamental human rights limit, although it has been prescribed in "the security industry law enforcement ordinance" or "the security industry law enforced regulation". The security industry law revised this time brought from the change of the sharp policy through the revision of 17 clauses or new establishment. It can divide into 4 categorizes. (1) strictness of punishment in the site of organized civil complaint (2) Intensification of throwing out for the violation person in the private security business market time-limitedly (3) Intensification of the legal guide supervision power of police (4) upstream of the capital, name tag attachment under compulsion and the limit about other equipment use etc. Essentially "the security industry law" cannot help regulating the national interference of the private security and regulation with this content. However as to this interference and regulation, the limit has to be possible within reasonable range. As the history proved, excessive regulation by the country is not only due to bring the distortion of the security system of nation but also provoke national social cost. It can't be disregards ever that it premises the harmony which appropriate as well as reasonable in the socio-economic dimension for drawing the best combination that all things which get the compulsory education, it limits the person providing the private security service to the corporation, or it limits to the certificate of qualification holder are the ultimate for 'the safety of the national life'.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.131-143
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• 2001

The primary aim of this dissertation is to contribute to the improvement of methods in physical examination by providing quality information for the current school system and advice for improving status. Present status, controversial points and possible remedies in physical examination were analyzed on a frequency and percentage basis. An $x^2$-test was used to verify the statistics between the results from the examination and each variable. In case of multiple categories of variables, an $x^2$ cs was adopted. Chronological data as well as both total and sampling physical examination data verified the statistics using an $x^2$-test. This thesis is based both on the data from middle school health care specialists in Gyunggi Province and on the analysis of physical examinations reported from local schools to the municipal education agency from 1997 to 1999. The results of the study are as follows: First, according to the survey, only 29.0% of the total schools had their school doctors examine all the students while most of the educational institutions failed to implement the whole process of physical examination on the list. It also turned out that the more students the schools have, the lower the rate of implementation of physical examination by school doctors(p=0.014). Second, the average time a school doctor spends for checkup turned out to be approximately 1.7 minutes per student This means that the quality of the physical examination is not guaranteed in the process. Third, 47.7% of those surveryed say that a dental examination was performed, each taking 21.24 seconds on average. In addition, it shows that some 31.5% wanted to have a task force team for dental checkups at the local health center. Given the fact that dental caries among students is progressively on the rise, the dental health centers that are now set up in some elementary schools should be expanded to cover the whole educational institution in order to raise awareness of the importance of dental care. Fourth, 48.5% of those surveyed say that a comprehensive physical examination should be adopted to promote the health of high schoolers. Since it takes a lot of public funds to implement a comprehensive method, it is essential to make sure that in-depth studies should be based on the frequency and methods of physical examination. Fifth, regarding such diseases among 3rd year middle school students in 1999, statistics shows that there was a slight difference in the prevalence rate of color blindness, and allergic diseases for male students ; and color blindness, hearing disturbance and allergic disease for female students. For those items, however, it is too little to say that there is a significant difference and accordingly it is assumed to be a problem of the measuring process. Sixth, the result of analysis on the sample physical examination and the total physical examination of the year 1999 shows as follows: For male students in the 3rd year of middle school, a slight difference appeared to those students in 11 items including eye problems and eye disease, otitis media, tonsillar hypertrophy, spinal shape, respiratory urinary allergic disease and other abnormal diseases(p<0.05). Particularly, the prevalence rate between students with and without disease was shown to be two times more in the following: eye problems, otitis media, tonsill hypertrophy, allergic diseases, etc. For female students in the 3rd year, prevalence rate showed little difference in 14 items(p<0.05). For items including eye problem, otitis media, tonsill hypertrophy, allergic disease, etc. it was shown that the rate was two times more between students with and without diseases. Physical examinations under the current school system are not producing any fundamental results for the health of the students. Methods and results are not trustworthy. Accordingly, a drastic overhaul of the current practices is needed in frequency, methods and items on the list in order to promote the health of the students. Cost-benefit studies as well as political considerations to ensure the development of efficient methods for physical examination are urgently needed at this moment.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.101-130
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• 2012

This study examines mortality change in North Korea and its association with state production and welfare systems. Two main subjects are analyzed. The first theme is to examine the reliability of mortality related data released by North Korea government authorities. Examining inner consistencies among mortality related statistics and comparing with mortality trends in other socialist societies, the study finds that mortality rate was under estimated. Under-estimation of mortality by North Korean authorities is regarded to result not only from political purpose which aims to propagate the regime's superiority but also from enumeration errors of vital statistics based on the residence registration. The second theme is to estimate the change in mortality of North Korean people since the establishment of DPRK, correcting errors of mortality data. Mortality of North Korean people is estimated to have improved largely by the early 1970s, to have been sluggish hereafter, and finally to have increased during the economic hardship period between 1993 and 2008. While large people died during the food crisis in the late 1990s, however the population loss caused by mortality increase was not so great as the proposition of the huge starvation was expected. It is partly because population turbulence occurred not just by mortality increase, rather it has progressed in the joint effects of fertility decline and exodus of North Korean people for food. It is also due to North Korean people's voluntary activities of informal economy. It is also worth noting the high mortality rate of North Korean men. The high mortality of North Korean men is likely due to men's mobilization for long time in army and labor with high risk of accident and their life styles.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.11 no.11
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• pp.321-335
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• 2020

Given that with the development of the 4th industry, interest and desire for smart cities are gradually increasing and related technologies are developed as a way to strengthen urban competitiveness by utilizing big data, information and communication technology, IoT, M2M, and AI, the purpose of this study is to find out how to achieve this goal on the premise of the idea of smart well fair city. In other words, the purpose is to devise a smart well-fair city in the care area, such as health care, medical care, and welfare, and see if it is feasible. With this recognition, the paper aimed to review the concept and scope of smart city, the discussions that have been made so far and the issues or limitations on its connection to social security and social welfare, and based on it, come up with the concept of welfare city. As a method of realizing the smart welfare city, the paper reviewed characteristics and features of a social security platform as well as the applicability of smart city, especially care services. Furthermore, the paper developed discussions on the standardization of the city in terms of political and institutional improvements, utilization of personal information and public data as well as ways of institutional improvement centering on social security information system. This paper highlights the importance of implementing the digitally based community care and smart welfare city that our society is seeking to achieve. With regard to the social security platform based on behavioral design and the 7 principles(6W1H method), the present paper has the limitation of dealing only with smart cities in the fields of healthcare, medicine, and welfare. Therefore, further studies are needed to investigate the effects of smart cities in other fields and to consider the application and utilization of technologies in various aspects and the corresponding impact on our society. It is expected that this paper will suggest the future course and vision not only for smart cities but also for the social security and welfare system and thereby make some contribution to improving the quality of people's lives through the requisite adjustments made in each relevant field.