• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
• /
• 2012.05a
• /
• pp.37-37
• /
• 2012

The study aims to evaluate the complexity of relationships between the riparian states - China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia - in the Mekong River Basin since the mid-1990s with special reference to the discourse on hydropower development. A special emphasis will be put on the influence of China on hydropower development. Although a variety of issues on the river basin have been discussed among the riparian states, none of them has been effectively implemented owing to the lack of China's commitment to the discussions for sustainable water management. Now, a new turning point is observed in the region with emergence of the issue on hydropower development, not only in the upper basin but also in the lower basin. The discourse on hydropower in Mekong has quickly drawn attention of the public, accelerated by the onset of construction of the Xayabury Dam in Laos since November 2010. The influence of China as the upstream country with its political, economic, and military power has increasingly grown in the region over the last few decades, and such trend recently intensifies together with an expansion of Chinese commercial interests in the region. Since the establishment of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) in 1995, the four MRC members have striven to push forward a sustainable use of water resources in the basin. But the legitimacy of the MRC system has been eroded due to the lack of participation by Myanmar and China, and in particular, the Chinese absence has made the four riparian states blind about the change of water regime due to the Chinese dams upstream. Environmental damages due to hydropower development might be possible, including a drop of fish yields, crop production, and damages to the river's ecosystems. Vietnam and Cambodia have already expressed their concerns over the dam construction towards China as well as Laos by pointing out detrimental impacts of the dams to their economies. China's move to collaborate with the other riparian states since 2010 has given a positive signal in terms of sustainable water management in the river. However, this phenomenon never confirms China's proactive contribution to the cooperative activities within the framework of the MRC system. Laos' initiative to build a new dam in the lower basin alarms those who are opposed to dam construction in the fear of its far-reaching damages to the environment. The question goes back to the year-long debate on policy priorities given to economic growth or the environment. The riparian states require wisdom based on a consensus about sustainable water use rather than hydropower development based on individual growth dreams.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
• /
• 2007.11a
• /
• pp.1647-1656
• /
• 2007

With the growing international consensus regarding sustainable development of transportation, the plan of transportation infrastructure needs to meet various requirements toward enhancing environmental conditions. Accordingly, the upcoming long-term plan of high-speed rail network has to be reflecting the sustainability of transportation systems. In this paper, we propose methodologies based on multi-attribute utility theory for determining priorities of sustainable high-speed rail investment. The proposed methodologies identify indicators for sustainable transportation systems such as economic, environmental, social, and transportation-related ones and then, explain the way how to evaluate the overall sustainability by comparing the relative importance among indicators. This will help transportation agencies to prioritize high-speed rail investment toward sustainable transportation systems.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.12
• /
• pp.5107-5110
• /
• 2014

Background: The incidence rate of thyroid cancer has been increasing worldwide in recent years, and it is also the most prevalent cancer when it comes to the number of patients among Korean women. With it, ultrasonographic screening test has also become very common. However, there is still controversy over the performance of this screening test. Therefore, the National Evidence-based Healthcare Collaborating Agency (NECA) organized a Round-table Conference on the issues regarding ultrasonographic screening for thyroid cancer in Korea. The objective of the conference was mainly about delivering worthwhile information reflecting social value for the current situation, which was based on evidence surrounding thyroid cancer screening that relevant experts investigated and agreed on. The significance of this Round-table Conference lies in the fact that we reviewed the current evidence, and we were able to discuss the social value and future direction for ultrasonographic screening in Korea.

• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
• /
• v.31 no.2
• /
• pp.237-269
• /
• 2016

Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO) is the only intergovernmental space cooperation organization in Asia. Since its establishment to date, eight countries have signed the convention and become member states. South Korea participated actively in the preparatory phase of creating the organization, and one conference organized by AP-MCSTA which is the predecessor of APSCO was held in South Korea. However, after the APSCO Convention was opened for signature in 2005 to date, South Korea does not ratify the Convention and become a member. The rapid development of space commercialization and privatization, as well as the fastest growing commercial space market in Asia, provides opportunities for Asian countries to cooperate with each other in relevant space fields. And to participate in the existing cooperation framework (e.g., the APSCO) by the Asian space countries (e.g., South Korea) could be a proper choice. Even if the essential cooperation in particular space fields is challenging, joint space programs among different Asian countries for dealing with the common events can be initiated at the first steps. Since APSCO has learned the successful legal arrangements from ESA, the legal measures established by its Convention are believed to be qualified to ensure the achievement of benefits of different member states. For example, the regulation of the "fair return" principle confirms that the return of interests from the relevant programs is in proportion to the member's investment in the programs. Moreover, the distinguish of basic and optional activities intends to authorize the freedom of the members to choose programs to participate. And for the voting procedure, the acceptance of the "consensus" by the Council is in favor of protecting the member's interest when making decisions. However, political factors that are potential to block the participation of South Korea in APSCO are difficult to be ignored. A recent event is an announcement of deploying THAAD by South Korea, which causes tension between South Korea and China. The cooperation between these two states in space activities will be influenced. A long-standing barrier is that China acts as a non-member of the main international export control mechanism, i.e., the MTCR. The U.S takes this fact as the main reason to prevent South Korea to cooperate with China in developing space programs. Although the political factors that will block the participation of South Korea in APSCO are not easy to removed shortly, legal measures can be taken to reduce the political influence. More specifically, APSCO is recommended to ensure the achievement of commercial interests of different cooperation programs by regulating precisely the implementation of the "fair return" principle. Furthermore, APSCO is also suggested to contribute to managing the common regional events by sharing satellite data. And it is anticipated that these measures can effectively response the requirements of the rapid development of space commercialization and the increasing common needs of Asia, thereby to provide a platform for the further cooperation. In addition, in order to directly reduce the political influence, two legal measures are necessary to be taken: Firstly, to clarify the rights and responsibilities of the host state (i.e., China) as providing assistance, coordination and services to the management of the Organization to release the worries of the other member states that the host state will control the Organization's activities. And secondly, to illustrate that the cooperation in APSCO is for the non-military purpose (a narrow sense of "peaceful purpose") to reduce the political concerns. Regional cooperation in Asia regarding space affairs is considered to be a general trend in the future, so if the participation of South Korea in APSCO can be finally proved to be feasible, there will be an opportunity to discuss the creation of a comprehensive institutionalized framework for space cooperation in Asia.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
• /
• 2002.04a
• /
• pp.85-92
• /
• 2002

When the United Nation classified as Korea is the one of the water deficit country. The consensus was made that the water is the one of the precious national resources. Government increases their R/D budget trying to get more clean water bodies. For instances, 'Sustainable Water Resources Development' project is the one of major title in '21 Century Frontier Research project and there are several small research projects are undergoing by the Ministry of Agriculture and KARICO. However, when the environmental preservation issue has been get more emphasis, construction of the Surface Dam met the blockage from the environmentalists due to the problem of the their water buried area. Since the most fitting site for surface dam had been used in the past, some engineer move their focus on modification of the existing Dam's height to enlarge its capacity or dredging the bottom of the reservoir recently However dredging evoke water quality problem in return by accumulated materials at the bottom. Last year the Dong Gang Dam plan has been canceled by environmental problem in water buried area of the reservoir. With the point of this view, ground water gets more focus for the one of the useful alternative for clean water bodies. Underground dam technique which had widely applied once in the early nineteen eighties by the KARICO and attenuated due to engineering insufficiency. The technique is newly studied with the advanced engineering technique. Still groundwater usage rate in Korea is much lower comparing with the advanced countries and has many rooms to develop. Wells, under ground dam and radial collector wells are typical facilities up to now. There is little application in Korea for the Recharge Dam, which had been widely used in the advanced countries. The Recharge Dam is technique to conjunct surface water and groundwater body together, This technique had developed to increase groundwater recharge at the beginning This research is the result of the study on the possibility of the development of the new technology, Groundwater Reservoir' which was modified from Recharge Dam. Groundwater Reservoir is like a deep artificial lakes trenched in hard rock aquifer to get groundwater. The advantage of the Groundwater Reservoir is followings 1) It can be developed at the plains area, not in the deep valley 2) Huge water body can be developed without dam 3) Small buried area comparing surface water dam makes the least environmental effect. 4) Trenching cost can be substitute by the income of the selling rock debris 5) Outfit of the reservoir can be modified to match with the site prospect 6) Rock debris can be used as constructing materials 7) It can be used as groundwater recharge system when the heavy rains comes 8) The reservoir looks like scenery lake with huge clean water bodies.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
• /
• v.39 no.6_1
• /
• pp.1309-1320
• /
• 2023

The technological development and popularization of mobile devices have developed so that users can check their location anywhere and use the Internet. However, in the case of indoors, the Internet can be used smoothly, but the global positioning system (GPS) function is difficult to use. There is an increasing need to provide real-time location information in shaded areas where GPS is not received, such as department stores, museums, conference halls, schools, and tunnels, which are indoor public places. Accordingly, research on the recent indoor positioning technology based on light detection and ranging (LiDAR) equipment is increasing to build a landmark database. Focusing on the accessibility of building a landmark database, this study attempted to develop a technique for estimating the user's location by using a single image taken of a landmark based on a mobile device and the landmark database information constructed in advance. First, a landmark database was constructed. In order to estimate the user's location only with the mobile image photographing the landmark, it is essential to detect the landmark from the mobile image, and to acquire the ground coordinates of the points with fixed characteristics from the detected landmark. In the second step, by applying the bag of words (BoW) image search technology, the landmark photographed by the mobile image among the landmark database was searched up to a similar 4th place. In the third step, one of the four candidate landmarks searched through the scale invariant feature transform (SIFT) feature point extraction technique and Homography random sample consensus(RANSAC) was selected, and at this time, filtering was performed once more based on the number of matching points through threshold setting. In the fourth step, the landmark image was projected onto the mobile image through the Homography matrix between the corresponding landmark and the mobile image to detect the area of the landmark and the corner. Finally, the user's location was estimated through the location estimation technique. As a result of analyzing the performance of the technology, the landmark search performance was measured to be about 86%. As a result of comparing the location estimation result with the user's actual ground coordinate, it was confirmed that it had a horizontal location accuracy of about 0.56 m, and it was confirmed that the user's location could be estimated with a mobile image by constructing a landmark database without separate expensive equipment.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
• /
• 2015.05a
• /
• pp.227-227
• /
• 2015

The Wairarapa Valley occupies a predominantly rural area in the lower North Island of New Zealand. It supports a mix of intensive farming (dairy), dry stock farming (sheep and beef cattle) and horticulture (including wine grapes). The valley floor is traversed by the Ruamahanga River, the largest river in the Wellington region with a total catchment area of 3,430 km2. Environmental, cultural and recreational values associated with this Ruamahanga River are very high. The alluvial gravel and sand aquifers of the Wairarapa Valley, support productive groundwater aquifers at depths of up to 100 metres below ground while the Ruamahanga River and its tributaries present a further source of water for users. Water is allocated to users via resource consents by Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC). With intensifying land use, demand from the surface and groundwater resources of the Wairarapa Valley has increased substantially in recent times and careful management is needed to ensure values are maintained. This paper describes the approach being taken to manage water resources in the Wairarapa Valley and redefine appropriate limits of sustainable water use. There are three key parts: Quantifying the groundwater resource. A FEFLOW numerical groundwater flow model was developed by GWRC. This modelling phase provided a much improved understanding of aquifer recharge and abstraction processes. It also began to reveal the extent of hydraulic connection between aquifer and river systems and the importance of moving towards an integrated (conjunctive) approach to allocating water. Development of a conjunctive management framework. The FEFLOW model was used to quantify the stream flow depletion impacts of a range of groundwater abstraction scenarios. From this, three abstraction categories (A, B and C) that describe diminishing degrees of hydraulic connection between ground and surface water resources were mapped in 3 dimensions across the Valley. Interim allocation limits have been defined for each of 17 discrete management units within the valley based on both local scale aquifer recharge and stream flow depletion criteria but also cumulative impacts at the valley-wide scale. These allocation limits are to be further refined into agreed final limits through a community-led decision making process. Community involvement in the limit setting process. Historically in New Zealand, limits for sustainable resource use have been established primarily on the basis of 'hard science' and the decision making process has been driven by regional councils. Community involvement in limit setting processes has been through consultation rather than active participation. Recent legislation in the form of a National Policy Statement on Freshwater Management (2011) is reforming this approach. In particular, collaborative consensus-based decision making with active engagement from stakeholders is now expected. With this in mind, a committee of Wairarapa local people with a wide range of backgrounds was established in 2014. The role of this committee is to make final recommendations about resource use limits (including allocation of water) that reflect the aspirations of the communities they represent. To assist the committee in taking a holistic view it is intended that the existing numerical groundwater flow models will be coupled with with surface flow, contaminant transport, biological and economic models. This will provide the basis for assessing the likely outcomes of a range of future land use and resource limit scenarios.

• Proceedings of the Korea Technology Innovation Society Conference
• /
• 2015.05a
• /
• pp.545-570
• /
• 2015

Korea is among the ten countries with the largest R&D budget and the highest R&D investment-to-GDP ratio, yet the subject of security and protection of R&D results remains relatively unexplored in the country. Countries have implemented in their legal systems measures to properly protect cutting-edge industrial technologies that would adversely affect national security and economy if leaked to other countries. While Korea has a generally stable legal framework as provided in the Regulation on the National R&D Program Management (the "Regulation") and the Act on Industrial Technology Protection, many difficulties follow in practice when determining details on security management and obligations and setting standards in carrying out national R&D projects. This paper proposes to modify and improve security level classification standards in the Regulation. The Regulation provides a dual security level decision-making system for R&D projects: the security level can be determined either by researcher or by the central agency in charge of the project. Unification of such a dual system can avoid unnecessary confusions. To prevent a leakage, it is crucial that research projects be carried out in compliance with their assigned security levels and standards and results be effectively managed. The paper examines from a practitioner's perspective relevant legal provisions on leakage of confidential R&D projects, infringement, injunction, punishment, attempt and conspiracy, dual liability, duty of report to the National Intelligence Service (the "NIS") of security management process and other security issues arising from national R&D projects, and manual drafting in case of a breach. The paper recommends to train security and technological experts such as industrial security experts to properly amend laws on security level classification standards and relevant technological contents. A quarterly policy development committee must also be set up by the NIS in cooperation with relevant organizations. The committee shall provide a project management manual that provides step-by-step guidance for organizations that carry out national R&D projects as a preventive measure against possible leakage. In the short term, the NIS National Industrial Security Center's duties should be expanded to incorporate national R&D projects' security. In the long term, a security task force must be set up to protect, support and manage the projects whose responsibilities should include research, policy development, PR and training of security-related issues. Through these means, a social consensus must be reached on the need for protecting national R&D projects. The most efficient way to implement these measures is to facilitate security training programs and meetings that provide opportunities for communication among industrial security experts and researchers. Furthermore, the Regulation's security provisions must be examined and improved.

• Analyses & Alternatives
• /
• v.6 no.1
• /
• pp.115-162
• /
• 2022

The Rules of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), revised at the eighth Party Congress in 2021, reflect the Kim Jong Un regime's changes in strategic lines and ideological justifications on North Korea's socialism and communism, and its recent stances against the external environment. Moreover, they contain critical changes in the party's organizational system encompassing the central and the provinces. This study explores the organizational changes of the "monolithic guidance system of the party core" stipulated by the new party rules in January 2021, based on the analysis of the entire nine revised rules of the WPK since 1945. In the 2021 Party Congress, the Kim Jong Un regime, which officially came to power after the fourth Party Conference in 2012, has institutionalized the monolithic guidance system centered on the party core, or the head of state, Kim Jong Un. The newly set leadership and execution system, which reorganized party, government, and military organizational structure and accompanied the relevant personnel changes, was derived from the attempts for reinstating the Kim Jong Un regime as a more normalized party-state structure before its 10th year in power in April 2022. The "monolithic leadership system of the party core" established a system of "organizational leadership" through the organization of the Central Committee, directed by the Party Head, or General Secretary. The institutionalization of the new system resulted from the ten-year development of the revival of the party-state structure, which compromised the status of the military and reconfirmed the party's control of the military. This study explains the new system from the perspectives of both institutionalization and top-down unity, shedding light on the new party-military-government relations of the Kim Jong Un regime. The analysis contributes to a better understanding and forecasting of the Kim Jong Un regime's governance, which currently strengthens the monolithic leadership system as a crisis management system in the face of the "triple hardships" of sanctions, Covid and disaster.

• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.469-497
• /
• 2015

In 2009 Iridium 33, a satellite owned by the American Iridium Communications Inc. and Kosmos-2251, a satellite owned by the Russian Space Forces, collided at a speed of 42,120 km/h and an altitude of 789 kilometers above the Taymyr Peninsula in Siberia. NASA estimated that the satellite collision had created approximately 1,000 pieces of debris larger than 10 centimeters, in addition to many smaller ones. By July 2011, the U.S. Space Surveillance Network(SSN) had catalogued over 2,000 large debris fragments. On January 11, 2007 China conducted a test on its anti-satellite missile. A Chinese weather satellite, the FY-1C polar orbit satellite, was destroyed by the missile that was launched using a multistage solid-fuel. The test was unprecedented for having created a record amount of debris. At least 2,317 pieces of trackable size (i.e. of golf ball size or larger) and an estimated 150,000 particles were generated as a result. As far as the Space Treaties such as 1967 Outer Space Treaty, 1968 Rescue Agreement, 1972 Liability Convention, 1975 Registration Convention and 1979 Moon Agreement are concerned, few provisions addressing the space environment and debris in space can be found. In the early years of space exploration dating back to the late 1950s, the focus of international law was on the establishment of a basic set of rules on the activities undertaken by various states in outer space.. Consequently environmental issues, including those of space debris, did not receive the priority they deserve when international space law was originally drafted. As shown in the case of the 1978 "Cosmos 954 Incident" between Canada and USSR, the two parties settled it by the memorandum between two nations not by the Space Treaties to which they are parties. In 1994 the 66th conference of International Law Association(ILA) adopted "International Instrument on the Protection of the Environment from Damage Caused by Space Debris". The Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee(IADC) issued some guidelines for the space debris which were the basis of "the UN Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines" which had been approved by the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space(COPUOS) in its 527th meeting. On December 21 2007 this guideline was approved by UNGA Resolution 62/217. The EU has proposed an "International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities" as a transparency and confidence-building measure. It was only in 2010 that the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee began considering as an agenda item the long-term sustainability of outer space. A Working Group on the Long-term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities was established, the objectives of which include identifying areas of concern for the long-term sustainability of outer space activities, proposing measures that could enhance sustainability, and producing voluntary guidelines to reduce risks to long-term sustainability. By this effort "Guidelines on the Long-term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities" are being under consideration. In the case of "Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exp1oration and Use of Outer Space" adopted by UNGA Resolution 1962(XVIII), December 13 1963, the 9 principles proclaimed in that Declaration, although all of them incorporated in the Space Treaties, could be regarded as customary international law binding all states considering the time and opinio juris by the responses of the world. Although the soft law such as resolutions, guidelines are not binding law, there are some provisions which have a fundamentally norm-creating character and customary international law. In November 12 1974 UN General Assembly recalled through a Resolution 3232(XXIX) "Review of the role of International Court of Justice" that the development of international law may be reflected, inter alia, by the declarations and resolutions of the General Assembly which may to that extend be taken into consideration by the judgements of the International Court of Justice. We are expecting COPUOS which gave birth 5 Space Treaties that it could give us binding space debris mitigation measures to be implemented based on space debris mitigation soft law in the near future.