• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• 제13권4호
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• pp.31-57
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• 1991

Korean firms of all sizes, from virtually every industry, have used and are using the term "excessive competition" to describe the state of their industry and to call for government interventions. Moreover, the Korean government has frequently responded to such calls in various ways favorable to the firms, such as controlling entry, curbing capacity investments, or allowing collusion. Despite such interventions' impact on the overall efficiency on the Korean economy as well as on the wealth distribution among diverse groups of economic agents, the term "excessive competition", the basis for the interventions, has so far escaped rigorous scrutiny. The objective of this paper is to clarify the notion of "excessive competition" and "over-investment" which usually accompanies "excessive competition", and to examine the circumstances under which they might occur. We first survey the cases where the terms are most widely used and proceed to examine those cases to determine if competition is indeed excessive, and if so, what causes "excessive competition". Our main concern deals with the case in which the firms must make investment decisions that involve large sunk costs while facing uncertain demand. In order to analyze this case, we developed a two period model of capacity precommitment and the ensuing competition. In the first period, oligopolistic firms make capacity investments that are irreversible. Demand is uncertain in period 1 and only the distribution is known. Thus, firms must make investment decisions under uncertainty. In the second period, demand is realized, and the firms compete with quantity under realized demand and capacity constraints. In the above setting, we find that there is "no over-investment," en ante, and there is "no excessive competition," ex post. As measured by the information available in period 1, expected return from investment of a firm is non-negative, overall industry capacity does not exceed the socially optimal level, and competition in the second period yields an outcome that gives each operating firm a non-negative second period profit. Thus, neither "excessive competition" nor "over-investment" is possible. This result will generally hold true if there is no externality and if the industry is not a natural monopoly. We also extend this result by examining a model in which the government is an active participant in the game with a well defined preference. Analysis of this model shows that over-investment arises if the government cannot credibly precommit itself to non-intervention when ex post idle capacity occurs, due to socio-political reasons. Firms invest in capacities that exceed socially optimal levels in this case because they correctly expect that the government will find it optimal for itself to intervene once over-investment and ensuing financial problems for the firms occur. Such planned over-investment and ensuing government intervention are the generic problems under the current system. These problems are expected to be repeated in many industries in years to come, causing a significant loss of welfare in the long run. As a remedy to this problem, we recommend a non-intervention policy by the government which creates and utilizes uncertainty. Based upon an argument which is essentially the same as that of Kreps and Wilson in the context of a chain-store game, we show that maintaining a consistent non-intervention policy will deter a planned over-investment by firms in the long run. We believe that the results obtained in this paper has a direct bearing on the public policies relating to many industries including the petrochemical industry that is currently in the center of heated debates.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• 제22권4호
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• pp.438-457
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• 2019

The main purpose of this paper is to identify the entry types and locational determinants of North Korean workers in cross-border regions between North Korea and China. More specifically, the paper has attempted to divide the entry type of them in the regions into two; 1) entry via transactions between Chinese traders with North Korea and North Korea trade companies, and 2) entry via transactions between Korean-Chinese middlemen and North Korean trade companies. Also, it has analyzed main factors of their locational determinants in the spatial contexts of the regions. There have been changes in two perspectives in terms of the entry paths and types of them in accordance with the transformation of characteristics of United Nations sanction against North Korea from 'call-upon' to 'decide' after UN Security Council Resolution 2094 in 2013. Firstly, main agents who have dealing with North Korean trade companies which have right to dispatch North Korean workers have been changed from Chinese traders into Korean-Chinese brokers who are specialized in the introduction of North Korean workers with one-stop service from visa administrative to labor managements. Secondly, there has been a transfer of North Korean workers in the regions from formal to informal workers who has been admitted into China with a short stay or a tourist visa, and then remained illegally to be employed in China. Therefore, as demands on service which is able to guarantee the security of North Korean informal workers and their managements have increased, Korean-Chinese brokers have been stimulated in the regions after the operation of real international sanctions against overseas North Korean workers. In addition, the main factors of their locational determinants in cross-border regions between North Korea and China are could be analyzed in three perspectives; 1) an increase in real wages in accordance with the reform of the Chinese social insurance system after 2011, 2) the structural vulnerability of labor markets in the regions, 3) the utilization of stable and manageable workers.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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• 제32권3호
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• pp.161-177
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• 2020

This research aims to identify the relevance of 'Adolescence consumption' units to ESD(Education for Sustainable Development), and to analyze the unit's inquiry tendency through the Romey analysis method. The assessment criteria in association with ESD developed in the previous literature were summarized and established to set up an analysis framework consisted of 11 key points including environmental perspective (natural resources, climate change/disaster prevention and mitigation, and sustainable rural and urban systems), economic perspective (corporate sustainability, market economy, and poverty gap mitigation), and socio-cultural perspective (human rights/peace/human protection, cultural diversity and understanding, health/safety, civic engagement, and management of nation). With this framework, the learning contents of 'adolescence consumption life' unit in twelve middle school Home Economics textbooks were analyzed including the texts, images/illustrations/tables/graphs, and activities. The analysis revealed that the core elements of the 'market economy' and 'management of nation' from the economic perspective were presented in three different formats: texts, images/illustrations/tables/graphs, and activities. However, relatively insufficient contents were presented in terms of health/safety, civic engagement, sustainable rural and urban systems, and corporate sustainability, and thus, development of textbooks dealing with various ESD contents is neededrecommended. Additionally, most textbooks' texts and images/illustrations/tables/graphs tend to be authoritative, while activities and assignments exhibited an inquiry tendency. It is advisable to incorporate a wider variety of ESD-related content in Home Economics classes and creatively employ inquiry-based learning activities for the development of pro-sustainable-development consumption values and behavioral tendencies among young students.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• 제10권7호
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• pp.33-41
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to analyse the state of the energy industry and to determine the efficiency of its functioning on the basis of energy conservation principle and application of innovative technologies aimed at improving the ecological modernisation of agricultural sectors of Kazakhstan. The research methodology is based on an integrated approach of financial and economic evaluation of the effectiveness of the investment project, based on calculation of elasticity, total costs and profitability, as well as on comparative, graphical and system analysis. The current stage is characterised by widely spread restructuring processes of electric power industry in many countries through introduction of new technical installations of energy facilities and increased government regulation in order to enhance the competitive advantage of electricity market. Electric power industry features a considerable value of creating areas. For example, by providing scientific and technical progress, it crucially affects not only the development but also the territorial organisation of productive forces, first of all the industry. In modern life, more than 90% of electricity and heat is obtained by Kazakhstan's economy by consuming non-renewable energy resources: different types of coal, oil shale, oil, natural gas and peat. Therefore, it is significant to ensure energy security, as the country faces a rapid fall back to mono-gas structure of fuel and energy balance. However, energy resources in Kazakhstan are spread very unevenly. Its main supplies are concentrated in northern and central parts of the republic, and the majority of consumers of electrical power live in the southern and western areas of the country. However, energy plays an important role in the economy of industrial production and to a large extent determines the level of competitive advantage, which is a promising condition for implementation of energy-saving and environmentally friendly technologies. In these circumstances, issues of modernisation and reforms of this sector in Kazakhstan gain more and more importance, which can be seen in the example of economically sustainable solutions of a large local monopoly company, significant savings in capital investment and efficiency of implementation of an investment project. A major disadvantage of development of electricity distribution companies is the prevalence of very high moral and physical amortisation of equipment, reaching almost 70-80%, which significantly increases the operating costs. For example, while an investment of 12 billion tenge was planned in 2009 in this branch, in 2012 it is planned to invest more than 17 billion. Obviously, despite the absolute increase, the rate of investment is still quite low, as the total demand in this area is at least more than 250 billion tenge. In addition, industrial infrastructure, including the objects of Kazakhstan electric power industry, have a tangible adverse impact on the environment. Thus, since there is a large number of various power projects that are sources of electromagnetic radiation, the environment is deteriorated. Hence, there is a need to optimise the efficiency of the organisation and management of production activities of energy companies, to create and implement new technologies, to ensure safe production and provide solutions to various environmental aspects. These are key strategic factors to ensure success of the modern energy sector of Kazakhstan. The contribution of authors in developing the scope of this subject is explained by the fact that there was not enough research in the energy sector, especially in the view of ecological modernisation. This work differs from similar works in Kazakhstan in the way that the proposed method of investment project calculation takes into account the time factor, which compares the current and future value of profit from the implementation of innovative equipment that helps to bring it to actual practise. The feasibility of writing this article lies in the need of forming a public policy in the industrial sector, including optimising the structure of energy disbursing rate, which complies with the terms of future modernised development of the domestic energy sector.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• 제12권2호
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• pp.51-73
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• 1979

The zinc-lead deposits at the Yeonhwa I mine were investigated in terms of ore-forming geologic setting, structural style of ore control, geometry of individual orebodies, zoning, paragenesis and chemical composition of skarn minerals, as well as metal grades and ratios of selected orebodies. The Yeonhwa I mine is characterized by a large swarm of chimney type massive orebodies with thin skarn envelopes, boldly developed through a thick sequence of Pungchon Limestone, the overlying Hwajeol Formation, and the underlying Myobong Slate of Cambrian age. Nearly 20 orebodies of similar shape, but of varying size are arranged in a V-shaped pattern with northwest and northeast trends, clearly indicating an outstanding ore control by a conjugate system of fractures with these trends. Important orebodies are the Wolam 1, 2, 3, and 5 orebodies in the west, and the Namsan 1, 2, 3. and 5 orebodies in the east, among others. The Wolam 1 orebody, which was observed from the -360 level through the -240, -120, and 0 levels to the surface outcrops (totaling a vertical height of about 500m), shows a vertical variation in skarn mineralogy, ranging from pyroxene-garnet zone on the lower levels. through pyroxene (without garnet) zone on the intermediate levels, and finally to rhodochrosite vein on the upper levels and surface. Microprobe analyses of pyroxene and garnet on a total of 14 mineral grains revealed that pyroxenes are manganoan salitic in most samples, with downward increase of Fe and Mn, whereas garnets are highly andraditic, containing fractions of subordinate grossular with downward decrease of Fe. This indicates a reverse relationship of Fe-contents between pyroxene and garnet with depth. Ore minerals are major sphalerite, subordinate galena, and minor chalcopyrite. Sulfide gangue minerals include major pyrrhotite, and minor pyrite and marcasite of later age. Two types of variational trends in metal grades and ratios with depth are present on the plots of assay data from the Wolam orebodies: one is a steady upward increase in Pb, Zn, and Pb:Zn ratios, with a terminal decline at the top of orebody: the other is an irregular or sinusoidal change. The former is characteristic of chimney-type orebodies, whereas the latter is of vein· shaped orebodies. The Pb grades show large variations among orebodies and from level to level, whereas the Zn grades are relatively constand or less variable.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• 제16권2호
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• pp.121-130
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• 2012

In analyzing pesticide residue, LLE (liquid liquid extraction) is generally applied as one of the existing methods, but needed quite a lot of organic solvents and analytical apparatuses for the sample pre-treatment. In addition to its long analysis time and complex analytical processes, it is required to develop a more rapid and efficient method at present. In order to establish an economic and simple pesticide residue analytical method, this study carried out a comparative experiment on the existing analytical method with a new sample pre-treatment method named QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe), which extracts and refines pesticide components by directly adding solid powder into the sample. Both the two analytical methods showed favorable values of correlation coefficient ($R^2$ > 0.99) of calibration curves. In terms of the detection limit (identification limit), imidacloprid showed 0.02 mg/kg, while the rest of pesticides showed a level around 0.05 mg/kg. The results of this experiment revealed that the recovery of LLE was 92.8-100.9% and the RSD was below 2.5%. On the other hand, the recovery of QuEChERS was 92.2-101.6% and RSD was below 1.9%. As a result of comparing the amount of pesticide residue by the time between the two analytical methods by using Paired t-Test, there was no significant difference between the two analytical methods as the p-value ranged from 0.3148-0.9890. Considering the results of the two methods, the QuEChERS method had similar recovery, compared to the analytical method using the existing LLE, and the analytical time was shortened by about one fourth of that of the existing method. Moreover, since it excludes the use of harmful organic solvents like dichloromethane during the process of extraction, thus leading to protecting experimenters health and remarkably reducing the amount of disused solvents, it is judged as an echo-friendly and economic analytical method.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• 제19권1호
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• pp.67-83
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• 1986

Oriented hand samples were collected from Gobangsan Formation and Nogam Formation in the north of Danyang and south of Yeongchun, from Bansong Group in and around Danyang, from Nampo Group in Chungnam Coalfield, from Gyeongsang Supergroup distributed from Waegwan through Daegu to Gyeongsan and from Daegu to Goryong, and from volcanic flows in Jeongog area and Jeju Island to study the paleomagnetism of southern Korea since Permian. Stepwise alternating field and thermal demagnetization experiments were carried out to determine optimum fields and temperatures. Observed mean paleomagnetic directions are as follows: $D=331.5^{\circ}$, $I=25.1^{\circ}$, $a95=12.8^{\circ}$ for Permian, $D=325.6^{\circ}$, $I=46.1^{\circ}$, $a95=11.8^{\circ}$ for Triassic, $D=313.4^{\circ}$, $I=43.1^{\circ}$, $a95=16.0^{\circ}$ for early Jurassic, $D=41.3^{\circ}$, $I=64.6^{\circ}$, $a95=4.5^{\circ}$ for early Cretaceous, $D=28.3^{\circ}$, $I=58.1^{\circ}$, $a95=2.3^{\circ}$ for late Cretaceous, $D=2.0^{\circ}$, $I=55.8^{\circ}$, $a95=6.6^{\circ}$for Quaternary. To describe the tectonic translocation of southern Korean block, northern Eurasian continental block was used as a reference frame. For each age since Permian the expected northern Eurasian field directions in terms of paleolatitude and declination were calculated. The paleolatitudes of Permian ($13.2^{\circ}N$) and early Jurassic ($25.1^{\circ}N$) obtained from the study area are quite different from those of Permian ($66.0^{\circ}N$) and early Jurassic ($68.1^{\circ}N$) which are expected for northern Eurasia. The declinations of Permian ($331.5^{\circ}$) and early Jurassic ($313.4^{\circ}$) are also quite different from those of the Permian ($56.6^{\circ}$) and the early Jurassic ($47.5^{\circ}$) expected for northern Eurasia. The Cretaceous paleolatitude is similar to the expected within error limit, but the declination for the same period is significantly different from that of the expected for the northern Eurasia. From the above evidences it is suggested that the south Korean land mass had moved from low latitude in Permian to north and sutured to northern continental block since early Jurassic. The relative rotations of early Cretaceous($27.4^{\circ}$) and late Cretaceous($10.8^{\circ}$) to northern Eurasian continent reveal that the Korean land mass might be rotated clockwise in two different times, probably in late Early Cretaceous and in Tertiary.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• 제44권4호
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• pp.273-288
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• 2011

Chon-Ashuu copper mining claim area is located, in terms of the geotectonic setting, in the northern part of the suture line which is bounded with the marginal part of Issik-kul micro-continent on the southern part of North Tien-Shan terrane. The geological blocks of Chon-Ashuu districts belong to the southern tip of Kazakhstan orocline. The rock formation of this area are composed of the continental crust or/and arc collage and the paleo-continental fragments-accretionary wedge complex of pre-Altaid orogenic materials. ASI(Alumina Saturation Index) of Paleozoic plutonic rocks in Chon-Ashuu area belong to the peraluminous and metaluminous rocks which were generated from fractional crystallization of Island and volcanic arc crusts in syn-post collisional plate. The geology of the ChonAshuu area consists of upper Proterozoic and Paleozoic rock formations. According to Harker variation diagrams for Chon-Ashuu arenaceous sedimentary rocks, the silty sandstone of Chon-Ashuu area showing the mineralogical immaturity were derived from Island arc or the marginal environments of active continent in Cambro-Carboniferous period. Numerous intrusive rocks of Chon-Ashuu area are distributed along north east trending tectonic structures and are bounded on four sides by the conjugate pattern. The most common type of the plutonic rocks are granodiorite and monzodiorite. According to the molecular normative An-Ab-Or composition (Barker, 1979), the plutonic rocks in Chon-Ashuu area are classified into tonalite - trondhjemite - granodiorite (TTG) series which are an aggregation of rocks which is the country rock of copper mineralization, that are formed by melting of hydrous mafic crust at high pressure.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• 제53권4호
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• pp.413-423
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• 2020

Over the wide area, King Sejong Station and the nearby land are uncovered with snow and ice conditions. Therefore, the active layer on the permafrost has been formed to be much thicker than the other Antarctica region. Electrical resistivity survey of Wenner and dipole-dipole arrays was undertaken at a series of time in the freezing season at the King Sejong Station to delineate subsurface structure and to monitor active layer in permafrost terrain. Time-lapse resistivity structures are well in terms of the vegetation distribution, ground surface temperature, and snow depth. Horizontal high resistivity belt(>1826 Ωm) at very shallow depth is thickening with the lapse of time, probably caused by the freezing of the water in the pore spaces with decrease of ground temperature. Subsurface structures for the area of low snow-cover and vegetated zone area are comprised of 0~0.5 m deep high-resistive gravel-rich soil, 0.5~3 m deep low-resistive active layer, and the underlying permafrost. In contrast, the unvegetated area and high snow-buildup is characterized with high resistivities larger than approximately 2000 Ωm due to freezing of the soil throughout the year. Data interpretation and correlation schemes explored in this paper can be applied to confirm the active layer, which is expected to get thinner in additional survey during the thawing season.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• 제34권2호
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• pp.55-93
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• 2012

In Korea, energy policies are actualized through various energy-related plans. Recently, however, as high-ranking plans, which are very vision-oriented, continually set higher sector-by-sector goals, subordinate action plans, which require consistency, encounter distortions in their establishment process. Also, each subordinate action plan reveals limitations in terms of securing flexibility of the plan in responding to uncertainties of the future. These problems pose potential risks such as causing huge social costs. In this regard, with an aim to provide empirical evidence for discussions on improving the procedure for developing and executing Korea's energy plans, this study mainly analyzes the Basic Plan on Electricity Demand and Supply-one of the most important subordinate action plans-in order to explain the problems of the Basic Plan in a logical manner, and potential problems that could occur in the process of sustaining consistency between the Basic Plan and its higher-ranking plans. Further, this paper estimates the scale of social costs caused by those problems assuming realistic conditions. According to the result, in the case of where maximum electric power is estimated to be 7% (15%) less than the actual amount in the Basic Plan on Electricity Demand and Supply, the annual generation cost will rise by 286 billion won and (1.2 trillion won) in 2020. Such social costs are found to occur even when establishing and executing the Basic plan according to the target goal set by its higher-ranking plan, the National Energy Master Plan. In addition, when another higher-ranking GHG reduction master plan requires the electricity sector to reduce emissions by additional 5% in the GHG emissions from the right mix in electricity generation with 'zero' cost of carbon emission, the annual generation cost will rise by approximately 915 billion won in 2020. On the other hand, the analysis finds that since economic feasibility of electric powers in Korea varies significantly depending on their type, Korea is expected to face very small potential social costs caused by uncertainties over the future price of carbon dioxide in the process of establishing the Basic Plan.