• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.173-188
• /
• 2016

This paper argues that the establishment of the Kaohsiung Export Processing Zone (KEPZ), the first EPZ in East Asia, is a compromise of cold-war geopolitical economy in the 1960s. The KEPZ is part of the liberalization policy advise of the US Aid agency which intended to push the KMT (Kuomintang) government to downsize the nationalized sectors and foster private enterprises and encourage foreign investments. However, the KMT state hesitated to embrace the advice wholeheartedly but was forced to implement selectively the policies. To meet the compromise between liberalization and control, the KMT government takes advantage of the KEPZ to grab the geoeconomic opportunities emerging from the new international division of labor in the 1960s without losing the geopolitical support from the US. The idea that zoning as a space of compromise would provide a subtle re-examination of the rise of the KEPZ which is conventionally explained by the functionalist arguments such as increase of employment opportunities, foreign investments and export by the far-sighted developmental state.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
• /
• v.37 no.4
• /
• pp.293-316
• /
• 2002

This study aims to identify changes that have occurred in the regional structure and locational characteristics of the Najin-Seonbong Economic and Trade Zone established in North Korea in 1991. In order to analyze land use patterns as variables of change in the regional structure, an field trip data, satellite imagery and other materials about the region are examined. In terms of its location as a major regional transit hub, the Najin-seonbong Economic and Trade Zone has not been supported by the required infrastructural developments and the establishment of the export processing zones has exposed the lack of vital links with local networks and industry. Thus, despite the fact that the local government has made a lot of effort in attracting foreign investment over the past decade, little progress has been made and the region has not changed. By and large, its operational efficiency and potential for development as a major export processing zone has been relatively limited. In the long w, prospects for the region's emergence as a major economic player will depend on the North Korean Govemment's policy in tackling the various infrastructural deficiencies.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
• /
• v.49 no.2
• /
• pp.113-138
• /
• 2014

Despite the growing numbers of regional problems (e.g. conflicts between the state and localities, inter-local conflicts, etc.) associated with the state-led developmental projects, the Korean social sciences have been unable to offer satisfying explanations and solutions to the regional problems. This is mainly because the existing works, which have been taken captured by the assumptions of "methodological nationalism", significantly lack the socio-spatial understandings of the state actions and the relations between the state and localities, thereby seeing the issues of regional development mainly in terms of either the economic efficiency defined at the national scale, or the plan rationality of the national bureaucrats. With this problem orientation in mind, this paper aims to explore the ways in which the state and localities are interacting, conflicting and negotiating with one another through the mediation of the state-led developmental projects. Focusing on the developmental processes of Masan Export Processing Zone from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s, it examines the multi-scalar processes through which the state-led industrial complex developmental processes have been influenced by the complex and dynamic interactions among social forces and actors acting at diverse geographical scales (e.g. the global, national, local, urban, etc.). This analysis shows that the regional policies of the Korean developmental state were more heavily influenced by the interactions, contestations, and collaborations among social forces and actors, acting in and through the state, at various geographical scales, rather than by the economic and techno-bureaucratic rationality.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
• /
• v.101 no.3
• /
• pp.333-343
• /
• 2012

In-stream large wood (LW) has a critical impact on the geomorphic characteristics relevant to ecosystem management and disaster prevention, yet relatively little is known about variations in its dynamics and subsequent export on the watershed-scale perspective in Korea. Here we review variations in the dynamics and subsequent export of LW as a function of stream size, which is appropriate for Korean mountain streams. In upstream channels with narrow bankfull widths and low stream discharges, a massive amount of LW, resulting from forest dynamics and hillslope processes, may persist for several decades on valley floor. These pieces, however, are eventually transported during infrequent debris flows from small tributaries, as well as peak hydrology in main-stem channels. During the transport, these pieces suffer fragmentation caused by frictions with boulders, and stream bank and bed. Although infrequent, these events can be dominant processes in the export of significant amounts of LW from upstream channel networks. In downstream channels with wide bankfull widths and high stream discharges, LW is dominantly recruited by forest dynamics and bank erosion only at locations where the channel is adjacent to mature riparian forests. With the LW pieces that are supplied from the upstream, these pieces are continuously transported downstream during rainfall events. This leads to further fragmentation of the LW pieces, which increases their transportability. With decreasing stream-bed slope, these floated LW pieces, however, can be stored and form logjams at various depositional sites, which were developed by interaction between channel forms and floodplains. These pieces may decay for decades and be subsequently transported as particulate or dissolved organic materials, resulting in the limitation of LW fluvial export from the systems. However, in Korea, such depositional sites were developed in the extremely limited streams with a large dimension and no flood history for decades, and thus it does not be expected that the reduction of LW export amount, which can be caused by the long-term storage. Our review presents a generalized view of LW processing and is relevant to ecosystem management and disaster prevention for Korean mountain streams.

• Journal of Fashion Business
• /
• v.5 no.4
• /
• pp.158-175
• /
• 2001

The purpose of this study was to understand and improve the clothing habits and the apparel industry of North Korea in preparation for the reunification of South and North Korea. For this study, literary data, reports, periodicals, interviews and internet data of the two Koreas were reviewed. North Korean clothing habits used to be monotonous and uniform but nowadays people's clothes have become somewhat brighter in color and more diverse in design than before. In particular, liberal and individual dressing habits appeared among the privileged classes. When taking part in national events, women have to wear the traditional Korean costume, Hanbok, while men wear business suits for formal wear. In general, men don't wear Hanbok. Students have to be in uniforms but blue jeans, T-shirts with English logos were popular among them reflecting their sensitivity and openness towards western cultures. The brides usually wear pink Hanboks and the bridegrooms wear black business suits for their wedding. North Koreans also wear Hanbok on national holidays like South Koreans. Clothing is the most important item in the trade of process commission between North and South Korea. Trading items are mid to low end men's clothing for the most part due to less emphasis on fashion in the North. The processing is indirect trade and composed of sample making and contracting, sending out materials and production, carrying in goods and setting accounts. To activate South-North trade, establishment of infrastructure, stabilization of shipping, reducing high costs of distribution, building direct communication system by setting up office in a neutral zone and simplifying procedures in applying for the South and North Korea Economic Cooperation Fund. On the other hand, clothing and textiles education is carried on at art colleges, light industries colleges and commercial colleges in Pyongyang. Clothing institutes which study Hanbok and Western clothes, are installed in each city and province. Graduates who majored in clothing and textiles are posted in institutes or apparel factories. Their job is designing, patternmaking and sewing for their customers. Most of them are women and in good state of economic conditions. The North Korean clothing industry has been the core national industry that has developed based on overseas demand form the mid 1980s. The standard is that of South Korea in the early 1980s. In 1999, trade of North Korean textile products with trade counterparts such as Japan and China was $1.3 million in exports and $1.27 in imports. Of this amount the export takes up 25.4% of the total exports in North Korea. However, fundamentally even in sectors that are irrelevant to politics such as the fashion clothing industry, trust between the South and North should be a prerequisite. Only through this can exchange between North and South and economic cooperation contribute towards the reunification.