• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.40 no.6 s.111
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• pp.770-788
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• 2005

In this article, major research trends are examined mainly from articles published in Journal of the Korean Geography, academic society journals of sub-fields in geography and Ph.D. dissertations in geography of universities in Korea. Based on the research trends up to current point, issues and research directions in order to raise the status of Korean Geography in the twenty first century are prospected. Sixty years of Korean Geography can be divided into 4 periods such as before 1970s, during the 1980s, during the 1990s, and the period after the 2001. Each period of time revealed distinct aspects of development both quantitatively and qualitatively. For the last 60 years, the study of Korean Geography has gone through enormous changes in the number of articles with dynamics and variety in contents and methodology, breathing with the changes of the Korean society. Experiencing urbanization and industrialization along with rapid economical growth, the study of Korean Geography has progressed by analyzing the issues and problems of national space and conducting various researches from the case studies for problem-solving to the theoretical and policy oriented studies. The key-words such as 'knowledge based information society', 'aged society', and 'the era of globalization' will be realized in the twenty flit century. And environment-friendly policies for sustainable development will be more stressed in a globalized world. In order to provide research methods and alternatives suitable for newly transformed global society and for utilizing the essence of Geography in the future, the studies on Korean Geography should actively focus on integrative studies between physical and human geography, on interdisciplinary studies, on regional studies related to foreign countries and North Korea, and on the establishment of Korean geographical theory and model.