• 천문학논총
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• 제31권3호
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• pp.57-63
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• 2016

We summarize our preliminary study on the research cooperation method in the astronomy field between Republic of Korea (South Korea) and Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea). To investigate the recent astronomical activities of North Korea, we have surveyed the published records of research papers and international collaborations associated with North Korean astronomers. We found only 4 astronomical papers among the identified 260 SCI papers related to North Korean researchers for the past 11 years. North Korean astronomers had very few interactions with the international astronomical society before rejoining IAU in 2012. Recently, North Korea made several astronomical research exchanges with China and Netherlands. They seemed to attend several international conferences and present their research results. We have studied possibilities to establish international networks to encourage the cooperation between South and North, and suggest to start collaboration in the historical astronomy. The collaboration can be expanded gradually to other fields in astronomy. There are many obvious political difficulties to have interactions with North Koreans. However, it will be necessary to make a long-term plan considering the reunification.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• 제8권1호
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• pp.145-156
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• 2021

The research purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the effects of technological readiness and innovation on logistics performance. To build up and maintain an important role in global supply chains, nowadays it is obvious that countries and logistics providers need to achieve competitive advantage in terms of digitalization. However, there is a lack of empirical studies about the impacts of information technologies and innovation potential on the logistics efficiency of countries. Hence, the study analyzes whether the corresponding pillars of the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) matter for the Logistics Performance Index (LPI) and its dimensions. For determining the effects, the pooled regression approach is applied. The results show that technological readiness and innovation are positively and statistically significantly correlated with logistics performance: competence and quality of logistics services, efficiency of customs clearance processes, ability to track and trace consignments, frequency with which shipments reach consignee within scheduled or expected time, and ease of arranging competitively priced shipments. The findings of this study suggest that investments in innovations and technology progress improve countries' logistics efficiency, which is an important prerequisite for enabling Logistics 4.0 and thus, Industry 4.0 and the digital transformation of the economy and society.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• 제3권4호
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• pp.67-79
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• 2016

Prior literature expects a lower marginal cash value for weaker governance firms. We test this empirical hypothesis by using the sample of publicly traded Korean firms from 2005 to 2013. To measure the quality of governance structures, we employ the corporate governance scores provided by Korean Corporate Governance Services. The empirical model of Faulkender and Wang (2006) is adopted to estimate the marginal value of cash. Our empirical analysis shows a higher marginal value of cash for the good governance firms in the examination of the total governance score. This finding is consistent to the agency view of cash policy predicting a larger marginal value of cash for the firms with higher governance scores. However, this positive relationship is not robust for a subset of detailed governance scores; a lower marginal cash value is observed for the firms with better qualities of board structure, auditing, dividend policies. Moreover, our empirical analysis verifies a quite low level of marginal cash value for Korean firms, which supports the existence of severe agency conflicts in Korean corporations. Our results verify the significant role of agency conflicts between a manager and shareholders in the determination of marginal cash values in the Korean firms.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• 제6권2호
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• pp.231-238
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• 2019

This study aims is to analyze of existing concepts of gender stereotypes and gender differences in wages, defining of gender pay gap determinants, and to evaluate the level of discrimination against women in Kazakhstan. This paper begins by reviewing trends in gender stereotypes and gender segregation during the past several decades. In this research, authors propose the methodological tools for presenting a standard form of evaluation of gender pay gap. The developed methodological tools will allow providing authentic and formal analysis on gender pay gap and identifying the main determinants of gender pay differences. Further, the obtained results showed the distribution of wage gap in Kazakhstan's regions and the Duncan's dissimilation index allows us to trace the dynamics of changes in the professional structure between men and women. According to the results, gender pay gap is narrowing with the reduction of the job level and discrimination is related to differences in human capital and education. Wages in the industrial sector are higher for men than for women, because men's professions are characterized by severe and unhealthy working conditions. In addition, employers prefer male managers, but if they take woman managers, they give them salary 3 times less.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• 제1권4호
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• pp.23-27
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• 2014

The authors emphasize that the Republic of Kazakhstan is characterized by significant differences in the level of innovation capacity of regions. This article summarizes that the result of the monitoring of innovation potential of the regions are prerequisites for innovation policy adjustments, make it more dynamic, which ultimately contributes to its effectiveness. So, there are substantial differences in the level of innovation potential of the regions in the Republic of Kazakhstan, meanwhile it is noted that most regions' innovative features and potential can be assessed as average. After analysis of previously used methods, it can be concluded that the ranking of the level of innovation potential of regions takes place in the following order: High level of innovative potential: East Kazakhstan (3 matches), Almaty city (2 matches), Pavlodar (2 matches) and Zhambyl regions (2 matches); Low level of innovative potential: Almaty (2 matches), Mangistau (2 matches), West Kazakhstan (2 matches), Kyzylorda oblast (2 matches). In conclusion, it is emphasized that monitoring of innovative potential of regions creates the preconditions for innovation policy adjustments. These adjustments make the policy more dynamic and contribute to its effectiveness in the long run.

• 건축역사연구
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• 제24권4호
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• pp.7-18
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• 2015

Gwanghwamun was dismantled and displaced to the east side of the palace, at that time, the Chosun Government General Building was constructed in the Gyeongbokgung palace. After the Korea war, it remained as a stonework as a result of the fire. In 1968, The Gwanghwamun came back in front of the palace. Then, why it was rebuilt in the 3rd Republic period? What was the reason for selecting concrete? Since the May 16 coup, the military regime had been utilized palace and surrounding urban space to show a visible practice of modernization. Attempting the combination of modern technology in the 1960s and traditional cultural property and reconstructing a city as a pretext called Cultural Heritage conservation was a typical mechanism of the 1960s. In this study, I start by assume that reconstructing Gwanghwamun(1968) was a part of project to change the surrounding urban space of Gwanghwamun than to preserve cultural assets. Two main contributions of the study are following. First, I collect availabe data on the reconstructing surrounding urban space of the Gwanghwamun and re-organize them in chronological order to make them as fragments of a map. Second, I analysis and identify the nature and phase of the Gwanghwamun reconstruction.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• 제60권3호
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• pp.187-193
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• 2022

The positive rate of Clonorchis sinensis is the highest among intestinal parasites in the Republic of Korea (Korea). More than 1.2 million people were at risk of C. sinensis infection in Korea in 2012. An intensive control program is being implemented for residents of the 5 major river basins to reduce helminthic infections, including C. sinensis infection. This study evaluated the continuous intensive control program for parasitic diseases including clonorchiasis in areas near the 5 major river basins in Korea over the past 10 years (2011-2020). A total of 335,020 fecal samples (one sample per resident) prepared by the modified sedimentation technic were microscopically examined. Those who expelled helminth eggs were treated with anthelmintics through local health centers and re-examined 3 months later. The overall positive rate of helminths egg was 7.1%. The annual positive rates were dramatically decreased from 14.4% (2011) to 5.9% (2020). The egg positive rate was highest in C. sinensis (5.3%), followed by heterophyid flukes (1.5%) and Trichuris trichiura (0.2%). The prevalence of C. sinensis was significantly higher in males (7.6%) than in females (3.7%), and the highest in the 50-59 years (7.0%) age group. Our results are beneficial to establish prevention and control policies against helminthiases including clonorchiasis in endemic areas in this country.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• 제6권3호
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• pp.151-162
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• 2019

The paper examines the effects of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on the economic growth of Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) between 1993 and 2015. The investigation is based on the influence of growth and economic absorptive capability determinants such as human capital, trade openness, and institutional quality. The methodological analysis uses a multivariate framework accounting capital stock, labor stock, FDI, human capital, trade openness, and institutional quality in regression of the Vector Autoregressive model. Augmented Dickey-Fuller unit root test, Johansen Cointegration test, and Granger Causality test were applied as parts of the econometric time-series analysis approach. The empirical results demonstrate the positive effects of FDI and trade openness, and the negative effects of human capital and institutional quality on the economic growth of the Lao PDR over the 1993 to 2015 period. The findings confirm that trade openness complemented by a sufficient level of infrastructure, education, quality institutions, and transparency significantly influence economic growth and attract more FDI. Research results lend credence to the need for the Lao PDR's government to focus on improving its economic absorptive capability and economic competitiveness regionally and globally by improving wealth and resource management strategies, as failure to take this course of action could lead to the Dutch Disease effects.

• 한국작물학회지
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• 제57권2호
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• pp.113-126
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• 2012

Northern corn leaf blight caused by Exserohilum turcicum Pass is considered the most important disease infecting corn (Zea mays L.) in the Peoples' Republic of Korea (North Korea). It contributes to the food shortage in North Korea. The objectives of the current research were to study resistance expression and responses of corn crosses made between ten hybrids from North Korea and inbreeding lines ($S_{3-4}$ stage) from the Republic of Korea (South Korea). The experiments were conducted in six trials with a total of 184 crosses including two commercial hybrids in each trial. The trials were conducted at two locations in North Korea (Mirim and Eunsan) and one location in South Korea (Gunwi) under natural infestation of E. turcicum. Host plant responses were rated on a scale of 1 (highly tolerant) to 9 (highly susceptible). A total of 111 crosses (62.4%) showed significant tolerant or susceptible response variations among three locations; 42 crosses (22.8%) at two locations and 69 crosses (39.0%) at one location, respectively. At least 8 crosses of high level of tolerance and 12 crosses of high level of susceptibility showed significantly different biotic responses (P = 0.05). The results of the current study and historical reviews of E. turcicum epidemics in both North and South Korea suggest that breeding of tolerance with quantitatively inherited genes should be carried out for a sustainable corn production in North Korea.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• 제4권1호
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• pp.5-18
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• 2017

Total debt in the People's Republic of China surged to nearly 290% as a ratio to GDP by the second quarter of 2016, mostly on account of non-financial corporate debt. The outpouring of credit to stem the impact of the global financial crisis accentuated industrial overcapacity in traditional sectors, such as steel, cement, and energy, while feeding asset bubbles in the property, equity and bond markets. At the Chinese corporate level, this has translated into weakened fundamentals and a fall in industrial profits, particularly of SOEs. As debtors struggle to service interest payments, non-performing loans (NPLs) have been on the rise. This paper assesses the financial fragility of the Chinese economy by looking at risk factors in the non-financial sector. We apply quantile regressions to a dataset containing all Chinese listed companies in Standard & Poor's IQ Capital database. We find higher sensitivity over time of corporate leverage to some of its key determinants, particularly for firms at the upper margin of the distribution. In particular, profitability increasingly acts as a curb on corporate leverage. At a time of falling profitability across the Chinese non-financial corporate sector, this eases the brake on leverage and may contribute to its continuing increase.