Search results

This paper aims to discuss characteristics of Korea’s system responses with a research framework of the structure, conduct and performance theory and explain the role of information, communication technologies (ICT) and Big Data from a technology-mediated control (TMC) perspective.

This study examines the contextual nature of Korea’s diagnostic, preventive and treatment efforts. Particular attention is paid to issues related to the effective use of Big Data analytics and its applications, reporting mechanisms and public safety measures. The research model defines key factors in assessing the effectiveness of Korea’s responses.

Findings of this research suggest: effective strategic planning and operational execution use well-tested and designed crisis-responsive manuals; linkage role of ICT/Big Data is prominent in trace, test and treat and participation (3T + P); and aggressive epidemic investigations require synergistic efforts of national and local government units, broad societal support and participation and contribution of global firms offering their domestic and global supply chain network capabilities.

The Korean Government's effective response experiences suggest the synergy of political, social, cultural and technological factors. Future studies may explore how personal privacy and public safety are both achieved in different social–cultural–political contexts (Ahn et al., 2020; Delgado et al., 2020; Sharma and Bashir, 2020). Other emerging organizational issues and international comparative studies are worth further investigation in future studies.

This case study suggests how to apply ICT capabilities for organizing a national response to the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) pandemic. Public and private partnership in the framework of sociotechnological synergy (i.e. integration of ICT and social orchestration) is essential for the 3T process. In support of public policy initiatives, global firms share their IT infrastructure and supply chain integration experiences to accommodate global-level crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study extends the TMC framework to a national level. In the adapted TMC framework, the control source, control target and linkage mechanism are specified. Using TMC, this shows the dynamic roles of ICT/Big Data in Korea’s COVID-19 response experiences.

The impacts of the COVID-19 are rapid and enormous. Despite the controversial early policy decisions and the rapid rise of confirmed patients, the world has recognized Korea’s effective responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The media has even been very critical of some East Asian countries’ use of digital contact-tracing to control Covid-19. For example, South Korea has been criticised for its use of privacy-infringing digital contact-tracing. However, whether their type of digital contact-tracing was unnecessarily harmful to the human rights of Korean citizens is open for debate. The purpose of this paper is to examine this criticism to see if Korea’s digital contact-tracing is ethically justifiable.

This paper will evaluate Korea’s digital contact-tracing through the lens of the four human rights principles to determine if their response is ethically justifiable. These four principles were originally outlined in the European Court of Human Rights, namely, necessary, proportional, scientifically valid and time-bounded (European Court of Human Rights 1950).

The paper will propose that while the use of Korea’s digital contact-tracing was scientifically valid and proportionate (albeit, in need for improvements), it meets the necessity requirement, but is too vague to meet the time-boundedness requirement.

The Covid-19 pandemic has proven to be one of the worst threats to human health and the global economy in the past century. There have been many different strategies to tackle the pandemic, from somewhat laissez-faire approaches, herd immunity, to strict draconian measures. Analysis of the approaches taken in the response to the pandemic is of high scientific value and this paper is one of the first to critically engage with one of these methods – digital contact-tracing in South Korea.

The purpose of this paper is to present the North Korea policy pursued by the Moon Jae-in administration and discuss the possibility of a weakened alliance between South Korea and the USA.

This paper compares the North Korean policies and the ROK–US alliance under the Moon administration, analyzing the recent inter-Korean and North Korea–US summits, with a focus on the issues of denuclearization and establishing a peace regime.

This paper reveals that the approach taken by the Moon administration regarding North Korea is similar to that of North Korea and China, and that the ROK–US alliance is likely to weaken should there be any change concerning the North Korean nuclear issue.

Denuclearization takes place in accordance with the agreement between North Korea and the USA, there is a high likelihood of the ROK–US alliance weakening.

This study aims to demonstrate how governmental authorities can take interorganizational network responses to address unexpected situations developed by the breakdown of critical infrastructure, such as communication failure in a hyperconnected society.

This study uses social network analysis to investigate the performance of interorganizational response networks regarding the 2018 KT network blackout, a failure of telecommunication facility, compared to the planned network.

The national fire agency was the most prominent actor in the actual interorganizational network, while the actor was not significant in the planned network in addressing unexpected needs. Moreover, top government authorities were involved in the actual response network because of the national attention on the breakdown of the infrastructure as a focusing event.

Unexpected conditions in the actual response to a technological disaster, such as a critical infrastructure (CI) breakdown, require the involvement of emerging or non-significant actors in accordance with the findings related to other types of disasters. Particularly, communication failure in a hyperconnected society may involve prominent government authorities in the actual interorganizational response because of the event's broad and severe impact on the functions of society.

The purpose of this paper is to advance our understanding of international crisis mediation by introducing and examining the nested insider-partial mediator (NIPM) concept, a nuanced perspective on IPM behavior. This study challenges the traditional view of effective mediators as external, unbiased entities by delving into the behavior and contribution of mediators who are deeply embedded in the conflict environment, such as South Korea’s unique position in navigating the US–DPRK crisis in 2017–2018. By analyzing South Korea’s dual role as mediator and negotiator and its employment of both nondirective and directive mediation strategies, the paper demonstrates the potential effectiveness of NIPMs in managing complex biases and contributing to de-escalation in intense crisis scenarios.

This paper uses a focused single-case study approach to analyze South Korea’s role as an NIPM. Using a process-tracing methodology, it examines how contextual factors such as relationships, interests and inherent biases influenced South Korea’s mediation strategies in this complex geopolitical scenario. Empirical evidence was retrieved from public sources, including official statements and press interviews, providing an empirical foundation for understanding NIPM behavior. This approach facilitates a detailed study of South Korea’s unique mediation role within the intricate dynamics of the Korean Peninsula conflict.

The study’s findings illustrate the pivotal role NIPMs can play in complex international conflicts, underlining the significant potential of NIPMs in crisis prevention. The findings highlight South Korea’s adept navigation through intricate geopolitical dynamics, leveraging its unique insider position and established relationships with both the USA and North Korea. This behavior was instrumental in mitigating a potentially explosive situation, steering the crisis toward negotiation and de-escalation. The research underscores the effectiveness of the NIPM framework in understanding the nuanced behavior of mediators who are deeply integrated into multi-level conflicts, influenced by their connections, interests and inherent biases.

This research not only broadens the theoretical framework of insider-partial mediation by introducing the concept of NIPM, but also has practical implications for policymakers and practitioners in leveraging regional mediation strategies for international crisis mitigation. The study underscores the importance of mediators’ deep-rooted connections, biases and vested interests in influencing their mediation tactics, thus offering a comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted nature of international mediation in complex geopolitical conflicts.

This paper aims at exploring the interactions between Japan's export curbs against Korea, dubbed as “weaponized interdependence,” and Korea's decoupling from Japan' phenomenon in response. Thereby, it sheds light on the characteristics of the semiconductor industry, where the two economies' effective division of labor takes place. In addition, it attempts to typology the “decoupling from Japan” into two types. Furthermore, it deals with the political-economic implications of bilateral trade disputes and projects in the future.

This paper segregates the economic concept of “decoupling” into “decoupling from Japan” and “decoupling from Japanese firms” to better analyze the related phenomenon that occurred in Korea in response to the Japanese government's export restrictions in 2019. Along with it, the paper attempts to observe the trade dispute between Korea-Japan from a political-economic point of view.

The main findings are: First, Korea's decoupling from Japan' does not necessarily mean “decoupling from Japanese firms”. When Korean firms had to decouple from Japan due to non-economic factors, some has circumvented the decoupling to maintain economic ties with Japanese firms in the market, stemming from long-term transaction relationships in the semiconductor industry. Second, the two countries were confronted in a modest manner, even though they seemed to be fighting like a fierce tit-for-tat chicken game as those economies are interdependent with one another. Hence, both put effort to avoid sober damages or disruptive results on two economies and the global semiconductor supply chain.

The originality of this paper is to typologize the characteristics of “decoupling from Japan” in Korea by segregating it into two types of decoupling. On the other hand, other previous studies appeal to focus on the decoupling phenomenon per se and are interested in its potential for success.

This study aims to examine and understand South Korea’s (S. Korea) COVID-19 response operations, a notable case for other countries to emulate, and suggest some practical implications for other countries struggling with coping with the current pandemic.

To examine the case, the authors propose a new theoretical framework based on concepts of the whole community approach in the emergency management field and on co-production in public administration studies, and use the theoretical framework to analyze the details of S. Korea’s whole community co-production for COVID-19 response.

The findings demonstrate that the successful pandemic response in S. Korea is attributable to a nationwide whole community co-production among multiple actors, including government, various industries, sectors, jurisdictions and even individual citizens, within and across relevant public service and public policy domains.

This study suggests a new theoretical framework, whole community co-production, which contributes to the conceptual advancement of co-production in the field of public administration and a whole community approach in the field of emergency and crisis management. The framework also suggests practical implications for other countries to integrate whole community coproduction that may transform current response operations to cope with COVID-19.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the link between trade liberalization and employment through the export channel under Korea’s FTAs by distinguish firm heterogeneity (i.e. size) as well as sector-level international competitiveness (i.e. comparative advantage).

Using the firm-level data during 2000–2009, the authors drive the difference-in-difference-in-difference model on Wagner (2007) with the dependent variables of labor productivity and employments and the independent variables of free trade agreement, revealed comparative advantage, firm size and payroll costs.

The authors find that the economic benefit of FTAs in Korea is not concentrated in large enterprises or firms with comparative advantage. Accordingly, the authors conclude that FTA or trade liberalization brings positive effects to business as a whole, rather than to specific industries or group of firms.

The Korean Government has continued its policy of supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for a long time by recognizing them as socially underprivileged. According to the results of this study, an increase in export through FTAs improves firm’s labor productivity and increases employment, especially for SMEs, which can be a practical and efficient support for them.

The paper provides the empirical evidences that how the effects of trade liberalization on labor depend on firm heterogeneity, industrial competitiveness and/or both and thus how labor is reallocated in response to trade liberalization in Korea.

This paper presents the details, circumstances and issues relating to Korea's budgetary responses to COVID-19.

The author analyzes the details and consequences of budget responses to COVID-19 of Korea.

Korea has implemented two supplementary budgets, worth 50 tn KRW, which were approved by the National Parliament within an average of 13 days. This was an exceptionally quick approval by the Parliament. While these prompt actions help the government provide necessary measures to combat the pandemic, hasty decisions may have long-term consequences on fiscal soundness. Effective handling of COVID-19 in Korea increased the approval rating for the current administration.

This is consistent with the argument by Bartels (2013) who states that ordinary citizens assess politicians and policies primarily on the basis of visible evidence of success or failure. Because evaluations on government projects other than handling crisis is out of people's interests during pandemic, inefficient projects tend to be maintained. For future, it is desirable to have a fiscal rule beforehand to address a crisis.

During the last 20 years trade between Korea and Mexico has increased steadily, reaching $2.8 billion in 2003. This trade expansion will be further accelerated with the increase in intra-industry trade in the future. Mexico's chronic trade deficit against Korea, which is attributed to Korea's increasing investment in Mexico, has rather contributed to Mexico's exports to the American region.

As Mexico expands its FTA networks, Korean companies are having difficulties in accessing the Mexican market. Considering this situation and the economic benefits of a Korea-Mexico FTA for both countries, we should first expand cooperation between private sectors, which is expected to facilitate a formal discussion on the Korea-Mexico FTA.