Search results

The purpose of this paper is to examine regional voting patterns in South Korea using the results from six presidential elections since the 1990s.

A χ² test was used to determine the municipalities where a regional voting pattern emerged, and λ correlation coefficients were calculated to examine changes in the regional voting patterns.

The analyses lead to three key findings. First, voting patterns differ in Yeongnam and Honam: regional voting in Yeongnam is getting weaker, it remains strong in Honam. Second, the tendency to vote along regional lines decreased significantly in the election in which the Honam party fielded a candidate with a Yeongnam appeared identity. Third, regional voting patterns declined but then stabilized at a constant level, regardless of the candidates’ local identity, which was confirmed in “Bu-Ul-Gyeong.”

This paper can empirically verify the manifestation of regional voting pattern and confirm the trend. It is possible to derive a condition for suppressing the regional voting pattern.

This paper examines how the macroeconomic environment affects the determinants of prepayment of mortgage loans from October 2004 to February 2020. For more accurate analysis, the authors define the timing of prepayment not only before the loan maturity but also at the time when 50% or more of the loan principal is repaid. The results show that, during the global financial crisis as well as the recent period of low interest rates, macroeconomic variables such as interest rate spreads and housing prices have a different effect compared to the normal situation. Also, significant explanatory variables, such as debt to income (DTI) ratio, loan amount ratio and poor credit score, have different effects depending on the macroenvironment. On the other hand, in all periods, the possibility of prepayment increases as comprehensive loan to value (CLTV) increases, and the younger the age, the shorter the loan maturity. The results suggest that, in the case of ultralong (40 years) mortgage loans recently introduced to support young people purchasing houses, the prepayment risk can be, at least partially, migrated by offsetting the increase in prepayment by young people and the decrease in prepayment due to long loan maturity. In addition, this study confirms that the accelerated time failure model compared to the logit model and COX proportional risk model has the potential to be more appropriate as a prepayment model for individual borrower analysis in terms of the explanatory power.

Ports create harmful effects on their adjacent population because ships discharge noxious gases like SO_X, NO_X, and particulate matter (PM). To tackle this problem, some ports started to control emission through regulations such as Emission Control Areas (ECA) and Reduced Speed Zone (RSZ). This paper estimates the social cost of ship emission and eco-efficiency at the Port of Incheon (POI). We further examine how the ECA and RSZ designation can reduce the social cost. The estimation is based on the activity-based approach, where ship type, engine, and movement are used to measure fuel consumption and then emission. Results suggest that the social cost of ship emission at the POI amounts to $90,805,478. The eco-efficiency of the POI, compared to the one at the Port of Las Palmas in another study, is substantially better. Under RSZ, the corresponding emission abatement values are $4,485,308, $2,642,009 and $21,932,435 from SO₂, NO_X and PM reduction, respectively. If 1.0% and 0.1% sulfur fuel are used complying with rules of the ECA, the social cost savings amount to $8,174,947 and $12,868,842 from SO₂ reduction.

This study explored spatial usage of a public library based on activity logs produced by real users. The purpose of this paper is to provide preliminary data for decision-making when establishing the library operation policy.

To achieve the goal, the author collected a variety of data including 274,242 seat reservations logs, 3,361,284 collection usage logs, and 96,098 user information for the four years in which the National Library of Korea, Sejong actually operated. The crawled data were analyzed statistically in terms of demography, month, day of week, time of day and room by room. The author conducted additional in-depth analysis according to the external factors such as weather or social demographic environment. Finally, the author discussed several issues and verified feasibility of the proposals to support decision-making in operating a library in conclusion with a secondary librarian interview.

The usage rate in all the spaces of the National Library of Korea, Sejong, has been increasing since its opening, and, in particular, the usage rate increases sharply in January, February, July and August. In addition, the usage rate during weekends was higher than that during weekdays, and all the four spaces had a high usage rate during the afternoon. These results seem to be related to weather, users’ life pattern, users’ age, and position of PCs and seats. Based on the circulation logs analysis of children’s collections, users in their 10s and 40s showed the same space usage pattern.

This study has significance in that it attempted to analyze logs produced by real users during the actual library operation period, which has not been frequently attempted in the previous studies on libraries. The findings will be provided as basic data to support decision-making for efficient operation of libraries.

The present study aims to investigate the predictive effect of work‐family conflict and work‐family facilitation on job satisfaction in the Korean hotel industry. In addition, this study seeks to examine if there is a significant effect of job satisfaction on job performance.

The data were obtained from full‐time frontline staff in ten five‐star hotels in Seoul. Confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis through AMOS 4.0 were performed to demonstrate relationships among variables. In addition, frequent analysis to investigate sample characteristics and correlation analysis to determine relationships between each of the two constructs were conducted using SPSS 10.0.

The results show that job satisfaction may be improved by limiting “work to family conflicts” and evaluating the nature of “facilitation from family to work”. An additional finding is that job satisfaction may enhance job performance. Unexpectedly, “family to work conflict” significantly and positively relates to job satisfaction in the workplace.

It would be desirable for future research to study these issues via extending the sample to various categories of employment, and not only hotels but also different areas of the tourism and hospitality industry. Longitudinal research that allows social researchers and hotel organizations to understand employees better in specific industrial situations would be beneficial to understand fully the relationship of work‐family interface to job outcomes more completely.

This study proposes that organizations invest more resources in flexible working schedules, regular working hours, family‐friendly programs, and additional useful benefits and support related to family.

This study offers useful guidelines for foreign hotel entrepreneurs entering the Korean market regarding how to improve job satisfaction and job performance in relation to work‐family interaction.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the paradoxical pattern in which South Korean presidents enjoy imperial power early in their term, but became fragile and impotent as their term comes to an end.

Based on the previous literature on Korean presidentialism, this paper introduces and critically compares several competing theories on the Korean presidency and its defects.

This paper finds that for Korean presidents, imperial governance and fragility represent two sides of the same coin, like a Janus face. These two seemingly competing descriptions of the Korean presidency are not actually contradictory.

This paper investigates how Korean presidents are imperial with regard to constitutional design as well as political behavior, and presents a logic of transformation from an imperial president to a fragile one, focusing on party politics and election cycles.

After the Korean War, South Korean politics was dominated by national security concerns. Reversing Carl von Clausewitz's well-known dictum, in South Korea, “politics is the continuation of war by other means.” Until the late 1980s, politics in South Korea was far from democratic. South Korea had five direct presidential elections (1987, 1992, 1997, 2002, and 2007) and six national assembly elections (1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008) after the democratic transition of 1987. In 1992, a civilian candidate, Young Sam Kim, was elected president. Young Sam Kim (1993–1998) prosecuted and punished former generals turned presidents Doo Hwan Chun (1980–1988) and Tae Woo Roh (1988–1993) for corruption, mutiny and treason in 1995. Dae Jung Kim (1998–2003) was elected president in 1997. For the first time in South Korean political history, regime change occurred between a ruling party and an opposition party.

In this chapter, the change and continuity of civil–military relations through the fluctuating dynamics of the democratic transition and consolidation in South Korea is examined. A positive consolidation of democratic reform is one that, while securing indisputable civilian supremacy, grants the military enough institutional autonomy for the efficient pursuit of its mission. Civilian supremacy should be institutionalized not only by preventing military intervention in civilian politics but also by ensuring civilian control over the formation and implementation of national defense policy.

In sum, despite three terms of civilian presidency, civilian supremacy has not yet fully institutionalized. Although significant changes in civil-military relations did occur after the democratic transition, they were not initiated by elected leaders with the intention of establishing a firm institutional footing for civilian supremacy. South Korea's political leaders have not crafted durable regulations and institutions that will sustain civilian control over the military.

More than six decades, Korea is still divided. The most highly militarized zone in the world lies along the demilitarized zone. How to draw the line prudently between seeking national security and promoting democracy shall be the most delicate task facing all the civilian regimes to come in South Korea. That mission will remain challenging not only for civilian politicians but also for military leaders.

The Hanbo (meaning Korean treasure) scandal or “Hanbogate” occurred on January 23, 1997, with the bankruptcy of Hanbo Iron and Steel Company, the second largest steel company and 14th largest conglomerate in South Korea, as its debt had accumulated to US$5.6 billion. Hanbo's bankruptcy triggered an investigation by the Public Prosecutor's Office that resulted in the imprisonment for 15 years of Hanbo's founder, Chung Tae-Soo, for bribing politicians and bankers to pressure banks to extend hugh bank loans to Hanbo. Nine other persons were also convicted including Chung's son, who was jailed for three years for bribery and embezzlement, and Kim Hyun-Chol, the second son of President Kim Young-Sam, who was sentenced to three years jail and fined US$1.5 million (New York Times, 1997).