• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.287-306
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• 2016

This paper aims to explain the Korean urbanization, which can be characterized by the development of apartment complexes and new towns, in relation to urban ideology in Korea. In particular, it examines the impacts of the ideological processes of Gangnam-ization on the ways in which 'the urban' has been represented, imagined, aspired, and consumed by the Korean urban middle class in particular ways. For this research, we interviewed 22 urban middle class people living in three important urban centers (Gangnam, Bundang, and Haeundae).

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.331-352
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• 2016

This paper pays attention to the fact that not only Gangnam but also cities outside Seoul that attempt to follow the Gangnam model are deeply involved in Korean developmental urbanism. It examines discursive materials such as newspaper articles, newspaper advertisements and online debates as significant sources of information showing how certain districts are materially and discursively constructed by diverse actors in the national capital and in other cities. The result of in-depth interviews lasting up to two hours reveals local residents' imagined geographies. The article emphasizes that the so-called "Gangnam problem" should be understood as existing beyond the physical, symbolic and administrative boundaries of Gangnam, in cities that follow the Gangnam model. This study helps to provide an epistemological foundation for more equitable, sustainable and de-developmental urbanism.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.69-79
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• 2011

This study is the text discourse of agenda setting through media policy on the three communities. The materials of subjects are the 71 text discourses that appeared in the columns, the special manuscripts, and the comments on the contemporary topics in 33 media. The subjects focuses on the metaphor, metonymy, and binary transposition. This kind of connotation tends to be imploded into people through media, so that it produces hyperreality. This process produces the regulation and strengthens the reality through the circuit of culture. Thus this research tries to develop the theoretical foundation for analysing the text discourse produced by the media. Also it focuses on widening the research scope to study the effects that the circuit of culture provides on the politics, society, and economics. Therefore The first, the objective meanings(denotation)which the referents of the community as T'PALACE, I'PARK, and STARCITY are 'larger scale', 'high and skyscraper', 'the rich people and the plutocrats who have very high academic career' and ' the residence place for the famous stars and successful CEOs', etc. and the subjective meanings, connotations which the referents of the community are 'The first street' transposes '1%' 'their own space' into the characteristics of the wealth of Gangnam district or Korean wealth', the additional significations which the metaphors such as 'the noble community', 'the sample for the high -level residential space', and 'the greed of 1%'. Conclusion, The significations of the symbols became imploded into the population and circulated along with the cultural streams through the media. The referents are recreated and consumed among the other communities such as the named 'PALACE', 'I'PARK', 'STARCITY' in the other areas. This kind of ideology tends to create the myths such as 'the 1% rich people of Gangnam', 'the first street of Korean wealth', and create the regulation such as 'the compound taxes for the real-estates', 'the policy of reducing the taxes for the rich', 'the policy of reducing the taxes for the 1% of the rich'. Also these regulations make the politicians operate new policies and are being utilized as 'slogan' for the politicians.

• Journal of Popular Narrative
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.321-359
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• 2019

In the 1970s, the full-scale development of the area now known as Gangnam began, ushering in the era of real estate investment on apartments which transformed housing styles in Korea. Apartments were pitched as the most ideal type of housing, creating a competitive market of high demand and skyrocketing prices. The apartments were also viewed as a means of quick asset investment among middle-class Koreans. Within this apartment frenzy stood the female real estate speculator, the bokbuin. This study seeks to locate the bokbuin in the real estate development market after the late 1970s. The apartment speculation boom cannot be attributed to the bokbuin alone, yet she became the target of public anger and criticism, singled-out as being responsible for fueling illegal and unethical investments. The apartment boom of the 1970s was in fact generated in large part by the government, developers, construction companies and realtors. While their pursuit of profit was deemed as legitimate, the bokbuin's conduct was mostly tainted by presumed illegitimate and greedy motivations. This study problematizes this gendering of real estate investment and treat the bokbuin as a byproduct of the family-centered culture in East Asia. Analyzing Im Kwon Taek's film "Mrs. Speculator", Park Ki Won's conte, "Bokbuin", Park Wan Seo's short story, "Children of Paradise", "The People of Seoul", this study shows that bokbuin's pursuit was not hers alone; it was the collective pursuit with her husband for the enhancement of family finances. This stud y argue that the bokbuin embodied the thickly misogynistic climate of the 1970s that projected the chaotic rise of greed onto the woman.