• Journal of the Korean Society of International Agriculture
• /
• v.23 no.5
• /
• pp.475-484
• /
• 2011

International price of cereal has been dramatically increasing for the past few years. This price hike amplified the importance of food self-sufficiency in numerous countries due to the fact that food security is directly proportional to food self-sufficiency. In this study, we conducted a survey to provide useful information of Cambodia's agricultural environment to possible Korean agricultural investors and as to highlight Cambodia as a strong candidate for the establishment of Korea's foreign base for cereal production. The survey conducted includes information regarding Cambodia's agricultural environment and investment circumstances including the political, economical and other contributing factors affecting agricultural investment in Cambodia. Seventy percent of the Cambodia's total population engage in agriculture and this comprises about 30% of the country's GDP. This statistics reflects the possibility of Cambodia's poverty alleviation which proves that agriculture in Cambodia is the driving force for the improvement of the country's economy. In addition, low labor cost, fertile land, abundant water resources, like the Tonle sap lake and the Mekong river, and unreclaimed lands are the strong points that could attract agricultural investors to Cambodia. Poor infrastructure, irrigation systems, law reforms, including social and cultural differences may be the biggest setbacks for the acceleration of Cambodia's agriculture development. However, the Cambodian government is open and willing to make adjustments for Cambodia to be both foreign and domestic agricultural investor-friendly, expecting that it will boost its country's agricultural development. Making the best out of this opportunity, the coordination of KOICA with Korean agricultural investors in building infrastructures and with the help of the KOPIA program for the transfer of agricultural technology will benefit both countries and will play an important role in Cambodia's agriculture.

• Journal of the Korean Academic Society of Industrial Cluster
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.67-86
• /
• 2007

Wonju Medical Equipment Industry, despite of its short history, poor sales and weak manpower and so on, have shown remarkable outcomes in a relatively short period. At the end of 2007, totally 79 enterprises (only 4.6% of whole enterprises in Korea) made 10% of the nationwide production and 15% of the nationwide exports with an annual average growth rate of 66.7%, contributing domestic medical equipment industry tremendously. In addition, many leading medical equipment enterprises in various fields already moved or plan to move to Wonju, accelerating Wonju Medical Equipment Cluster. Wonju Medical Equipment Industry Cluster now enters into the growth stage, getting out of the initial business setup stage. Especially, the nomination of Wonju cluster project from the government accelerates networking (e.g. the development of the universal parts, the establishment of the mutual collaboration model among enterprises, and the mutual marketing), making a rapid growth in Wonju Medical Equipment Industry. Wonju Medical Equipment Industry Cluster revealed positive outcomes despite of the weakness in investment size and infra-structure comparing with the other medical industry cluster in the advanced country, while many domestic enterprises pursued their own growth models and thus failed to promote the international competitive power. Wonju Medical Equipment Industry has been developed rapidly. However, there are many challenging problems to support enterprises: small R&D investment and thus weak technology power, difficulties in recruiting R&D engineers, and poor marketing capabilities, financial infrastructure & policies, and network architecture. In order to develop a world-competitive medical equipment industry cluster at Wonju, the complement of infrastructures, the technology innovation, the mutual marketing, and the network expansion to support enterprises are further required. Wonju' s experiences in developing medical equipment industry so far suggest that our own flexible cluster model considering the industry structure and maturity for different regions should be developed, and specific action plans from the local and central governments based on their systematic strategies for industry development should be implemented in order to build world-competitive industry clusters in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
• /
• v.51 no.1
• /
• pp.32-47
• /
• 2018

The purpose of this study is to examine the vegetation maintenance project that was conducted as a part of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) project for the historic site of Angkor, to analyze the aspects and characteristics of the project, and to derive implications for the establishment of future policies and strategies. First, the key words used in the vegetation maintenance project at the historic site of Angkor do not only refer to the concept of plants (and more specifically to 'trees') but also to the concept of heritage. In other words, the concept of heritage is not limited to architectural structures but is also intended to mean the vegetation and surroundings that form the historic site. Second, the expansion of the value of vegetation has contributed to the establishment of the basic principles of conservation based on the 'coexistence' between architectural structures and vegetation; here, vegetation has come to be recognized as an 'essential' element in the conservation of historic sites. Third, the range of vegetation maintenance has expanded from each tree to the surroundings of the temples, and vegetation maintenance came to adopt 'integrative' and 'active' directions to improve not only the growth environment of the vegetation but also the viewing environment experienced by visitors. This change means that it is necessary for the historic site maintenance project to comprehensively deal with the temples and their surrounding areas. Fourth, for the effective performance of the ODA project, the role of the International Coordinating Committee for the Safeguarding and Development of the Historic Site of Angkor (ICC-Angkor), under the influence of UNESCO, was expanded from an examination of the problems with the existing projects to a search for solutions to technical consultation and supervision. This implies that, in order to perform the ODA project in a way that is appropriate to the local conditions, it is important to reach gradual and phased agreements with ICC-Angkor.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.81-91
• /
• 2021

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea did not have direct legislation on natural environmental conservation until the early 1970s when the regime was still in the early stage. The Law on Land was enacted in 1977 to provide the legal basis for protecting the natural environment, including land protection, protection zones, and forest formation and protection. The enactment of the Law on Environmental Protection in 1986 made progress on environmental conservation in the DPRK. The constitutional amendment in 1992 stipulated "the preservation and creation of the natural environment as the responsibility of the state." Based on the Framework Law on Environmental Protection, subordinate statutes in various fields were enacted after the1990s. While the committee designated and managed the protected zones in the early days, the Framework Law on Environmental Protection established the ground for the designation of legally protected areas, and the Law on Protection of Scenic Spots and Natural Monuments enacted in 1995, and the Law on Environmental Protection enacted in 2009 provided the details. Furthermore, the types of nature reserves include biosphere reserves, primeval forest reserves, animal reserves, plant reserves, and scenic reserves. The 2nd National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan established in 2007 based on the Convention on Biological Diversity(CBD) stated 326 protected zones in the DPRK. However, the 2018 United Nations list of Protected Areas shows only 31 registered zones, indicating the need to establish basic information on protected areas in DPRK. This study can provide basic information for a better understanding of the nature conservation system in the DPRK. Considering that environmental protection activities such as protection of endangered species and recovery of environmental pollution are subject to exceptions under the current sanctions against North Korea (UN Security Council, the United States), it will be possible to contribute to identifying possible inter-Korean cooperation projects in the field of the natural environment.