• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.17-40
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• 1995

Rheumatoid arthritis is the one of the chronic diseases, one of its major symptoms is a chronic pain. Despite developing medical treatment and surgical techniques, it is suggested that to control the pain is the goal of the treatment. But pain is an inner experience and even those closest to the patient cannot truly observe its progress or share in its suffering. The National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine's report on Pain and Disability concluded that there is no objective measure of pain-(exactly) no pain thermometer-nor can there ever be one, because the experience of pain is inseparable from personal perception and social influence such as culture. To explore chronic pain experience is to understand the process and property of the patient's perception of pain through the response to pain, the coping with pain, and the adaptation to pain. Therefore a qualitative study was conducted in order to gain an understanding of pain experience of patients with RA in korea. I used naturalistic inquiry as a research methodology, which had 5 axioms, the first is that realities are multiple, constructed, and holistic, the second is that knower and known are interactive, inseparable, the third is only time and context bound working hypotheses(idiographic statements) are possible, the forth is all entities are in a state of mutual simultaneous shaping, so that it is impossible to distinguish causes from effects and the last is that inquiry is value-bound. Purposive sampling was conducted as a sampling. 20 subjects who experienced pain over 10 years, lived in middle-sized city and big city in Korea, and 17 women and 3 men. The subject's age was from 32 to 62 (average 48.8), all were married, living with their spouse and children, except two-one divorced and the other widow before they became ill. I collected data using In depth structured interview. I had interviews two or three times with each subject, and the interviews were conducted at each subject's home. Each interview lasted about two hours an average. A recording was taken with the consent of the subject. I used inductive data analysis-such as unitizing and categorizing. unitizing is a process of coding, whereby raw data are systematically transformed and aggregated into units. Categorizing is a process wherby previously unitized data are organized into categories that provide descriptive or inferential information about the context or setting from which the units were derived. This process is used constant comparative method. The pain controlling process is composed of behavior of pain control. The behaviors of pain control are rearranging of ADL, hiddening role conflict, balancing treatment, and changing social relation. Rearranging of ADL includes diet management, sleep management, and the adjustment of daily life activities. The subjects try to rearrange their daily activities by modified style of motions, rearranging time span & range of activities, using auxillary facilities, and getting help in order to keep on the pace of daily life. Hiddening role conflict means to reduce conflicts between sick role and their role as a family member. In this process, the subjects use two modes, one is to control the pain complaints, and the other is to internalize the value which is to stay home is good for caring her children and being a good mother. To control pain complaints is done by 'enduring', 'understanding' the other family members, or making them undersood in order to reduce pain. Balancing treatment is composed of two aspects. One is to keep the pain within the endurable level, the other is to keep in touch with medical personnel in order to get the information of treatment and emotional support. Changing social relation is made by information seeking and sharing, formation of mutual support relation, and finally simplification of social relationships. The subjects simplify their social relationships by refraining from relations with someone who makes them physically and psychologically strained. In particular the subjects are apt to avoid contact with in-laws, and the change of relation to in-laws results in lessening the family boundary. In the course of this process, they confront the crisis of family confict result in family dissolution. This crisis is related to the threat of self-existence. Findings from this study contribute to understanding the chronic pain experience. To advance this study, we should compare this result with other cases in different cultural contexts. I think to interpret these results, korean cultural background should be considered. Especially the different family concept, more broader family members and kinship network, and the traditional medical knowledge influences patients' behavior.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.35-43
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• 2018

Objectives : Effects of multiple trauma are complex and extend beyond core PTSD symptoms. However, few psychological instruments for trauma assessment address this issue of symptom complexity. The Trauma Symptom Checklist-40 (TSC-40) is a self-report scale that assesses wide range of symptoms associated with childhood or adult traumatic experience. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the validity of the Korean Version of the TSC-40 in a sample of psychiatric outpatients. Methods : Data of 367 treatment-seeking patients with DSM-IV diagnoses were obtained from an outpatient department of psychiatric unit at a university hospital. The diagnoses were anxiety disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, depressive disorder, adjustment disorder and others. Included in the psychometric data were the TSC-40, the Life events checklist, the Impact of Event Scale-Revised, the Zung's Self-report Depression Scale, and the Zung's Self-report Anxiety Scale. Cronbach's ${\alpha}$ for internal consistency were calculated. Convergent and concurrent validity was approached with correlation between the TSC-40 and other scales (PTSD, anxiety and depression). Results : Exploratory factor analysis of the Korean Version of TSC-40 extracted seven-factor structure accounted for 59.55% of total variance that was contextually similar to a six-factor structure and five-factor structure of the original English version. The Korean Version of TSC-40 demonstrated a high level of internal consistency. (Cronbach's ${\alpha}=0.94$) and good concurrent and convergent validity with another PTSD scale and anxiety and depression scales. Conclusions : Excellent construct validity of The Korean Version of TSC-40 was proved in this study. And subtle difference in the factor structure may reflect the cultural issues and the sample characteristics such as heterogeneous clinical population (including non-trauma related disorders) and outpatient status. Overall, this study demonstrated that the Korean version of TSC-40 is psychometrically sound and can be used for Korean clinical population.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.261-275
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• 2013

This study was designed to investigate the relationships of depressed mood with obesity, blood and urinary compositions, and dietary habits in Koreans at the age of 40, a critical transition to the middle adulthood stage. A total of 27,684 people who have taken the Life Transition Period Health Examination at the Korea Association of Health Promotion in 2011 were divided into two groups; the depressed mood group (DG) and the non-depressed group (NG) according to results of the primary questionnaire for mental health. The results were analyzed using the health examination criteria of the National Health Insurance Corporation. Women and medicaid recipients showed higher incidence of depressed mood than men and health insurance subscribers. People with underweight in BMI or abdominal obesity showed correlation with depressed mood, while there was no significant relationship with metabolic syndrome. Regarding blood and urinary compositions, DG was related to a higher level of hemoglobin and lower levels of HDL-cholesterol and triglyceride, although the relationships diminished after adjustment for other confounder effects. According to dietary habits, more people in DG were categorized as a group for "Needs Much Improvement", and the odds ratio of the depressed mood showed a significant increase. Significant difference regarding the frequency of food items such as milk products, animal proteins, Kimchi, and fruits was observed between DG and NG. In addition, a higher portion of subjects in DG did not consume regular meals and various kinds of food. In conclusion, the depressed mood of 40 year-old adults was significantly related to underweight, higher waist measurement, and undesirable dietary habits. Results of our study can be applicable as a basic resource for development of effective nutrition counseling and education programs for improvement of mental health promotion during the critical transition to the middle adulthood stage.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.16-42
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• 1978

This survey was made for a month starting from November 15 to December 15, 1977 covering 711 students taking the junior. (3rd-yea.) and the senior. (4th-year) at nine college of nursing in Seoul concerning their perception and Attitude toward the profession of nursing, motive for the necessity of learning, environment of study, attitude of study and particulars relevant with study performance, particulars of library, references and reading, assignments and particulars of the degree of confidence for the learning achievement. Through the survey of the above Particulars, the following results were obtained by classifying all subject matters and by analysing motive of the selection of their course, awarding or not awarding of scholarships. 1. General characteristics: it was revealed that 406 students (57.1%) were attending at the junior. while 305 students (42.9%) were taking the senior. Thus, the total number was 711 and their average age was 21.4 years. Their dwelling category was; 73.9 percent of them resided at their parent's home, 214 students (30.1%) were awarded with scholarships. The reason to be attracted by nursing science was the possibility of continuing social life after graduation (43.5%). 2. Their perception and attitude toward the profession of nursing: According to the perception of profession by the students of each grade, students of the 4th grade showed comparatively strong conception. Also, students of the 4th grade showed more positive attitude in the purchase and reading of magazines relative with the science of nursing, in the reading of Code for Nurses and in their interest in the activity of nursing field. For the necessity of mission of nurse, 97.7 percent of the entire number of students covered responded to necessity. For the necessity of the particular humanity and particularity in the character of nurses, 95.8 percent of those students responded to necessity. By the each grade, students of the 4th grade showed more response. 3. As to professional field desired after completing the professional course: 57 percent of those students desired for clinician nurse while 55 percents desired for community health-nurse. 4. As to the environment of study: they were mostly satisfied with their present residential environment. However, they complained of inconvenience at their lecture-halls. Students of the 3rd grade showed more complain. As to their attitude toward the adjustment of environment of study, they showed a affirmative response. As to the opinion of factors which interfere with their study, comparatively strong response was showed in their scepticism in the science of nursing, insufficient comprehension in general learning, relation with professors n4 discrepancy in the method of study. According to opinions of students at each grade, students of the 4th grade showed more scepticism. 5. Particulars relative with their attitude and performance of study : As to their knowledge of the objectives of their study of subject, the majority was to study with a partial knowledge of the objectives of their study. As to the plan of study, a low percentage indicated management of routine life under regular scheduling. Students of the 4th grade responded to rather planned life. As to time spent in independent study, response to concentrated study when necessary was stronger than that to regular daily study. Students of the 4th grade showed stronger response to regular study than that of the 3rd grade. As to the contents of their note-taking, 67.4 percents of those students responded to such regulatory procedure performing in the lecture-hall as they listen to lectures. 17.3 percents of those students showed response to adding supplementary informations from references to what was entered in choir note-taking at their lecture-halls. 6. Particulars of library, references and reading books: As to receiving of instruction for the utilization of library and time of receiving such instruction 64.7 percents of those students had received such instruction. 66.7 percents of the those responded received such instruction at orientation conducted for freshmen. As to the convenience of the utilization of library, 49.9 percents of those students responded to convenience. However, students of the 3rd grade showed a much stronger response to inconvenience. As to the time of the utilization of library,92.5 percents of those students showed a response to occasional utilization for particular purpose than regular utilization. 53.2 percents of those students responded to ordinary in quantity that library have references. 34.2 percents of those students responded to insufficient. As to the particular relative with the method and field of reading: 53.5 percents of those students responded to intensive reading and was the majority. As to the reading field, fiction u as the majority. When read any books for their major, they usually rend Korean text-b, oks. 7. Particular relative with giving assignment: All respondents were well aware of the objectives of giving home tasks. As to the attitude toward assignments and performing home tasks, 54.8 percents of those students to making ostentatious study because of an excessive quantity of assignments imposed. For performing assignment, they showed comparatively positive response. Also, 52.2 percents of those students responded that they usually submitted complected assignment with references. 8. As to motive to realize the necessity of study : 55.6 percents of those students responded that they realized such necessity in communication with patients when they were engaged in clinical practice. Also, 8.6, the lowest percents of those students responded that they realized such necessity in the course of conversation with nurses when they were engaged in clinical practice. 9. As to the determination of their confidence in the performance of study relative with clinical experience: They showed a general inclination of having in nursing. The major response was that they came to well comprehend the patients families. the lowest response was that they could apply what was learned at lecture-hall to practice. This response incidentally showed the distance the lecture-hall and practical study. In general items, students of the 4th grade showed more favorable response than students of the 3rd grade and there was a significant difference. 10. As to the perception and attitude toward profession according to the motive of selecting the nursing science : Those who selected the nursing voluntarily showed stronger conception than those who selected the nursing through indirect influence. However, there was no significant difference on this point. Only there was a remarkable difference in the reading of Code for Nurses. 11. Those who showed a stronger conception in the profession of nursing according to the motives of attractive nursing science indicated a strong will and ability to manage stable life and comparatively strong response was shown in the management of good home life because of the good adaptability of the science to their character. This group showed a strong conception of the profession than those who responded that they prefer this profession out of a longing for the work of a hospital and for the easy obtaining of opportunity to immigrate to over seas and for economic cause and for high school grade. There was significant difference between these two groups, 12. As to the conception and attitude toward the profession of nursing according to benefits by scholarships, those who were benefitted by scholarship showed stronger conception of profession than those who did not receive scholarship and there was a remarkable difference between these two categories. However, there was no remarkable difference between these two categories in the extent of interest of the activities of nursing fields and in the reading of Code for Nurses. 13. As activation for study according to the benefits of scholarships, those who were benefitted by scholarships showed stronger response to the motive for study comparing with those who receive. 14. As to tile field of reading according to the benefits by scholarships, those who received scholarships tended to read autobiographies and essayers to a considerable extent. Those who did not receive scholarships tended to read novels. Those who received scholarships more read nursing boots than those who did not receive scholarships. 15. As to the attitude of study and doing of assignment according to benefits of scholarships, those who received scholarships managed a favorable life with schedules for study, More students of receiving scholarship showed a regular study for more than one hour per day. Also, in the method of doing home tasks, more students of receiving scholarship showed reference to relative books frequently for the submission of completed assignments.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.51-57
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• 2008

Purpose: This study has been conducted to know how the size and position of the circle of least confusion has an influence on the vision for minimization of asthenopia when astigmatism is corrected and appropriated prescription to provided clear vision life. Methods: The method of the study has been worked on 68 students (136 eyes) of man and woman enrolled in university of Gyeong-gi-do aged 20 to 40, who have myopic astigmatism in order to know how the corrected vision changes according to the size and position of the circle of least confusion of astigmatism, the vision has been tested by giving the vision whose astigmatic power of 0.25D and 0.50D was just reduced, low correcting the astigmatic power into 0.50D, and at the same time inserting additionally spherical power -0.25D, all under a condition that the corrected vision after completely corrected astigmatism, and the axis of astigmatism was not changed. Results: The average vision was 1.047 when the astigmatic power was fully corrected, and in low correction of 0.25D, it was 0.914, and in low correction of 0.50, it was 0.772. It has been learned that the bigger the circle of least confusion was the bigger the range of vision reduction and the corrected vision in astigmatism has correlation with the size of the circle of least confusion. It has been examined that the average vision according to position of the circle of least confusion in astigmatism was 1.047 when the astigmatic power was completely corrected and focused on the retina with state of point, and in case that the astigmatic power was 0.50D of state of low correction, that is, the circle of least confusion was focused before retina, it was 0.828, and it was also 0.826 when the astigmatic power is low corrected with 0.50D and the circle of least confusion was focused on the retina. Explained briefly, It has been examined that in case that the state of low correction of the astigmatic power was same, the vision reduction was less in the image of the circle of least confusion focused upon the retina than in the image of its being focused before the retina. Conclusions: In case that the refractive power of cylindrical lens is reduced in test of wearability in astigmatism, there needs surely an adjustment of spherical lens that can place the circle of least confusion on the retina.

• The Korean Nurse
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.77-96
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• 1997

The duty shifts of hospital nurses not only affect nurses' physical and mental health but also present various personnel management problems which often result in high turnover rates. In this context a study was carried out from October to November 1995 for a period of two months to find out the status of hospital nurses' duty shift patterns, and preferred duty hours and fixed duty shifts. The study population was 867 RNs working in five general hospitals located in Seoul and its vicinity. The questionnaire developed by the writer was used for data collection. The response rate was 85.9 percent or 745 returns. The SAS program was used for data analysis with the computation of frequencies, percentages and Chi square test. The findings of the study are as follows: 1. General characteristics of the study population: 56 percent of respondents was (25 years group and 76.5 percent were "single": the predominant proportion of respondents was junior nursing college graduates(92.2%) and have less than 5 years nursing experience in hospitals(65.5%). For their future working plan in nursing profession, nearly 50% responded as uncertain The reasons given for their career plan was predominantly 'personal growth and development' rather than financial reasons. 2. The interval for rotations of duty stations was found to be mostly irregular(56.4%) while others reported as weekly(16.1%), monthly(12.9%), and fixed terms(4.6%). 3. The main problems related to duty shifts particularly the evening and night duty nurses reported were "not enough time for the family, " "afraid of security problems after the work when returning home late at night." and "lack of leisure time". "problems in physical and physiological adjustment." "problems in family life." "lack of time for interactions with fellow nurses" etc. 4. The forty percent of respondents reported to have '1-2 times' of duty shift rotations while all others reported that '0 time'. '2-3 times'. 'more than 3 times' etc. which suggest the irregularity in duty shift rotations. 5. The majority(62.8%) of study population found to favor the rotating system of duty stations. The reasons for favoring the rotation system were: the opportunity for "learning new things and personal development." "better human relations are possible. "better understanding in various duty stations." "changes in monotonous routine job" etc. The proportion of those disfavor the rotating 'system was 34.7 percent. giving the reasons of"it impedes development of specialization." "poor job performances." "stress factors" etc. Furthermore. respondents made the following comments in relation to the rotation of duty stations: the nurses should be given the opportunity to participate in the. decision making process: personal interest and aptitudes should be considered: regular intervals for the rotations or it should be planned in advance. etc. 6. For the future career plan. the older. married group with longer nursing experiences appeared to think the nursing as their lifetime career more likely than the younger. single group with shorter nursing experiences ($x^2=61.19.{\;}p=.000;{\;}x^2=41.55.{\;}p=.000$). The reason given for their future career plan regardless of length of future service, was predominantly "personal growth and development" rather than financial reasons. For further analysis, the group those with the shorter career plan appeared to claim "financial reasons" for their future career more readily than the group who consider the nursing job as their lifetime career$(x^2$= 11.73, p=.003) did. This finding suggests the need for careful .considerations in personnel management of nursing administration particularly when dealing with the nurses' career development. The majority of respondents preferred the fixed day shift. However, further analysis of those preferred evening shift by age and civil status, "< 25 years group"(15.1%) and "single group"(13.2) were more likely to favor the fixed evening shift than > 25 years(6.4%) and married(4.8%)groups. This differences were statistically significant ($x^2=14.54, {\;}p=.000;{\;}x^2=8.75, {\;}p=.003$). 7. A great majority of respondents(86.9% or n=647) found to prefer the day shifts. When the four different types of duty shifts(Types A. B. C, D) were presented, 55.0 percent of total respondents preferred the A type or the existing one followed by D type(22.7%). B type(12.4%) and C type(8.2%). 8. When the condition of monetary incentives for the evening(20% of salary) and night shifts(40% of. salary) of the existing duty type was presented. again the day shift appeared to be the most preferred one although the rate was slightly lower(66.4% against 86.9%). In the case of evening shift, with the same incentive, the preference rates for evening and night shifts increased from 11.0 to 22.4 percent and from 0.5 to 3.0 percent respectively. When the age variable was controlled. < 25 yrs group showed higher rates(31.6%. 4.8%) than those of > 25 yrs group(15.5%. 1.3%) respectively preferring the evening and night shifts(p=.000). The civil status also seemed to operate on the preferences of the duty shifts as the single group showed lower rate(69.0%) for day duty against 83. 6% of the married group. and higher rates for evening and night duties(27.2%. 15.1%) respectively against those of the married group(3.8%. 1.8%) while a higher proportion of the married group(83. 6%) preferred the day duties than the single group(69.0%). These differences were found to be statistically all significant(p=.001). 9. The findings on preferences of three different types of fixed duty hours namely, B, C. and D(with additional monetary incentives) are as follows in order of preference: B type(12hrs a day, 3days a wk): day shift(64.1%), evening shift(26.1%). night shift(6.5%) C type(12hrs a day. 4days a wk) : evening shift(49.2%). day shift(32.8%), night shift(11.5%) D type(10hrs a day. 4days a wk): showed the similar trend as B type. The findings of higher preferences on the evening and night duties when the incentives are given. as shown above, suggest the need for the introductions of different patterns of duty hours and incentive measures in order to overcome the difficulties in rostering the nursing duties. However, the interpretation of the above data, particularly the C type, needs cautions as the total number of respondents is very small(n=61). It requires further in-depth study. In conclusion. it seemed to suggest that the patterns of nurses duty hours and shifts in the most hospitals in the country have neither been tried for different duty types nor been flexible. The stereotype rostering system of three shifts and insensitiveness for personal life aspect of nurses seemed to be prevailing. This study seems to support that irregular and frequent rotations of duty shifts may be contributing factors for most nurses' maladjustment problems in physical and mental health. personal and family life which eventually may result in high turnover rates. In order to overcome the increasing problems in personnel management of hospital nurses particularly in rostering of evening and night duty shifts, which may related to eventual high turnover rates, the findings of this study strongly suggest the need for an introduction of new rostering systems including fixed duties and appropriate incentive measures for evenings and nights which the most nurses want to avoid, In considering the nursing care of inpatients is the round-the clock business. the practice of the nursing duty shift system is inevitable. In this context, based on the findings of this study. the following are recommended: 1. The further in-depth studies on duty shifts and hours need to be undertaken for the development of appropriate and effective rostering systems for hospital nurses. 2. An introduction of appropriate incentive measures for evening and night duty shifts along with organizational considerations such as the trials for preferred duty time bands, duty hours, and fixed duty shifts should be considered if good quality of care for the patients be maintained for the round the clock. This may require an initiation of systematic research and development activities in the field of hospital nursing administration as a part of permanent system in the hospital. 3. Planned and regular intervals, orientation and training, and professional and personal growth should be considered for the rotation of different duty stations or units. 4. In considering the higher degree of preferences in the duty type of "10hours a day, 4days a week" shown in this study, it would be worthwhile to undertake the R&D type studies in large hospital settings.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.17-26
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• 2010

Recently concerns have been raised due to the unbalanced supply of crops: the price of crops has been unstable and at one point the price went up so high that the word Agflation(agriculture+ inflation) was coined. Korea, in particular, is a small-sized country and needs to secure the stable supply of crops by investing in the produce importation at a national level. Investment in foreign produce importation is becoming more important as a measure for sufficient supply of crops, limited supply of domestic crops, weakened farming conditions worldwide, as well as recent changes in the use of crops due to the development of bio-fuels, influence of carbon emission on crops, the price increase in crops, and influx of foreign hot money. However, there are many problems with investing in foreign produce importation: lack of support from the government; lack of farming information and technology; difficulty in securing the capital; no immediate pay-off from the investment and insufficient management. Although foreign produce is originally more price-competitive than domestic produce, it loses its competiveness in the process of importation (due to high tariffs) and poor distribution system, which makes it difficult to sell in Korea. Therefore, investment in foreign produce importation is being questioned for feasibility; to make it possible, foreign produce must maintain the price-competitiveness. Especially, harvest of agricultural products depends on natural and geographical conditions of each country and those products have indigenous properties, so distribution system according to import and export of agricultural products should be treated more carefully than that of other industries. Distribution costs are differentiated into each item and include cost of sorting and wrapping, cost of wrapping materials, cost of domestic transport, cost of international transport and cost of clearing customs for import and export. So transporting and storing agricultural products generates considerable costs compared with other products. Also, due to upgrade of dietary life, needs for stability, taste and visible quality toward food including agricultural products are being raised and wrong way of storage causes decomposition of food and loss of freshness, making the storage more difficult than that in room temperature, so storage and transport in distribution of agricultural products needs specialty. In addition, because lack of specialty in distribution and circulation such as storage and wrapping does not solve limit factors in distance, the distribution and circulation has been limited to a form of import and export within short-distant region. Therefore, need for distribution out-sourcing which can satisfy specialty in managing distribution and circulation and it is needed to establish more effective distribution system. However, existing distribution system of agricultural products is exposed to various problems including problems in distribution channel, making distribution and strategy for distribution and those problems are as follows. First, in case of investment in overseas agricultural industry, stable supply of the products is difficult because areas of production are dispersed widely and influenced by outer factors due to including overseas distribution channels. Also, at the aspect of quality, standardization of products is difficult, distribution system is quite complicated and unreasonable due to long distribution channels according to international trade and financial and institutional support is not enough. Especially, there are quite a lot of ineffective factors including multi level distribution process, dramatic gap between production cost and customer's cost, lack of physical distribution facilities and difficulties in storage and transport due to lack of wrapping containers. Besides, because import and export of agricultural products has been manages under the company's own distribution according to transaction contract between manufacturers and exporting company, efficiency is low due to excessive investment in fixed costs and lack of specialty in dealing with agricultural products causes fall of value of products, showing the limit to lose price-competitiveness. Especially, because lack of specialty in distribution and circulation such as storage and wrapping does not solve limit factors in distance, the distribution and circulation has been limited to a form of import and export within short-distant region. Therefore, need for distribution out-sourcing which can satisfy specialty in managing distribution and circulation and it is needed to establish more effective distribution system. Second, among tangible and intangible services which promote the efficiency of the whole distribution, a function building distribution environment which includes distribution information, system for standard and inspection, distribution finance, system for diversification of risks, education and training, distribution administration and tax system is wanted. In general, such a function building distribution environment is difficult to be changed and supplement innovatively because its effect compared with investment does not appear immediately despite of its necessity. Especially, in case of distribution of agricultural products, as a function of collecting and distributing is performed individually through various channels, the importance of distribution information and standardization is getting more focus due to the problem of repetition of work and lack of specialty. Also, efficient management of distribution is quite difficult due to lack of professionals in distribution, so support to professional education is needed. Third, though effort to keep self-sufficiency ratio of staple food, rice is regarded as important at the government level, level of dependency on overseas of others crops is high. Therefore, plan for stable securing food resources aside from staple food is also necessary. Especially, governmental organizations of agricultural products distribution in Korea are production-centered and have unreasonable structure whose function at the aspect of distribution and consumption is quite insufficient. And development of new distribution channels which can deal with changes in distribution environment and they do not achieve actual results of strategy for distribution due to non-positive strategy for price distribution. That is, it implies the possibility that base for supply will become vulnerable because it does not mediate appropriate interests on total distribution channels such as manufacturers, wholesale dealers and vendors by emphasizing consumer protection excessively in the distribution of agricultural products. Therefore, this study examined fundamental concept and actual situation for our investment to overseas agriculture, drew necessities, considerations, problems, etc. of overseas agricultural investment and suggested improvements at the level of distribution for price competitiveness of agricultural products cultivated in overseas under five aspects; government's indirect support, distribution's modernization and distribution information function's strengthening, government's political support for distribution facility, transportation route, load and unloading works' improvement, price competitiveness' securing, professional manpower's cultivation by education and training, etc. Here are some suggestions for foreign produce importation. First, the government should conduct a survey on the current distribution channels and analyze the situation to establish a measure for long-term development plans. By providing each agricultural area with a guideline for planning appropriate production of crops, the government can help farmers be ready for importation, and prevent them from producing same crops all at the same time. Government can sign an MOU with the foreign government and promote the importation so that the development of agricultural resources can be stable and steady. Second, the government can establish a strategy for an effective distribution system by providing farmers and agriculture-related workers with the distribution information such as price, production, demand, market structure and location, feature of each crop, and etc. In order for such distribution system to become feasible, the government needs to reconstruct the current distribution system, designate a public organization for providing distribution information and set the criteria for level of produce quality, trade units, and package units. Third, the government should provide financial support and a policy to seek an efficient distribution channel for foreign produce to be delivered fresh: the government should expand distribution facilities (for selecting, packaging, storing, and processing) and transportation vehicles while modernizing old facilities. There should be another policy to improve the efficiency of unloading, and to lower the cost of distribution. Fourth, it is necessary to enact a new law covering exceptional cases for importing produce in order to maintain the price competitiveness; currently the high tariffs is keeping the imported produce from being distributed domestically. However, the new adjustment should be made carefully within the WTO regulations since it can create a problem from giving preferential tariffs. The government can also simplify the distribution channels in order to reduce the cost in the distribution process. Fifth, the government should educate distributors to raise the efficiency and to modernize the distribution system. It is necessary to develop human resources by educating people regarding the foreign agricultural environment, the produce quality, management skills, and by introducing some successful cases in advanced countries.