• International Journal of Quality Innovation
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.113-121
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• 2008

This paper proposes a scheme to estimate the technical efficiency of energy consumption and production and shadow prices of $CO_2$ emission in country-level at Asia Pacific countries by Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The result of technical efficiency estimation shows that there exists an heterogeneity and a substantial opportunity for improvement in technical efficiency at energy consumption and production across countries, specially in the $CO_2$ emission, which implies that more pollutant are spread in air. Each country will have the different willingness to pay for the additional $CO_2$ emission right and this result enables us to predict the competition in international $CO_2$ emission right market.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.1385-1389
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• 2015

The aim of this study was to investigate the sun protection use behaviour among university students from 25 low, middle income and emerging economy countries. Using anonymous questionnaires, data were collected from 18,687 undergraduate university students aged 18-30 years (mean age 20.8, SD=2.8) from 26 universities in 25 countries across Asia, Africa and the Americas. Overall, 57.2% of university students reported liking to sunbathe and of those only 48.1% used sun protection when sunbathing. In multivariate logistic regression, younger age, being female, coming from a wealthy or quite well off economic family background, living in an upper middle or high income country, lighter skin tone, and other health behaviours were found to be associated with sun protection use behaviour. Low sun protection use calls for health promotion programmes to prevent unprotected sun exposure.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.43-50
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• 2023

The South Korean government announced its plan to pursue membership in the CPTPP in 2022, aiming to establish a stable supply chain within the Asia-Pacific region. The CPTPP, led by Japan, was ratified in 2018 by 11 countries with the goal of eliminating tariffs and establishing new trade rules. According to our analysis, since the implementation of the CPTPP, there has been a trade promotion effect among Japan and member countries, with greater effects observed in countries with higher GDP per capita and closer geographical distance. As long as tariff elimination and reduction proceed as planned, the trade promotion effects are expected to expand gradually. However, the expansion of trade between Japan and CPTPP member countries may also indicate a relative contraction in trade with non-member countries, potentially posing a threat to the stable supply chain in the Korean industry within the Asia-Pacific region. As Japan is Korea's fourth-largest trading partner, it is necessary to carefully consider the impact of CPTPP on Japan's future trade with member countries and engage in discussions regarding Korea's participation and negotiation content based on a thorough examination of the matter.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.8
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• pp.175-183
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• 2020

This study explores the effect of trade of Information Communications Technology (ICT) products and government's role, measured by three factors: Control of corruption, Government effectiveness, and Administrative tax level, on raising the economy across the East Asia-Pacific region. Secondary data were collected from the World Bank database of 21 countries over 12 years from 2006 to 2017. Applying the Panel corrected standard error model and running a robustness check based on the Dynamic panel data method, this research found that the exported ICT products, control of corruption, and government effectiveness could increase the economic income of a country in the region. The paper also provided the evidence indicating that the imported ICT products and the Administrative tax level are two harmful factors for economic growth. The major finding confirmed the useful contribution on improving government quality and its economy. First, improving the economy of a country always poses various challenges to its government. During the past decades, although much of the literature confirmed that exporting ICT products could promote an economy, very few studies investigated the role of Administrative tax level and the Government effectiveness. Second, there are only a few studies exploring the capability of government and the economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.39-60
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• 2021

Despite the fast growth and rising importance of digital trade, there still exists no multilateral agreement governing digital trade. Significant differences in policy directions regarding key digital trade issues among the U.S., EU and China are the main stumbling blocks for reaching agreement on the multilateral front. To overcome this deficiency in digital trade rules, there has been active movement among mainly countries in the Asia-Pacific region for rule-making on digital trade. Starting with the CPTPP chapter on E-Commerce in 2018, there has been a series of digital trade rules agreed in bilateral or plurilateral formats, such as the USMCA, USJDTA, DEPA, DEA and RCEP. Korea is currently only member of RCEP, which contains an e-commerce chapter with lower levels of commitment as compared to other digital trade agreements. This paper provides a broad analysis of the recently concluded digital trade agreements, comparing the different coverage of rules, levels of commitment, and rules templates. The analysis aims to provide implications for the desirable direction of rule-making on digital trade and Korea's digital trade strategy.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.2169-2175
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• 2009

This research aims to evaluate the concept of eco-efficient water infrastructure and provides a list of case studies in order to help understand the applicability of eco-efficient water infrastructure to Asia and the Pacific. A set of indicators have been explored to assess eco-efficiency in water infrastructure for the region on a micro and macro scale. The core idea of eco-efficiency, 'more value with less impact (on the environment)', has proven to be applicable in management of water infrastructure. The fundamental elements in eco-efficient water infrastructure should encompass physical infrastructure and non-physical infrastructure, which is more needed particularly in Asian countries. The case studies have demonstrated the applicability of the concept of eco-efficient water infrastructure. The Republic of Korea has provided the case of the eco-friendly approaches to enhance dam management and its innovative solutions how to use water more efficiently through state-of-art technologies. The experiences of Singapore are some of the best evidence to establish eco-efficient water infrastructure, for instance, the NEWater project via application of cutting edge technologies (recycled water) and institutional reform in water tariff systems to conserve water as well as enhance water quality. A list of indicators to assess eco-efficiency in water infrastructure have been discussed, and the research presents a myriad of project cases which are good to represent eco-efficiency in water infrastructure, including multipurpose small dams, customized flood defense systems, eco-efficient ground water use, and eco-efficient desalination plants. The study has presented numerous indicators in five different categories: 1) the status of water availability and infrastructure; 2) production and consumption patterns of freshwater; 3) agricultural products and sources of environmental loads; 4) damages from water-caused natural disaster; and 5) urban water supply and sanitation. There are challenges as well as benefits in such indicators, since the indicators should be applied very carefully in accordance with specific socio-economic, political and policy contexts in different countries in Asia and the Pacific Region. The key to success of establishment of eco-efficient water infrastructure in Asia primarily depends on the extent to which each country is committed to balancing its development of physical as well as non-physical water infrastructure. Particularly, it is imperative for Asian countries to transform its policy focus from physical infrastructure to non-physical infrastructure. Such shift will help lead to implementation of sustainable in Asian countries.

• Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.61-83
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• 2020

From 1959 to 1984, over 93,000 Koreans moved to North Korea from Japan as part of a repatriation project conducted during this time. Among them were people who had escaped from North Korea and immigrated to Japan and South Korea as well as the descendants of such people. This research examines the immigration trajectories of North Korean defectors related to the repatriation project and its effects on international relations in East Asia in a migration systems context. Specifically, it focuses on 26 North Korean defectors who have connections with Japan and settled in Japan and South Korea. It argues that the migration pathways of North Korean defectors linked with the repatriation project have been constructed with the cooperation of and amidst conflict between East Asian countries. To respond to the situation, North Korean defectors used their connections with Japan in amicable relations between Japan and China. However, after the relations went sour, defectors turned to informal transitional networks. If these strategies were unavailable, the defectors faced difficulties, unless they received social or capital support from the destination countries. After entering the destination country, those who settled in Japan have experienced different situations due to the inconsistency in administrative proceedings, while those in South Korea have been treated equally as other defectors. In this sense, some defectors have faced precarious situations in their immigration.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2015.10a
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• pp.122-126
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• 2015

Credit enhancement is absolutely essential for financing Independent Power Producer (IPP) projects in Asia particularly for countries whose sovereign credit rating is on non-investment grade and foreign investment is difficult to achieve. Due to nexus of agreements among varies parties in IPP project, it is hard to clearly visualize the roles of these agreements. Examples are: What credit enhancement factors are most influential to minimize the associated risks of IPP projects? Why are they powerful? What are their roles? Who are less powerful and what are the obstacles that causes them less powerful? A research is conducted to identify the credit enhancement factors for IPP projects in Asia. IPP professionals validated 27 out of 28 identified credit enhancement factors, and five factor groupings were made through factor analysis. Afterwards, network theory is applied to find the unanswered questions, which by graphical and mathematical representations show that the host government's credit enhancement, MDBs, ECAs and other parties' credit enhancement are prominent and of great importance to handle the associated risks of IPP projects in Asia

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2019

Asian countries have been striving for economic integration for decades. This effort may lead to the convergence of income level through externalities across countries. This paper investigates whether the convergence phenomenon holds for income levels in Asian countries for the periods between 1975-2015 applying the traditional methodology of ${\sigma}-$ and ${\beta}-convergence$. Although the absolute ${\beta}-convergence$ of income levels in Asian and ASEAN+3 countries do hold, ${\sigma}-convergence$ and conditional ${\beta}-convergence$ of income level generally do not exist. This suggests that the benefits of economic integration in Asian countries were not yet realized to be significant. A plausible explanation is that the economies of Asian countries are largely based on low trade openness and a high level of informal economy.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.3777-3783
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• 2016

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence and mortality of stomach cancer, and its relationship with the Human Development Index (HDI) and its components in Asia in 2012. Materials and Methods: This ecological study wa conducted based on GLOBOCAN project of WHO for Asian countries. We assessed the correlations between standardized incidence rates (SIR) and standardized mortality rates (SMR) of stomach Cancer with HDI and its components using SPSS18. Results: A total of 696,231 cases (68.7% in males and 31.3% in females, ratio of 2.19:1) and 524,465 deaths (67.1% in men and 33.0% in women, ratio 2.03:1) were included in 2012. Five countries with the highest SIR of stomach cancer were Republic Korea, Mongolia, Japan, China and Tajikistan. Five countries with the highest SMR of stomach cancer were Mongolia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and China. Correlation between HDI and SIR was 0.241 (p = 0.106), in men 0.236 (p = 0.114) and in women -0.250 (p = 0.094). Also between HDI and SMR -0.250 (p = 0.871) in men -0.018 (p = 0.903) and in women -0.014 (p = 0.927). Conclusions: No significant correlation was observed between the SIR of stomach cancer, and the HDI and its dimensions, such as life expectancy at birth, mean years of schooling, and income level of the population.