• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.259-284
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• 2021

The present study was conducted to develop and validate a psychological scale that measures individuals' attitude toward unification of Korea (ATU-K). Building on major theoretical perspectives on the structure of attitude and the attitude-behavior link, we specified two sub-components each representing the cognitive and the affective dimension of people's attitude toward unification. In a survey that involved a stratified sample of Korean adults (N = 1,500), we found strong evidence showing the construct validity of the ATU-K scale. We also found evidence for the convergent and discriminant validity of the scale. In a second survey involving another stratified sample of 1,500 Korean adults, we found the utility of the ATU-K scale in predicting people's intention to engage in unification-oriented behaviors (personal/collective). We also found that the ATU-K scale fares better in predicting the intention vis-a-vis the other measures of unification-related beliefs reported in previous research. We discuss implications of our findings and directions for future research.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.157-165
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• 2016

Objectives There were previous studies which indicated that attitude toward suicide is able to influence the suicide outcome in both individual and group levels. In regard to the highest suicide rate in Korea, our study aims to explore the influence that attitude toward suicide has on suicide by comparing the national attitude towards suicide with a representative sample of the general population. Methods The target population was 20- to 59-year-old adults from South Korea, Japan, and the United States. The panel data were divided according to gender, age, and residential area of individuals, and an email with a hyperlink to our web survey was sent to the randomly selected participants in each stratum. To measure the perceptual differences about suicide in different cultures, this study adopted the Attitudes Toward Suicide questionnaire. Results A total of 2247 subjects in three countries participated in this study. According to results from factor analysis, there were different structure of factors and included items within factors in the three countries : five factors with nineteen items in South Korea, five factors with nineteen items in the United States, and five factors with twenty-five items in Japan. With regard to permissive attitude toward suicide, the mean value of permissiveness was not significantly different among countries, but permissiveness according to education level, gender, and marital status was different in each country. Conclusions This study is the first nationwide comparative study about attitude toward suicide with a representative sample. Our findings suggest that permissive attitude toward suicide influence the suicide phenomenon in each country ; however, its impact is not a mean score of permissiveness, but the detailed difference by various demographics.

• Korean Journal of Child Education & Care
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.31-50
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• 2017

The purpose of this study developing early childhood unification education program preparing for unification using a picture story book, to cultivate right understanding toward North Korean society and rational perception of unification based on the consciousness of ethnic community and democratic citizenship and also to build the consciousness and attitude that will achieve unification in a peaceful way. For developing the program, this paper, with requested survey of teachers in the field of early childhood unification education and with study of references, consists of a purpose, objective, and education contents of early childhood unification education program preparing for reunification using a picture story book. The contents of early childhood unification education program preparing for unification using a picture story book mainly consist of having an identity as a people of Korea(historical identity, cultural identity, identity as Korean in the world), understanding of North Korea(understanding of culture, language, food, and nature of North Korea), reconciliation between South and North Korea(between individuals, groups, and nations), and peaceful unification(peace, unification).

• Journal of Korean Academic Society of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.44-51
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• 2017

Purpose: This descriptive study was conducted to identify the attitudes of nursing college students to North Korean refugees (NKR) and to examine factors influencing these attitudes. Methods: A total of 195 participants completed a structured questionnaire between September and October 2016. Data were analyzed using the SPSS 21.0 program. Results: The results of this study were as follows: attitudes toward NKR was 2.74 out of 4 points; cultural receptivity was 3.25 out of 5 points; nationalism was 2.46 out of 4 points. Cultural receptivity (r=.26, p<.001) and nationalism (r=-.18, p=.036) were significantly related to attitudes toward NKR. Unification attitude (${\beta}=0.27$, p <.001) and cultural receptivity (${\beta}=0.20$, p=.005) explained 13.7% of the variance in attitudes toward NKR. Conclusion: The findings of this study provide fundamental data for the development of a nursing education program on multicultural perspectives. Furthermore, these findings might highlight the need for a nursing education program that could enhance understanding of patients from different backgrounds and recognize their differences, going beyond a national point of view as commonly found in Korea. The nursing education program should also promote an open and receptive attitude.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.444-456
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• 2020

Purpose: This study aimed to understand a change in the awareness of nursing college students on the unification of the Korean peninsula and health care systems after providing unification and nursing education. Methods: After taking all sessions of the classes, seven participations responded in a semi-conducted focus group interview. The data were analyzed by qualitative content analysis. Results: Three themes and eight categories were deduced. Curiosity and expansion on an unfamiliar subject, and expansion of personal experience related to North Korea/Koreans were identified in the theme of challenges to the 'unification and nursing' subject. Confusion due to inconsistency with existing information, the realization of undiscerning attitude/judgement toward North Korea, and empathy and changing views of North Koreans were identified in the theme of expansion of the awareness for North Korea/Koreans. The beginning of a specific concern, the repetition of history, and North Korea still far away were identified in the theme of divided views of the imperativeness of unification. Conclusion: Through the findings of this study, we could examine how students in this study had deepen their understandings in terms of North Koreans beyond their personal experiences by taking the course of 『unification and nursing』.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.381-393
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• 2019

This study aimed to develop an educational program on cervical cancer prevention and human papillomavirus (HPV) for female North Korean refugees and to assess the effect of the program. This study used a nonequivalent control group with a pretest-posttest design. The participants were 42 female North Korean refugees in their 20s residing in South Korea. Measurements included cervical cancer knowledge, HPV knowledge, attitude toward HPV vaccination, and intention for HPV vaccination. Statistically significant differences emerged in levels of cervical cancer knowledge (U = 40.00, p < .001), HPV knowledge (U = 4.50, p < .001), and attitude toward HPV vaccination (U = 128.00, p = .013) between the experimental and control group. The educational program is an effective nursing intervention to improve cervical cancer knowledge, HPV knowledge, and attitude toward HPV vaccination of female North Korean refugees. Stakeholders must work to establish health policies to reduce health disparities between South and North Korean women to prepare for unification.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.155-177
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• 1991

The promotion of economic exchange and cooperation between North and South Korea is significant in two ways. First, the pursuit of economic interest can lead gradually to the unification of the national economies. Second, economic relations can serve as the first stride toward political reunification. There are, however, many difficulties in conceiving a strategy for economic cooperation between North and South Korea because of their differences in ideology and socio-economic system. Under these circumstances, a bid by either the North or the South to consider its specific ideology or socio-economic system absolute and to impose them on the other side would inevitably lead to confrontation and collision and deepen the division of the country. Therefore, steps to expand and develop economic and technological cooperation and comprehensive exchanges between the North and the South, with due regard to the development of bilateral relations, are in full accord with the interests of the both sides. It is clear that North Korea's changing attitude toward its environmental conditions is neither a policy of opening nor an ideological shift toward pragmatism, as has occurred in the Eastern European countries. Instead, it is a temporary tactic for breaking out of the economic stagnation caused by its rigid economic structure. In this light, we must.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.215-229
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• 2020

Purpose: This study examines the attitude of South Korean adults toward food aid to North Korea and factors associated with it. Methods: An online survey involving 1,000 adults aged 19-69 years was conducted between September-October 2019. Throughout South Korea, the subjects were proportionally distributed with respect to gender, age, and region, to represent South Korean adults. Results: A total of 44.6% of the respondents agreed (Agreement group), 36.7% disagreed (Disagreement group), and 18.7% neither agreed nor disagreed to food aid to North Korea. Compared to the Disagreement group, the Agreement group had a higher concern of food aid to North Korea and a more positive perception on the effect of it. The Agreement group selected "direct assistance from the government" whereas the Disagreement group chose "support through international organizations" as the most appropriate channel for food aid to North Korea. Logistic regression analysis revealed that South Korean adults showing a more positive perception on the effect of food aid to North Korea were more likely to agree to the aid (odds ratio [OR], 19.32). Moreover, compared to the conservatives, the progressives were more likely to agree to food aid to North Korea (OR, 5.94). South Korean adults in their 40-50s were more likely to agree to food aid to North Korea than those in their 20-30s (OR, 2.81). South Korean adults with a higher concern of food aid to North Korea (OR, 3.93) and a greater positive perception on Korean unification (OR, 1.88) were more likely to agree to food aid to North Korea. Conclusion: The most important factor associated with the attitude of South Korean adults toward food aid to North Korea was their perception on the subsequent effect. As strategies to draw social consensus on food aid to North Korea, we recommend systematizing the monitoring process on the effect of providing food aid to North Korea and informing the public of the outcomes.