• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• 제31권
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• pp.27-56
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• 2006

Today's financial institutions usually take environmental issues seriously into consideration as they could not evade lender liability in an increasing number of cases. On the international scene, a brand-new concept of the "Equator Principles" in the New Millenium has driven more and more international banks to adopt these Principles in project financing. Sustainable development has been a key word in understanding new trends of the governments, financial institutions, corporations and civic groups in the 21st century. The Equator Principles are a set of voluntary environmental and social guidelines for sustainable finance. These Principles commit bank officers to avoid financial support to projects that fail to meet these guidelines. The Principles were conceived in 2002 on an initiative of the International Finance Corporation(IFC), and launched in June 2003. Since then, dozens of major banks, accounting for up to 80 percent of project loan market, have adopted the Principles. Accordingly, the Principles have become the de facto standard for all banks and investors on how to deal with potential social and environmental issues of projects to be financed. Compliance with the Equator Principles facilitates for endorsing banks to participate in the syndicated loan and help them to manage the risks associated with large-scale projects. The Equator Principles call for financial institutions to provide loans to projects under the following circumstances: - The risk of the project is categorized in accordance with internal guidelines based upon the environmental and social screening criteria of the IFC. - For Category A and B projects, borrowers or sponsors are required to conduct a Social and Environmental Assessment, the preparation of which must meet certain requirements and satisfactorily address key social and environmental issues. - The Social and Environmental Assessment report should address baseline social and environmental conditions, requirements under host country laws and regulations, sustainable development, and, as appropriate, IFC's Environmental, Health and Safety Guidelines, etc. - Based on the Social and Environmental Assessment, Equator banks then make agreements with borrowers on how they mitigate, monitor and manage the risks through a Social and Environmental Management System. Compliance with the plan is included in the covenant clause of loan agreements. If the borrower doesn't comply with the agreed terms, the bank will take corrective actions. The Equator Principles are not a mere declaration of cautious banks but a full commitment of lenders. A violation of the Principles in the process of project financing, which led to an unexpected damage to the affected community, would not give rise to any specific legal remedies other than ordinary lawsuits. So it is more effective for banks to ensure consistent implementation of the Principles and to have them take responsible measures to solve social and environmental issues. Public interests have recently mounted up with respect to environmental issues on the occasion of the Supreme Court's decision (2006Du330) on the fiercely debated reclamation project at Saemangeum. The majority Justices said that the expected environmental damages like probable pollution of water and soil were not believed so serious and that the Administration should continue to implement the project seeking ways to make it more environment friendly. In this case, though the Category A Saemangeum Project was carried out by a government agency, the Supreme Court behaved itself as a signal giver to approve or stop the environment-related project like an Equator bank in project financing. At present, there is no Equator bank in Korea in contrast to three big banks in Japan. Also Korean contractors, which are aggressively bidding for Category A-type projects in South East Asia and Mideast, might find themselves in a disadvantageous position because they are generally ignorant of the environmental assessment associated with project financing. In this regard, Korean banks and overseas project contractors should care for the revised Equator Principles and the latest developments in project financing more seriously. It's because its scope has expanded to the capital cost of US$10 million or more across all industry sectors regardless of developing countries or not. It should be noted that, for a Korean bank, being an Equator bank is more or less burdensome in a short-term period, but it must be conducive to minimizing risks and building up good reputation in the long run.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• 제24권2호
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• pp.273-284
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• 2024

This study investigates the impact of international oil price fluctuations on overseas construction orders secured by domestic and foreign companies. The analysis employs statistical data spanning the past 20 years, encompassing international oil prices, overseas construction orders from domestic firms, and new overseas construction orders from the top 250 global construction companies. The correlation between these variables is assessed using correlation coefficients(R), determination coefficients(R²), and p-values. The results indicate a strong positive correlation between international oil prices and overseas construction orders. The correlation coefficient between domestic overseas construction orders and oil prices is found to be 0.8 or higher, signifying a significant influence. Similarly, a high correlation coefficient of 0.76 is observed between oil prices and new orders from leading global construction companies. Further analysis reveals a particularly strong correlation between oil prices and overseas construction orders in Asia and the Middle East, potentially due to the prevalence of oil-related projects in these regions. Additionally, a high correlation is observed between oil prices and orders for industrial facilities compared to architectural projects. This suggests an increase in plant construction volumes driven by fluctuations in oil prices. Based on these findings, the study proposes an entry strategy for navigating oil price volatility and maintaining competitiveness in the overseas construction market. Key recommendations include diversifying project locations and supplier bases; utilizing hedging techniques for exchange rate risk management, adapting to local infrastructure and market conditions, establishing local partnerships and securing skilled local labor, implementing technological innovations and digitization at construction sites to enhance productivity and cost reduction The insights gained from this study, coupled with the proposed overseas expansion strategies, offer valuable guidance for mitigating risks in the global construction market and fostering resilience in response to international oil price fluctuations. This approach is expected to strengthen the competitiveness of domestic and foreign construction firms seeking success in the international arena.

• Strategy21
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• 통권46호
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• pp.239-276
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• 2020

The failure of early economic sanctions aimed at hurting the overall economies of targeted states called for a more sophisticated design of economic sanctions. This paved way for the advent of 'smart sanctions,' which target the supporters of the regime instead of the public mass. Despite controversies over the effectiveness of economic sanctions as a coercive tool to change the behavior of a targeted state, the transformation from 'comprehensive sanctions' to 'smart sanctions' is gaining the status of a legitimate method to impose punishment on states that do not conform to international norms, the nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction in this particular context of the paper. The five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council proved that it can come to an accord on imposing economic sanctions over adopting resolutions on waging military war with targeted states. The North Korean nuclear issue has been the biggest security threat to countries in the region, even for China out of fear that further developments of nuclear weapons in North Korea might lead to a 'domino-effect,' leading to nuclear proliferation in the Northeast Asia region. Economic sanctions had been adopted by the UNSC as early as 2006 after the first North Korean nuclear test and has continually strengthened sanctions measures at each stage of North Korean weapons development. While dubious of the effectiveness of early sanctions on North Korea, recent sanctions that limit North Korea's exports of coal and imports of oil seem to have an impact on the regime, inducing Kim Jong-un to commit to peaceful talks since 2018. The purpose of this paper is to add a variable to the factors determining the success of economic sanctions on North Korea: preventing North Korea's evasion efforts by conducting illegal transshipments at sea. I first analyze the cause of recent success in the economic sanctions that led Kim Jong-un to engage in talks and add the maritime element to the argument. There are three conditions for the success of the sanctions regime, and they are: (1) smart sanctions, targeting commodities and support groups (elites) vital to regime survival., (2) China's faithful participation in the sanctions regime, and finally, (3) preventing North Korea's maritime evasion efforts.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• 제25권1호
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• pp.34-43
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• 1983

These studies have been carried out to find better locations for sericultural service regardless of the international silk market fluctuation in Korea. In order to acieve the purpose, various investigations and analyses have been carried out for more than four hundred sericultural communities to find out the main factors which caused to decrease in cocoon production in spite of a gloomy past silk market. Now, we believe that we have set up some fundamental guide lines in developing sound serviceable sericultural communities in Korea in case the government accepts the written advices, and the results obtained are as follows: 1. The Korean sericulture has been very prosperous from the 60's to the 70's. In 1976 the cocoon production was at its peak, reaching 41,704M/T from which its decline took place with annual averages of 18.5% for total cocoon production and 16.4% for mulberry field. These figures represent a quantitative decrease to one-third of the total amount in 1976. Since then, the Korean sericulture had continuously suffered from a shortage of raw silk resulting in a slow development of sericulture. At present, a steady development through all possible measures is great importance. 2. The downfall of the korean sericulture resulted from two factors of such as the external, which led to the decline in the price of raw silk at the international market and restrain of import and, the internal, resulting in the little increase of cocoon price and a comparatively lower benefits from the sericulture than from other cash crops. 3. The already established sericultural zone collapsed and then reorganized with the outstanding regional specialization so the decline in total cocoon production in the country. Based on the agricultural regions, 1980 cocoon production was very stable in the mountaineaus area of the east-south which used with intercropping. In this area there was small decline of 33% compare with that of the 1979, and with 70% decline in the dry field farming area of Kangwon Do. In an administrative districtwise, six counties beginning with Sanchnung county of Kyungsang Nam Do, showed less than 20% decline of cocoon production, sixteen counties beginning with Samchuck county of Kangwon Do marked above 80% decrease of cocoon production. In the smaller unit area-wise, there was a big difference among them. twenty-five myons rather increased and a hundrd fourty-three myons decreased above 80% of it. 4. The cocoon production was positively correlated with the decreasing percentage of cocoon production per household. It was also affected by the ratio of the mulberry field area to the total cultivated area per household and cocoon productivity per 10a. 5. Four hundred sixty-four villages in the seventeen counties were surveyed on the basis of farm management and techniques concerned ('80/'79), and then the results were evaluated by using of computer. These results are summarized as foolows: (1) Cocoon production per household There was no difference among the agricultural regions in cocoon production. The cocoon production per household in the comparatively stable villages increased from 100.8kg in 1979 to 122kg in 1981. Cocoon yield in the stable villages decreased by 20% of '81/'79. The cocoon production per house hold in while that of the unstable villages decreased by more than 40% from 102.9kg in 1979 to 82kg in 1981. (2) Cocoon yield per 10a mulberry field The cocoon yield per 10a was higher in the plain area than in the mountaineous area. The stable villages had an average of 73.4kg cocoon yield/10a while the unstabe ones had only an average of 55kg. (3) Adoption the mulberry branch rearing method The branch rearing method was more popular in the plain area than in the mountainous area. In the stable vilages adopted 24.2% in spring and 16.7% in autumn of 1979. In 1981 it shwed increases of 34.3% and 10.1% in the two seasons respectivly. However, the unstable villages showed 13.3% and 126% in both seasons, respectively. (4) The patterns of the combined management system in the sericultural farming The popular management system in the sericultural from was combined with rice and other cash crops, showing 55% of the total households surveyed. Fourteen percent of the households combined the management system with rice and other cash crops and 14% of the households combined with rice only. The villages wich earned less than 20% of the total income from the sericulture reached 81% of the total houscholds indicating that they were still far beyond a complete combination system. (5) Damage by agricultural chemicals The damage caused by agricultural chemicals was mainly due to the protection of rice against insectpests and diseases in the plain areas and took place mostly in the autumn season. The chemicals applied was 65% of Iiquid and 35% of powder forms and 35% of damage was from granulat form of the chemicals. The use of the granular chemicals was low because of high cost.