• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.317-340
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• 2023

In a business context, ESG is defined as the use of environmental, social, and governance factors to assess a firm's progress in terms of sustainability. Social media has enabled the public to actively share firms' good and/or bad deeds, increasing public interest in ESG management. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the association of firm performances with the respective sentiments towards each of environmental, social, and governance activities, as well as comprehensive ESG sentiments, which encompass all environmental, social, and governance sentiments. This study used panel regression models to examine the relationship between social media ESG sentiment and the Return on Assets (ROA) and Return on Equity (ROE) of 143 companies listed on the KOSPI 200. We collected data from 2018 to 2021, including sentiment data from a variety of social media channels, such as online communities, Instagram, blogs, Twitter, and other news. The results indicated that firm performance is significantly related to respective ESG and comprehensive ESG sentiments. This study has several implications. By using data from various social media channels, it presents an unbiased view of public ESG sentiment, rather than relying on ESG ratings, which may be influenced by rating agencies. Furthermore, the findings can be used to help firms determine the direction of their ESG management. Therefore, this study provides theoretical and practical insights for researchers and firms interested in ESG management.

• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.143-174
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• 2010

How can a regulatory policy to address potential hazards be made legitimate in the face of scientific uncertainty? The precautionary principle has been gradually regarded as the most persuasive answer to this intricate question in Europe since the 1970s and generally recognized as a guiding principle in international environmental law. This principle, however, has often been subject to diverse concerns and criticisms due to its vague definition. This article tries to elaborate the precautionary principle while reviewing both the validity and unreasonableness of these criticisms over this principle. Then, this article explores the policy relevance of this principle by applying this elaborated definition to the concrete case of risk governance such as the risk assesment of food safety. In the end, this paper emphasizes the fact that the precautionary principle can be applied in the field of risk governance, refuting the argument that the precautionary principle is only a moral attitude or a political position.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.85-95
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• 2010

There is increasing consensus that global warming is seriously affecting the Arctic region. Sea Ice decreases and sea level rise have led to environmental change in Arctic Ecosystems, while also making the Arctic sea route more accessible to humans. There are complicated international governance dynamics in play, in addition to commercial and scientific interests in the Arctic region. This provides a unique opportunity for Korea to lead the future direction of Arctic policy in response to the global issues such as climate change and economic or scientific interests. Korea acquired Ad-hoc Observer status of the Arctic Council(AC) in 2008, which is the only pan-Arctic intergovernmental organization. It consists of six working groups: ACAP, AMAP, CAFF, PAME, EPPR, SDWG that implement research, survey, and monitoring. AC's Observer country has the opportunity to participate in a diverse range of activities such technical and expertise support, research and monitoring, financial support and conference organization. In order for Korea to expand its activities in the Arctic region, we suggest the following approach: First, Korea should become more actively engaged with the Arctic Council and its activities; Second, Korea should construct organized collaborative networks of national experts to respond to Arctic issues; Third, Korea should develop collaborations with Arctic states; Finally, Korea should intensify its research on international relations and international laws related to the Arctic region.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.131-145
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• 2012

During the 1980s and 1990s, most of the old industrial cities of advanced countries have experienced serious de-industrialisation. This has caused many problems, such as economic decline, increasing unemployment, environmental degradation and social unrests. Since the mid-1980s, some of these cities have started to tackle the problems by urban regeneration programs with cultural and artistic activities, new industries, and implementing housing projects. The cities of Newcastle and Gateshead in Northeastern England were the examples of the ones which have created major development projects, such as building condominiums, renovating old factory building, and promoting cultural and art activities. This paper introduces policies and programs of the cities' urban regeneration, analyses their governance structure, and articulates factors contributing to the success of the policies and programs.

• STI Policy Review
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.106-131
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• 2016

The general purpose of this paper is to identify opportunities for and to measure existing collaboration on research and development between institutions from the countries of Asia and Latin America in FEALAC's framework, in the fields of biotechnology and nanotechnology and their convergence. The methodological approach includes scientific and technological surveillance and research seeking to identify both the R&D and innovation capacities of the countries as well as the degree of international cooperation between countries of the two regions; case studies and a study of the governance framework of international collaboration in R&D about issues considered global challenges. The study has three main findings. First, nanotechnology, biotechnology and their convergence contribute to solving the problem of contamination by heavy metals affecting most of the countries that are part of FEALAC and to address problems arising from the accelerated rate of energy consumption, which also contributes to environmental damage. In this scenario, important business opportunities arise from the adaptation and development of bio-refinery technologies. Second, the scientific relationship between FEALAC countries, mainly between Asian and Latin American countries, is weak as can be seen in research for articles and patents. But there is plenty of room and potential for improvement. Third, current and upcoming joint R&D programs and projects should be linked both to existing governance structures and to new ones that serve as experiments of STI public policy regarding innovative management of intellectual property and capacity building. Practical implications are included in lessons learned and a set of recommendations involving a couple of proposals. One proposal calls for research and innovation in promising fields for international cooperation. Another proposal creates mechanisms in the governance framework for sharing knowledge, capacity building, and funding.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Navigation and Port Research Conference
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• 2022.11a
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• pp.296-297
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• 2022

A smart port refers to a port built based on digital technologies such as IoT, big data, AI, and block chain, and refers to a port that minimizes waste of time, space and resources as the only means of survival of the port. Sustainability refers to 'environmental, economic, and social characteristics that enable people to continue to use the environment, ecosystem, or publicly used resources'. It contains the meaning of 'future sustainability' that can be maintained in the future. In the face of the 4th industrial revolution, interest and realization of smart port construction and sustainability are actively progressing around the world. In this study, core indicators of the ESG (Enviornment, Social, Governance) area, which are key elements of sustainable smart ports, were developed,

• Proceedings of the Korea Contents Association Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.459-460
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• 2017

The research proposes theoretical recommendations for Smart City that targets elderly citizens. The elderly citizens in question are people currently in their mid-50s to early 60s, in order to adequately employ futuristic technologies into four major sectors: healthcare, post-retirement employment, community-based governance, and environment-friendly infrastructure. The research concludes that the technical application of welfare to the elderlies through constructing a purposeful Smart City is desirable, environmental consideration should come in prior concern as a sustainable foundation.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.31-43
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• 2018

Purpose - We examine how a Korean retail firm's social responsibility is related to its financial performances. The traditional view of corporation expects a negative relationship, while the stakeholder theory expects a positive one. Research design, data, and methodology - We adopt the ESG score, published by Korean Corporate Governance Service to measure the level of socially responsible activity for the Korean retail firms. The ordinary least square method is adopted to investigate this relationship. The publicly traded retail firms are examined from 2011 to 2016. Results - We find that the total ESG score is negatively related to ROE but shows no statistically significant relationship with ROA and Tobin's Q value. However, a firm's environmental score is negatively related with both of ROE and ROA. Its social score is no conclusive relationship with the performance measures. The governance score is negatively related to the value of Tobin's Q. Conclusions - This paper generally supports the traditional view of corporate theory, especially in terms of ROE. This evidence is not well aligned with the existing study for Korean corporations generally documenting positive relationships. We find almost no empirical evidence supporting the stakeholder theory of corporation in the Korean retail industry.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.55-63
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• 2019

Purpose - This paper examines the value relevance of socially responsible activities in the Korean retail firms. Recent studies predict positive relationships between socially responsible activities and the value of corporation. Research design, data, and methodology - We use the environmental score, social score, governance score and the sum of these three scores to represent a fim's effectiveness of socially responsible activities. These scores are published by the Korean Corporate Governance Service. This paper adopts a share price valuation model to evaluate the effect of socially responsible activities on a firm's share price, which controls for the book value of assets and current earnings. The ordinary least square method is employed to examine the relationship. The sample of Korea retail firms is examined from 2011 to 2016. We also conduct sub-sample analysis based on the categorization of chaebol affiliates and non-chaebol affiliates. Results - The entire sample analysis finds neither negatively nor positively significant relationship between socially responsible activities and the value of a corporation. In contrast, our examinations find a significantly positive valuation effect of social score within non-chaebol retail firms. Conclusions - The results weakly support the positive valuation effect of socially responsible activities. The results are consistent with recent studies that highlight heterogeneous effects of socially responsible activities on corporate policies and valuation.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.103-115
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• 2019

Purpose - We attempted to verify the level of ethics of firms achieving sustainable management from the aspect of reliability of accounting information. Specifically, we evaluated the effects of sustainable management on accruals-based earning management (AEM) and real earning management (REM). Research design, data, and methodology - We employed the issuance of sustainability reports in addition to the indices of social responsibility and environmental-management evaluation of the Korea Corporate Governance Service in order to measure sustainability management. AEM was measured using discretionary accruals and calculated using the operant Jones model. Specifically, REM was measured using the methodology suggested by prior studies. The sample of our study consisted of 1,418 years of public listed firms in the Korea Stock Exchange from 2015 to 2017. Results - First, the level of AEM in firms achieving sustainable management was lower than the other. Second, the level of REM in these firms was lower than the other. Nonetheless, another analysis showed that the level of governance control affects the level of earning management and that the levels of AEM and REM were generally lower in firms achieving sustainable management than the others. Conclusions - We expected that firms achieving external ethics tend to have a higher level of internal ethics than others.