• Korean Security Journal
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• no.24
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• pp.1-31
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• 2010

This article aims to identify organizational factors that influence the performance of implementation of the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and to investigate the strength and direction of their effects. Explanatory variables include administrative resources, organizational culture, litigation cost, and the complexity of FOIA requests. The study will analyze quantitative secondary data from official statistics of federal agencies and the 2006 Federal Human Capital Survey as well as qualitative data from semi-structured interviews of FOIA officers. The results of statistical analyses are as follows : FOIA funding significantly affects median processing time and number of requests pending. There is a significant relationship between bureaucratic culture and number of requests pending, but not between bureaucratic culture and number of requests pending. There exists a significant relationship between the cost of FOIA litigation to federal agencies and the performance of FOIA implementation. There exists a significant relationship between the complexity of FOIA requests and the performance of FOIA implementation. This study also has important implication in South Korea, which has been under a sharp confrontation with North Korea for more than 50 years. As illustrated by the conflict between people's right to know and national security during the investigation of recent Sinking of the ROKS Cheonan, efforts should be made to prepare legal and institutional mechanism for freedom of information policy which can maintain a balance between conflicting values as well as efficient information disclosure in Korea.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.20 no.10
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• pp.113-119
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• 2015

In this paper, we propose an efficient freedom of information and Information access right which improves transparent and speedy administration process. To build open Information, we scrutinize that causes of non access right and change of civil service consciousness, attitude for open information by effectively open system circumstances. The Important thing is basic information that is available to the public through an agency's FOIA Reference Guide, all agencies must notify potential FOIA requesters of the formal rules and requirements for the making and handling of FOIA request, through their FOIA regulations. The characteristics of this paper focused on Information access right, causes of non access right and proposed policy. In this paper, The author emphasize are as follows: first, to examine freedom of information' necessity and problem that scrutinize a theoretic analysis, second, to understand civil servant's attitude for the freedom of information, third, to suggest action plan and agenda for the better of Good Governance and Democracy of information.

• Journal of the Korean BIBLIA Society for library and Information Science
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.265-294
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• 2014

The study aims to identify the procedural problems of the archival reference service through Freedom of Information Act. Since FOIA enacted in 1998, there has been a rapid increase of use of government information. However, most of academic users tend to be strongly dissatisfied with the user service. The authors argue that archival reference service through FOIA substantially prevents researchers from using archival records for their research and lower researcher's visits to archival institutions. For this, the study conducted 19 in-depth interviews of academic users and analyzed how FOIA influence academic user's information behaviors based on Strauss and Corbin's grounded theory.

• Korean Security Journal
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• no.20
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• pp.365-392
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• 2009

The increased concern about national security in the U.S. after the 9/11 terrorist attacks has influenced public rights of access to government information and its legal foundation, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Public access to government information has been restricted at the policy level by a series of legislative and executive changes in FOIA after September 11, 2001, but the examination of statistics on FOIA implementation between fiscal years 1999 and 2004 shows that the strengthened national security measures did not have a considerable impact at the implementation level during this period. These contrasting findings might be due to the public officials' informal reaction to the criticism of the restriction on public access, bureaucratic inertia, and the use of new record categories not subject to FOIA.

• The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
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• no.35
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• pp.3-40
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• 2013

Establishment and expansion of a FOI regime is a fundamental basis for modern democracy. Informed decisions and supports by the people are critical to establishment of democratic institutions and policies. The best tool to make informed decisions and to ensure accountability is the FOI. For effective FOI, good records management is necessary requirement. This paper observes and analyses the development of the FOI in the U.S., the Open Government policy, and the government records management reforms under Obama Administration to search viable solutions for Korean FOI and public records management reforms. Major revisions and advancement of the FOIA in the United States are examined, especially the revision of the FOIA as the OPEN Government Act of 2007. The FOIA revision enhanced greatly the freedom of information in the U.S. including the establishment of an independent FOI ombudsman by the Congress. The paper also discusses the Presidential memoranda on the Open Government and the FOI by President Obama, the following directives, Presidential memorandum on government records management and the Government Records Management Directive. Major contents of the directives, plans, and achievement are summarized and analysed. Finally, this paper compares the government records management reforms under former President Roh Mu Hyun with the Obama's reform drive. The comparison found that major difference in the "top-down" government records reforms are the difference in democratic institutions such as weak congressional politics, strong bureaucratic obstacles, and relatively weak social and professional supports for the reforms in Korea, while these reforms were similar in terms that they were driven by insightful political leaders. Independent FOI ombudsman and national records administration are necessary for such democratic reforms.

• Journal of Korean Society of Archives and Records Management
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.159-188
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• 2009

In the midst of computerization and digitization of the archives, the way of use and the need of users to use the public archives has been changed and expanded. It draws concerned party's attention to the copyrights in the public archives and the protection of the copyrights of the public archives. This study examines the exiting copyright laws in Korea and some foreign countries, interprets the laws, and presents legal implications when the laws are applied to the public archives held in the National Archives of Korea(NAK). The public records are "literary works" and their copyrights are to be protected. Most of the public archives held in the NAK are also "creative works" which are the presentations of thoughts and feelings of the individuals, the records creators in the public agencies. The holder of the copyrights of the archives is not the NAK, but the agency which created the archives, such as the central government and local governments. To promote the use of public archives, we need to expand the public domain in the public records and archives and the fair use of the archives. To do this, I suggest to amend and complement the Copyrights Act, the Pubic Records/Archives Management Act, and the Opening Records in the Public Agencies Act(FOIA in Korea). The establishment of a coordinating body dealing the copyrights in pubic record and archives is strongly recommended. The coordinating body will provide guidelines on protecting copyrights and expand the fair use and the public domain of the public archives.

• Journal of Korean Society of Archives and Records Management
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.199-229
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• 2013

This study analyzed the trends of research on archival information services in Korea from 2001 to 2013. A total of 73 research articles were analyzed by quantitative and qualitative content analysis to summarize research output done so far and identify future research areas. Based on the analysis, it concludes that the research on archival information service requires increase of practice-based study, in-depth discussions of theoretical frameworks, and emergence of diverse perspectives of FOIA and relevant policies.

• Journal of Korean Society of Archives and Records Management
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.201-225
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• 2013

This study aims to investigate services of presidential archives in Korea for users who utilize holdings of the archives for scholarly purposes, as well as to examine users' perception of the services. For these purposes, the study analyzed the content of 13 U.S. presidential libraries' Web sites in terms of their research services. In addition, it examined the content of a Korean presidential archives' Web site regarding its research services. Telephone interviews of three staff members of the presidential archives were conducted to better understand the services. With this, three users who have written research papers by using presidential records were interviewed by telephone. It was found that federated search services, access by subjects, and related records of search results were considered necessary by users. A variety of digitized records should be provided online and the services needed should be changed from mere processing of FOIA requests to archival reference services to meet users' needs. Congruently, the presidential archives should provide specialized services to offer records relevant to users' research interests and to provide the compilation of selected records crucial for research.

• The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
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• no.6
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• pp.225-262
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• 2002

Chief Consultant Archives Government Archives & Records Service -table of contents- 1. Introduction 2. Relationship of Historical Studies and Archive 3. Relationship of Archives and Archives 4. Conclusion; Historians, Archives, and Archivists, and Their Roles This essay is mainly written for historians who may have "little or limited experience" in dealing with archives and archivists in their course of historical research. It may sound very ridiculous to say that "historians have little or limited experience" in using archives but it is also true that many Korean historians have depended on various compiled editions of historical materials or personally donated and/or collected materials when they do research, rather than they would visit archives and search for the materials by themselves. This is the main reason for that the public archives in Korea have not served historians well and effectively, and vice versa, that historians have not visited archives sometime with no knowledge of archives, and have not requested opening of archives for their research. It is a simple fact that historian's study depends on the records he/she uses. Without records, there should be no history. Use of archives for historical research is a common thing and a must in modern archives. Records are selected to be preserved in archives for their preservation as well as their future use. Who select the records as archives? Archivists do mostly. Then, what are the criteria for the archivists to chose records as permanent preservable archives? Answers to this fundamental question have been provided by many historians and archivists. The closest answer may be that selecting archivists would be better trained and equipped with historical research and knowledgeable of the major trends in historical research. With his/her own experience of historical research and tracing the trends of historical studies and materials used in the historiography, they could chose better and appropriate records for future use using their prudence and discretion. It also means that historians have had influence on archivists in their selecting archives by providing the theme and context of historical studies of the time. Though not necessarily becoming a historian themselves, selecting or appraising archivists should understand the process of creating the records and should know how they become archives. This is a precondition to become a good archivist. But that's not all. They must know how the archives are used and what archives are used for what purposes. Among many other roles of modern archivists, selecting and describing the archives are the foremost tasks of an archivist. Archivists therefore developed modern methods to select future archives based on functional analysis and records series concept rather than a record file or item as a unit of selection. Historians are users or consumers of the archives held in the archives building or repository. The quality of their study depends on the "quality" of the materials they use. With the help of archivists not to mention of reference service, historians owe much to archivists in having an access to the materials they need, intellectually and physically. Too many closed archives and too long closed archives in the archives repository would benefit neither historians nor archivists. However, archivists can mostly react only to archive requests and demands made by historians for more wide accessibility. Using the FOIA, as in the U.S., or the Information Opening Act, as in case of Korea, historians can promote the use of historical materials as well as promoting accountability and transparence for the benefit to society as whole. In this context, it is vary desirable to establish a close professional relationship between historians and archivists even in the age of information society. At present, historians need more understanding of operation and importance of archives while archives administration need to realize the potential archival demands from research community and civil movement for clean government.

• The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
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• no.22
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• pp.37-76
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• 2009

This paper aims-through comparative research on two organizations and use of political process theory-to analyze the historical development of, current issues related to and the characteristics of the new transformation of the Freedom of Information Movements (FOIMs) in South Korea. In the ten years since the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) took effect in 1998, Korean FOIMs have developed along the following course: 'emergence' (1998), 'expansion and extension' (1999-2004), 'institutionalization and retro-institutionalization-' (2005-2008). Specifically, in the early stage of FOIMs, the Freedom of Information (FOI) department of the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, established in 1998, had led the FOI movement by initiating reform of the FOI institution and advocating an end to old practices. Paradoxically, however, following the institutional progress of FOI under the Roh Moo Hyun government, the vitality of FOIMs seemed to be weakening. And under the Lee Myung Bak government, which is showing regression in both the FOI institution and practices, the 'dual transformation' of the FOIMs is being led not by old groups but by new ones. The Center for Freedom of Information and Transparent Society(CFOI), which was founded in 2008, has journalists, researchers of archival studies, citizens, lawyers and nongovernmental activists as members. Through its blog style Homepage, countless reports are becoming "open to the public" and "share with the public." And its various civic education programs are interactive bridges which enable mutual communication between the Center and citizens. CFOI is expanding the FOI movement in different ways than the traditional activists such as the FOI department of the PSPD department, which worked through methods such as policy proposals, disclosing information litigation, comments and public statements, and hosting forums. CFOI is leading the 'dual process of transformation' of FOIMs, namely the transformation from an 'advocacy' movement to an 'empowerment' movement and transformation of the FOI movement's framework from "open to the public" to "share with the public."