• Title/Summary/Keyword: Global Passenger

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Model-Based Design of Operational Management System for Integrated Wireless Communication Network of Korean Railway Systems (철도 통합무선망 운영관리 시스템의 모델기반 설계에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Changwon;Kim, Kyung-Hee;Lee, Young-Hoon;Lee, Jae-Chon
    • Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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    • v.16 no.5
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    • pp.3071-3080
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    • 2015
  • The increased demand on the transport of both passengers and goods through rail systems implies higher traffic intensity and congestion on the railways, resulting in greater likelihood of accidents and also degraded passenger services. To cope with the issues, development of an integrated communication network for rails has attracted great deal of attention lately. GSM-R is such an example developed in Europe, which seems to have restrictions in providing various communication services due to network speed limit. For the reason, an LTE-based approach is under study in Korea. After the network development, operation management of the network is necessary. Design of operation management systems has been studied little and thus is the objective of this paper. To do so, a conceptual design has been carried out based on model-based approach. Specifically, a context model has first been created using the use case diagram. Then, SysML models of operational scenarios were developed for the management system. The SysML models have alternatively been expressed as EFFBD models to simulate and verify them. Consequently, the result of the conceptual system design for the operation management of the integrated wireless network is expected to be used as a basis for the detailed design later.

Testing the Reliability of a Smartphone-Based Travel Survey: An Experiment in Seoul (스마트폰 기반 통행 행태 조사 자료 신뢰성 검증: 서울에서 수집된 자료를 바탕으로)

  • Lee, Jae Seung;Zegras, P. Christopher;Zhao, Fang;Kim, Daehee;Kang, Junhee
    • The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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    • v.15 no.2
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    • pp.50-62
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    • 2016
  • With programmable applications that utilize sensors, such as global positioning systems and accelerometers, smartphones provide an unprecedented opportunity to collect behavioral data in an unobtrusive and cost-effective manner. This paper assesses the relative accuracy and reliability of the Future Mobility Sensing (FMS), a smartphone-based prompted-recall travel survey. We compared the data extracted from FMS with the data collected from the Korea Passenger Trip Survey (PTS), a traditional self-reported, paper-based travel survey. In total, 46 undergraduate students completed the PTS for seven consecutive days, while also carrying their smartphones with the activated FMS applications for the same time span. After completing the PTS, the participants validated their FMS data on the web-based prompted recall surveys. We then matched the validated FMS data with the PTS-based records. The FMS turns out to be superior in detecting short trips, which are usually under-reported in self-reported travel surveys. The reported PTS travel times are longer than for the FMS, suggesting that participants tend to overestimate their travel time in the PTS. This study contributes to the ongoing development of smartphone-based travel behavior data collecting methods.

Some Suggestions for Korean Automobile Industry to Branch out into Iran (한국자동차기업의 이란진출을 위한 전략제안)

  • Kim, Hyun-Chul
    • International Area Studies Review
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    • v.21 no.1
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    • pp.163-179
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    • 2017
  • Iran has been focused on FDI by global automobile companies after the economic sanction on Iran was removed except primary sanction. In this paper, some strategies for Korean Automobile Industry to branch out into Iran are suggested. For the purpose, Iran's automobile industry and characteristics are examined. The market situation is analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. In passenger cars sector, Korean automobile companies would be better to wait and see the development of US-Iran relationships while exporting CKD sets of cars to Iran. It can be a good strategy, however, to put parts companies into Iran first because of Iran Government could be displeasing with exporting CKD only. FDI, licensing, and joint venture are all available for the parts companies. Motor companies can clear the regulation of auto-parts localization proportion by the method. The parts companies will be able to do key roles as supply chains after OEM branch out into Iran. It is also advisable to upgrade outpost in Iran into frontline for exporting cars to MENA area. In such a case it will be a prerequisite to develop a role-division model with facilities in East Europe. It could be called Parts first-then cars strategy. In commercial cars sector, it can be suggested to leverage natural gas as a link to branch out into Iran. Iran government wishes to develop natural gas resources. The strategy can be summarized that automobile companies carry out producing CNG buses in Iran while energy companies are drilling and producing natural gas.

A Study of Service Innovation in the Airport Industry using AHP (계층화 분석법을 활용한 공항 산업 서비스 혁신 연구)

  • Hong hwan Ahn;Han Sol Lim;Seung Kyun Ra;Bong Gyou Lee
    • Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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    • v.25 no.3
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    • pp.71-81
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    • 2024
  • In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the global airport industry is actively introducing 4th Industrial Revolution technology-based systems for quarantine and passenger safety, and test bed construction and prior verification using airport infrastructure and resources are actively being conducted. Analysis of recent cases shows that despite the changing travel patterns of airport users and the diversification of airport service demands, most testbeds construction studies are still focused on suppliers, and task prioritization is also determined by decision makers. There is a tendency to rely on subjective judgment. In order to find practical ways to become a first mover that leads innovation in the aviation industry, this study selected tasks and derived priorities to build testbeds from a service perspective that reflects various customer service needs and changes. Research results using the AHP analysis method resulted in priorities in the order of access transportation and parking services (29.2%), security screening services (23.4%), and departure services (21.8%), and these analysis results were tested in the airport industry. It shows that innovation in testbeds construction is an important factor. In particular, the establishment of smart parking and UAM transportation testbeds not only helps strengthen airports as centers of technological innovation, but also promotes cooperation with companies, research institutes, and governments, and provides an environment for testing and developing new technologies and services. It can be a foundation for what can be done. The results and implications produced through this study can serve as useful guidelines for domestic and foreign airport practitioners to build testbeds and establish strategies.

A Study on the Legislative Guidelines for Airline Consumer Protection (항공소비자 보호제도의 입법방향)

  • Lee, Chang-Jae
    • The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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    • v.32 no.1
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    • pp.3-51
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    • 2017
  • From a historical point of view, while the Warsaw Convention was passed in 1924 to regulate the unified judicial responsibility in the global air transportation industry, protection of airline consumers was somewhat lacking in protecting air carriers. In principle, the air carrier does not bear any obligation or liability when the aircraft is not operated normally due to natural disasters such as typhoon or heavy snowfall. However, in recent years, in developed countries such as the US and Europe, there has been a movement in which regulates the air carriers' obligation to protect their passengers even if there is no misconduct or negligence. Furthermore, the legislation of such advanced countries imposes an obligation on the airlines to compensate the loss separately from damages in case the abnormal operation of the aircraft is not caused by force majeure but caused by their negligence. Under this historical and international context, Korea is also modifying the system of aviation consumer protection by referring to other foreign legislation. However, when compared with foreign countries, our norm has a few drawbacks. First, the airline's protection or care obligations are mixed with the legal liability for damages in the provision, which seems to be due to the lack of understanding of the airline's passenger protection obligation. The liability for damages, which is governed by the International Convention or the Commercial Act, shall be determined by judging the cause of the airline's liability in respect of the damage of the individual passenger in the course of the air transportation. However, the duty to care and the burden for compensation shall be granted to all passengers who feel uncomfortable with the abnormal operation regardless of the cause of the accident. Also, our compensation system for denied boarding due to oversale is too low compared to the case of foreign countries, and setting the compensation amount range differently based on the time for the re-routing is somewhat unclear. Regarding checked-baggage claim, it will be necessary to refund the fee only from the fact that the baggage is delayed without asking whether there is any damage occurred from the delayed baggage. This is the content of the duty to care, which is different from the current Commercial Act or the international convention, in which responsibility is different depending on whether the airline takes all the necessary measures in order to prevent delaying of the baggage. The content of force majeure, which is a requirement for exemption from the obligation to care passengers on the airplane, shall be reconsidered. Maintenance for safe navigation is not considered to be included in force majeure, and connection to airplanes, airport conditions are disputable. According to the EC Regulation, if the cause of the abnormal operation of the airline is force majeure, the airline's compensation obligation is exempted but the duty to care of airline company is still meaningful. Furthermore, even if the main role of aviation consumer protection is on an airline, it is the responsibility of government agencies to supervise the fulfillment of such protection obligations. Therefore, it is necessary for the Korean government to actively take measures such as enforcing incentives for airlines that faithfully fulfill their obligation to care and imposed penalties on the contrary.

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A Study on the Legislative System of Air Carrier's Liability in case of Delay of Passengers or Baggage (여객 및 수하물의 연착으로 인한 항공운송인의 손해배상책임제도에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Ji-Hoon
    • The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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    • v.27 no.2
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    • pp.107-142
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    • 2012
  • An aircraft has been one of the most important transportation means and disputes due to damage caused by delay of the aircraft happen many times out of ones related to the air transport. In 2011, the Air Transport Act in Commercial Law was established to regulate national air transport and the legislative system of air carrier's liability to handle delay of passengers or baggage was legislated here. Although there are some clauses related to the legislative system of air carrier's liability, they are very important because they deal with disputes due to damage caused by delay of the aircraft. The Air Transport Act in Commercial Law has a good point of adopting the global standard of 1999 Montreal Convention, but it has also a bad point of having the problems of 1999 Montreal Convention. There are some contents to be modified in the Air Transport Act in Commercial Law. First, the definition of 'Delay of Aircraft' needs to be enacted because it is important to materialize air carrier's liability due to damage caused by delay. Second, it is necessary to modify the clause in which air carrier's liability due to damage caused by delay of passengers is divided into two things, one is in case of national air transport and the other is in case of international air transport, and the limited amount of air carrier's liability in national air transport is eight times less than the latter because they are not so helpful to air carriers but too disadvantageous to aircraft passengers. Third, it is also necessary to amend the clause in which the limited amount of air carrier's liability due to damage caused by loss damage or delay of baggage has been legislated same without classifying the case into loss damage and delay, because they are generally different from each other in terms of extent of damage, therefore the limited amount of air carrier's liability by delay of baggage should be classified into in case of loss damage and in case of delay. It is desired that the Air Transport Act in Commercial Law including the clauses related to air carrier's liability by aircraft damage be developed continually by sufficient study and discussion about the necessity of amending it such as the one mentioned above.

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Current Situation and Cooperation on the Metropolitan Airport between Korea and Japan (한국 및 일본의 수도권 공항의 현황과 협력)

  • Kim, Doo-Hwan
    • The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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    • no.spc
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    • pp.137-163
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    • 2007
  • The air market in Asia has already entered upon the age of limitless competition. It means a very important moment in Asia air market. Each Asian country thus has put a lot of effort into a development plan and support to their hub airport. In order to achieve such a plan, first of all we should build closer cooperation system between the two countries Japan and Korea. The Korea and Japan are very fast growing in the northeast countries within the global air transport market. Air passenger and cargo traffic volumes between Korea and Japan have increased dramatically, since the 1990s. In response to such a trend, both countries have opened new airports and expanded existing facilities in the hopes of laying claims to the main international hub airport in Asia. Apart from the trend, air transportation between Korea and Japan's metropolitan areas is the only transportation in substance, even if they are located very closely in geographical position. The air transportation between the two countries shows that it is necessary to get fast and more convenient because of the economic and cultural interchange and exchange concentrated on the metropolitan areas, and that will promote the economic growth of Korea and Japan. However, within the air transportation industry field, there have no sufficient seats/slots to supply the air demand from the capital cities of each country, as well as no counterplan for some problems regarding capacityand sustain ability of metropolitan airports. Thus, it is necessary for us to consider in all aspects and solve them to improve air transportation between Korea and Japan. This paper is to try to demonstrate this matter and from all angles, that is, in legal and political aspects, facilities and given environmental conditions and cooperation between Korea and Japan. I think that it is indeed a great necessary and convenient for many Korean and Japanese tourists to conclude a new 'Open Sky Agreement' between Japan and Korea in order to the prepare the increase of the shuttle flight between Haneda-Gimpo and opening of air route newly for shuttle flight between Haneda and Cheongju as well as opening of air route for shuttle flight between Haneda-Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport and Beijing International Airport for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Furthermore it is a great desirable thing for us to conclude a new 'Open Sky Agreement' in cooperation reciprocally among the Japan, China and Korea for opening the new air route by the shuttle flight.

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Can Lufthansa Successfully Limit its Liability to the Families of the Victims of Germanwings flight 9525 Under the Montreal Convention?

  • Gipson, Ronnie R. Jr.
    • The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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    • v.30 no.2
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    • pp.279-310
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    • 2015
  • The Montreal Convention is an agreement that governs the liability of air carriers for injury and death to passengers travelling internationally by air. The Montreal Convention serves as the exclusive legal framework for victims and survivors seeking compensation for injuries or death arising from accidents involving international air travel. The Montreal Convention sets monetary liability caps on damages in order to promote the financial stability of the international airline transport industry and protect the industry from exorbitant damages awards in courts that would inevitably bankrupt an airline. The Convention allows a litigant suing under the Convention to avoid the liability caps in instances where the airline's culpability for the injury or death is the direct result of negligence, another wrongful act, or an omission of the airline or its agents. The Montreal Convention identifies specific locations as appropriate venues to advance claims for litigants seeking compensation. These venues are closely tied to either the carrier's business operations or the passenger's domicile. In March 2015, in an act of suicide stemming from reactive depression, the co-pilot of Germanwings flight 9525 intentionally crashed the aircraft into the French Alps killing the passengers and the remaining crew. Subsequent to the crash, there were media reports that Lufthansa made varying settlement offers to families of the passengers who died aboard the flight ranging from $8,300 USD to $4.5 Million USD depending on the passengers' citizenship. The unverified offers by Lufthansa prompted outcries from the families of the decedent passengers that they would institute suit against the airline in a more plaintiff friendly jurisdiction such as the United States. The first part of this article accomplishes two goals. First, it examines the Montreal Convention's venue requirement along with an overview of the recoverable damages from countries comprising the citizenship of the passengers who were not American. The intentional crash of Germanwings flight 9525 by its First Officer encompasses the possibility that Lufthansa may be exposed to unlimited compensatory damages beyond the liability caps contained in the Convention. The second part of this article explores the application of the Convention's liability limits to the Germanwings flight to demonstrate that the likelihood of escaping the liability limits is slim.

Liability of the Compensation for Damage Caused by the International Passenger's Carrier by Air in Montreal Convention (몬트리올조약에 있어 국제항공여객운송인의 손해배상책임)

  • Kim, Doo-Hwan
    • The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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    • v.18
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    • pp.9-39
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    • 2003
  • The rule of the Warsaw Convention of 1929 are well known and still being all over the world. The Warsaw Convention is undoubtedly the most widely accepted private international air law treaty with some 140 countries. In the international legal system for air transportation, the Warsaw Convention has played a major role for more than half century, and has been revised many times in consideration of the rapid developments of air high technology, changes of social and economic circumstances, need for the protection of passengers. Some amendments became effective, but others are still not effective. As a result, the whole international legal system for air transportation is at past so complicated and tangled. However, the 'Warsaw system' consists of the Warsaw Convention of 1929 the Guadalajara Convention of 1961, a supplementary convention, and the following six protocols: (1) the Hague Protocol of 1955, (2) the Guatemala Protocol of 1971, (3) the Montreal Additional Protocols, No.1, (4) the Montreal Additional Protocol No.2, (5) the Montreal Additional Protocol No.3, and (6) the Montreal Additional Protocol No.4. of 1975. As a fundamental principle of the air carrier's liability in the international convention and protocols, for instance in the Warsaw Convention and the Hague Protocol, the principle of limited liability and a presumed fault system has been adopted. Subsequently, the Montreal Inter-carrier Agreement of 1966, the Guatemala City Protocol, the Montreal Additional Protocol No.3, and the Montreal Additional Protocol No. 4 of 1975 maintained the limited liability, but substituted the presumed liability system by an absolute liability, that is, strict liability system. The Warsaw System, which sets relatively low compensation limits for victims of aircraft accidents and regulates the limited liability for death and injury of air passengers, had become increasingly outdated. Japanese Airlines and Inter-carrier Agreement of International Air Transport Association in 1995 has been adopted the unlimited liability of air carrier in international flight. The IATA Inter-Carrier Agreement, in which airlines in international air transportation agree to waive the limit of damages, was long and hard in coming, but it was remarkable achievement given the political and economic realities of the world. IATA deserves enormous credit for bringing it about. The Warsaw System is controversial and questionable. In order to find rational solution to disputes between nations which adopted differing liability systems in international air transportation, we need to reform the liability of air carriers the 'Warsaw system' and fundamentally, to unify the liability system among the nations. The International Civil Aviation Organization(ICAO) will therefore reinforce its efforts to further promote a legal environment that adequately reflects the public interest and the needs of the parties involved. The ICAO Study Group met in April, 1998, together with the Drafting Committee. The time between the "Special Group on the Modernization and Consolidation of the 'Warsaw system'(SGMW)" and the Diplomatic Conference must be actively utilized to arrange for profound studies of the outstanding issues and for wide international consultations with a view to narrowing the scope of differences and preparing for a global international consensus. From 11 to 28 May 1999 the ICAO Headquarters at Montreal hosted a Diplomatic Conference convened to consider, with a view to adoption, a draft Convention intended to modernize and to integrate replace the instruments of the Warsaw system. The Council of ICAO convened this Conference under the Procedure for the Adoption of International Conventions. Some 525 participants from 121 Contracting States of ICAO attended, one non-contracting State, 11 observer delegations from international organizations, a total of 544 registered participants took part in the historic three-week conference which began on 10 May. The Conference was a success since it adopted a new Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air. The 1999 Montreal Convention, created and signed by representatives of 52 countries at an international conference convened by ICAO at Montreal on May 28, 1999, came into effect on November 4, 2003. Representatives of 30 countries have now formally ratified the Convention under their respective national procedures and ratification of the United States, which was the 30th country to ratify, took place on September 5, 2003. Under Article 53.6 of the Montreal Convention, it enters into force on the 60th day following the deposit of the 30th instrument of ratification or acceptation. The United States' ratification was deposited with ICAO on September 5, 2003. The ICAO have succeeded in modernizing and consolidating a 70-year old system of international instruments of private international law into one legal instrument that will provide, for years to come, an adequate level of compensation for those involved in international aircraft accidents. An international diplomatic conference on air law by ICAO of 1999 succeeded in adopting a new regime for air carrier liability, replacing the Warsaw Convention and five other related legal instruments with a single convention that provided for unlimited liability in relation to passengers. Victims of international air accidents and their families will be better protected and compensated under the new Montreal Convention, which modernizes and consolidates a seventy-five year old system of international instruments of private international law into one legal instrument. A major feature of the new legal instrument is the concept of unlimited liability. Whereas the Warsaw Convention set a limit of 125,000 Gold Francs (approximately US$ 8,300) in case of death or injury to passengers, the Montreal Convention introduces a two-tier system. The first tier includes strict liability up to l00,000 Special Drawing Rights (SDR: approximately US$ 135,000), irrespective of a carrier's fault. The second tier is based on presumption of fault of a carrier and has no limit of liability. The 1999 Montreal Convention also includes the following main elements; 1. In cases of aircraft accidents, air carriers are called upon to provide advance payments, without delay, to assist entitled persons in meeting immediate economic needs; the amount of this initial payment will be subject to national law and will be deductable from the final settlement; 2. Air carriers must submit proof of insurance, thereby ensuring the availability of financial resources in cases of automatic payments or litigation; 3. The legal action for damages resulting from the death or injury of a passenger may be filed in the country where, at the time of the accident, the passenger had his or her principal and permanent residence, subject to certain conditions. The new Montreal Convention of 1999 included the 5th jurisdiction - the place of residence of the claimant. The acceptance of the 5th jurisdiction is a diplomatic victory for the US and it can be realistically expected that claimants' lawyers will use every opportunity to file the claim in the US jurisdiction - it brings advantages in the liberal system of discovery, much wider scope of compensable non-economic damages than anywhere else in the world and the jury system prone to very generous awards. 4. The facilitation in the recovery of damages without the need for lengthy litigation, and simplification and modernization of documentation related to passengers. In developing this new Montreal Convention, we were able to reach a delicate balance between the needs and interests of all partners in international civil aviation, States, the travelling public, air carriers and the transport industry. Unlike the Warsaw Convention, the threshold of l00,000 SDR specified by the Montreal Convention, as well as remaining liability limits in relation to air passengers and delay, are subject to periodic review and may be revised once every five years. The primary aim of unification of private law as well as the new Montreal Convention is not only to remove or to minimize the conflict of laws but also to avoid conflict of jurisdictions. In order to find a rational solution to disputes between nations which have adopted differing liability systems in international air transport, we need fundamentally to reform their countries's domestic air law based on the new Montreal Convention. It is a desirable and necessary for us to ratify rapidly the new Montreal Convention by the contracting states of lCAO including the Republic of Korea. According to the Korean and Japanese ideas, airlines should not only pay compensation to passengers immediately after the accident, but also the so-called 'condolence' money to the next of kin. Condolence money is a gift to help a dead person's spirit in the hereafter : it is given on account of the grief and sorrow suffered by the next of kin, and it has risen considerably over the years. The total amount of the Korean and Japanese claims in the case of death is calculated on the basis of the loss of earned income, funeral expenses and material demage (baggage etc.), plus condolence money. The economic and social change will be occurred continuously after conclusion of the new Montreal Convention. In addition, the real value of life and human right will be enhanced substantially. The amount of compensation for damage caused by aircraft accident has increased in dollar amount as well as in volume. All air carrier's liability should extend to loss of expectation of leisure activities, as well as to damage to property, and mental and physical injuries. When victims are not satisfied with the amount of the compensation for damage caused by aircraft accident for which an airline corporation is liable under the current liability system. I also would like to propose my opinion that it is reasonable and necessary for us to interpret broadly the meaning of the bodily injury on Article 17 of the new Montreal Convention so as to be included the mental injury and condolence. Furthermore, Korea and Japan has not existed the Air Transport Act regulated the civil liability of air carrier such as Air Transport Act (Luftverkehrsgestz) in Germany. It is necessary for us to enact "the Korean Air Transport Contract Act (provisional title)" in order to regulate the civil liability of air carrier including the protection of the victims and injured persons caused by aircraft accident.

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The Current Status of the Warsaw Convention and Subsequent Protocols in Leading Asian Countries (아시아 주요국가(主要國家)들에 있어서의 바르샤바 체제(體制)의 적용실태(適用實態)와 전망(展望))

  • Lee, Tae-Hee
    • The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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    • v.1
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    • pp.147-162
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    • 1989
  • The current status of the application and interpretation of the Warsaw Convention and its subsequent Protocols in Asian countries is in its fredgling stages compared to the developed countries of Europe and North America, and there is thus little published information about the various Asian governments' treatment and courts' views of the Warsaw System. Due to that limitation, the accent of this paper will be on Korea and Japan. As one will be aware, the so-called 'Warsaw System' is made up of the Warsaw Convention of 1929, the Hague Protocol of 1955, the Guadalajara Convention of 1961, the Guatemala City Protocol of 1971 and the Montreal Additional Protocols Nos. 1,2,3 and 4 of 1975. Among these instruments, most of the countries in Asia are parties to both the Warsaw Convention and the Hague Protocol. However, the Republic of Korea and Mongolia are parties only to the Hague Protocol, while Burma, Indonesia and Sri Lanka are parties only to the Warsaw Convention. Thailand and Taiwan are not parties only to the convention or protocol. Among Asian states, Indonesia, the Phillipines and Pakistan are also parties to the Guadalajara Convention, but no country in Asia has signed the Guatemala City Protocol of 1971 or the Montreal Additional Protocols, which Protocols have not yet been put into force. The People's Republic of China has declared that the Warsaw Convention shall apply to the entire Chinese territory, including Taiwan. 'The application of the Warsaw Convention to one-way air carriage between a state which is a party only to the Warsaw Convention and a state which is a party only to the Hague Protocol' is of particular importance in Korea as it is a signatory only to the Hague Protocol, but it is involved in a great deal of air transportation to and from the united states, which in turn is a party only to the Warsaw Convention. The opinion of the Supreme Court of Korea appears to be, that parties to the Warsaw Convention were intended to be parties to the Hague Protocol, whether they actually signed it or not. The effect of this decision is that in Korea the United States and Korea will be considered by the courts to be in a treaty relationship, though neither State is a signatory to the same instrument as the other State. The first wrongful death claim in Korea related to international carriage by air under the Convention was made in Hyun-Mo Bang, et al v. Korean Air Lines Co., Ltd. case. In this case, the plaintiffs claimed for damages based upon breach of contract as well as upon tort under the Korean Civil Code. The issue in the case was whether the time limitation provisions of the Convention should be applicable to a claim based in tort as well as to a claim based in contract. The Appellate Court ruled on 29 August 1983 that 'however founded' in Article 24(1) of the Convention should be construed to mean that the Convention should be applicable to the claim regardless of whether the cause of action was based in tort or breach of contract, and that the plaintiffs' rights to damages had therefore extinguished because of the time limitation as set forth in Article 29(1) of the Convention. The difficult and often debated question of what exactly is meant by the words 'such default equivalent to wilful misconduct' in Article 25(1) of the Warsaw Convention, has also been litigated. The Supreme Court of Japan dealt with this issue in the Suzuki Shinjuten Co. v. Northwest Airlines Inc. case. The Supreme Court upheld the Appellate Court's ruling, and decided that 'such default equivalent to wilful misconduct' under Article 25(1) of the Convention was within the meaning of 'gross negligence' under the Japanese Commercial Code. The issue of the convention of the 'franc' into national currencies as provided in Article 22 of the Warsaw Convention as amended by the Hague Protocol has been raised in a court case in Korea, which is now before the District Court of Seoul. In this case, the plaintiff argues that the gold franc equivalent must be converted in Korean Won in accordance with the free market price of gold in Korea, as Korea has not enacted any law, order or regulation prescribing the proper method of calculating the equivalent in its national currency. while it is unclear if the court will accept this position, the last official price of gold of the United States as in the famous Franklin Mint case, Special Drawing Right(SDR) or the current French franc, Korean Air Lines has argued in favor of the last official price of gold of the United States by which the air lines converted such francs into us Dollars in their General Conditions of Carriage. It is my understanding that in India, an appellate court adopted the free market price valuation. There is a report as well saying that if a lawsuit concerning this issue were brought in Pakistan, the free market cost of gold would be applied there too. Speaking specifically about the future of the Warsaw System in Asia though I have been informed that Thailand is actively considering acceding to the Warsaw Convention, the attitudes of most Asian countries' governments towards the Warsaw System are still wnot ell known. There is little evidence that Asian countries are moving to deal concretely with the conversion of the franc into their own local currencies. So too it cannot be said that they are on the move to adhere to the Montreal Additional Protocols Nos. 3 & 4 which attempt to basically solve many of the current problems with the Warsaw System, by adopting the SDR as the unit of currency, by establishing the carrier's absolute liability and an unbreakable limit and by increasing the carrier's passenger limit of liability to SDR 100,000, as well as permiting the domestic introduction of supplemental compensation. To summarize my own sentiments regarding the future, I would say that given the fact that Asian air lines are now world leaders both in overall size and rate of growth, and the fact that both Asian individuals and governments are becoming more and more reliant on the global civil aviation networks as their economies become ever stronger, I am hopeful that Asian nations will henceforth play a bigger role in ensuring the orderly and hasty development of a workable unified system of rules governing international commercial air carriage.

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