• Korea Trade Review
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.163-185
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• 2016

The impact of global trade on developing countries is a critical subject. Especially in this country, under difficult conditions like political issues with North Korea, achieved a trade surplus of 90.2 billion dollars last year. While the service trade recorded a deficit of 15.7 billion dollars in the same period. According to WTO, services are either the result of a production activity that changes the conditions of the consuming units (transformation services), or facilitates the exchange of products or financial assets (margin services). To unify and compare with the trade and service statistics of countries, they assorted 12 classifications of services like Manufacturing service on physical inputs owned by others, Maintenance and repair service n.i.e., Transport, Travel, Construction, Insurance and pension service, Financial service, Charges for the use of intellectual property n.i.e., Telecommunications, Computer and information services, Other business services, Personal, cultural and recreational services, and Government goods and services n.i.e. Thus, this study is to estimate the international competitiveness of service trade between 2006 and 2015 in Republic of Korea, according to EBOPS 6th. As a result, total service volume of export and import has increased in the last 10 years. Its volume, recently, accounts for 22% of total goods trade. Also the Korean Government can make a supporting policy and decide a supporting business in terms of service trade. Finally, we can find a mutual connectivity within 12 service businesses and between Service and Goods.

• Journal of the Korea Fashion and Costume Design Association
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.23-33
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• 2007

Clothing exports of Korea has grown rapidly till the latter half of the 1980's, contributing Korean economic development. However from the 1990's, the amount, the world market share and the international competitiveness of clothing exports have declined. Based on these phenomena, the purpose of this study was to identify the characteristics of export articles in Korean Clothing Trade focused on the 1990's. Statistical data of clothing articles(SITC 84 : Articles of apparel & clothing accessories) were used. The relative importance, trade orientation tendency and unit price of each export clothing articles were analyzed. The results of the study were as follows. On the relative importance, trade orientation tendency and unit price of each export clothing articles, outer garments or products that required complicated production process(e.g., coats, suits, ensembles, jackets, dress) had been decreased in the portion and weakened in the export orientation tendency. But one item in a set or casual wear like trousers, skirts, blouses, shirts, Jerseys, pullovers, T-shirts has been increased in the portion and risen in the unit price. These trends means that clothing exports of Korea were more focused on those category and the international competitiveness on those articles were advanced. From these results, this study can be contributed to establish the concrete clothing export articles strategies of Korean firms.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.156-172
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• 2019

Purpose - Without question, globalization has presented different opportunities to entrepreneurs seeking to expand their companies in foreign markets. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation, entrepreneurial activity, information internalization, and product differentiation in export oriented firms. As such, entrepreneurial activities are divided into exploitative and exploratory opportunities. These opportunities are crucial in improving firms' performance. Design/methodology - A structural questionnaire was developed using 21 factors/indicators from previous researches. The subjects of this study were recruited using convenience sampling in export SMEs in the Seoul Metropolitan Area. Data were collected through visits or e-mails from the export managers, executives, and CEOs of export SMEs in advance. 321 questionnaires were collected over a period of one month. 316 questionnaires were used in the final analysis. Findings - First, International Entrepreneurial-orientation (IE) has a positive effect on the exploration and exploitation of business opportunities. Second, the exploration and exploitation of business opportunities have a positive impact on information internalization. Third, information internalization has a significant effect on product differentiation and plays a mediating role in seeking opportunities, utilizing opportunities, and differentiating products. Originality/value - This study contributes to the development of academic discussions by explaining existing research gaps. First, there is currently a lack of research focusing precisely on the product differentiation capability of SMEs in manufacturing field in terms of IE. To bridge these gaps, we examined the entrepreneurial factors impact on product differentiation and tries to expand the discussion about the internationalization of SMEs, which were mainly focused on IT companies, and manufacturing companies. Second, there is no intuitive explanation regarding international entrepreneurial activity in terms of exploration and exploitation within existing. In this study, international entrepreneurship activities were classified in terms of exploration and exploitation.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.11 no.10
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• pp.93-100
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• 2021

With the spread of digital trade, the share of digital trade under the global trade environment is increasing. However, since there is no international digital trade standard, the discussion to establish a new trade rule has important significance. Countries around the world are implementing digital trade policies in consideration of their own interests, but different regulatory policies are causing trade conflicts. In order to provide safeguards against personal information infringement due to the free movement of data across borders, major countries around the world have taken measures to localize data, and the EU has enacted GDPR. And the United States regards the imposition of the digital tax as a trade barrier, and some countries oppose the implementation of the digital tax for fear of negative impact on their countries. However, discussions on the global digital tax, centered on the OECD and the G20 are making progress. As it is highly likely that a digital tax agreement will be drawn up within this year, countermeasures must also be prepared. Therefore, this study presents implications for the future direction of Korea's trade policy by examining recent trends in digital trade norms and analyzing major issues in digital trade.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.60 no.3
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• pp.51-61
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• 2018

Transportation and storage technologies, which are key drivers for trade, has increased global trade of agricultural products about 165% from 1995 to 2015. Korea imports 76.2% of grain from major food exporters such as USA, Australia, Brazil, and China. The expected long shipping distances from these countries can seriously cause environmental impacts on various environmental categories such as climate change, particulate matter, and acidification. The goal of this study is to assess the environmental implications focused on greenhouse gases (GHGs) and particulate matters (PMs) emissions of imported grains (wheat, corn, and bean) using food miles analysis and life cycle assessment (LCA). The environmental impacts of imported crops are estimated by transportation modes using the national LCI database provided by Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute (KEITI). The results of this study are as follows; (1) Imported wheat comes from USA (29%), AUS (27%), and URK (20%), corn is imported from USA (34%), BRA (29%), and URK (16%), and bean comes from BRA (57%), USA (40%), and CHN (2%); (2) the food miles of imported crops (wheat, corn, and bean) are 3.62E+10, 1.30E+11, and $2.20E+10ton{\cdot}km$, respectively; (3) the potential GHGs and PMs of wheat, corn, and bean are 5.02E+08, 1.67E+09, and 2.84E+08 kg $CO_2e$ and 5.89E+05, 1.83E+06, 3.07E+05 kg $PM_{10}e$, respectively. The outputs of this study could provide environmental impacts and carrying distances of imported agricultural products for preparing a plan to reduce environmental impacts.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.70
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• pp.135-157
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• 2016

Globalization of consumption, expansion of cross border e-trade, increase use of internet and mobile have led to rapid growth of world e-commerce particularly in Asia and emerging markets. Impacted by Korean wave, online export is continuously increasing, yet Korea is experiencing severe e-commerce trade imbalance. Export growth rate and ratio of Korean small companies are relatively low from OECD member countries. Therefore, Korean government is currently emphasizing on vitalization of online export to China to resolve trade imbalance and to increase export of small companies. To propose detail measures to vitalize online export to China, this study is focused on export customs clearance procedure of Korea and import customs clearance procedure of China in view of online export company. Also suggested countermeasure plan and analysis for the new tax revision plan related to e-commerce which implemented on April 8th 2016. This study have grouped countermeasure plan by short term plan of firms and long term plan of the government. As for the short-term countermeasure plan for firms, first, comparison analysis of tax rate on products is need to decide type of e-commerce strategy; second, if planning to start e-commerce business to China, sales possibility and certification check is necessary; third, through preparation of customs clearance document is needed; last in order to obtain price competitiveness, new logistics strategy and packing development is required. As for the long-term countermeasure plan for the government, I have suggested cooperated bonded logistics service for small businesses and operation plan of show room for promising Korean products.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.56-74
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• 2021

Purpose - This study aims to identify consumer tendencies in Korea and Vietnam, focusing on the online platform called cross-border, to derive revenue generation measures and use them for strategies to advance into ASEAN. Design/methodology - The questionnaire collected 420 copies from December 1 to December 31, 2020, of which 408 were used for statistical processing. The structural equation model (SEM) and moderating effect analysis with Amos was used to test hypothesis in this research. Findings - The hypotheses were set as factors that positively influence the intention to use e-commerce, such as effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions and variety seeking showed statistically significant results. Among them, the social influence factor had the greatest influence, followed by facilitating condition. The sample was divided into countries, Korea and Vietnam, and these changes and differences in influence were confirmed through moderating effect analysis. Originality/value - The moderating effect on both countries (Korea and Vietnam) was found to have a moderating effect on the intention to use. For Korean consumers, significant results were found in the effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, and variety seeking, but for Vietnamese consumers, there were significant effects on the social influence and facilitating conditions, but the effort expectancy and variety seeking had no significant effect.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.307-327
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• 2015

Trade education methods that combine practical knowledge and on-site job training have significantly contributed in improving abilities of trade experts. For instance, GTEP and LINC have contributed to a substantial expansion of SME export performane. Moreover, students' cooperation experience have led to employment outcomes as SMEs can employ customized trade workers. I have conducted a survey to 100 students about university-industry collaboration. Results show that ICT skills and foreign language ability are the highest required conditions of employment while production and technology knowledge are the lowest. Furthermore, 50 companies operating in foreign markets responded that through industry-university cooperation, capabilities of university graduates have improved and trade education cooperation scheme is a success.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.395-423
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• 2014

This study examines the role of trade finance in the trade collapse of 2008-09 from the perspective of the Korean economy. We use two approaches. Firstly, as background to a more formal analysis, we make a casual observation on the behavior of aggregate data on trade finance, on which Korea has relatively abundant data. Aggregate data do not convincingly support the view that trade finance played an active role in causing the trade collapse. The measures of trade finance and the value of trade both dropped sharply, but the ratio of trade finance over trade was stable and in some cases increased during the crisis period. Secondly, using quarterly data on listed firms in Korea, we conduct panel estimations to test whether firms that are more dependent on external finance experienced greater export contraction during the crisis. Our regression analysis suggests that the financial vulnerability of firms, measured by various financial ratios, did not contribute to export contraction during the financial crisis. This observation largely applies even to smaller firms, who are usually thought of as being more vulnerable financially. However, we find that small exporters that relied heavily on cross-border trade payables or receivables suffered larger drops in export growth during the crisis.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.135-156
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• 2005

Since July 7 mutual declaration in 1988 which is a landmark for South-North Korean relations, Inter-Korean Trade has been set out. During the period, the Inter-Korean Trade has been ups and downs depending on the Inter-Korean relations and economic situation of both countries. South Korea became one of the major three trading countries of North Korea's trading partners in 2000, when the sum of annual trade volume reached the record 425million US dollars. A rapidly increasing number of countries including North Korea are developing national policies and strategies to promote the digital economy, recognizing the potential benefits of e-business as an engine of growth and development. However, the trade structure of South-North Korea remains very simple in terms of its contents. Furthermore trade procedure many limitations especially electronic commerce in North Korea has many obstacles to working properly. The information in Inter-Korean trade cannot be shared in common. South Korean firms have suffered repeatedly trial and error and excessive competition took place among South Korean firms. Institutional inertia related to mutual trade, political and military Impacts on Inter-Korean economic relations, abnormal industrial structure of North Korea and insufficiency of SOC could be mentioned as major problems in Inter-Korean trade as well. Several measures should be taken in order to cope with those problems. First of all, South Korean government should provide valuable information to business firms about North Korean economy and business environments. It is suggested that forums related to inter-Korean trade hold in regular base between South and North Koreas and establish the system of business information sharing. Second, the government should improve various laws and regulations to respond to the realistic needs of inter-Korean trade. That is, detailed measures should be taken to guarantee investment in electronic commerce. Third, it is desirable to start with the mutual agreement between South and North Korea.