• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.286-297
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• 2020

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: This study compared the perception of customers from Korea and the U.S. on the attributes of different formats of menu labeling The specific objectives were 1) to compare the customers' perceived usefulness, ease-of-understanding, clarity, and attractiveness of different formats of menu labeling between Korea and the U.S.; and 2) to compare the customers' use intention to different formats of menu labeling between Korea and the U.S. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A survey was conducted in Korea and the U.S. The participants were allocated randomly to view 1 of the 7 restaurant menus that varied according to the following types of menu labeling formats: (type 1) kcal format, (type 2) traffic-light format, (type 3) percent daily intake (%DI) format, (type 4) kcal + traffic-light format, (type 5) kcal + %DI format, (type 6) traffic-light + %DI format, and (type 7) kcal + traffic-light + %DI format. A total of 279 Koreans and 347 Americans were entered in the analysis. An independent t-test and 1-way analysis of variance were performed. RESULTS: Koreans rated type 4 format (kcal + traffic light) the highest for usefulness and attractiveness. In contrast, Americans rated type 7 (kcal + traffic light + %DI) the highest for usefulness, ease-of-understanding, attractiveness, and clarity. Significant differences were found in the customers' perceived attributes to menu labeling between Korea and the U.S. Americans perceived higher for all the 4 attributes of menu labeling than Koreans. CONCLUSIONS: The study is unique in identifying the differences in the attributes of different formats of menu labeling between Korea and the U.S. Americans rated the most complicated type of menu labeling as the highest perception for the attributes, and showed a higher use intention of menu labeling than Koreans. This study contributes to academia and industry for practicing menu labeling in different countries using different formats.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.131-154
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• 2018

While strong investments on startup and venture ecosystem prosper worldwide, growing interest on nurturing startup ecosystem in Korea is also on its way. However, korean entrepreneurial ecosystem currently results few successful business models with those continuous development of itself compared to the one in China, which is breeding more than 50% of unicorns internationally. Accordingly, this study examined how people in the venture ecosystem, especially in IT industry feel about themselves and startup itself and compared startup ecosystem in Seoul, Korea to the one in Chengdu, China considering each of economic, social and administrational environment. The study tried to provide an implication about the future orientation of Korea's starup and venture ecosystem to policy makers and the ones inside the environment to make a better one. Therefore, the study choose Seoul, Korea and Chengdu, China as geological specimens of startup ecosystem and conduct qualitative study by interviewing selected ones who work in startup incubator, accelerator specified to IT industry and started their own business in IT industry funded by startup reward program. The study categorize the result in social, economic, and administrative parts and screens whether the interviewees from both Korea and China have similar opinions toward each of questions and can be translated to have tendency or not in each part of study. According to the study, the national recognition of startup should be moved from means of maintenance such as restaurants, franchise business to IT startup especially based on software business for the sustainable flourish in Korean venture ecosystem. Investors including accelerator, Angel investors and VCs should be less risk-aversion and therefore prefer stake purchase to solely giving subsidies. The role of governors should be limited to be a middleman of the network, connecting each people in need inside the ecosystem and their reward program should focus on nurturing the growing ones, not just multiplying the numbers of startups to expand the size of entrepreneurial ecosystem. Since this study indicated that entire revision of startup ecosystem should be applied to make a better one, it could be used to design future entrepreneurial infrastructure and the ways of activating startup ecosystem elsewhere in Korea.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.401-411
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• 2020

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The expansion of menu labeling to restaurants has created a need to study customers' behavior toward nutrition information. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to compare college students' behavior toward nutrition information communication between Korea and the US. This study consisted of three objectives: 1) to compare the frequency of usage as well as degree of trust regarding smartphone-based communication channels in the acquisition of nutrition information among college students between Korea and the US, 2) to compare knowledge-sharing behavior related to nutrition information among college students between Korea and the US, and 3) to identify the role of country in the process of knowledge-sharing behavior. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A survey was distributed via the web to college students in Korea and the US. Data were collected in the 2nd week of March 2017. Completed responses were collected from 423 Koreans and 280 Americans. Differences between Koreans and Americans were evaluated for statistical significance using a t-test. In order to verify the effects of knowledge self-efficacy and transactive memory capability on knowledge-sharing behavior related to nutrition information, a regression analysis was performed. RESULTS: Significant differences were found in the frequency of usage as well as degree of trust in communication channels related to nutrition information between Korean and American college students. While knowledge self-efficacy and tractive memory capability had positive effects on knowledge-sharing behavior related to nutrition information, country had a significant effect on the process. CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first to compare customer behavior toward nutrition information acquisition and sharing between Korea and the US. Comparative research on nutrition information revealed differences among the different countries. Therefore, this study contributes to the body of knowledge on the nutrition information research, in particular, by providing a comparison study between countries.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.422-437
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• 2019

Compared to the significant number of researches on international immigration, there has been less attention to return migration. This is partly because return migration has been understood as a simple phenomenon resulted from a successful return with accumulated capital or adaptation failure. Since the mid-1990s, a large number of Korean-Chinese have migrated to Korea, and recently it became more common to witness the return of them. This study examines the strategic choice of self-employed Korean-Chinese returning to Yanbian, Recently, an increasing number of Korean-Chinese starts a small business, such as restaurants in Yanbian after accumulating capital in Korea. The relatively short stay in Korea is not only for saving money to initiate their own business. Rather, they could obtain new business opportunities in Yanbian by using the experiences and networks built in Korea. In short, the return migration of the Korean-Chinese to Yanbian can be understood as a strategy of capital accumulation utilizing the gap in the World-systems.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.463-476
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• 2016

Objectives: Environmental, social and personal factors influence eating patterns. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between unhealthy food outlets within a residential area and obesity using nationally representative Korean survey data and data from the Census on Establishments. Methods: Data on the food intakes and socioeconomic variables of a total of 9,978 adults aged ${\geq}19$ years were obtained from the 2013-2014 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Geographic locations of restaurants were obtained from the 2013 Census on Establishments in Korea. Administrative area was categorized into tertiles of count of unhealthy food outlets based on the distribution of number of unhealthy food outlets among all urban (Dong) and rural (Eup or Myun) administrative districts in Korea. Multilevel logistic regressions model were used to assess the association between the number of unhealthy food outlets and obesity. Results: People living in the district with the highest count of unhealthy food outlets had higher intakes of fat (45.8 vs. 44.4 g/day), sodium (4,142.6 vs. 3,949.8 mg/day), and vitamin A (753.7 vs. $631.6 {\mu}gRE/day$) compared to those living in the district with the lowest count of unhealthy food outlets. A higher count of unhealthy food outlets was positively associated with frequent consumption of instant noodles, pizza, hamburgers and sandwiches, sweets and sour pork or pork cutlets, fried chicken, snacks, and cookies. Higher exposure to unhealthy food outlets was associated with increased odds of obesity (1st vs. 3rd tertile; OR 1.689; 95% CI 1.098-2.599). Conclusions: A high count of unhealthy food outlets within a residential area is positively associated with the prevalence of obesity in Korea. The results suggest that food environmental factors affects the health outcomes and interventions aiming to restrict the availability of unhealthy food outlets in local neighborhoods may be a useful obesity prevention strategy.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.248-253
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• 2011

KFDA compiles the statistical data of food poisoning outbreaks two or more persons since 2002 in Korea and release them to the public on the web. There is a gap of outbreak number between the real situation and the reports. To reduce the gap, addition of sporadic individual case of food poisoning may be one of the solution method. The statistical data of Japan where food consumption pattern is similar to Korea, were used in this study to compare the ratio and the pattern between the outbreak cases two or more persons and individual cases. By doing so, the data of Japan regarding to outbreak cases two or more persons will be comparable to that of Korea. The data of 2002 and 2003 in Japan showed that sporadic individual cases were 43.3% in the total food poisoning cases. The individual cases occurred highly in unknown places (90-92.3%) and home (6.2-8.5%) whileas the outbreaks two or more persons occurred mostly in the place of restaurants (46.6-50.l%) and inns (9.2-9.8%). The food-borne pathogens attributed to the individual cases were C. jejuni (51.9%), Salmonella spp. (35.3%), and V. parahaemolyticus (9.8%) while those to the outbreak cases two or more persons were norovirus (31.3%), Salmonella spp. (20.8%), C. jejuni (15.5%) in Japan. The data of 2002-2009 between Korea and Japan showed the outbreak case report rate was 1:1.5 based on the total population number.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.214-231
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• 2014

This study was intended to investigate the alcohol drinking characteristics, Makgeolli drinking behavior, and perception of Makgeolli focusing on the Chinese students studying in Korea. 550 copies of self-administrated questionnaire for a survey were distributed from May 2nd to June 30th, 2012, and then 461 copies were adopted for the analyses. The drinking frequency and drinking amount at a time increased as the length of stay in Korea and monthly pocket money increased, and Makgeolli was second preferred, following beer. 97.5% of the students experienced drinking Makgeolli, the drinking rate and drinking amount of Makgeolli increased with the length of stay in Korea, and they mostly drank at restaurants and bars. Common motivations for drinking Makgeolli were taste and atmosphere while drinking it, and bad taste and headache were the most common reasons for disliking Makgeolli. The awareness of commercial Makgeolli types was low, and for the price and health promoting effects of Makgeolli, 92.4% and 85.8% of the students replied positively, respectively. These results suggest that the development of high quality Makgeolli adapted to the tastes of Chinese and relieving hangover, and advertising the health benefits would promote Makgeolli consumption in Chinese market.

• The Journal of Fisheries Business Administration
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.15-28
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• 2013

Abalone aquaculture has developed very rapidly in Korea. Until the mid 1990s it has annually produced about 100 tons. Since then the yield has increased to about 9,000 tons in 2012. The amount accounts for 20% of the global abalone yield. About 86% of produced abalone is consumed domestically and the rest is exported. 100 tons for export seemed as an unattainable goal back in 2003. However, the export rose up to 1,333 tons in 2012. Despite its rapid growth, Korean abalone industry is faced with some problems. The first is the slowdown of yield increase rates. Abalone production increased by 50~60% until the mid 2000. However, the rate continued to drop to below 10%. Reasons behind the slow increase are deteriorating aquaculture grounds and worsening market problems. Constant aquaculture aggravated productivity and overcrowded facilities at a limited space made matters worse. Moreover, abalone export has stalled and so did domestic consumption. In the meantime, rising mortality of young abalone has lowered productivity at abalone breeding places. The mortality rates of abalone remained below 5% in the early 2000s but rose to 30~40% these days. This translates into rising abalone prices. The market problems imply stagnant or shrinking export as well as domestic consumption. The export increase rates took a nosedive from 200 to below 50 between the early 2000s and the late 2000s. Moreover, the increase rates of domestic consumption have become remarkably sluggish. According to, it stood at 50~60% in the mid 2000s but continued to decrease after 2008. These problems, in turn, affected the size of abalone. The usual abalone size for market was 10~12 shells per kg, but recently the size became smaller and smaller to 15~16 shells per kg. The change of size implies shift in consumption patterns: Consumers not only eat live abalone but also they cook soup with it. The size of abalone for uncooked dish is usually very big, like 10~12 shells per kg. In contrast, smaller abalone, such as 20~25 shells per kg, are used for making soup. Increasing use of smaller abalone leads to lower income of abalone aquaculture households. This is partly because that the size determines the price and the price gap between big abalones and smaller ones is extreme in Korea. For the sustainable growth of Korean abalone industry, we need to come up with strategies. First, a reasonable production system needs to be in place, especially for better management of abalone aquaculture grounds. Management of abalone licenses is also necessary because local governments issue relevant licenses as well as supervising abalone grounds. Second, abalone export destination need to be diversified. Japan, the major importer of Korean abalone, takes up a lion's share of export, at 95%. Third, new consumption style of abalone needs to be developed. Abalone used to be consumed as 'raw type' or Sashimi in Korea. This sole type of consumption hampers the growth of abalone market. Moreover, more strategies are needed to encourage and distribute home cooking of abalone rather than eating-out at restaurants. Last but not least, distribution system should be improved for better delivery of live abalone.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.85-102
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• 1982

The current employment status among young home economists and perspectives in occupations for prospective Home Economics graduates were explored in this study which utilized information from 17 to 21 colleges in Korea and colleges in the United States during the five years of 1977∼1981. The Home Economics content areas covered in this study were Clothing and Textiles, Foods and Nutrition, Housing and Interior Design, and Child Development and Family Life. The highest percentage of Korean graduates in Clothing and Textiles was employed either as teachers at the junior high school level or as designers in the clothing and textile industries. Quite a number of the graduates were engaged in further studies at the graduate level. Korean graduates with a master's degree were teaching at the college level and some had furthered their studies at the doctorate level either here or abroad. Koreans with a bachelor's degree in Foods and Nutrition held jobs as teachers in junior high school, dieticians at mass feeding institutions and hospitals, food scientists in food industries, and researchers in institutions. Those with a master's degree were teaching at the college level. Americans with a bachelor's degree worked as dieticians, supervisors in restaurants and institutions, extension workers, researchers at various facilities, teachers and clerks. Americans with a master's or doctorate degree were engaged in teaching at colleges or supervising at research or working as extension specialists. In general, Korean graduates were found to hold positions in less varied areas than their American counter-parts. Among forty-nine graduates those working in their professional field reported less sex discrimination that those working in other fields. The major area of employment in Housing and Interior Design or Home Management graduates in Korea was teaching while in the United States it was extension work, business, governmental work and teaching. It was suggested that in the future, career development in Korea be further explored to include extension service, research, social welfare, financial planning, business, free-lancing, funeral home, home-call, and correctional education. Interviews with executives from 6 business enterprises indicated that most of them were aware of the potential contribution home economists could make for their companies but they expressed a negative attitude towards women in general due to their short stay on the job. Jobs held by Child Development and Family Life majors with a bachelor's degree in Korea were mostly teaching positions in public, junior and senior high school. However, jobs such as nursery school teaching, working in clinical setting, business, and teaching at public, junior and senior high school predominated in the United states. Most Korean graduates with a master's degree were teaching in professional colleges while in the United Stated the job variation among the graduates was rather evenly distributed among teaching at college level, public and high school, nursery school and administration areas. Reports from 7 child development majors on the job indicated that they were paid less that secretarial workers. Only half of them were working in their major area and these expressed satisfaction with their work. Two thirds of the respondents indicated no sex discrimination. It was suggested that in the future Child Development and Family Life majors pursue employment in counseling, guidance, recreation, mass media, administration and outreach work as well as education, research and parent education in services for children, teen-agers, adults and families.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.287-298
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• 1993

In this study, generation characteristics and distribution situation of the animal fat residue were investigated to identify it's management problems and to propose alternatives for the recycling and final disposal. Generation sources were the meat distribution net-work including about 170 slaughterhouses, 280 meat-packing plants, thousands of meat shops and restaurants etc. The daily total amount of the animal fat residue is about 700 ton/day. More than 60% of the generation sources were concentrated in Seoul metropolitan area. The residue was collected by about 300 men using old-fashioned devices like handcarts, bike and auto bike, transported to the recycling plants by about 60 collection agencies. The residue was processed to produce by-products such as grease, tallow, animal feed ingredient in the recycling plants. At present, however, a great number of unlicensed, and mostly small rendering processors without having pollution control facilities do the unlawful business. These small, old fashioned and unorganized businesses are creating environmental problems by disposing the waste in improper ways such as open burning and dump. Improvement of the distribution network, the large-scale plants, and the estabilishing proper infrastructures were suggested to overcome the problems for the sound fat residues reprocessing industry.