• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.69
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• pp.261-301
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• 2016

Recently the abusive calls on on-demand bonds have been a critical issue among many engineering and construction companies in Korea. On-demand bond is referred to as an independent guarantee in the sense that the guarantee is independent from its underlying contract although it was issued based on such underlying contract. For this reason, the issuing bank is not required to and/or entitled to look into whether there really is a breach of underlying contract in relation to the call on demand-bonds. Due to this kind of principle of independence, the applicant has to run the risk of the on demand bond being called by the beneficiary without due grounds. Only where the call proves to be fraudulent or abusive in a very clear way, the issuing bank would not be obligated to pay the bond proceeds for the call on on-demand bonds. In order to prevent the issuing bank from paying the proceeds under the on-demand bond, the applicant usually files with its competent court an application for injunction prohibiting the beneficiary from calling against the issuing bank. However, it is in practice difficult for the applicant to prove the beneficiary's call on the bond to be fraudulent since the courts in almost all the jurisdictions of advanced countries require very strict and objective evidences such as the documents which were signed by the owner (beneficiary) or any other third party like the engineer. There is another way of preventing the beneficiary from calling on the bond, which is often utilized especially in the United Kingdom or Western European countries such as Germany. Based upon the underlying contract, the contractor which is at the same time the applicant of on-demand bond requests the court to order the owner (the beneficiary) not to call on the bond. In this case, there apparently seems to be no reason why the court should apply the strict fraud rule to determine whether to grant an injunction in that the underlying legal relationship was created based on a construction contract rather than a bond. However, in most jurisdictions except for United Kingdom and Singapore, the court also applies the strict fraud rule on the ground that the parties promised to make the on-demand bond issued under the construction contract. This kind of injunction is highly unlikely to be utilized on the international level because it is very difficult in normal situations to establish the international jurisdiction towards the beneficiary which will be usually located outside the jurisdiction of the relevant court. This kind of injunction ordering the owner not to call on the bond can be rendered by the arbitrator as well even though the arbitrator has no coercive power for the owner to follow it. Normally there would be no arbitral tribunal existing at the time of the bond being called. In this case, the emergency arbitrator which most of the international arbitration rules such as ICC, LCIA and SIAC, etc. adopt can be utilized. Finally, the contractor can block the issuing bank from paying the bond proceeds by way of a provisional attachment in case where it also has rights to claim some unpaid interim payments or damages. This is the preservative measure under civil law system, which the lawyers from common law system are not familiar with. As explained in this article, it is very difficult to block the issuing bank from paying in response to the bond call by the beneficiary even if the call has no valid ground under the underlying construction contract. Therefore, it is necessary for the applicants who are normally engineering and construction companies to be prudent to make on-demand bonds issued. They need to take into account the creditability of the project owner as well as trustworthiness of the judiciary system of the country where the owner is domiciled.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.39
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• pp.59-85
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• 2008

An independent bank guarantee(aka an independent guarantee) is provided as an security on a principal obligor's performance of his obligation, and a guarantor should pay the guaranteed amount only upon a beneficiary's written demand. A standby letter of credit has been used in the United States, since it was construed that a bank should not issue a guarantee. There was wide misunderstanding that a standby letter of credit differs from an independent bank guarantee. However, a standby letter of credit is the same security as an independent bank guarantee, and in international business a standby letter of credit is not differentiated from a independent bank guarantee. An independent bank guarantee are independent from the underlying contract, unconditional, and irrevocable. And a guarantor should pay upon written demand without proving a principal obligor breaches the underlying contract. These features of an independent bank guarantee has been abused in international transactions. Thus it has been proposed that some exceptions to the features of an independent bank guarantee should be allowed. United Nations Convention on Independent Guarantees and Standby Letter of Credit(1995) stipulates some exceptions to payment obligation. Export bond insurance, a part of export insurances, operated by the Korea Export Insurance Corporation under the Export Insurance Act, is used as a security for unfair calling by a beneficiary under an independent bank guarantee. Most of the export subsides by the government are prohibited under WTO's Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures. However, as export insurance is allowed under the WTO, it operates a significant role in enhancing the export. In the event that export bond insurance is provided for a guarantor, an obligor who is subject to recourse by a guarantor, can be exempt from the recourse in case of unfair calling. The Korea Export Insurance Corporation, an insurer, bears unfair calling risk by a beneficiary. Generally it is understood that a demand shall be made before the expiry of an independent bank guarantee. However this is not absolutely true, it shall be decided by URDG, ISP98, the governing law.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.112-116
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• 2000

The development of new spraying processes has increased the demand for high quality protective coatings. Many thermal spraying processes have been developed to obtain coatings for a wide spectrum of materials and substrates. The plasma spray process was used to deposit coatings of WC-12%Co powders on mild steel substrate, and the characteristics of as-sprayed and vacuum heat treated coatings have been investigated. The variations of microhardness and bond strength in WC-12%Co coatings after heat treatment under vacuum circumstance have been investigated. The effects of phases and morphologies of WC-12%Co coatings have been investigated by utilizing X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy, respectively. The microhardness and bond strength of the coatings were increased with increasing the temperature in the temperature range of $700^{circ}C~1000^{\circ}C$. The bond strength was obtained 49 MPa after vacuum heat treatment at $1000^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.800-817
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• 1996

In this study, we tried to evaluate the effect of Amalgambond liner application on the degree of marginal leakage and retention of amalgam restoration by comparing with that of the Copalite and All-bond 2. The results obtained from this experiment were as follows; 1. Tensile strength representing the bond between amalgam and tooth structure was the highest in Amalgambond, and All-Bond 2, Copalite in descending order. There were statistically significant difference between each group(P<0.05). 2. The degree of microleakage in Amalgambond was lower than that of All-Bond 2, and Copalite, but no stastically significant difference could be found (P>0.05). 3. The liner such as Amalgambond or All-Bond 2 were evaluated to be superior to the conventional Copalite in bond strength as well as in microleakage. But the result of this study could not show the superiority of one material over the others; Amalgambond and All-bond 2. Besides the results of the study, other factors, such as practical convenience, should be considered in determining the selection of material. The support of welldesigned clinical studies on this subject are in demand.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.52-64
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of macroeconomic variables on air passenger demand and provide useful information to airport managers and policymakers. Therefore, using the quarterly macroeconomic indicators from 2002 to 2017, the relationship with air passenger demand was demonstrated by multiple regression analysis. In the previous studies, they used GDP, Korea Treasury Bond, KOSPI index, USD/KRW Exchange Rate, and WTI Crude Oil Price variables. In this study, we used the Coincident Composite Index, Employment Rate, Consumer Sentiment Index, and Private Consumption Rate used as additional variables. It has confirmed that if the consumption of research results expands or the economic environment is right, it will affect the increase in international passengers. In other words, it confirmed that the overall economic situation acts as the main factor determining air passenger demand. It confirmed that the economic environment at the past has a significant impact on air passenger demand.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.47-64
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• 2003

In a nonlinear finite element study on the mechanical behavior of simple beam connections to continuous concrete-filled steel tube columns, two principally different connection types were analyzed: one with plates attached to the outside of the tube wall, relying on shear transfer, and one with an extended plate inserted through the steel section to ensure bearing on the concrete core. The load was applied partly at the connection within the column length and partly at the top, representing the load from upper stories of a multistory building. The primary focus was on the increased demand for load transfer to ensure composite action when concrete with higher compressive strength is used. The results obtained from the analyses showed that the design bond strength derived from push tests is very conservative, mainly due to the high frictional shear resistance offered by pinching and contraction effects caused by connection rotation. However, with higher concrete strength the demand for load transfer increases, and is hard to fulfill for higher loads when connections are attached only to the steel section. Instead, the connection should penetrate into the concrete core to distribute load to the concrete by direct bearing.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.53-58
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• 2013

An innovative packaging solution, Flip Chip with Copper (Cu) Column bond on lead (BOL) Enhanced Process (fcCuBE$^{(R)}$) delivers a cost effective, high performance packaging solution over typical bond on capture pad (BOC) technology. These advantages include improved routing efficiency on the substrate top layer thus allowing conversion functionality; furthermore, package cost is lowered by means of reduced substrate layer count and removal of solder on pad (SOP). On the other hand, as electronic packaging technology develops to meet the miniaturization trend from consumer demand, reliability testing will become an important issue in advanced technology area. In particular, electromigration (EM) of flip chip bumps is an increasing reliability concern in the manufacturing of integrated circuit (IC) components and electronic systems. This paper presents the results on EM characteristics on BOL and BOC structures under electrical current stressing in order to investigate the comparison between two different typed structures. EM data was collected for over 7000 hours under accelerated conditions (temperatures: $125^{\circ}C$, $135^{\circ}C$, and $150^{\circ}C$ and stress current: 300 mA, 400 mA, and 500 mA). All samples have been tested without any failures, however, we attempted to find morphologies induced by EM effects through cross-sectional analysis and investigated the interfacial reaction characteristics between BOL and BOC structures under current stressing. EM damage was observed at the solder joint of BOC structure but the BOL structure did not show any damage from the effects of EM. The EM data indicates that the fcCuBE$^{(R)}$ BOL Cu column bump provides a significantly better EM reliability.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.58
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• pp.215-236
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• 2013

It is quite true that the more Korean contractors receive overseas contracts, the more they need guarantees. The top market for them is the Middle East countries, consisting of more than the half of the total amount awarded last year and the trend is increasing as well. The problem, however, is that employers in these countries are reluctant to use international rules for guarantee such as URDG or ISP98 and easily make unfair callings. However, Korean contractors(applicants), especially small and medium sized enterprises(SMEs) tend to hurriedly enter a contract without looking into its contents as well as guarantees. They do not realize the importance of the guarantees until they receive callings from the employers(beneficiaries). Being independent from the underlying contracts, guarantee is the equivalent to cash in that it usually does not require any proof of demand when calling and the guarantor should make a payment within usually 5 business days after the request. It is often observed these days that several Korean SMEs go bankrupt due to liquidity risks after receiving unfair callings from employers in the Middle East countries. In retrospect, some cases could be obviated if contractors were a little more careful in checking the contents of a guarantee at the time of concluding a contract. For example, there is one case where the underlying contract includes a reduction clause in the Advance Payment bond and the guarantee does not have that clause. In the end, the Korean contractor had to take the whole burden of the bond amount though it had finished 81% of the project. Nobody could argue that contractors should take a full responsibility if they fail in their obligations. However, the employer's wrongful callings need to be prevented in the first place, if possible. As there shouldn't be a case where one party is at a disadvantage against the other like the case mentioned above, useful insight is being sought to minimize unfair calling risks for the benefit of the applicant. First, the applicant should carefully look into every detail of the potential guarantee before signing a contract, heeding especially that there is a reduction clause in the AP bond. Second, the governing principles for guarantee should be the ones that are internally used such as URDG758 that is objective in terms of callings given that, for example, it specifies that the requirement for a supporting statement when making a demand is a default rule. It is also recommended that the form of guarantees be the standard demand guarantee. Third, parties involved in issuing guarantees are advised to understand international rules for guarantee like URDG758 and ISP98 and to play a key role in guiding SME contractors in Korea so that they can protect themselves from possible wrongful callings, particularly from employers in the Middle East countries. I hope this study would give a wake-up call for Korean SMEs wishing to do business in the Middle East countries and remind them of the importance of guarantee itself and its governing principles.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.26
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• pp.203-223
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• 2005

Many international transactions involve the use of security devices, commonly referred to as "guarantees", "bonds", or "standby credits", designed to protect one of the parties from a breach by its counter-party. These security mechanisms may be provided by banks, insurance companies, specialized surety companies, or other financial service firms. Although some legal systems distinguish between "guarantees", "bonds", and "indemnities", these terms are often used as synonyms in the everyday language of international traders. It may therefore be necessary to examine the particular characteristics and nature of the guarantee obligation in order to properly classify the guarantee. Two main categories of guarantee are demand and suretyship. Under a demand guarantee, the guarantor must pay on first demand by the beneficiary. The beneficiary only has to demand payment under the guarantee - there is no need to prove that the principal has actually defaulted on a contractual obligation. Under a suretyship or conditional guarantee, the obligation of the guarantor is triggered by the actual default or contractual breach of the principal, as evidenced in a document such as a court judgement or arbitral award against the principal. Guarantees have been widely used in the international business transactions. Main uses of guarantees are as follows : Performance Bonds/Guarantees, Bid(or Tender) Bonds/Guarantees, Advance Payment or Repayment Bonds/Guarantees, Retention Bonds/Guarantees, Maintenance(or Warranty) Bonds/Guarantees etc.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.129-146
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• 2000

An increasing demand for esthetic restorations has led to the development of new ceramic systems. In-Ceram, a glass-infiltrated alumina ceramic has three to few times greater flexural strength than other ceramic glass material. Because of its high strength, In-Ceram has been suggested as inlay, crown, laminate veneer and core material for resin bonded fixed partial dentures. This clinical application requires a stable resin bond to In-Ceram core. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the shear bond strength between In-Ceram core and resin cements according to various surface treatments and storage conditions. The surface of each In-Ceram core sample was subjected to one of the following treatments and then bonded to Panavia 21 or Variolink II resin cement. ; (1) sandblasting with $110{\mu}m$ aluminum oxide powder, (2) sandblasting and silanization, (3) sandblasting and Siloc treatment, (4) sandblasting and Targis link application. Each of eight bonding groups was tested in shear bond strengths after the following storage times and thermocycling. ; A) 24 hours storage in distilled water at $37^{\circ}C$, B) 5 weeks storage in distilled water at $37^{\circ}C$ C) 5 weeks storage in distilled water at $37^{\circ}C$ and thermocycled 2,000 thormocycling for every 10 days(totally 10,000 thermocycting) in $5^{\circ}C-55^{\circ}C$ bath. The bond failure modes were observed with scanning electron microscope(SEM). The results were as fellows : 1 The shear bond strengths of sandblasting group were significantly lesser than the other groups after 24 hours water storage. No significant difference of bonding strengths was found between storage time conditions(24 hours and 5 weeks). The shear bond strengths showed a tendency to decrease in Variolink II bonding groups and to increase in Panavia 21 bonding groups. 3. After thermocycling, the shear bond strengths of all groups were significantly decreased(p<0.01) and Targis link group exhibited significantly greater strengths than the other groups(p<0.05). 4. Panavia 21 bonding groups exhibited significantly greater bonding strengths in sandblasting group(p<0.01) and silane group(p<0.05) than Variolink II bonding groups. 5. In observation of bond failure modes, Targis link group showed cohesive failure in resin part and silane group and Siloc group showed complex failure and sandblasting group showed adhesive failure between In-Ceram and resin.