• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
• /
• v.68 no.3
• /
• pp.51-71
• /
• 2016

The purpose of this study is to clarify macro causes influencing on the diversity of single-mother households poverty among OECD Countries including Korea. This study carried out pooled time series cross-section analysis applying unbalanced panel design on the period from 1981 to 2012. There is marked diversity on single-mother households poverty. GDP per capita does not contributes to reduce poverty, and female employment rate and % population 0-14 exacerbate poverty. Several factors contribute on poverty reduction including social spending, child cash spending, union density, employment protection on regular workers, proportional representation system, cumulative left cabinet, cumulative women seat. In Korea, it needs to overcome the limit of anti-poverty strategy mainly based on economic growth and labor market flexibility. And it needs to enlarge universal welfare institutions, child benefits, work-family reconciliation policy, and to design adjusted labor market institutions including union density and employment protection, to introduce consensus political model including proportional representation system to enhance left power and women's representation.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.40 no.4
• /
• pp.285-290
• /
• 2007

Objectives : Cases of human brucellosis in Korea have recently increased due to the increasing incidence of bovine brucellosis. The authors conducted this study to elucidate the status of brucellosis through seroepidemiologic study. Methods : We selected our study population from a high risk group. We conducted a questionnaire survey and obtained blood samples to determine the seroprevalence of brucellosis antibodies for 10 days in February, 2005. The titers of brucellosis were measured by the combination of standard tube agglutination test (STA) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test. Results : Our study subjects comprised 1,075 cases: 971 livestock workers, 51 veterinarians, and 53 artificial inseminators. In the STA test, 27 cases (2.5%) had titers of greater than or equal to 1:20. Of 1,068 cases (7 cases were excluded due to previous brucellosis), 7 cases of brucellosis were diagnosed with titers of 1:160, giving a seroprevalence of brucellosis of 0.66%. The seroprevalence in the male group was 0.95%, and that of livestock workers, veterinarians, and artificial inseminators was 0.52%, 4.17%, and 0.00%, respectively. The Spearman's correlation coefficient between the positive rate of bovine brucellosis per capita and household and human brucellosis was 0.806 and 0.744, respectively. The concordance rate between the Korea National Institute of Health and the Gyeongsangbuk-do Institute of Health and Environment by the STA and ELISA tests was 94.7% and 100.0%, respectively. Conclusions : The study results indicated in higher seroprevalence rate among veterinarians than among livestock workers and artificial inseminators. Because veterinarians may be exposed to this high risk, effective working guidelines for veterinarians to guard against brucellosis must be developed. Moreover, more extensive epidemiologic research for laboratory workers and meat handlers is needed.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
• /
• v.53 no.9
• /
• pp.691-699
• /
• 2020

South Korea's available water resources per capita is very small compared to global average as there is a high population on small land. Thus, it is imperative to secure water resources for the safe livelihood of the citizens. As an advanced, industrialized country, South Korean economic dependence on agricultural has greatly lowered. Unless South Korea utilizes foreign water resources, it is impossible to provide agricultural and livestock products the same as current levels. However, virtual water-related research in South Korea is still inadequate. When establishing the water resources plan, it does not consider the international trade of virtual water. This research aims to solve this issue by analyzing the international virtual water trends focusing on South Korea. Consequently, the export and import of virtual water trade was identified according to country and item for 248 countries and South Korea. According to the results, South Korea's agricultural and livestock virtual water has much higher imports than exports, which outputs with agricultural by-products being the main import. In 2018, South Korea imported 72.2 billion ㎥, which is 29 times the exported amount of 2.5 billion ㎥. The research results can be used as baseline data for establishing the national water resources plan in the future.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
• /
• v.45 no.4
• /
• pp.478-501
• /
• 2010

The purpose of this study is to understand spatial economic inequalities under the framework of the dynamics of economic spaces in relation to the four global megatrends: globalization, knowledge-based economy, information society, and the service world. The international inequalities in East Asia, as well as inter-regional inequalities within Japan, Korea, and Thailand were analyzed. The variables related to the four megatrends, as a whole, have clearly explained the variations in international inequalities in East Asia, as well as the inter-regional inequalities within a nation. The individual impacts of the variables on spatial inequalities are, however, significantly different depending on the spatial scale of analysis and national characteristics. Overall, there has been a convergence trend of international per capita GNI (Gross National Income) in East Asian nations, while both divergent and convergent trends are evident at the regional scale within a nation. Two global oil crises in the 1970s and the East Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s resulted in the discontinuity of the general convergence trend, and have led to the increase of international and inter-regional inequalities in economic activities. This suggests that although the effect of the global crisis differs in each country, in general, the economies of peripheral countries and regions are more vulnerable during a global economic crisis.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
• /
• v.30 no.6
• /
• pp.653-662
• /
• 2016

Recently, advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) has been recognized as a core technology of smart water grid, and the relevant market is growing constantly. In this study, we developed all-in-one smart water meter of the AMI system, which was installed on the test-bed to verify both effectiveness and field applicability in office building water usage. Developed 15 mm-diameter smart water meter is a magneto-resistive digital meter, and measures flow rate and water quality parameters (temperature, conductivity) simultaneously. As a result of the water usage analysis by installing six smart water meters on various purposes in office building water usage, the water usage in shower room showed the highest values as the 1,870 L/day and 26.6 liter per capita day (LPCD). But, the water usage in laboratory was irregular, depending on the many variables. From the analysis of the water usage based on day of the week, the water usage on Monday showed the highest value, and tended to decrease toward the weekend. According to the PCA results and multivariate statistical approaches, the shower room (Group 3) and 2 floor man's restroom sink (Group 1-3) have been classified as a separate group, and the others did not show a significant difference in both water use and water quality aspects. From the analysis of water usage measured in this study, the leak or water quality accident did not occur. Consequently, all-in-one smart water meter developed in this study can measure flow rate and water quality parameters (temperature, conductivity) simultaneously with effective field applicability in office building water usage.

• Land and Housing Review
• /
• v.4 no.3
• /
• pp.225-234
• /
• 2013

The indices to choose the object countries for developing overseas industrial park were developed and applied in this paper. The results are showing as follows. First, the Korean enterprises are branched out into total 128 countries as of the first quarter of 2010, and the 13 asian countries including China, Vietnam, Japan, and Hongkong shows the majority of precedence 20 countries among the reported during 1980-2010. Second, the 3 steps of selecting the principal region to branch out, establishing assessment indices and criteria, and choosing strategical target counties were developed to choose the countries for developing overseas industrial park. The 38 of 128 countries were selected where the GDP per capita is lower than Korea, and the local reports of incorporation during 2007-2010 are more than 10 times. Then, the 10 countries were excluded where the minimum wages during 2008-2009 are similar to Korean ($815/month). Consequently, the 28 countries including China, Vietnam, and Cambodia etc. were selected as the major target regions. Third, the indices to choose countries for developing overseas industrial park are classified into 5 categories-investment condition, labor market flexibility, potential market demand, population, changing rate of the reported number of manufacturing industry, and detailed indices for each category were selected, then the weight were given with the consideration of importance. Finally, Indonesia, Mongolia, and Uzbekistan were selected as the strategical target counties where acquire the high score in labor market flexibility and investment condition, relatively undeveloped, and friendly to Korea.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
• /
• v.49 no.2
• /
• pp.211-232
• /
• 2018

The purpose of this study is to verify whether the types of welfare attitudes are classified according to the welfare regimes. Specifically, this study tried to confirm whether the satisfaction and needs of the role of government for inequality reduction are divided into welfare regimes. For the purpose, this study conducted a comparative analysis of 24 European countries using the 6th European Social Survey (2012) and the Eurostat data. The main results of the analysis are summarized as follows. First, there is a difference in the satisfaction and needs of the role of government for the inequality reduction among the welfare regimes. Generally, the satisfaction is high in the Nordic countries, while the needs is high in the southern and eastern European countries. Second, there is a correlation that the country where the per capita welfare expenditure level is high and the redistribution effect is strong have high level of the satisfaction. Third, the types of welfare attitudes are classified according to the welfare regimes. In particular, the Nordic countries are converging into a cluster with low needs and high satisfaction. These countries have high level of social spending and strong redistributive effects. This study suggested policy implications based on the above results.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
• /
• no.37
• /
• pp.117-144
• /
• 2008

This is a timeseries study on the riving forces behind the changes of Korean welfare state. There are a few previous studies on the determinants of korean welfare state. These previous studies have some limitations in terms of reliability of the data source and validity of the statistical method used. Using the Comparative Social Policy Data-set(CSPD), we try to overcome the limitation of these previous studies. And adapting the time series regression, we examine the hypotheses about the changes of korean welfare state. In this study, four dependent variables are examined: the ratio of public social welfare expenditure to the GDP(WELGDP), the ratio of public social welfare expenditure to the government budget(WELGOV), the ratio of social expenditure to the GDP(SOCX), social welfare expenditure per capita. And independent variables were selected based on the theoretical background on the changes of welfare state. The results of this study as follows: First, the variables based on structural functionalism (industrialization) are the major driving forces behind the changes of korean welfare state since 1960s. Second, the effect of unemployment variable may be reasonably interpreted as reflecting the residual characteristics of korean welfare state. Third, the politics of the left based on power resource theory should be restrictedly interpreted. Ultimately, korean welfare state is still at rudimentary stage where the theory of industrialization is well applied as a driving forces behind the changes of welfare state.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
• /
• 2019.05a
• /
• pp.232-232
• /
• 2019

The persistence of drought periods and water scarcity is a growing public concern, as climate change projections indicate a more critical scenario in the future. The sustainability of water resources for the increasing population, and to ensuring crop production will unarguably be a daunting task for the water resources managers, with a projected 9.8 billion people by 2050 as well as the need to increase food production by 70 to 100%. Consequently, there is a need for significant irrigation water use for more crop production in the face of stiff competition among water users. However, the available natural resources are already over-constrained, and the allocation of more resources for food production is not feasible. Currently, about two-thirds of global water withdrawer is used by the agricultural sector while 48% of water resources in Korea is used for agricultural production. Despite the apparent ecological deficit and unfavorable conditions of resources utilization, a staggering amount of food waste occurs in the country. Moreover, wastage of food translates to waste of all the resources involved in the food production including water resources. Food waste can also be considered a serious potential for economic and environmental problems. Hence, exploring an alternative approach to efficient resources utilization in a more sustainable way can ensure considerable resources conservation. We hypothesized that reducing food waste will decline the demand for food production and consequently reduce the pressure on water resources. We investigated the food wastage across the food supply chain using the top-down datasets based on the FAO mass balance model. Furthermore, the water footprint of the estimated food wastage was assessed using the representative of selected food crops. The study revealed that the average annual food wastage across the food supply chain is 9.05 million tonnes, signifying 0.51 kg/capita/day and 48% of domestic food production. Similarly, an average of 6.29 Gm3 per annum of water resources was lost to food wastage, which translates to 40% of the total allotted water resources for agriculture in the country. These considerable resources could have been conserved or efficiently used for other purposes. This study demonstrated that zero food waste generation would significantly reduce the impact on freshwater resources and ensure its conservation. There is a need for further investigation on the food waste study using the bottom-up approach, specifically at the consumer food waste, since the top-down approach is based on estimations and many assumptions were made.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
• /
• 2019.05a
• /
• pp.408-408
• /
• 2019

The persistence of drought periods and water scarcity is a growing public concern, as climate change projections indicate a more critical scenario in the future. The sustainability of water resources for the increasing population, and to ensuring crop production will unarguably be a daunting task for the water resources managers, with a projected 9.8 billion people by 2050 as well as the need to increase food production by 70 to 100%. Consequently, there is a need for significant irrigation water use for more crop production in the face of stiff competition among water users. However, the available natural resources are already over-constrained, and the allocation of more resources for food production is not feasible. Currently, about two-thirds of global water withdrawer is used by the agricultural sector while 48% of water resources in Korea is used for agricultural production. Despite the apparent ecological deficit and unfavorable conditions of resources utilization, a staggering amount of food waste occurs in the country. Moreover, wastage of food translates to waste of all the resources involved in the food production including water resources. Food waste can also be considered a serious potential for economic and environmental problems. Hence, exploring an alternative approach to efficient resources utilization in a more sustainable way can ensure considerable resources conservation. We hypothesized that reducing food waste will decline the demand for food production and consequently reduce the pressure on water resources. We investigated the food wastage across the food supply chain using the top-down datasets based on the FAO mass balance model. Furthermore, the water footprint of the estimated food wastage was assessed using the representative of selected food crops. The study revealed that the average annual food wastage across the food supply chain is 9.05 million tonnes, signifying 0.51 kg/capita/day and 48% of domestic food production. Similarly, an average of $6.29Gm^3$ per annum of water resources was lost to food wastage, which translates to 40% of the total allotted water resources for agriculture in the country. These considerable resources could have been conserved or efficiently used for other purposes. This study demonstrated that zero food waste generation would significantly reduce the impact on freshwater resources and ensure its conservation. There is a need for further investigation on the food waste study using the bottom-up approach, specifically at the consumer food waste, since the top-down approach is based on estimations and many assumptions were made.