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Current Status and the Future Prospect of Rehabilitation Nursing in Korea (한국 재활간호 현황과 전망)

  • Kang, Hyun-Sook;Suh, Yeon-Ok;Lee, Hae-Sook
    • The Korean Journal of Rehabilitation Nursing
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    • v.4 no.2
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    • pp.240-247
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    • 2001
  • The history of rehabilitation of disabilities in Korea began with the foreigners and missionaries who were interested in it after Korean War. In 1981, Disabled Persons Welfare Act was enacted and the 88 Paralympics brought the nations attention to the welfare and rehabilitation of persons with disabilities. Since then, the facilities and the services for the disabled persons have expanded rapidly and the rehabilitation treatment and nursing intervention are drawing more attention. Against this background, the survey on the current status of disabilities, welfare service, facilities, and rehabilitation nursing was conducted. The results of this survey are as follows. 1. According to the 2000 census of disabilities, the number of persons with disabilities in Korea is estimated at 1,449,500, or 3.09% of the entire Korean population, 0.74% up from 2.35% in 1995. 2. Disability Types in 2000 The 2000 census showed that the persons with disabilities numbered 1,449,496 out of the total population and 1,024,371 persons are registered for disability, making up 70.7% of the estimated disabled population. Among them, physically disabled persons accounted for the largest 41.7% (605,127) and mentally retarded persons stood at the smallest 9% (13,481). 3. Percentage of Disability Presence The survey showed that more than 90% of disability were acquired. However, 44.8% of mental disability and 61.4% of hearing/speaking disability were not acquired after birth. This means that these disabilities happened by congenital cause or birth accident. 4. Yearly Figure of Registered Disabled Persons In 1989, 218,601 persons registered for disability and, in 2000, the number increased by 4.7 times to 1,024,371. These figures are different from the actual number of disabled persons. According to the 1995 census, 1,053,486 were disabled persons but only 378,323registered for disability. And, in the 2000 census, 1,024,371 out of the 1,449,496 of disabled persons registered for disability. 5. Welfare Service for Persons with Disability 62.6% of the total disabled people are registered and physically disabled persons accounted for the highest percentage of 96.7%. 26.5% of non-registered disabled people said that they didnt know the registration procedure. The rest of them replied that they didnt think they were disabled or that registration didnt seem to give any benefits. 6. Welfare Policies for Disabled Persons The welfare benefits given to the disabled are as follows: Issuance of disabled sign for car drivers, Permission to use LPG fuel, Communication fee reduction, Tax exemption related to cars, Reduction of public facility fees, Household allowance, Tax reduction or exemption, Medical allowance and education subsidy for children, and Housing. 7. Current Condition of Welfare Facilities by Disability Type The welfare institutions for disabilities numbered 188 in total and they can accommodate 16,823 persons. Categories of these institutions are physical disability(37), visual disability(10), hearing/speaking disability(14), mental retardation(59), and sanatoriums(68). 8. Human Resource of Rehabilitation of Disabilities Advanced education programs include rehabilitation nursing in its curriculum and this was selected as the program of Korean Academic Society of Nursing in 1990. In November 1997, Korean Academic Society of Rehabilitation Nursing was launched and many academic meeting and seminars were held. This organization is also making efforts to develop the education program for qualified rehabilitation nursing professionals and to develop the standards of rehabilitation nursing practice. In the professionals of the rehabilitation, there are rehabilitation specialist, physical therapist, speech therapist, occupational therapist. It is needed to come up with the measures to supply stable human resources following the demand of disabled persons and to recognize the private certificates for rehabilitation professionals as official ones after reviewing the education and training programs of private institutions. 9. Rehabilitation Nursing 1) Rehabilitation nursing was taught as an independent subject in 11 undergraduate programs and 9 graduate programs. 2) Research on rehabilitation nursing in Korea were 24 experimental research and 11 non-experimental research. The intervention of experimental research were mostly education and exercise rehabilitation programs. 3) In the three rehabilitation hospitals, nursing is divided into two categories, direct nursing and education & counseling. Direct nursing includes tracheostomy or nasogastric tube care, urination and defication, skin care, pain control, complication prevention and care, prevention of injury from a fall, etc.

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Clinical characteristics of vitamin D deficiency rickets in infants and preschool children (비타민 D 결핍성 구루병 영.유아의 임상적 특징)

  • Huh, Kyoung;Woo, Mi Kyeong;Yoon, Jung Rim;Shim, Gyu Hong;Chey, Myoung Jae;Park, Mi Jung
    • Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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    • v.53 no.2
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    • pp.152-157
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    • 2010
  • Purpose : Vitamin D deficiency rickets is a significant public health problem that results from insufficient exposure to sunlight and inadequate vitamin D supplementation. The purpose of this study is to identify the clinical characteristics of vitamin D deficiency rickets in infants. Methods : Data of 35 infants diagnosed as vitamin D deficiency rickets at Sanggye-Paik Hospital, Seoul, Korea, from March 2007 to May 2009 were reviewed. Children with plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels <15 ng/mL and 15-30 ng/mL were considered to have vitamin D deficiency and vitamin D insufficiency, respectively. Results : Thirty-five infants (22 boys, 13 girls) were diagnosed with rickets. Mean age at diagnosis was $7.4{\pm}7.1$ months (range: 0.1-29.8 months). Eighteen infants (51%) were vitamin D deficient and seventeen infants (49%) were insufficient. Twenty-eight of all (80%) diagnosed as subclinical rickets. Twenty-nine infants (83%) were below the age of 12months. Twenty infants (57%) had breastfed and ten infants (29%) had iron deficiency anemia. Nine of breastfed infants (45%) were vitamin D deficient and ten of their mothers were vitamin D insufficient. Overall, radiographic evidence of rickets was present in 93% of the cases. Radiographic sign of rickets was evident even in vitamin D insufficient state. Conclusion : It is important for the clinician to screen for subclinical vitamin D deficiency rickets in inadequately supplemented infants by pairing 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels with wrist radiographs. A nationwide epidemiological study of vitamin D deficiency rickets must be conducted and evidence-based national guidelines must be defined to prevent rickets.

The New Conflict of Laws Act of the Republic of Korea (개정 국제사법(國際私法)의 소개 : 국제거래(國際去來)에 미치는 영향을 중심으로)

  • Suk, Kwang-Hyun
    • THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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    • v.20
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    • pp.23-62
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    • 2003
  • The Law amending the Conflict of Laws Act of the Republic of Korea ("Korea"), which had taken two years to prepare, was promulgated on April 7, 2001 and finally took effect as of July 1, 2001. Accordingly, the old earlier Conflict of Laws Act which was called "Seoboesabeop" in Korean ("Prior Act"Old Act) was replaced by the new Conflict of Laws Act called "Gukjesabeop" in Korean ("New Act"). In fact the Old Act Prior Act was promulgated in 1962, but it was regarded as outdated from the moment of its promulgation. However, since the Old Act because it was modeled after the chapter of the Private International Law of the Einfuehrungsgesetz zum Buergerlichen Gesetzbuch (EGBGB) of the Federal Republic of Germany ("German PIL") and the Japanese Private International Law ("Japanese PIL") which had been promulgated toward the end of the 19th century., the Old Act was viewed as outdated from the moment of its promulgation. As a result of the drastic change of the environment for international trade of which that has taken took place in parallel with the global information technology revolution on a global basis, the scope of issues to be addressed which should be resolved by the conflict of laws principles has been remarkably expanded, and various new issues of an entirely which are quite new in its type and nature have arisen been raised. In the field of conflict of laws in its narrow sense, a revolution or crisis of the traditional conflict of laws has been brought about by the advent in the United States rise of a the new methodology for of the conflict of laws, of the United States of America and in the process of overcoming the such crisis the conflict of laws of the European continent has undergone substantial changes such as the diversification of the connecting principles, the expansion of the principle of party autonomy and the consideration of the value of the substantive law to protect socio-economically weaker parties of. The Prior Act, which was based on However, with the mechanical connecting principles and contained various outdated the inappropriate provisions, the Old Act could not cope with the issues raised by the internationalization and globalization of the Korean society. Furthermore In addition, the Old Act Prior Act was regarded as insufficient in that it lacked rules on international jurisdiction to adjudicate, or international adjudicatory jurisdiction, whereas the expectation of the public was that the Conflict of Laws a Act should function as the "Basic Law of the International Legal Relationships"encompassing rules on international jurisdiction given the increase of international disputes. Furthermore the private international law has also attracted more attention from the Korean At the beginning of the new Millennium, thanks to the promulgation of the New Act, I believe that Korea has succeeded in achieving the modest goal of reflecting in the its codification substantial parts of the major developments of the private international law which the leading advanced continental European countries had achieved during the last century. The New Act has followed the approach of the traditional conflict of laws of the European continent. It is a product of the efforts to eliminate the then existing problems of the Prior Old Act and to adapt the Korean private international law regime to the standard of international conventions and national laws of advanced countries. Unlike the Prior Old Act which was heavily dependent upon the prior Japanese PIL and the prior German PIL, the New Act has been prepared by taking into full account the Rome Convention, the Swiss PIL, the new German PIL which took effect in 1986 and various conventions adopted by the Hague Conference. Therefore, the New Act has substantially reduced dependence upon the Japanese PIL and the German PIL, and has gained relatively greater universal validity. The fact that the New Act expressly declares that the determination of international jurisdiction is a matter of conflict of laws is a clear sign that it has departed from the German tradition which confines the conflict of laws principles to choice of laws rules, and moved toward a broader and more practical approach widely accepted in the area of conflict of laws. It is hoped, and I am personally confident, that the New Act will be able to achieve its intended objectives in the 21st century as the basic law for the ever-increasing legal relationships with a foreign element.

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Mythologies of Design Thinking: Based on Roland Barthes's Mythologies (디자인 씽킹의 신화성 - 롤랑바르트 기호의 신화론을 배경으로)

  • Kim, Kyung-Won
    • 기호학연구
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    • no.57
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    • pp.7-26
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    • 2018
  • The purpose of this paper is to interpret the discourse on design thinking through the perspective of Roland Barthes' Mythologies. To this end, this paper will explore the mythologization process of design thinking using the methodological framework of Barthes, which structurally interprets the connotations produced using semiosis. Design thinking originally refers to a method which is used in the process of planning ideas about designs in order to create the final products for professional designs. However, design thinking has recently attracted more interest from the public because it has become known as a tool for solving various problems which exist outside of the field of design, such as social issues, management, and marketing strategies. Barthes points out that myths are used as a tool to deliver ideologies. He also emphasizes the importance of 'structural thinking'. It interprets the inherent connotative meanings more than the denotative meanings, which are explicitly shown. One of the most powerful ideologies which our society embraces today is creativity. Design thinking realizes the manifestation of creativity through a schematized process. This can be explained by considering design thinking as an icon that is specifically turned into a figuration to realize its objectness, in which a discourse for solving issues and social codes meet together and form a mythology. The mythologies that Barthes cites in his book refer to mythical values created by the cultural codes which humans have produced in our modern and contemporary age. The symbolic value of design thinking has become more important than the signifier which design thinking itself presents. This means that design thinking has become a sign that has mythical properties. In other words, the ideology of creativity embodied by design thinking has attained a mythological status, as it produces a new cultural code through innovation. The process of interpreting a phenomenon using the perspective of semiotics is an important tool that allows us to examine the concept of an object and its surroundings thoroughly. This paper attempts to expand the external scope of critical analysis about social phenomena by using the signs which continuously reveal themselves in common ideologies, such as design thinking, which has been gaining more popularity recently.

Utility and Care Patterns of Lotus Shown in Classic Poetries and Proses, Painting (고전 시문과 회화를 통해 본 연(Nelumbonucifera)의 활용과 애호 행태)

  • Kim, Myung-Hee;Hong, Hyoung-Soon
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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    • v.29 no.4
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    • pp.1-13
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    • 2011
  • The purpose of this study is to consider practical examples of the method of utilizing plant material 'lotus' used by the ancients, and the value and meaning they wanted to get from it. The method of this study to do this is descriptive study to consider and interpret poem and painting reflecting impression and concept world of lotus. Summary of this study is as follows. First, ornamental value of lotus could be divided in effect of group plant and detail value held by the flower, the leaves and the stem. Especially, group plant lotus in large site provides unique landscape differentiated form other flowering plants. As well, another feature of lotus is its high ornamental value spread in detail elements including the flower, the leaves, the stem and the lotus seed. Second, fragrance expressed 'Hyang-won-ik-cheong(香遠益淸)' is an important charm of lotus. Lotus was utilized as olfactory element providing fragrance. The ancients considered lotus fragrance not only for enjoy but as symbolic object comparing noble man's dignity so that they expressed it in poem and painting. Third, lotus was utilized as acoustical element. That is, the sound of raindrops harmonizing the surface of water and wide lotus leaves was called 'hearing lotus fond and rain', enjoying it as classic grace. Fourth, summer play lotus sightseeing was called mind wash up meaning 'washing the mind polluted by the mundane world'. Such poetic taste was widely enjoyed by various classes from general public to royal family. Besides, poetic taste related with lotus is the method of drinking alcohol using the feature of big lotus leave and vacant stem, called 'Beog-tong-ju(碧筒酒)'. And in the Joseon dynasty period, when the distinction between the man and the woman influenced by Confucian, lotus seed and 'lotus collecting song' was important sign to express romance between man and woman. Lotus has been enamored by wide classes transcending cultural background as thought and religion since ancient times. Due to such reasons, various symbolic meaning of lotus and planting examples related to religious facilities as temples could not be considered in various manner is limitation of this study, and which is research project for the future.

North Korean folk Operas and Musical Politics of Selection - Focused on National Operas Prior to Revolutionary Operas (북한 초기 고전 각색 가극과 선별의 음악 정치 - 혁명가극 이전 민족 가극을 중심으로)

  • Chung, Myung-Mun
    • (The) Research of the performance art and culture
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    • no.39
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    • pp.69-96
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    • 2019
  • North Korea has conserved operas in a selective manner. The subject matters of operas recorded in the history of North Korea can be divided into classical tales, translated foreign works, Korean War and war against Japan. Operas that adapted folk classics of the 1950s are considered valuable materials to verify the changes of genres posterior to division of regime between North and South Korea. The officially confirmed works include "Kumgangsan Palseonnyeo (Gyeonwoo Jiknyeo)," "Chunhyangjeon." "Kongjwi Patjwi (Kotsin)," "Ondal," and "Geumnaneui Dal." These works had gone through recreation in terms of realistic situation setting, abolition of class difference, adjustment of social rank and punishment of evil while the base lies in the original folk classics. People emphasized in adapted folk operas are described as those who are hard-working souls without giving importance of difference of social rank, content with the currently living space, devoted to their parents and full of patriotic spirit, and members of community who participate in organized fights against unfair exploitation. This was the fruit of encouragement of work creation supporting union between labor and individual life, destruction of old things and fight promoting this destruction. Folk operas of South and North Korea posterior to Korean War have similarities in that both deal with a love story transcending social ranks and the concomitant conflicts and they focus on the audience who enjoy the operas. Nonetheless, they are different in that this love in North Korea became a tool of educating people wished by the regime, while it became an object of securing the audience by adding the tragic element to love in South Korea. North Korean operas of the initial stage are characterized by playwriting method emphasizing difficult life and compensation of common people, realistic stage expression, accentuation of melody and agreement between notes and lyrics. This was efforts designed to continuously lead senses concentrated from the theater to everyday life of people. In effect, this is in line with the playwriting method of revolutionary operas. Adapted folk operas were subject matters ideal for easily approaching the audience and leaving them good memories at the same time. To realize socialist realism, they went through an experiment of reviewing "people" through the classic folk operas. The possibility of continuation of a work was determined by thorough evaluation after carrying out an experiment in terms of subject matters, theme, music and operation plans from the moment of which the work was on the stage. The sign consisted in the possibility of visit of "Kim Il-sung" to appreciate the work and presentation of directionality. By proposing the clear directionality of which hard-working people who deny social status system can be duly compensated, it encouraged the audience who saw the opera to voluntarily put this in practice. Thus, operas established the directionality through selective processes for creating public communion even before revolutionary operas.

Changes in Agricultural Extension Services in Korea (한국농촌지도사업(韓國農村指導事業)의 변동(變動))

  • Fujita, Yasuki;Lee, Yong-Hwan;Kim, Sung-Soo
    • Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
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    • v.7 no.1
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    • pp.155-166
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    • 2000
  • When the marcher visited Korea in fall 1994, he was shocked to see high rise apartment buildings around the capitol region including Seoul and Suwon, resulting from rising demand of housing because of urban migration followed by second and third industrial development. After 6 years in March 2000, the researcher witnessed more apartment buildings and vinyl house complexes, one of the evidences of continued economic progress in Korea. Korea had to receive the rescue finance from International Monetary Fund (IMF) because of financial crisis in 1997. However, the sign of recovery was seen in a year, and the growth rate of Gross Domestic Products (GDP) in 1999 recorded as high as 10.7 percent. During this period, the Korean government has been working on restructuring of banks, enterprises, labour and public sectors. The major directions of government were; localization, reducing administrative manpower, limiting agricultural budgets, privatization of public enterprises, integration of agricultural organization, and easing of various regulations. Thus, the power of central government shifted to local government resulting in a power increase for city mayors and county chiefs. Agricultural extension services was one of targets of government restructuring, transferred to local governments from central government. At the same time, the number of extension offices was reduced by 64 percent, extension personnel reduced by 24 percent, and extension budgets reduced. During the process of restructuring, the basic direction of extension services was set by central Rural Development Administration Personnel management, technology development and supports were transferred to provincial Rural Development Administrations, and operational responsibilities transferred to city/county governments. Agricultural extension services at the local levels changed the name to Agricultural Technology Extension Center, established under jurisdiction of city mayor or county chief. The function of technology development works were added, at the same time reducing the number of educators for agriculture and rural life. As a result of observations of rural areas and agricultural extension services at various levels, functional responsibilities of extension were not well recognized throughout the central, provincial, and local levels. Central agricultural extension services should be more concerned about effective rural development by monitoring provincial and local level extension activities more throughly. At county level extension services, it may be desirable to add a research function to reflect local agricultural technological needs. Sometimes, adding administrative tasks for extension educators may be helpful far farmers. However, tasks such as inspection and investigation should be avoided, since it may hinder the effectiveness of extension educational activities. It appeared that major contents of the agricultural extension service in Korea were focused on saving agricultural materials, developing new agricultural technology, enhancing agricultural export, increasing production and establishing market oriented farming. However these kinds of efforts may lead to non-sustainable agriculture. It would be better to put more emphasis on sustainable agriculture in the future. Agricultural extension methods in Korea may be better classified into two approaches or functions; consultation function for advanced farmers and technology transfer or educational function for small farmers. Advanced farmers were more interested in technology and management information, while small farmers were more concerned about information for farm management directions and timely diffusion of agricultural technology information. Agricultural extension service should put more emphasis on small farmer groups and active participation of farmers in these groups. Providing information and moderate advice in selecting alternatives should be the major activities for consultation for advanced farmers, while problem solving processes may be the major educational function for small farmers. Systems such as internet and e-mail should be utilized for functions of information exchange. These activities may not be an easy task for decreased numbers of extension educators along with increased administrative tasks. It may be difficult to practice a one-to-one approach However group guidance may improve the task to a certain degree.

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A study on the improvement of distribution system by overseas agricultural investment (해외농업투자에 따른 유통체계 개선방안에 관한 연구)

  • Sun, Il-Suck;Lee, Dong-Ok
    • Journal of Distribution Science
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    • v.8 no.3
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    • pp.17-26
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    • 2010
  • Recently concerns have been raised due to the unbalanced supply of crops: the price of crops has been unstable and at one point the price went up so high that the word Agflation(agriculture+ inflation) was coined. Korea, in particular, is a small-sized country and needs to secure the stable supply of crops by investing in the produce importation at a national level. Investment in foreign produce importation is becoming more important as a measure for sufficient supply of crops, limited supply of domestic crops, weakened farming conditions worldwide, as well as recent changes in the use of crops due to the development of bio-fuels, influence of carbon emission on crops, the price increase in crops, and influx of foreign hot money. However, there are many problems with investing in foreign produce importation: lack of support from the government; lack of farming information and technology; difficulty in securing the capital; no immediate pay-off from the investment and insufficient management. Although foreign produce is originally more price-competitive than domestic produce, it loses its competiveness in the process of importation (due to high tariffs) and poor distribution system, which makes it difficult to sell in Korea. Therefore, investment in foreign produce importation is being questioned for feasibility; to make it possible, foreign produce must maintain the price-competitiveness. Especially, harvest of agricultural products depends on natural and geographical conditions of each country and those products have indigenous properties, so distribution system according to import and export of agricultural products should be treated more carefully than that of other industries. Distribution costs are differentiated into each item and include cost of sorting and wrapping, cost of wrapping materials, cost of domestic transport, cost of international transport and cost of clearing customs for import and export. So transporting and storing agricultural products generates considerable costs compared with other products. Also, due to upgrade of dietary life, needs for stability, taste and visible quality toward food including agricultural products are being raised and wrong way of storage causes decomposition of food and loss of freshness, making the storage more difficult than that in room temperature, so storage and transport in distribution of agricultural products needs specialty. In addition, because lack of specialty in distribution and circulation such as storage and wrapping does not solve limit factors in distance, the distribution and circulation has been limited to a form of import and export within short-distant region. Therefore, need for distribution out-sourcing which can satisfy specialty in managing distribution and circulation and it is needed to establish more effective distribution system. However, existing distribution system of agricultural products is exposed to various problems including problems in distribution channel, making distribution and strategy for distribution and those problems are as follows. First, in case of investment in overseas agricultural industry, stable supply of the products is difficult because areas of production are dispersed widely and influenced by outer factors due to including overseas distribution channels. Also, at the aspect of quality, standardization of products is difficult, distribution system is quite complicated and unreasonable due to long distribution channels according to international trade and financial and institutional support is not enough. Especially, there are quite a lot of ineffective factors including multi level distribution process, dramatic gap between production cost and customer's cost, lack of physical distribution facilities and difficulties in storage and transport due to lack of wrapping containers. Besides, because import and export of agricultural products has been manages under the company's own distribution according to transaction contract between manufacturers and exporting company, efficiency is low due to excessive investment in fixed costs and lack of specialty in dealing with agricultural products causes fall of value of products, showing the limit to lose price-competitiveness. Especially, because lack of specialty in distribution and circulation such as storage and wrapping does not solve limit factors in distance, the distribution and circulation has been limited to a form of import and export within short-distant region. Therefore, need for distribution out-sourcing which can satisfy specialty in managing distribution and circulation and it is needed to establish more effective distribution system. Second, among tangible and intangible services which promote the efficiency of the whole distribution, a function building distribution environment which includes distribution information, system for standard and inspection, distribution finance, system for diversification of risks, education and training, distribution administration and tax system is wanted. In general, such a function building distribution environment is difficult to be changed and supplement innovatively because its effect compared with investment does not appear immediately despite of its necessity. Especially, in case of distribution of agricultural products, as a function of collecting and distributing is performed individually through various channels, the importance of distribution information and standardization is getting more focus due to the problem of repetition of work and lack of specialty. Also, efficient management of distribution is quite difficult due to lack of professionals in distribution, so support to professional education is needed. Third, though effort to keep self-sufficiency ratio of staple food, rice is regarded as important at the government level, level of dependency on overseas of others crops is high. Therefore, plan for stable securing food resources aside from staple food is also necessary. Especially, governmental organizations of agricultural products distribution in Korea are production-centered and have unreasonable structure whose function at the aspect of distribution and consumption is quite insufficient. And development of new distribution channels which can deal with changes in distribution environment and they do not achieve actual results of strategy for distribution due to non-positive strategy for price distribution. That is, it implies the possibility that base for supply will become vulnerable because it does not mediate appropriate interests on total distribution channels such as manufacturers, wholesale dealers and vendors by emphasizing consumer protection excessively in the distribution of agricultural products. Therefore, this study examined fundamental concept and actual situation for our investment to overseas agriculture, drew necessities, considerations, problems, etc. of overseas agricultural investment and suggested improvements at the level of distribution for price competitiveness of agricultural products cultivated in overseas under five aspects; government's indirect support, distribution's modernization and distribution information function's strengthening, government's political support for distribution facility, transportation route, load and unloading works' improvement, price competitiveness' securing, professional manpower's cultivation by education and training, etc. Here are some suggestions for foreign produce importation. First, the government should conduct a survey on the current distribution channels and analyze the situation to establish a measure for long-term development plans. By providing each agricultural area with a guideline for planning appropriate production of crops, the government can help farmers be ready for importation, and prevent them from producing same crops all at the same time. Government can sign an MOU with the foreign government and promote the importation so that the development of agricultural resources can be stable and steady. Second, the government can establish a strategy for an effective distribution system by providing farmers and agriculture-related workers with the distribution information such as price, production, demand, market structure and location, feature of each crop, and etc. In order for such distribution system to become feasible, the government needs to reconstruct the current distribution system, designate a public organization for providing distribution information and set the criteria for level of produce quality, trade units, and package units. Third, the government should provide financial support and a policy to seek an efficient distribution channel for foreign produce to be delivered fresh: the government should expand distribution facilities (for selecting, packaging, storing, and processing) and transportation vehicles while modernizing old facilities. There should be another policy to improve the efficiency of unloading, and to lower the cost of distribution. Fourth, it is necessary to enact a new law covering exceptional cases for importing produce in order to maintain the price competitiveness; currently the high tariffs is keeping the imported produce from being distributed domestically. However, the new adjustment should be made carefully within the WTO regulations since it can create a problem from giving preferential tariffs. The government can also simplify the distribution channels in order to reduce the cost in the distribution process. Fifth, the government should educate distributors to raise the efficiency and to modernize the distribution system. It is necessary to develop human resources by educating people regarding the foreign agricultural environment, the produce quality, management skills, and by introducing some successful cases in advanced countries.

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