• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.42 no.1 s.118
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• pp.41-62
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• 2007

This paper aims to interpret the changes of the regional inequality between Seoul Metropolitan Area(SMA) and Non-SMA after 1981 on the regulationist approaches that examine institution changes and power dynamics that motivate regional disparities in South Korea. Despite the restrict laws and aims that alms to reduce the concentration into SMA before 1988, the acts were not executed effectively due to the structural selectivity of the bureaucratic authoritarian state of those years. Thus, the regional concentration phenomena of SMA was intensified in the 1980s. However, the democratization in 1987 invoked Non-SMA regions to claim their regional development and it also forced the state to mediate the conflicting interests between the regional agents protesting the SMA concentration and the Capital agents supporting the SMA deregulation. From the early 1990s. the state launched a series of national strategies and policies to diminish regional inequality. They included execution of the existing acts mitigating SMA concentration and construction of industrial complexes in the underdeveloped areas of Non-SMA. Thus, the equalizing polities led the reduction of the concentration of SMA from 1989 to 1997. However, the financial crisis of Korea in 1997 intensified the claims of the Capital agents to deregulate the SMA control. The circumstance also forced the state towards the Capital side that request the deregulation of SMA control. As the result, the regional disparity between SMA and Non-SMA has been enlarged again since 1998.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 1999.11a
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• pp.107-114
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• 1999

The large-scale distribution of crops Is usually determined by climate. We present the results of a climate-crop prediction based on spatial bio-physical process model approach, implemented in a GIS (Geographic Information System) environment using several regional and global agriculture-environmental databases. The model utilizes daily climate data like temperature, rainfall, solar radiation being generated stocastically by in-built model weather generator to determine the daily biomass and finally the crop yield. Crops are characterized by their specific growing period requirements, photosynthesis, respiration properties and harvesting index properties. Temperature and radiation during the growing period controls the development of each crop. The model simulates geographic/spatial distribution of climate by which a crop-growing belt can also be determined. The model takes both irrigated and non-irrigated area crop productivity into account and the potential increase in productivity by the technical means like mechanization is not considered. All the management input given at the base year 1995 was kept same for the next twenty-year changes until 2015. The simulated distributions of crops under current climatic conditions coincide largely with the current agricultural or specific crop growing regions. Simulation with assumed weather generated derived climate change scenario illustrate changes in the agricultural potential. There are large regional differences in the response across the country. The north-south and east-west regions responded differently with projected climate changes with increased and decreased productivity depending upon the crops and scenarios separately. When water was limiting or facilitating as non-irrigated and irrigated area crop-production effects of temperature rise and higher $CO_2$ levels were different depending on the crops and accordingly their production. Rise in temperature led to yield reduction in case of maize and rice whereas a gain was observed for wheat crop, doubled $CO_2$ concentration enhanced yield for all crops and their several combinations behaved differently with increase or decrease in yields. Finally, with this spatial modeling approach we succeeded in quantifying the crop productivity which may bring regional disparities under the different climatic scenarios where one region may become better off and the other may go worse off.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.113-123
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• 2014

Objectives: Several previous studies have found that healthy behaviors substantially reduce non-communicable disease incidence and mortality. The present study was performed to estimate the prevalence of four modifiable healthy behaviors and a healthy lifestyle among Korean adults according to socio-demographic and regional factors. Methods: We analyzed data from 199 400 Korean adults aged 19 years and older who participated in the 2010 Korean Community Health Survey. We defined a healthy lifestyle as a combination of four modifiable healthy behaviors: non-smoking, moderate alcohol consumption, regular walking, and a healthy weight. We calculated the prevalence rates and odds ratios of each healthy behavior and healthy lifestyle according to socio-demographic and regional characteristics. Results: The prevalence rates were as follows: non-smoking, 75.0% (53.7% in men, 96.6% in women); moderate alcohol consumption, 88.2% (79.7% in men, 96.9% in women); regular walking, 45.0% (46.2% in men, 43.8% in women); healthy weight, 77.4% (71.3% in men, 73.6% in women); and a healthy lifestyle, 25.5% (16.4% in men, 34.6% in women). The characteristics associated with a low prevalence of healthy lifestyle were male gender, younger age (19 to 44 years of age), low educational attainment, married, living in a rural area, living in the Chungcheong, Youngnam, or Gwangwon-Jeju region, and poorer self-rated health. Conclusions: Further research should be implemented to explore the explainable factors of disparities for socio-demographic and regional characteristics to engage in the healthy lifestyle among adults.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.91-111
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• 2023

Purpose: This study aims to compare 119 emergency medical services (EMS) in South Korea and Japan to provide essential data for EMS improvement in South Korea. Methods: Recent data and regulations on firefighting and EMS in South Korea and Japan were analyzed and compared. Results: South Korea follows a centralized approach to EMS, whereas Japan operates with autonomous bodies that establish their own criteria. Japan considers more regional variables than South Korea. In South Korea, there are shortages in fire station deployment among the 119 emergency medical resources in certain regions, leading to significant regional disparities. South Korea has a larger population served by its 119 emergency medical resources with a higher workload and dispatch numbers than Japan. The percentage of non-transported patients among the total number of dispatches was higher in South Korea. Conclusion: Increasing the number of medical professionals and ambulances per population to the level of Japan to reflect local conditions and include various underlying variables such as daytime population, aging, and emergency dispatch conditions in the deployment of 119 emergency resources, and to reduce the deployment gap between regions, will contribute to improving the performance of the South Korea EMS system.

• Analyses & Alternatives
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.179-207
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• 2023

Carbon neutrality, the international community's practical challenge in response to climate change, is becoming a key industrial strategy for the future development of nations. Despite concerns that China, as an economic powerhouse in the G2, may face challenges leading global climate change efforts due to its high-carbon-emitting industrial structure, it is leveraging carbon neutrality to enhance its industrial competitiveness. The Chinese government has formulated national policies for achieving carbon neutrality and detailed sector-specific plans to implement them. In particular, it aims to leverage carbon neutrality industrial strategies as a lever for adjusting the domestic industrial structure and fostering new industries, at the same time responding to international climate norms and external pressures. However, the effectiveness of carbon-neutral industrial strategies is expected to vary based on regional conditions such as economic and industrial levels. This article analyzes the regional conditions for implementing carbon neutrality in China, as well as the contents and characteristics of major industrial policies. Due to differing levels of economic development and industrial structures, significant variations in carbon emissions, size, emission sources, and efficiency are inevitable across regions. These disparities introduce diverse initial conditions and endogenous factors in pursuing carbon-neutral goals, limiting the direction and implementation of carbon-neutral industrial strategies favoring certain regions. In particular, the extent of policy autonomy granted to local governments regarding carbon neutrality implementation will influence the regional dynamics of central-local environmental governance. Consequently, it is crucial to emphasize regional monitoring alongside comprehensive national research to accurately navigate the path towards carbon neutrality in China. In summary, the article underscores the importance of understanding regional variations in economic development, industrial structure, and policy autonomy for successful carbon neutrality implementation in China. It highlights the need for regional monitoring and comprehensive national research to determine a more precise direction for achieving carbon neutrality.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.240-250
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• 2018

By the end of 2017, in a world of 7.6 billion people, there were inequalities in healthcare indices both within and between nations, and this gap continues to increase. Therefore, this study aims to understand the current status of regional inequalities in healthcare indices and to find an action plan to tackle regional health inequality through a geo-economic review in Korea. Since 2008, there was great inequality in life expectancy and healthy life expectancy by region in not only metropolitan cities but also districts in Korea. While the community health statistics from 2008-2017 show a continuous increase of inequality during the last 10 years in most healthcare indices related to noncommunicable diseases (except for some, like smoking), the inequality has doubled in 254 districts. Furthermore, health inequality intensified as the gap between urban (metropolitan cities) and rural regions (counties) for rates of obesity (self-reported), sufficient walking practices, and healthy lifestyle practices increased from twofold to fivefold. However, regionalism and uneven development are natural consequences of the spatial perspective caused by state-lead developmentalism as Korea has fixed the accumulation strategy as its model for growth with the background of export-led industrialization in the 1960s and heavy and chemical industrialization in the 1970s, although the Constitution of the Republic of Korea recognizes the legal value of balanced development within the regions by specifying "the balanced development of the state" or "ensuring the balanced development of all regions." In addition, the danger of a 30% decline or extinction of local government nationwide is expected by 2040 as we face not only a decline in general and ageing populations but also the era of the demographic cliff. Thus, the government should continuously operate the "Special Committee on Regional Balanced Development" with a government-wide effort until 2030 to prevent disparities in the health conditions of local residents, which is the responsibility of the nation in terms of strengthening governance. To address the regional inequalities of rural and urban regions, it is necessary to re-adjust the basic subsidy and cost-sharing rates with local governments of current national subsidies based mainly on population scale, financial independence of local government, or distribution of healthcare resources and healthcare indices (showing high inequalities) overall.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.67-88
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• 2013

The purpose of this study empirically examines the pattern of regional disparities on the level of development in China's eastern, central, western and northeast regions for the period 1978-2012. To do this, it test Williamson's inverted-U hypothesis and Amos' augmented inverted-U hypothesis, focusing on polarization, polarization reversal, and spatial restructuring. Results of study are as follows: In the absolute economic disparity(AED) models of per capita income within a region, the Williamson's inverted-U hypothesis was supported in the eastern region, central region and inter-region model. The central region and the western region supports Williamson's hypothesis in the case of the relative economic disparity(RED). On the other hand, The inter-region model and the western region supports Amos' augmented inverted-U hypothesis in model of per capita income. In the urban-rural income economic disparity model, the inter-region model of AED and the central region of RED supports Amos' augmented inverted-U hypothesis. But the Williamson's inverted-U hypothesis was supported in the inter-region model and the western region in RED.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.495-507
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• 2021

Objectives: This study examined regional differences in the intake of dietary total fat and saturated fatty acid (SFA) and their food sources among Korean adults. We also investigated the associations of SFA intake with metabolic diseases by region. Methods: This study included 13,926 adults (≥ 19y) who participated in the 2016 ~ 2019 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. The regions were divided into urban and rural areas according to the administrative districts where the participants lived. Using dietary data obtained from a 24-h recall, intake of total fat and SFA and their food sources were assessed by region. Metabolic diseases included obesity, abdominal obesity, and elevated total cholesterol and their association with SFA intake by region were examined using multiple logistic regression. Results: Of the participants, 19.6% lived in rural areas. In urban areas, the total fat and SFA intakes were higher than in rural areas: 21.2% of energy (%E) came from total fat and 6.9%E from SFA in urban areas, whereas 18.0%E came from total fat and 5.8%E from SFA in rural areas. The percentage of participants who exceeded the dietary reference intakes for total fat and SFA in urban areas was 16.5% and 41.9%, respectively, but 43.4% of participants in rural areas showed lower intake levels for total fat compared to the reference level. Young adults did not show regional differences in fat intake, and the percentage of subjects who exceeded the reference for SFA was high both in urban (58.5%) and rural (55.7%) areas. Among middle-aged and older adults, intake of fatty acids except for n-3 fatty acid was significantly higher in urban areas than in rural areas. About 69% of older adults in rural areas showed a lower intake of total fat compared to the reference level. The food sources for total fat and SFA were meat, soybean oil, eggs, and milk in both areas. The intake of fat from eggs, milk, mayonnaise, and bread was higher in urban areas, but the intake of fat from white rice and coffee mix was higher in rural areas. The SFA intake was positively associated with elevated serum total cholesterol in urban areas (4th quartile vs. 1st quartile, OR: 1.22, 95% CI: 1.06-1.40, P for trend: 0.043), but not in rural areas. Conclusions: Regional differences in total fat and SFA intakes and their food sources were observed among Korean adults. Our findings may help plan nutritional strategies to ameliorate regional health disparities.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.10 no.2 s.34
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• pp.205-213
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• 2005

A balanced regional development has a great meaning of economics in the fact that the People could enjoy the equal level of lift everywhere in the country by reducing the income disparity and economic productivity between regions, however as the our country was given Preponderance of economical power and development to the metropolitan area centering around Seoul due to a factor of politics, social structure as well as a national economic policy centering around a rapid economic growth, the unbalanced regional growth gave rise to great hindrance to a national development. Especially, the unbalanced 9rowth between regions gave rise to a sense of alienation to a citizen in a special region as well as a distortion of an effective resources distribution. therefore it was deepen a social discord to hinder the unity of the people due to always coming to involve social ,political affairs. The major contents of this study is to clarify relations between the economic growth and the balanced regional development to form a concept of a national development, and this thesis made disparities in population and convenient facilities between regions through change of convenient facilities of life, economic growth, and population between regions an analytic object to concrete the studies. Also, this thesis made a whole countw land an analytic object of spatial sphere. and it made a unit of ten years when the five-year economic development plan was achieved from the year 1962 to 2001 an otject of the time range of studies.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.632-645
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• 2014

This paper criticized the recent Korean 'creative economy policies' focused on regional developmental implications. Even though the policies targeted to promote ICT new startups and build virtuous circle of ICT industrial ecosystem in Korea as a whole, the outside regions of the Seoul-Busan industrial axis where the bases of ICT industries are very weak would suffer from systematic exclusion in ICT investments and deepening regional disparities. Second, ICT-centered policies would selectively affect or operate commensurate with the size of regions in this low-growth, after-financial crisis age. Third, the possibilities of regional insularity and lock-in in these low levels of 'related variety' regions would worsen the industrial competitiveness. Lastly, the policies should be reoriented to fortify region-based creative economic ecosystem based upon triple helix learning region.