• Journal of the Korean housing association
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.25-33
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• 2011

With the recent increase in the number of foreign settlers in our country, a societal system is needed which they can adapt to more easily. The results of the study were as follows. First, from the result of analyzing the 171 programs of the multi-cultural family support system, it could be seen that in order for the marriage immigrants to more successfully adapt, various programs are needed. Second, when the study had an interview with 13 marriage immigrants from China, Vietnam and Philippine about their adaptation to residential environment, they had a high satisfaction with their residential environment when their spouses' educational level was high. In, they appraised that South Korea was superior to their native land in scale and facilities of buildings and the buildings of their native land were superior to those in South Korea in terms of soundproof applications, natural lighting and ventilation, which were indoor environmental elements. Third, they were generally satisfied with their residential environment. However, they stated that it took 6 months~ two years to adapt to the Korean residential environment because of the differences in the residential environment compared to their homeland. A based on the research result, the housing adviser is necessary in the marriage immigrants.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.141-154
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• 2016

This study examined the nature of multi-cultural families' housing problems living in South Korea. A qualitative research was conducted through in-depth interviews with immigrant women from three Southeast Asian countries. The subjects of this study were 15 married immigrants from the Philippine, Cambodia, and Vietnam living in Seoul. The major findings were as follows: firstly, reciprocity for the in-between person and environment: the preferred to blend into Korean society instead of making a community based on national origin. Secondly, intention to housing: all participants were passive about moving and the Vietnamese and Cambodians placed more importance on the family community than the Filipinas. Thirdly, meaning of housing and interaction: for the most important area in the house, the Vietnamese and Cambodians stated that rooms were for a couple and treated family space more importantly than Filipinas who pursuit personal comfort. Fourthly, housing adaptation process: adapting to climate difference between home countries and Korea was the biggest difficulty. Fifthly, residential satisfaction/dissatisfaction: mostly satisfied with housing facilities; however, they were dissatisfied with the number of rooms and house size due to a necessity for personal space. In conclusion, ideas implied from native country of married immigrants in multicultural families did not change significantly in preference of the current environment. The needs for an ethnic community was not great, because they seemed able to assimilate positively by living with a Korean husband and relatives. Gradual assimilation through a cultural acculturation process can be considered desirable.

• Asia-pacific Journal of Multimedia Services Convergent with Art, Humanities, and Sociology
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.403-411
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to know the changing process of ethnic identity of the Korean-Chinese in South Korea. To this end, in-depth interviews with 12 Korean-Chinese Korean had been conducted in order to know how their ethnic identity was changing while they are settling in South Korea. Results had found that the changing of ethnic identity closely associated with their cultural adaptation process. There are three s changing stages of their ethnic identity. First, in the initial period of entering to South Korea, the Korean-Chinese were excited and filled with the hope for their 'homeland'. Second, while integrating into mainstream society they feel the crisis of ethnic identity. Social exclusion led them to reconsider their own Korean-Chinese identity. Third, at the present stage there are three different cognitions for their own identity--- Korean, Chinese, neither Chinese nor Korean. This study has offered a view to understand the acculturation process of the Korean-Chinese settling in South Korea. Without a doubt, their self-cognition of ethnic identity has a big impact on social integration in South Korean. Therefore, Korea mainstream society with Korean-Chinese needs to work together on building their own healthy ethnic identity.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.28
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• pp.17-36
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• 2012

This essay places the South Korean film Thirst (2009) within Park Chan-wook's oeuvre as a filmmaker notorious for graphic depictions of violence and revenge. Park's use of dark humour in his films, which is emphasized in Thirst perhaps more than ever, allows for a more self-aware depiction of violence, where both the viewer and the protagonist are awakened to the futility of revenge. This ultimately paints his characters as fascinatingly crazy - simultaneously heroes, villains, and victims. Film theorist Wes D. Gehring's three themes of dark humour ('man as beast,' 'the absurdity of the world,' and 'the omnipresence of death') become most obvious in Park's most recent film, which pays closer attention to character development through narrative detail. Rather than portraying the characters as sentimental, dark humour depicts their misfortunes in an alternative way, allowing for consideration of such taboo subjects as religion, adultery, and death/suicide. These issues are further tackled through Thirst's portrayal of its vampire protagonist, which ultimately de-mystifies the traditional vampire figure. While this character has more often been associated with romance, exoticism and the mystical powers of the supernatural, Thirst takes relatively little from the demons of Nosferatu (Murnau, 1922) and various other Dracula adaptations, nor the romantic figures of Interview with the Vampire (Jordan, 1994), and Twilight (Hardwicke, 2008). Instead, it is part of a much smaller group of contemporary vampire films, which are rather informed by a postmodern reconfiguration of the monster. Thus, this paper examines Thirst as an important contribution to the global and hybrid nature of those films in which postmodern vampires are sympathetic and de-mystified, exhibiting symptoms stemming from a natural illness or misfortune. Park's undertaking of a vampire film allows for a complex balance between narrative and visuals through his focus on the Western implications of this myth within Korean cinema. This combination of international references and traditional Korean culture marks it as highly conscious of New Korean Cinema's focus on globalization. With Thirst, Park successfully unites familiar images of the vampire hunting and feeding, with more stylistically distinct, grotesque images of violence and revenge. In this sense, dark humour highlights the less charming aspects of the vampire struggling to survive, most effective in scenes depicting the protagonist feeding from his friend's IV in the hospital, and sitting in the sunlight, slowly turning to ash, in the final minutes of the film. The international appeal of Park's style, combining conventions of the horror/thriller genre with his own mixture of dark humour and non-linear narrative, is epitomized in Thirst, which underscores South Korea's growing global interest with its overt international framework. Furthermore, he portrayal of the vampire as a sympathetic figure allows for a shift away from the conventional focus on myth and the exotic, toward a renewed construction of the vampire in terms of its contribution to generic hybridization and cultural adaptation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Child Welfare
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• no.58
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• pp.231-262
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• 2017

South Korea has long been a culturally homogenous society, yet the increasing number of immigrants has turned the country into a multicultural society. Therefore, many empirical studies have investigated the way immigrants adapt to the Korean society and its associated factors. However, examining the overall process of migration (from family separation to reunification and cultural adaptation to the host society) that immigrant youth usually experience has been understudied. Previous empirical research and theoretical work have identified prominent factors that predict immigrant youth's mental health: experiences of family separation, living with others rather than primary caretakers during the separation, the length of residency in the host society, and family and peer support. In this respect, this exploratory and preliminary study that examined whether the experience of migration process and post-migration are related to Korean immigrant youth's mental health problems (depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation). The result indicated that longer duration of family separation; living with relatives, siblings; and friends rather than primary caretakers during the separation; receiving less support from family and peer after migration; and a lower degree of cultural adaptation to Korean culture were associated with depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. Drawing upon the results, this study discussed implications for policy and practice.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.63 no.2
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• pp.319-336
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• 2011

There is recent recognition that the approach toward family members is crucial for understanding problems in multi-cultural families by emerging from typical approach focused on migrant women. While researches have reported serious conflicts and adaptation problems from cultural difference between parent-in-law and foreign daughter-in-law, cultural stress of parent-in-law has not been systematically examined. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a scale to measure acculturation stress of parent-in-law who have a foreign daughter-in-law. The sample consisted of 266 parents-in-law from three provinces of South Korea. Initially, 16 items were generated based on the existing scale of acculturation stress and they are tested by item-analysis through the descriptive and correlational analysis. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted to investigate the factor structure of the scale and a confirmatory factor analysis was used to validate the scale. By item-analysis, five items were deleted from initial scale items because of redundancy. Findings from an exploratory factor analysis provided the evidence that the scale consists of three factors which are the perception of prejudice and discrimination, conflicts from different cultural value, and daily discomfort. Cronbach's ${\alpha}$ for the scale is 0.86. Multiple fit indices from confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the hypothesized three-factor model for acculturation stress achieved a good fit with the data. Results showed the evidence for the reliability and validity of the scale for acculturation stress of the parent-in-law who have foreign daughter-in-law. The scale would have potential effects for assessing psychological stress for parent-in-law in research and clinical practice. Further implications and limitation of the study and suggestions for future studies were discussed.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.147-163
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• 2004

The present research investigated and compared stress coping strategies of North Korean refugees with those of South Koreans in the purpose to predict and prepare psychological conflicts expected to occur during the Korean reunification. Adapted from Han, Hur, Chae, and Kim(2001), North Korean refugees recorded their coping strategies that they would employ in stressful situations varying in term of three aspects of stress causes - 2(locus: internal/external) × 2(stability: temporal/enduring) × 2(context: individual/interpersonal) - and the responses were classified in terms of three dimensions(active/passive, approach/avoidance, cognitive/affective/behavioral). In the temporal stress situations, adaptive North Korean refugees preferred active over passive, approaching over avoiding, and behavioral over cognitive/affective stress coping strategies more than maladaptive North Korean refugees did. Also, in the stressful situations caused by external causes, they were more likely to take active rather than passive, approaching rather than avoiding copying. Although active copying strategies were preferred to passive ones by adaptive North Korean refugees in individual stressful situations, approaching copying strategies were preferred to avoiding ones by them in interpersonal stressful situations. These findings were found to be different from the pattern of South Korean's stress coping strategies in the same situations. In conclusion, the differences were discussed in the view of psychological integration during Korean reunification.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.52
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• pp.223-240
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• 2003

The present study is to identify personal factors of defecting North Korean residents that obstruct their settlement in South Korean communities. It will provide information about what perception, attitude and behaviors of defecting North Korean residents should be changed and what social skills should be improved in order to successfully adjust to South Korea. Personal obstacles were measured by police officers who are providing special protection for defecting North Korean residents, who are in a good position to observe behaviors of defecting North Korean residents because they are spending a great deal of time with them. They can even identify the personal obstacles not perceived by defecting North Korean residents themselves. Twenty-item scale was developed to measure the personal obstacles and was found to comprise 4 obstructing factors: self-supporting ability related factor, life style related factor, social and cultural adaptation related factor, and attitude toward police officer's support related factor. Among them, self-supporting ability related factor had the highest negative score. The study further revealed that self-support ability and life style related factors had a significant effect on the job burden of police officers. The findings suggested the necessity of ethical and moral education for the defecting North Korean residents.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.713-737
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• 2016

This study is to review research issues on North Korea and unified territory in terms of topics and approach method in Korean human geography. The conclusion of this paper is as follows. Before 1980's, topics on political geography, such as geopolitics or unified land, were the main stream in research. In 1990's with the end of the cold war and the access to material which was published in North Korea, scope of research was widened especially in geography education. After 2000's with the expansion of cooperation between South and North Korea, the scope of topics were more expanded in all field of human geography, for example, critical geopolitic in political geography, Gaeseong Industrial Complex, Najin-Seonbong region in economic geography, place names, Geumgangsan, North Korean defectors in social and cultural geography. The approach method of toward North Korea is fall into two categories. One is regional geography and the other is the unified land. In the latter approach, topics on the regional structure after reunification or on the life adaptation of defectors in South Korea etc. were studied. After unification of land, new Korean Studiea will be established and human geographers should make ready for this. Before unification, research on the land in north Korea should be proceeded in terms of historical geography.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.381-388
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• 2019

In South Korea nowadays, Among the married immigrant women in Korea, the proportion of long-term residents living in Korea for more than 10 years is increasing continuously(48%), while the proportion of short-term residents who are under 5 years is decreasing(16%). However, Korean language education and related research in the Marriage and Immigration Women's Center are still focused on the initial immigrants. Therefore, we should classify married immigrant women according to their stay time in Korea, so that Korean language education and teaching materials need to be more diversified. This study focuses on married immigrant women with intermediate and advanced Korean proficiency and chooses a catalogue of Chinese characters idioms to explore the possibility and educational value of using Chinese characters Idioms in Korean education. According to the research results, Chinese characters idiom education can help married immigrant women in Korean language learning and information acquisition, interpersonal relationships and life attitudes, cultural understanding and social adaptation, child rearing and learning guidance. This is the important part of Korean language education that needs to be guided by married immigrant women. Based on this, 130 Chinese characters idioms in Korean language education and textbook development centered on married immigrant women were selected and catalogue edited in four stages. It is hoped that the results of this study will serve as a reference for Korean language education research and textbook development for married immigrant women in the future.