• 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.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.86-103
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• 2016

'Sukchunjeahdo' illustration-book, which was left by Han, Pil-gyo(韓弼敎 : 1807~1878)in the late Joseon Dynasty, includes pictorial record paintings containing government offices, Eupchi, and Feng Shui condition drawn by Gyehwa(界畵) method Sabangjeondomyobeop(四方顚倒描法) and is the rare historical material that help to understand spatial structure and landscape characteristics. Youngyuhyun(永柔縣) and Sincheongun(信川郡) town, the case sites of this study, show Feng Shui foundation structure and placement rules of government offices in the Joseon Period are applied such as 3Dan 1Myo(三壇一廟 : Sajikdan, Yeodan, Seonghwangdan, Hyanggyo), 3Mun 3Jo(三門三朝 : Oeah, Dongheon, Naeah) and Jeonjohuchim(前朝後寢) etc. by setting the upper and lower hierarchy of the north south central axis. The circulation system is the pattern that roads are segmented around the marketplace of the entrance of the town and the structure is that heading to the north along the internal way leads to the government office and going out to the main street leads to the major city. Baesanimsu(背山臨水 : Mountain in backward and water in front) foundation, back hill pine forest, intentionally created low mountains and town forest etc. showed landscape aesthetics well suited for the environmental comfort condition such as microclimate control, natural disaster prevention, psychological stability reflecting color constancy principle etc. and tower pavilions were built throughout the scenic spot, reflecting life philosophy and thoughts of contemporaries such as physical and mental discipline, satisfied at the reality of poverty, returning to nature etc. For government office landscape, shielding and buffer planting, landscape planting etc. were considered around Gaeksa(客舍), Dongheon(東軒), Naeah(內衙) backyard and deciduous tree s and flowering trees were cultivated as main species and in case of Gaeksa, tiled pavilions and pavilions topped with poke weed in tetragonal pond were introduced to Dongheon and Naeah and separate pavilions were built for the purpose of physical and mental discipline and military training such as archery. Back hill pine tree forest formed back landscape and zelkova, pear trees, willow trees, old pine trees, lotus, flowering trees etc. were cultivated as gardening trees and Feng-Shui forest with willow trees as its main species was created for landscape and practical purposes. On the other hand, various cultural landscape elements etc. were introduced such as pavilions, pond serving as fire protection water(square and circle), stone pagoda and stone Buddha, fountains and wells, monument houses, flagpoles etc. In case of Sincheongun town forest(邑藪), Manhagwan(挽河觀), Moonmujeong(文武井), Sangjangdae(上場岱) and Hajangdae(下場岱) Market place, Josanshup<(造山藪 : Dongseojanglim(東西長林)>, Namcheon(南川) etc. were combined and community cultural park with the nature of modern urban park was operated. In this context, government office landscape shows the garden management aspect where square pond and pavilions, flowering trees are harmonized around side pavilion and backyard. Also, environmental design technique not biased to aesthetics and ideological moral philosophy and comprehensively considering functionality (shielding and fire prevention, microclimate control, etc.) and environmental soundness etc. is working.