• Maritime Security
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.73-114
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• 2021

This study examines the distribution of power in Northeast Asia based on the balance of power theory, a representative theory of realism, assuming military capabilities as the core power of states. The results of previous studies on the balance of power and military forces are reviewed and used to analyze changes in the strength of the US, China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, and North Korea through 2020 to predict the security environment in 2030. In the balance of power theory, if the balance of power between a nation or a group of powers collapses, the possibility of war is high, and to survive in the international community with high uncertainty and distrust, the theory predicts that states must increase their powers in a self-help world and strengthen cooperation and alliance. Countries in Northeast Asia are also continuing to strengthen their military capabilities, and countries neighboring China are paying keen attention and remaining vigilant due to the rapid changes in the international security environment after the rapid rise of China. To mark the future 100th anniversary of the Chinese armed forces in the 2030s, China aims to realize 'defense and military modernization' and build a 'world-class military force' by the nation's 100th anniversary in the 2050s. The US is busy checking China's rise by strengthening international cooperation and alliances. The security environment and power dynamics in Northeast Asia are slowly changing as the US and China continue to compete for global hegemony. The changes and implications of the distribution of power in Northeast Asia after 2030 are examined based on the balance of power theory.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2006.11b
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• pp.1029-1036
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• 2006

South and North Koreas are putting forth efforts to overcome the distrust and animosity of the past 50 years to open an era of harmony and cooperation where the two halves can work together for mutual benefits. As part of those efforts, both parties are working now to reconnect the railways between the North and the South that remained broken for the past 60 years. In addition, the restoration of Trans-Korean railway paves the way for the "Silk Road Railway" which links European continent to Asian regions and Pacific Rim. The restoration project acts as a conduit for cooperation within in the Northeast Asian continent, hence, an important tool for facilitating peace and prosperity within the Northeast Asian region. Notably, the Railway project is regarded as the cardinal future-oriented peace building project for cultivating constructive, cooperative relations (Trans-Korean Railway and Trans-Asian Railway works) by stimulating human resources and commodity flows through railroad transportations. Northeast Asian region takes on a similar instance to the unification of European continent through its astounding development in railroad transportation, i.e., the international re-construction of Railroad lines will act as a catalyst to link Eurasian areas into one regional community for cooperation and peace. At present, the government is creating a momentum to bind trans-Eurasian railroad works and an initiative for "Northeast Asia Railroad networks and consultative organization". The South Korean administration paves the way to develop railroad network within South-North Korean, Russia and Eurasian region. It also fosters railroad cooperation with China for people and goods transports. To achieve such objectives, the project requires wide publicity and cross-border cooperation from concerned countries. The blueprint would have to be drafted up for Northeast Asian railroad train demonstration runs, Northeast Asian transportation agreements, with a bid to promote constitute Northeast Asian Railroad Consultation body. Moreover, the government would also have to prepare both, a draft of the linkage and the mandated standardized proposal.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.229-255
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• 2006

The development of information technology got rid of much restriction on time and space, inviting earlier knowledge based society. The growing e-commerce based on internet alters the existing way of management in business groups and countries to one based on e-business. Especially, neighboring Far-East Asia countries are on the way of increasing their interest and efforts on e-commerce. Also they continue to give support to e-commerce and explore the way to North-East Asia e-Hub, on the government level. Against this backdrop, this study tried to review the current status and supporting system of e-commerce in 6 North-East Asia countries(South Korea, China, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore), as a preliminary work for building the base of e-commerce and spurring the economic cooperation through e-commerce in North-East Asia region. I expect that this review would do the role of basic material for exploring and prospecting Korea's possibility as the North-East Asia e-Hub.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.205-216
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• 2015

The CMIP5 climate change scenarios from 34 GCMs were analyzed to quantitatively assess future changes in temperature, precipitation, and solar radiation against the global region and the Northeast Asia region with a focus on South Korea, North Korea, or Japan. The resulting projection revealed that the Northeast Asia region is subjected to more increase in temperature and precipitation than the global means for both. In particular, temperature and precipitation in North Korea were projected to increase about $5.1^{\circ}C$ and 18%, respectively under the RCP 8.5 scenario, as compared to the historical means for 30 years (1971-2000), although a large uncertainty still exists among GCMs. For solar radiation, global mean solar radiation was predicted to decrease with time in all RCP scenarios except for the RCP 2.6 scenario. On the contrary, it was predicted that the amount of solar radiation in the Northeast Asia increases in the future period.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.142-158
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• 2012

This paper investigates the physical and chemical characteristics of long-range transport (LRT) process of air pollutants by employing the MM5-CMAQ and its comparison with local emission dominant (LED) case over northeast Asia. We first classified high air pollution days into LRT and LED cases based on the synoptic meteorological variables of vorticity and geostrophic wind speed/direction at a geopotential level of over 850hPa. LRT cases are further categorized into three types of transport patterns (LRT-I-III) according to the air mass pathways from source regions. LRT-I-III are originated from northern, central, and southern China, respectively, identified by back trajectory analysis. Three LRT-I-III groups have different and unique locations of high pressure and transport pathways. The chemical characteristics showed that the simulated spatial distributions varied in terms of locations of maximum concentrations and the temporal variation of surface concentrations. The primary air pollutants such as $NO_x$, $PM_{10}$ and $SO_2$ of all of three LRT cases are well transported into Korea peninsula with different concentration levels. Of LRT cases, LRT-II has the greatest effect on air quality of Korea peninsula, followed by LRT-I and LRT-III. In comparison with LRT, the LED case shows relatively higher air pollution concentrations in general, but showed a variety of different air quality levels following the emission strength pattern. These widely varying patterns are impling the case dependent multi-directional approach for the development of indicators of long-range transport process over northeast Asia.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.38-55
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• 2013

This study has been performed to select several indicators of long-range transport process that can be applied to the Northeast Asia. We first classified high air pollution days into long-range transport (LRT) dominant cases and the local emission dominant (LED) cases based on the synoptic meteorological variables including vorticity and geostrophic wind speed/direction at a geopotential level of 850 hPa. LRT cases were further categorized into two types: LRT-I type with air mass pathways from northern China and/or Mongolia, and LRT-II type from central and southern China. In each categorized case, we examined the difference of both measured aerosol optical properties of AERONET at two sites in western Korea, and the simulated characteristics of LRT process by MM5-CMAQ model. We contrasted LRT case with LED case, and then generated the LRT indicators applicable to Northeast Asia. The results showed that fine and coarse modes of LRT-II were relatively smaller than LED and LRT-I cases, respectively. Aerosol size distribution showed significantly higher concentration of fine-mode particle (mainly smoke or urban aerosols) in LED case in comparison with that of LRT groups (LRT-I, II), suggesting the amplitudes fine modes of LRT relative to LED as a possible LRT indicator. From the results of MM5-CMAQ modeling, we concluded that the conversion ratios for sulfur ($F_s$) were the most effective indicators of LRT cases, and the ratio of VOC to NOx and NOx to CO were found to be the second most effective indicators of LED case.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.217-221
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• 2003

The Measurement of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) instrument is an eight-channel gas correlation radiometer that launched on the Earth Observing System (EOS) Terra spacecraft in 1999. Its main objectives are to measure carbon monoxide (CO) and methane (CH4) concentrations in the troposphere. This study analyzes tropospheric carbon monoxide distributions using MOPITT data and compare with ozone distributions in Northeast Asia. In general, seasonal CO variations are characterized by a peak in spring and decrease in summer. Also, this study revealed that the seasonal cycles of CO are maximum in spring and minimum in summer with average concentrations ranging from 118ppbv to 170ppbv. The monthly average of CO shows a similar profile to those of O3. This fact clearly indicates that the high concentration of CO in spring is caused by two possible causes: the photochemical CO production in the troposphere, or the transport of the CO in the northeast Asia. The CO and $O_3$ seasonal cycles in the Northeast Asia are influenced extensively by the seasonal exchange of the different types of air mass due to the Asian monsoon. The continental air masses contain high concentrations of $O_3$ and CO due to higher continental background concentrations and sometimes due to the contribution of regional pollution. In summer the transport pattern is reversed. The Pacific marine air masses prevail over Korea, so that the marine air masses bring low concentrations of CO and $O_3$, which tend to give the apparent minimum in summer.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.253-267
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• 2011

This study summarizes some important results from the studies on clouds and aerosols, and their effects on climate in the northeast Asia that were made mainly by Korean scientists and some other scientists from around the world. Clouds and aerosols are recognized as one of the most important factors that contributes to uncertainties in climate predictions and therefore become the subject of active research in the western developed countries in recent years. However, the researches on clouds and aerosols are very weakly done in Korea except ground based measurements of aerosol physical, chemical and optical properties. These measurements indicate that aerosol loadings in the northeast Asia are generally much higher than other parts of the world. On the other hand, researches on clouds are few in Korea. Satellite and ground remote sensing, numerical modeling and aircraft in-situ measurements of clouds are highly needed for better assessment of the role of clouds on climate in the northeast Asia.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.95-103
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• 2014

Purpose - Korea has a better geographical location than other nations in the Northeast Asian region. This means that Korea has an opportunity to become the center of international physical distribution in Northeast Asia. Korea should take advantage of this opportunity by exploring appropriate strategies to achieve this goal, assuming government willingness, with a view to capitalizing on the geographical advantage of the Korean peninsula and constructing a comprehensive physical distribution network system. If we prepare for this scenario, Korea could become the center of international physical distribution in Northeast Asia. Research design, data, and methodology - This study has the purpose of determining how shipping companies form partnerships with third-party logistics providers, and the relevant implications. The survey methods used were personal interview and a questionnaire distributed through e-mail, fax, mail, and telephone. A total of 600 questionnaires were distributed, out of which 285 were returned. Of the collected questionnaires, 10 were excluded because of insufficient content, leaving 275 to be used in the study as available valid samples. The data that was collected from these samples was analyzed using the data coating process and by employing a statistical package program. Results - Flexible policies, administration, and systems will be needed to create better business practices. In this dissertation, first and foremost, the results reveal that in order to become the center of Northeast Asian logistics, Korea must transition into a new paradigm based on the current economic and social systems that have stemmed from bureaucracy, inflexibility, chauvinism, and egalitarianism. Flexible policies, administration, and systems will be required to create better business practices. Domestic logistics corporations need to occupy a strategic logistics hub, create a logistics network, and activate value-added logistics business strategies by ensuring significant manpower and by building a logistics information system to strengthen their competitive edge, creating an improved system. Conclusions - In this dissertation, first and foremost, we point out that in order to become a center of North East Logistics, Korea should change to a new paradigm from the old one based on current economic and social systems that have stemmed from bureaucracy, inflexibility, chauvinism, and egalitarianism. More reasonable business laws, systems, and policies based on market-driven flexibility and transparency should be created. Moreover, social norms and rules should be reasonably established, to accomplish political and social security. Korea has to cultivate a culture of tolerance for foreign companies. This involves a change of paradigm for the development of the capital city and satellite cities. It will take a powerful task force or organization to plan and execute the vision that aims to meet these needs, accomplish the necessary goals, use the appropriate system effectively, and make Korea a key country in the field of Northeast Asian logistics.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.41-63
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• 2003

CDM(Clean Development Mechanism) project is said to be a mechanism, which profits both the investing country and the host country, while additionally contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gases of the earth as a whole. However in reality, most of the proposed projects do not end up in agreement because of the problems related to differences in recognition between the investing country and the host country of the CDM project. This outlines the background for this research which proposes a new design of institutional arrangements of CDM projects in the Northeast Asian region, mainly Japan, China and Korea. In addition, we investigate the feasibility of the proposed design. The research firstly focuses on the reduction in transaction costs that the participation of Korea will have on a Japan-China CDM project. This paper further emphasizes the potential gains that would materialize if a CDM project involved the whole Northeast Asian region, and not only one country. Our research suggests that an approximate reduction of 23% in transaction costs, and about 4% reduction in the total costs of a CDM project can be expected to follow the Korean participation. In addition to decreasing costs we find that a Korean involvement in a CDM project with Japan will lead to efficiency gains illustrated by a higher increase in the IRR(Internal rate of return) in a Japan-Korea project(11.45% to 12.21%) compared to an IRR incresement of 10.57% to 11.27% for a pure Japanese CDM project. Similar results of a rise in the IRR is found for the whole investment period of 20 years. We can hence conclude that Korean participation in a Japan-China CDM project would improve the implementation possibilities of CDM project in the Northeast Asia region.