• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.20
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• pp.223-272
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• 2009

Both Daesoon philosophy and Buddhist philosophy have strong aspirations for establishing a world comprised of human-beings. In other words, Daesoon philosophy and Buddhist philosophy put human-beings in the place of 'subject character(主語的 人格)' instead of 'predicate character(述語的 人格).' This is because a human is the master rather than a guest of the universe and the world. In this regard, it is safe to say that both Daesoon philosophy and Buddhist philosophy have a common goal of reaching 'an infinitely open life managed by a human-being, the master.' Daesoon philosophy and Buddhist philosophy also share the idea that everything in the universe is an organistic world that is closely connected, like a network. In this aspect, the two philosophies consider the whole world rather than the individual, and seek ways for people to live together actively while expanding the scope of community to the world. Even if 'the morality of living together (相生)' and 'the realization of mercy(同體大悲)' are completely different languages on the surface, it is not difficult to understand the homogeneity inherent in such expressions. Daesoon philosophy and Buddhist philosophy show endless reliability towards all humans and are declarative and reasonable, but both herald human beings as eligible to become the main characters of the future world and lead to the birth of independent human beings while inducing them to the highest position in the universe by liberating humans from the limitations they find. 'Heaven on Earth' as stated in Daesoon philosophy refers to an ideal society where humans and God harmonize, and God and humans complement each other. Also, the world will achieve political stability and equality, realizing an economically prosperous world. Furthermore, social justice will be realized and cultural and religious conflicts resolved. As humans acknowledge there is a way to live together in a universal nature, the environmental issue no longer becomes the top priority for human beings and a world where the morals of human beings reach the highest level will be established. From the original Buddhist perspective, King Jeonrhyun, the proxy of Buddha, realizes the ideal of Buddhism in the mundane world. The world controlled by King Jeonrhyun can be described as having liberty, equality, peace, justice, prosperity, morality, order, legality, democracy, welfare, etc. Therefore, the ideal Buddhist world is materially prosperous, physically healthy and socially just, as well as a world where moral maturity and mental freedom are achieved.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.19-44
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• 2014

This study was conducted to investigate the types of personality of North Korean female refugees, which were extracted from the T-scores of SPFQ(scales of the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire) and psychological adaptation. For this, The data of 158 North Korean female refugees located in Seoul Yangchun-Gu and Gayang-Gu was analyzed. The results were as follows. Firstly, the ratio of over 65T in ego-strength, self-control, social-boldness, anxiety scales and under 34T in abstractedness and openness to change scales was higher than in other scales. Secondly, there were statistically significant differences in personality characteristics based on the demographic variables especially age and the term of residence in South Korea. Thirdly, three distinct groups were extracted from the K-means cluster analysis. The first group was characterized with emotional-unstability and negative emotionality. And the North Korean female refugees in the second group hesitated to enter into and maintain proper relationships with south korean, while they were unlikely to accept norms and rules in South Korea. The third group, characterized by higher emotional stability, ego-strength, and agreeableness, was met normal range in all the scale of SPFQ. Finally, each three groups were showed statistically significant differences in psychological adaptation scales(self-identity and resilience). We expected that these results contributed to explore the psychological and the political plans for North Korean female refugees' settlement in South Korea.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.307-314
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• 2024

For us, as 2023 marked the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice Agreement, it provided an opportunity to reflect once again on the potential for transitioning the armistice into a peace treaty, officially ending the Korean War, and establishing a peace regime that could promote peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. Since the Geneva Conference of 1954, North Korea has made various statements regarding a peace treaty. It can be seen that North Korea aimed to strengthen its own power and achieve a balance of power by entering into a peace treaty with South Korea or the U.S. This paper aims to examine the reasons why North Korea, a signatory of the Armistice Agreement of 1953, became interested in forging a peace treaty and to establish the foundation of how North Korea's discourse on a peace treaty has changed over time. By examining cases of North Korea's proposals for an inter-Korean or a North Korea-U.S. peace treaty since the 1954 Political Conference to the period from the 1950s to the 1990s, this paper seeks to explain the background behind North Korea's peace treaty discourse and to consider the implications of these changes for South Korea and the U.S., which would be parties to such a peace treaty. Additionally, the paper aims to explore the implications for South Korea and the United States, not only in relation to North Korea but also considering the United Nations Command and the ROK-U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty, when entering into a peace treaty with North Korea.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.39-57
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• 2012

The unabated influx of micro businesses has turned the Korean retailing market to a rat race, which causes severe financial distress for micro business owners due to heavy competition. The woes of these micro business owner's are exacerbated by the presence of large scale distributors such as Super Supermarket(SSM) and large discount stores. In summary, the Korean retail market is overburdened an uneconomically viable. Retailing has low barriers to entry which attracts unskilled labor or those with little capital. These start-ups have low opportunity costs since they would make low wages elsewhere in the economy. Thus, these owners are content with relatively low returns on their investment. These 'subsistence ventures' are maintained for economical viability rather than economic growth. These 'subsistence ventures' intensifies competition among small-scale businesses. The presence of large retail corporations also aggravates the situation. The recent stagnation of the economy has worsened the retail market in Korea. The overwhelming competition solidifies the coarse structural system and the prolonged economic sluggishness has increased the risk of insolvency for micro business owners. As the economy continues to stagnate, the imminent risk in retailing market will rise up to surface threatening economic stability. More systematic inflows and outflows of retailers are required in order to redress this structural problem. It has been empirically shown that the self-employment rate is high in Korea compared to other OECD countries. To draw the comparison of self-employment rate by industry, Korea shows high rates among transportation, whole sale, retail, education, lodging, and restaurants. In the case of the transportation and education service sectors, this high rate can be explained by the idiosyncratic nature of Korean culture. In the transportation sector, political policies favor private cap service and private freight carriers. In the education service sector, Koreans put particular emphasis on education that leads to many private institutions that outnumber other OECD countries. For these singular reasons, Korea maintains high micro business, self-employed rates particularly in retailing. A comparable nation is Japan, with its similar social, economic, cultural environment among OECD countries. Unlike Korea, Japan has much lower rates of micro business which continues to decrease. Also Korean retailers are much more destitute than Japanese. The fundamental problem of Korean retailing is the involuntary exit of these 'subsistence ventures,' micro businesses with low margins, in which a small drop in demand can lead to financial difficulties for the owner. This problem will be exacerbated when Korean babyboomers retire and join the micro business ventures. The first priority in order to cope with the severity of oversupply in retailing is to provide better opportunities for the potential self-employers. There should be viable alternatives to subsistent ventures. Strengthening the retirement program, scrutiny of exit process, reconfiguration of policy funds are the recommendations.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.153-195
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• 2010

The recent global financial crisis has been the outcome of, among other things, the mismatch between institutions and the reality of the market in the current global financial system. The International financial institutions (IFIs) that were designed more than 60 years ago can no longer effectively meet the challenges posed by the current global economy. While the global financial market has become integrated like a single market, there is no international lender of last resort or global regulatory body. There also has been a rapid shift in the weight of economic power. The share of the Group of 7 (G7) countries in global gross domestic product (GDP) fell and the share of emerging market economies increased rapidly. Therefore, the tasks facing us today are: (i) to reform the IFIs -mandate, resources, management, and governance structure; (ii) to reform the system such as the international monetary system (IMS), and regulatory framework of the global financial system; and (iii) to reform global economic governance. The main focus of this paper will be the IMS reform and the role of the Group of Twenty (G20) summit meetings. The current IMS problems can be summarized as follows. First, the demand for foreign reserve accumulation has been increasing despite the movement from fixed exchange rate regimes to floating rate regimes some 40 years ago. Second, this increasing demand for foreign reserves has been concentrated in US dollar assets, especially public securities. Third, as the IMS relies too heavily on the supply of currency issued by a center country (the US), it gives an exorbitant privilege to this country, which can issue Treasury bills at the lowest possible interest rate in the international capital market. Fourth, as a related problem, the global financial system depends too heavily on the center country's ability to maintain the stability of the value of its currency and strength of its own financial system. Fifth, international capital flows have been distorted in the current IMS, from EMEs and developing countries where the productivity of capital investment is higher, to advanced economies, especially the US, where the return to capital investment is lower. Given these problems, there have been various proposals to reform the current IMS. They can be grouped into two: demand-side and supply-side reform. The key in the former is how to reduce the widespread strong demand for foreign reserve holdings among EMEs. There have been several proposals to reduce the self-insurance motivation. They include third-party insurance and the expansion of the opportunity to borrow from a global and regional reserve pool, or access to global lender of last resort (or something similar). However, the first option would be too costly. That leads us to the second option - building a stronger globalfinancial safety net. Discussions on supply-side reform of the IMS focus on how to diversify the supply of international reserve currency. The proposals include moving to a multiple currency system; increased allocation and wider use of special drawing rights (SDR); and creating a new global reserve currency. A key question is whether diversification should be encouraged among suitable existing currencies, or if it should be sought more with global reserve assets, acting as a complement or even substitute to existing ones. Each proposal has its pros and cons; they also face trade-offs between desirability and political feasibility. The transition would require close collaboration among the major players. This should include efforts at the least to strengthen policy coordination and collaboration among the major economies, and to reform the IMF to make it a more effective institution for bilateral and multilateral surveillance and as an international lender of last resort. The success on both fronts depends heavily on global economic governance reform and the role of the G20. The challenge is how to make the G20 effective. Without institutional innovations within the G20, there is a high risk that its summits will follow the path of previous summit meetings, such as G7/G8.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.307-316
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• 2010

Complex terrain refers to irregular surface properties of the earth that influence gradients in climate, lateral transfer of materials, landscape distribution in soils properties, habitat selection of organisms, and via human preferences, the patterning in development of land use. Complex terrain of mountainous areas represents ca. 20% of the Earth's terrestrial surface; and such regions provide fresh water to at least half of humankind. Most major river systems originate in such terrain, and their resources are often associated with socio-economic competition and political disputes. The goals of the TERRECO-IRTG focus on building a bridge between ecosystem understanding in complex terrain and spatial assessments of ecosystem performance with respect to derived ecosystem services. More specifically, a coordinated assessment framework will be developed from landscape to regional scale applications to quantify trade-offs and will be applied to determine how shifts in climate and land use in complex terrain influence naturally derived ecosystem services. Within the scope of TERRECO, the abiotic and biotic studies of water yield and quality, production and biodiversity, soil processing of materials and trace gas emissions in complex terrain are merged. There is a need to quantitatively understand 1) the ecosystem services derived in regions of complex terrain, 2) the process regulation occurred to maintain those services, and 3) the sensitivities defining thresholds critical in stability of these systems. The TERRECO-IRTG is dedicated to joint study of ecosystems in complex terrain from landscape to regional scales. Our objectives are to reveal the spatial patterns in driving variables of essential ecosystem processes involved in ecosystem services of complex terrain region and hence, to evaluate the resulting ecosystem services, and further to provide new tools for understanding and managing such areas.

• (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
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• no.49
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• pp.325-355
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• 2012

This research aims to generalize the thoughts of military science of the intellectuals through the books on military arts and science, which were published in the early Joseon Dynasty. In the early Joseon dynasty, it was in a position to establish the foundation in the new monarch internally, and, at the same time, to overcome foreign powers on both northern and southern borders externally. Thus, the books on military arts and science should have to be published under a premise of such situations. Accordingly, the books on military arts and science of those days took account of political stability having reflected the activities not only as the founder of Joseon but also as the military officer in the late Goryeo along with the books' own purpose to found military arts and sciences. The books on military arts and science that published in the early Joseon Dynasty were written mostly based on Chinese military books and its annotations, except some descriptions of the history of war. However, the intellectuals at that time endeavored to redefine military arts and science from the perspective of Confucianism having evaluated Chinese military science books that were biased to boost Machiavellian tactics. As a result of this, the geographical distinctions between China and Korea were the start of an argument for the military arts and science. There were also disputes over the relationships between the military science and the Yin-Yang School, and between the military science and Confucian school. Organizing our country's own history of war for the first time in the early Joseon Dynasty is worth for putting a high evaluation. However, it cannot help but to point out the limits of the books that there are noticeable descriptions about the factors related to toadyism, and that there are no descriptions about the wars against Japanese raiders. The books on military arts and science in the early Joseon Dynasty put emphasis on the commander's leadership that should be good at both literary and martial arts, as well as the harmony in military-to-military relations. After all, the intellectuals in the early Joseon Dynasty had linked the military arts and science to the sages of Confucian school under a premise that scholarship is to be used in combination with martial arts. And, as the nexus between the two, they noted the items of virtue, such as humaneness and righteousness (仁義); ritual and music (禮樂); loyalty and filial piety (忠孝); three fundamental principles (三綱); five moral disciplines (五倫). It can be said that this point is the typical features of the military arts and science in the early Joseon Dynasty, which cannot be found in Chinese military classics.

• 재활복지
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.1-30
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• 2018

This paper attempts to explore the place of human and disability rights from the perspective of Social Welfare within the context of the UN Disability Rights Convention of 2006. The overall discussion is focused especially upon the situations of human and disability rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as it is being challenged to drastically address the issues of human rights in general, and disability rights in particular. The UN Disability Rights Convention challenges every ratified State party to commence legal reforms, legal harmonization, and policy and program developments to implement the Convention. Both North and South Korea are not exceptions to this. Even without drawing upon the UN's the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the dire situation of human rights in North Korea is well documented. However, this paper does not assume South Korea's human rights are any way superior to that of North Korea. This paper spells out areas for further action common to two Koreas and to any other nations for that matter. Apart from the general discussion on disability rights, the distinctive contribution of this paper lies in the fact that it has endeavored to draw upon any latest information and data on North Korea. It relied on various sources from UN and also from North Korea itself. One can note that North Korean disability authorities are making strenuous efforts to improve human rights of persons with disabilities in their desires to seek assistance from outside. It also shows an enormous need for international cooperation in seeking financial and material supports. This paper notes the latest political development between North and South Korea in taking "phased" steps for peace and stability as a positive sign for North and South Koreans' DPOs collaboration under the banner of International Cooperation of the article 32 of the UN Disability Rights Convention. More critically, this paper points to the further need to improve the overall data bases to ensure balanced legal reforms, policy developments and sharpen the areas of international collaboration.

• 한국노년학
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.195-220
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• 2010

This study is to examine the job satisfaction of the social workers who manage the elderly care service in country, in order to find political alternatives and practical strategies for improving job satisfaction. The Factors to effect on job satisfaction are categorized as three groups ; personal factors, working environment factors and service related factors. The survey was conducted by 231 social workers who participated in a national seminar among 244 elderly care facilities in country, and 220 effective data were collected. Which factors effected on the job satisfaction of social workers and how much effected on it by them were mainly analyzed. The mean of job satisfaction status was 3.01, which was slightly higher than average(2.5). Men had higher job satisfaction than women. The unmarried than the married, permanent workers than contract workers, and workers who didn't execute other jobs had higher job satisfaction also. And The main factors which effected on job satisfaction were sex among personal factors, the manager willingness and not executing other jobs among working environment factors, and service attitude among service related factors. Particularly, the manager willingness was shown to effect on job satisfaction the most, and then service attitude, not executing other jobs and sex effected on it in order. The result showed that the elderly care facilities which had stronger manager willingness and better service attitude provided higher job satisfaction, and men who didn't execute other jobs than women had higher job satisfaction. The job satisfactions of payment and benefits, employment stability, appropriateness of working amount and working time, working environment and welfare conditions were lower than average. Therefore, the strategies to improve the lower job conditions are promptly required. Above all, the low payment strategy that has not been increased at all for 3 years has to be changed. In addition, it is important for the social workers not to execute other jobs as much as possible in order to reduce working amount and working time appropriately. In conclusion, it is required to try to improve the job satisfaction of the social workers who are the core of human service continually, which will make the elderly care service successful and effectiveness improved.

• Analyses & Alternatives
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.229-258
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• 2023

For the main countries of the Asia-Pacific region, the United States, China and Russia, a situation of "new normality" is emerging. Moreover, for each of the countries, this "new normality" has its own meaning. For the United States, this is an aggravation of the military confrontation with China in the Taiwan Strait. For China, this is an increase in the degree of rivalry with the United States and a slowdown in the pace of economic development with a very high probability of their decline in the future. For Russia, this is an almost complete curtailment of relations with the United States against the background of a special military operation and imposed sanctions. These nuances, in addition to the results of the 20th CPC Congress, will determine the main trends in Sino-American and Sino-Russian relations. It seems that China's attitude towards Russia will not change against the background of the Ukrainian crisis. Beijing will maintain a position of "benevolent neutrality" towards Moscow. At the same time, the balance between "goodwill" and "neutrality" may vary depending on the scope of Sino-Russian cooperation. For example, in the economic sphere, Chinese companies will be afraid to cooperate with Russian partners for fear of secondary sanctions. However, in general, Russia will retain its importance for China as the strongest anti-American pole. In relations with the United States, China will continue to firmly defend its interests, while at the same time not excluding the normalization of relations with Washington in certain areas of cooperation: strategic stability, non-traditional threats, ecology, etc. In general, the decisions of the 20th CPC Congress do not allow us to say either in favor or against the idea of China's readiness to resume dialogue with the United States in the post-congress period. Sino-American relations, as noted above, have their own logic and will probably continue to develop within its framework. However, so are Sino-Russian relations. Within the framework of these logics, Beijing seems to continue to balance between the two vectors of its foreign policy. On the one hand, this is the development of bilateral cooperation with Russia in order to strengthen its own negotiating positions in the confrontation with the United States: military cooperation with an emphasis on joint exercises, political cooperation based on anti-Americanism, economic cooperation with an eye to the risks of secondary sanctions. On the other hand, it is unacceptable for China to recognize the collapse of Ukraine, the inadmissibility of a direct military clash with the United States and the extreme undesirability of further aggravation of relations with the United States on the factor of Chinese friendship with Russia.