• Communications for Statistical Applications and Methods
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.11-14
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• 2015

The Great Famine may have had a continued impact on the population structure of North Korea even after the crisis subsided ten years ago. However, there is a significant gap between what has been said about the country and what data indicates. This gap seems inevitable mainly because reliable data are seriously lacking and access is restricted for most scholars outside the country. Yet, it is only reasonable to question why most studies have failed to explain the causality between the Great Famine and accumulated changes in the population of North Korea. In this regard, a recent study conducted by Korean demographers (Jeon et al., 2015) have several implications on the importance of accurate and reliable data when the study involves such rare and scarce information. This paper explores the changing trends of the population structure in North Korea providing a review of recent studies on demographic issues associated with North Korea and offers suggestions on understanding the post-famine effect on the overall changes in the population of North Korea.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.117-147
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• 2001

The main purpose of this paper is to analyze sex and age composition of the 1994 North Korean census data. First this paper describes the background information concerning the first population census ever taken in North Korea since the separation of the North and South. It utilizes the available data to explain the trend and current population status of North Korea. The focus of this research is to point out and analyze the problems in the sex and age composition of the North Korean census data. One of the most striking characteristics of the census data is that an enormous portion of the young male population was excluded from the census counts. Such omissions are strongly suggested by a incredible drop in sex ratios for the age groups of 16 to 25. In addition, the total sum of the population by age groups turns out to be substantially smaller than the total sum of the population by geographical regions. The total discrepancy amounts to 691 thousand. Along with sex ratios and age ratios, Myers indices, UN age-sex accuracy indices, indices of relative difference, and indices of dissimilarity are calculated to analyze the characteristics and accuracy of sex and age composition in the North Korean census data. Finally, this paper readjusts the sex and age composition of the 1994 census data, and attempts to produce a more accurate population of North Korea.

• Communications for Statistical Applications and Methods
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.15-18
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• 2015

Reunification, (considered a 'bonanza'), is often expected to bring economic and social benefits as well as solutions to the population aging problem; consequently, the study on the population structure of North Korea is salient. This paper reviews and talks on the North Korean population and implications. In view of reliability and consistency, the North Korean population appears at an explicit change compared to the past, and shows significant differences from the South, implying that it needs significant resources to integrate during reunification. Therefore, it is opportune to discuss the North Korean population prior to the clamor for the reunification.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.70-97
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• 1995

The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the trend of urbanization and population distribution in North Korea. Although North Korean data lack comparable details, attention has been given to the comparison of urban system between North and South Korea. In North Korea, the pace of urbanization was most rapid just after the Korean War, from 1954 to 1960. However, the pace slowed down markedly in the early 1970s and has remained sluggish since then. North Korea is currently much less urbanized than South Korea. As specific features of urbanization in North Korea, emergence of new cities along inland borders, prominence of intermediate-sized cities, and sudden population growth of major cities due to boundary expansion are stressed. Available demographic data also indicate an overwhelming primacy of Pyongyang Municipality in the urban system, and rapid growth of satellite cities in the west-central region. It appears that, in North Korea, urbanization process has been a product of the government's development policies rather than individual's socioeconomic motivation to migrate urbanward. Finally, migration issues after unification of the Korean Peninsula and related problems are discussed in this study.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.18-44
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• 1991

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.709-717
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• 2008

This study is to analyze environmental problems which have caused by changes of the population and agriculture in North Korea. Main results of the research are following. First, Population of the North Korea shows lower increase ratio less than 2% growth from 1970's to middle of 1990's. This is interpreted by food shortages. Second, population distribution by provinces represented that northern and eastern part of the North Korea were comparatively lower and other western areas were higher. Third, Food situation of the North Korea was relatively better in 1970's, but, 1990's was the worst in the way. Fourth, on the agricultural productivity according to each province, western areas possessing more plains were more higher than mountainous areas of the northern and eastern parts of North Korea. Fifth, Growth ratio of food production and population have grown very steadily until 1990's, but the increase ratio of population exceeded food productivity after 1990's. Sixth, Cropland reclamation for improving these situation have caused deforestation and environmental problems and especially eastern and northern areas became more serious. For the solving these problems of North Korea, it is necessary to get the help of South Korea and international societies with efforts by itself.

• Architectural research
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.83-92
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• 2018

Recently, there has been inter-Korean exchanges are active, in company with an assertive international activity with North Korea and inter-Korean Summits. Thus, there is a growing possibility of Korean reunification. However, when the unification situation occurs, population inflow by North Korean residents will be expected, and it will be necessary to prepare a housing supply strategy. In addition, even if North Koreans are prevented from entering, a plan is necessary to ensure structural safety since most buildings in North Korea are aging and a recent natural disaster occurs frequently. In this research, we will try to present a temporary housing supply strategy and a short-term structural reinforcement plan based on analysis of the standard housing conditions in North Korea. In this research, we represent the analysis result of the existing construction level, supply status and structural performance of North Korea. When we consider the reinforcement period and social costs, a short-term reinforcement plan is recommended rather than the full reinforcement of the aged housing in North Korea. Furthermore, we examine the ways to secure the residential safety of North Koreans through a case study of domestic and overseas temporary residential facilities, until the permanent residential facilities were supplied. According to the analysis, the tent houses were used as a form of relief housing in overseas frequently. However, the tent house is difficult to apply for domestic country with clear seasons due to insulation and heating problems. Therefore, it is appropriate to develop a residential supply strategy as focusing on the temporary housing facilities in assembled or container from, in preparation for the future population inflow.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.159-173
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• 1998

Assuming the united Korea, total population is estimated to be 70 million and grain demand for the people is estimated to reach 30 million metric tons. Cultivated land in North Korea is about the same as South Korea i.e. 2 million hectares. However grain production in North Korea is about one half of South Korea's, 6 million metric tons in the South and 3 million metric tons in the North a year. This implies that the United Korea need to import more than 20 million metric tons of grain a year and it will trigger many economic and social problems for the United Korea. In order to meet deficient grain supply, the United Korea can choose three possible policy options; importation of grains or increased investment in foreign agricultural development or increase in domestic supply Among the possible policy options, increase in domestic supply is desirable and can be achieved by developing North Korea's grain supply potential. North Korean agricultural development can also be achieved most effectively through cooperation between the South and North. An effective policy option for agricultural cooperation between the South and North is supply of agricultural inputs such as fertilizer and pesticides and exchanges of agricultural technology. Cooperation between the South and North in the agricultural sector should be achieved and developed further to solve the potential food problem before unification.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.169-174
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• 2014

We have been examining the issue of healthcare workers' exposure to antineoplastic drugs for nearly a decade and have observed that there appears to be more publications on the subject matter originating from Europe than from North America. The concern is that findings from Europe may not be generalizable to North America because of differences in handling practices, regulatory requirements, and training. Our objective was to perform a literature review to confirm our observation and, in turn, identify gaps in knowledge that warrants addressing in North America. Using select keywords, we searched for publications in PubMed and Web of Science. All papers were initially classified according to the originating continent and then categorized into one or more subject categories (analytical methods, biological monitoring, occupational exposure, surface contamination, and probability of risk/exposure). Our review identified 16 papers originating from North America and 55 papers from Europe with surface contamination being the subject matter most often studied overall. Based on our results, we are of the opinion that North American researchers need to further conduct dermal and/or urinary drug contamination studies as well as assess the exposure risk faced by healthcare workers who handle antineoplastic drugs. Trends in exposure levels should also be explored.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.155-182
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• 1997

Objectives : This study was designed to compare North Korea and South Korea in measures of the quality of life (physical quality of life index and human development index) and to investigate the impact of selected medical and socioeconomic factors on PQL variables. Data and Methods : The World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, and Population Reference Bureau were the principal sources of statistical data of 121 countries. Variables included infant mortality, life expectancy at birth, literacy rate, secondary school enrollment (male and female), GNP per capita, population per doctor, daily calorie supply per capita, and a composite PQL index. The Ordinary Least Square model was employed for cross-countries analysis. Findings : Both countries under quite different political and economic systems saw big improvememts in the quality of life, reducing mortality and prolonging life expectancy during the past three decades. In recent decad, however, North Korea has experienced abrupt exacerbation in the quality of life. Significant improvements in infant mortality of the population wer attributable mainly to GNP per capita and the secondary school enrollemt of female. The principal predictors of life expectancy at birth were population per doctor, infant mortality, and literacy rate. The secondary school enrollment of female and population per doctor were significantly associated with improvements in the physical quality of life index (PQLI). Conclusion : The results of this study confirmed a point illustrated by other studies : The association between quality of life as a measure of health status and socioeconomic factors was strong and positive. The important contribution of educational attainment in general, female education level in particular to improvements in the quality of life deserves good news for building an integrated health care system in the reunified Korea, taking into account the high level of education two koreas are enjoying. Meanwhile, when a sharp drop in the quality of life has been observed in North Korea under serious economic difficulties and food shortage in recent decade, the significant contribution of economic development to improvements in the quality of life poses bad nows for reunifying Korean health care in economic terms.