• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.161-180
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• 1997

There are about 400, 000 Korean ethnics living in Central Asia. Most of Koreans in Central Asia are leading a stable middle class life mostly engaged in farm work. With increase of educational attainment of their children, a number of Koreans are launching into political and academic circles as well as in the cultural world or the press. In recent years, however, the countries in this area(Uzbekistan and Kazakstan) for this study advocate an ethnic united policy to stabilize the politics and society and to carry out efficient transformation from the former socialistic economy to a market oriented economy. In addition, they are trying to recover the culture and the language of each nation which has been forgotten in the assimilation of Russia policy. Koreans have difficulty in adaption to this kind of change. In fact, a number of Koreans lost traditional culture and could not speak their mother language - Korean. Although they more or less maintain national consciousness, they recognize Uzbekistan or Kazakstan as their nation politically. They associated with North Korea unilaterally before the launching of the Perestroika policy. But after the Seoul Olympics held in 1998, there was movement to know and understand South Korea. There has been increased in the investment by Korean companies in Central Asia. Now, what is an alternative idea for Korean community consciousness\ulcorner It can be summarized as follows: 1) The increase of aid to Korean education institute : Considering the last few decades of Russia's strong racial assimilation policy, which leads most Koreans to lost their language and national culture, the priority should go to Koreans education. 2) Local Korean press support : Though Korean newspaper are published and Korean broadcasting is on the air currently in Uzbekistan and Kazakstan, they are suffering from qualified staff and poor financial status. Therefore, positive support should be established for these Korean mass communication media outlets to recover their own function and expand their dissemination powers quickly. 3) Research on the actual condition for Korean Community : It is essential to directly examine the local Korean community's regional distribution, population structure, Korean group's formation and operation, social and cultural understanding, racial consciousness, hope for their mother land and much more. 4) Increase of mother land and education opportunity : To stir up national culture and national consciousness within the Korean community, it is necessary to expand continuous opportunities for mother land visits and education training for local Koreans, especially for second and third generations.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.50-69
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• 1987

There are about 400, 000 Korean ethnics living in Central Asia. Most of Koreans in Central Asia are leading a stable middle class life mostly engaged in farm work. With increase of educational attainment of their children, a number of Koreans are launching into political and academic circles as well as in the cultural world or the press. In recent years, however, the countries in this area(Uzbekistan and Kazakstan) for this study advocate an ethnic united policy to stabilize the politics and society and to carry out efficient transformation from the former socialistic economy to a market oriented economy. In addition, they are trying to recover the culture and the language of each nation which has been forgotten in the assimilation of Russia policy. Koreans have difficulty in adaption to this kind of change. In fact, a number of Koreans lost traditional culture and could not speak their mother language - Korean. Although they more or less maintain national consciousness, they recognize Uzbekistan or Kazakstan as their nation politically. They associated with North Korea unilaterally before the launching of the Perestroika policy. But after the Seoul Olympics held in 1998, there was movement to know and understand South Korea. There has been increased in the investment by Korean companies in Central Asia. Now, what is an alternative idea for Korean community consciousness\ulcorner It can be summarized as follows: 1) The increase of aid to Korean education institute : Considering the last few decades of Russia's strong racial assimilation policy, which leads most Koreans to lost their language and national culture, the priority should go to Koreans education. 2) Local Korean press support : Though Korean newspaper are published and Korean broadcasting is on the air currently in Uzbekistan and Kazakstan, they are suffering from qualified staff and poor financial status. Therefore, positive support should be established for these Korean mass communication media outlets to recover their own function and expand their dissemination powers quickly. 3) Research on the actual condition for Korean Community : It is essential to directly examine the local Korean community's regional distribution, population structure, Korean group's formation and operation, social and cultural understanding, racial consciousness, hope for their mother land and much more. 4) Increase of mother land and education opportunity : To stir up national culture and national consciousness within the Korean community, it is necessary to expand continuous opportunities for mother land visits and education training for local Koreans, especially for second and third generations.

• Current Research on Agriculture and Life Sciences
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• v.7
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• pp.201-219
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• 1989

Rice culture in Korea has a long history ranging over two thousand years. In the agriculture economy of pre-mordern Korea, however, its importantce was not as great as generally assumed. In fact, rice culture reached full development only after the 1920s when the Japanese colonial government carried out its drive to increase rice production in the Korea peninsula. It was not until the mid-1930s that rice became the staple in Korean diet. This can be attributed to two factors : (1) a mountainous topography that provides little irrigated fields and (2) a climate characterized by droughts in spring and heavy precipitation in summer. The present paper attempts to answer some of these questions. Specifically it will focus on these : Did the development of rice culture actually result in population growth? What are the salient features of agricultural develdpment and population grow in traditional Korea? Does the case of Korea conform the prevailing generalization about the agriculture in East Asia? I have discussed the development of rice culture and population growth in the Chos$\breve{o}$n dynasty, focusing on the relation between the rapid spread of transplanting and the rapid growth of population from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. Here are my conclusions. (1) The spread of transplanting and other technological innovationsc contributed to the rapid growth of population in this period. However, we should also note that the impact of rice culture on population growth was rather limited, for rice culture was not the mainstay of agricultural economy in pre-modern Korea. Indeed we should consider the influence of dry field cropsn population growth. Nevertheless, it is obvious that the proliferation of rice culture was a factor crucial to population growth and regional concentration. (2) How should we characterize the spread of rice culture in the whole period? Evidently rice culture spread from less then 20% of cultivated fields in the fifteenth century to about 36% of them in the early twentieth century. Although rice as a single crop outweighed other crops, rice culture was more then counter-balanced by dry field crops as a whole, due to Korea's unique climate and geography. Thus what we have here in not a typical case of competition between rice culture and day field culture. Besides, the spread of rice culture in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries accomplished by technological innovations that overcame severe springtime drought, rather than extensive irrigation. Althougt irrigarion facilities did proliferate to some extent, this was achieved by local landlords and peasants rather than the state. This fact contradicts the classical thesis that the productivity of rice culture increased through the state management of irrigation and that this in turn determined the type of society. (3) We should further study other aspects of the transition from the stable population and production struture in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries to the rapid population growth and excessive density of population thereafter. We should note that there were continuing efforts to reclaim the land in order to solve the severe shortage of land. Changes also took place in the agricultural production relations. The increase in land producrivity developed tenancy based on rent in kind, and this in turn increased the independence of tenants from their landlords. There were changes in family relations-such as the shift to primogeniture as an effort to prevent progressive division of property among multiplying offspring. The rapid population growth also produced a great mass of propertyless farm laborers. These changes had much to do with the disintegration of traditional social institutions and political structure toward the end of the Chos$\breve{o}$n dynasty.