• International Area Studies Review
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.85-111
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• 2016

Global semiconductor companies is investing enormous capital worldwide. And direct investment in China is increasing greatly these days, Especially, global semiconductor companies are setting up a factory in China due to expanding market rather than utilizing low labor cost. Therefore, this study is trying to analyze the background and process of direct investment from global Korean and Taiwanese semiconductor companies in China. Firstly, In 1996, Samsung semiconductor established a back end process factory in Suzhou. And in 2014, Samsung semiconductor set up a front and back end factory in Xian. Secondly, In 2006, SK Hynix built a front and back end factory in Wuxi. and SK Hynix set up a back end factory named Hitech semiconductor with Chinese company in 2009. Later in 2015, SK Hynix established a back end factory in Chongqing. Thirdly, In 2004, TSMC started to operate a factory in Shanghai, and in 2018, TSMC is going to establish a factory in Nanjing. Lastly, UMC bought a stock to produce product in Chinese local company named HJT, and at the end of 2016, UMC is going to finish building a factory in Xiamen. As a result, it was proved that most companies hoped to expand the chinese market by setting up a factory in china. In addition, Samsung expected to avoid a risk by setting up a factory in china, and SK Hynix wanted to avoid a countervailing duty by setting up a factory in china. Based on the result of this study, this study indicates some implications for other semiconductor companies which are very helpful for their future foreign direct investment.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.35-56
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• 1995

During the last two decades, Korea has achieved remarkable economic growth. In this process the nation has become urbanized and industrialized. But we have also encountered widening regional disparity, housing shortage of larger cities, transportation congestion, environmental pollution and many other problems. Rapid increasing urbanization and continuous migration toward Seoul since the late 1960s have been one of the major concerns of government. Government has sought ways to moderate the population increase in Seoul. The regulation which include new town development near Seoul and dispersion strategies of higher education and other administration and living facilities outside of Seoul havemade a great expansion of the spatial influence of Seoul city. Seoul metropolitan reaion has evolved as the most powerful center of political and economical spaces. Generally within a metropolitan region, there exists a growing mutual interdependence economically, as well as socially between a central city and its surrounding area. Seoul metropolitan region manifests itself not only as a coherent system of urbanized regions, but also as an integral part of the daily urban system. The surrounding Gyunggi province and Seoul city become closely linked both economically and functionally, constituting true functlonai urban system. This study is primarily undertaken with the purpose of delineation of the sphere of influence of Seoul city in 1990. At the time of 1985, Seoul metropolitan region was delineated according to the result of the study which was performed by Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements. Afterward, the rapid speed of metropolitanization process with dramatic increase in mobility through the provision of wider transportation system across the Capital region have evolved, resulting in the great expansion of the spatial influence of Seoul city. So this study examines the expanded area of Seoul metropolitan regin during the period of 1985-90. In order to delineate Seoul metropolitan region, the indices of urbanization and functional linkage are selected. Variables included in the measurement of the urbanization level are agricultural structure, population characteristics, manufacturing and service industries, and cultural aspects such as newspaper circulation, the ratio of car ownership and piped water supply. Variables included in the measurement of functional linkage are commuting, shopping pattern, centralized service such as medical facilities and trade of agricultural products. The standardization method and factor analysis are employed in making the delineation of Seoul metropolitan region. According to the result of this study, 2 cities, 8 Eups and 46 Myuns are included Seoul metropolitan region in 1990. If we compare this delineated area in 1990 to that of 1985, we can find the distinctive pattern of expanded axes according to the main transportation routes such as Seoul-Suweon, Seoul-Gwangju, Seoul-Incheon. In 199O, all the Gyunggi province, except a few Myuns located at the north and northwest part of Gyunggi province, are included in Seoul metropolitan region. Furthermore, this study attempts to the analysis of regional structure of Seoul metropolitan region according to the functional characteristics of each city and Gun. Variables included in this analysis are the new residential function, manufacturing function, service function, education and infermation function, public facility function and agricultural function. Factor analysis and cluster analysis are employed in making regionalization. Seoul metropolitan reaion is subdivided into four subregions which reflect different functional specialization. The first group is the specialized region of newly formed residential function. The second group is the specialized reaion of manufacturing function. The third group is the specialized region of service function. And the fourth group has little specialized in terms of manufacturing, service, and residential function. But this region has some potentiality of development when Seoul metropolitan region grow continuously. Seoul metropolitan region accounted for 43% of national population, despite 11.8% of national land size in 1990. Although Seoul metropolitan region enjoys important agglomeration economies, it also has huge social cost in the form of transportation congestion, housing shortage, rapid increase of land value, environment pollution, and etc. Efficient metropolitan plan making is a vital element in promoting Seoul's economic development and providing high quality living environment at low cost. In the light of the result of this study, the outer ring of Seoul metropolitan region, especially northeastern part, are underdeveloped compared to overdeveloped southwestern area. It is needed to develop the guidelines for the implement of the growth control and management plan, inducing more balanced development for whole Seoul metropolitan reaion.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• no.12
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• pp.47-50
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• 1970

There are many factors affecting the development of sericultural industry in Korea. The setting of a rational pricing system for sericultural products is one of important activities of the Korean Government to improve the incentives to producers. The determination o： the prices for many years were based on the production costs including a certain level of profits. Some of cost items are in conflict both in cocoon producers and silk-reeling industries. Government officials have to evaluate these conflicting problems and estimate the consequences of their decisions. In this situation the final decision often became political decisions. This analysis is aimed at providing an alternative method of setting the prices of sericultural products. The criteria of the equilibrium employed in this analysis are based on economic principle which equilibrium condition is determined by the relationships between the marginal productivity of input factors and factor prices. In order to obtain the related information Cobb-Douglas'functions were fitted using KIST computer and data were obtained mostly from the Bank of Korea and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestru, An important assumption is that "Opportunity Costs" of factors input in both cocoon production and silk-Peeling industries are same, The major finding s obtained are as followings. 1) The sum of coefficient of production elastisity in silk-reeling industries is greater than one. Silk-reeling industries are operating under the situation of increasing return to scale and it is, therefore, expected to develop the industries as the capital-intensive large scale. 2) The cocoon producing farmers are under the situations of the decreasing return to scale and it is expected to continue their cocoon farming as the labor-intensive small scale, assuming the present level of production technology. As the development of commercial farming, the resources input in cocoon production will be shifted to the production for higher profitable crops, 3) The price elastisity of production is higher in cocoon production than in silk-reeling industries. It is expected that the price changing effects on domestic production will be resulted from cocoon producers. 4) Based on analysis results of marginal productivities and the opportunity costs of resources, cocoon price for meeting equilibrium price condition is to be increased by 8-16 percent or standard price level of silk increased by 6-8 percent. There were the possibilities of over evaluation on opportunity cost of resources input in silk-reeling industries, or income transfered from the farmers to the industries. It is recommended that the prices for meeting equilibrium price conditions are to be determined by 72 percent for cocoon and 28 percent for silk-reeling costs, based on standard level of the exporting prices.

• The Korean Journal of Financial Management
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.27-63
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• 2004

Since the 1980s, many multinational corporations have been issuing stocks on foreign stock exchanges, not only to enhance their investor base and liquidity, but also to diversify risks. The phenomenon has also been intensified by the rapid financial globalization and securitization trends. The main purpose of this study is to look into the long-run performance of MNCs' cross-listings of stocks on foreign stock exchanges. We use the event study and cross-sectional regression methods. We obtained some interesting empirical results about the long-run effect of cross-listings. First before the listing data the effect of cross-listing is to increase the underlying stock Vice in the local market. It may be caused by expectation of lower risk and cost of capital. However, after the listing data the stock price has been declining, even if it is not significant. Second, we examine the difference in the long-run cross-listing effect, which may be caused by the listing direction. When listing is made from a less developed market to a more developed market, the effect is better than that in the reverse direction. Furthermore, the effect is worse, when the listing company's home country is the U.S. Third, there is a negative relation between CARs and underlying stock liquidity in the local market, So it implies that a firm, whose underlying stocks are very liquid in the local market should carefully value cross-listing based upon the cost and benefit analysis. Last, but not the least we find that the long-un cross-listing effect is better, when a listing firm's ROE is higher.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.170-174
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• 1997

Constructed wetland system was studied to treat wastewater from industrial complex in rural area. Pilot plant at the Baeksuk Nongkong Danzi in Chunahn-City was used for field study. For the DO, the effluent concentration was higher than the influent concentration and it implies that natural reaeration supplies enough oxygen to the system. For the SS, the effluent concentration was consistently lower than the water quality standard even though the influent concentration varied significantly, which showed that SS was removed by the system effectively which is consist of soil and plants. For the BOD and COD, the average removal rate of them were 56% and 43%, respectively, therefore, the effluent concentration could not meet water quality standards when influent concentration was high. The removal rate of BOD and COD can be improved by supplemental treatment in addition to this system if necessary. For the T-N and T-P, the influent concentration of them were lower than the water quality standards than no further treatment was needed. Overall, the result showed that constructed wetland system is a feasible alternative for the treatment of wastewater from industrial complex in rural area. For actual application of this system, further study on design factors including loading rate, removal mechanism, and temperature effects is required to meet water quality standard consistently. Compared to existing systems, this system is quite competitive because it requires low capital cost, almost no energy and maintenance, and therefore, very cost effective.

• The Journal of Fisheries Business Administration
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.75-90
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• 2003

When we think of fundamental problems of the aquaculture industry, there are several strict conditions, and consequently the aquaculture industry is forced to change. Fish aquaculture has a structural supply surplus in production, aggravation of fishing grounds, stagnant low price due to recent recession, and drastic change of distribution circumstances. It is requested for us to initiate discussion on such issue as “how fish aquaculture establishes its status in the coastal fishery\ulcorner, will fish aquaculture grow in the future\ulcorner, and if so “how it will be restructured\ulcorner” The above issues can be observed in the mariculture of yellow tail, sea scallop and eel. But there have not been studied concerning seabream even though the production is over 30% of the total production of fish aquaculture in resent and it occupied an important status in the fish aquaculture. The objectives of this study is to forecast the future movement of sea bream aquaculture. The first goal of the study is to contribute to managerial and economic studies on the aquaculture industry. The second goal is to identify the factors influencing the competition between production areas and to identify the mechanisms involved. This study will examine the competitive power in individual producing area, its behavior, and its compulsory factors based on case study. Producing areas will be categorized according to following parameters : distance to market and availability of transportation, natural environment, the time of formation of producing areas (leaderㆍfollower), major production items, scale of business and producing areas, degree of organization in production and sales. As a factor in shaping the production area of sea bream aquaculture, natural conditions especially the water temperature is very important. Sea bream shows more active feeding and faster growth in areas located where the water temperature does not go below 13∼14$^{\circ}C$ during the winter. Also fish aquaculture is constrained by the transporting distance. Aquacultured yellowtail is a mass-produced and a mass-distributed item. It is sold a unit of cage and transported by ship. On the other hand, sea bream is sold in small amount in markets and transported by truck; so, the transportation cost is higher than yellow tail. Aquacultured sea bream has different product characteristics due to transport distance. We need to study live fish and fresh fish markets separately. Live fish was the original product form of aquacultured sea bream. Transportation of live fish has more constraints than the transportation of fresh fish. Death rate and distance are highly correlated. In addition, loading capacity of live fish is less than fresh fish. In the case of a 10 ton truck, live fish can only be loaded up to 1.5 tons. But, fresh fish which can be placed in a box can be loaded up to 5 to 6 tons. Because of this characteristics, live fish requires closer location to consumption area than fresh fish. In the consumption markets, the size of fresh fish is mainly 0.8 to 2kg.Live fish usually goes through auction, and quality is graded. Main purchaser comes from many small-sized restaurants, so a relatively small farmer and distributer can sell it. Aquacultured sea bream has been transacted as a fresh fish in GMS ,since 1993 when the price plummeted. Economies of scale works in case of fresh fish. The characteristics of fresh fish is as follows : As a large scale demander, General Merchandise Stores are the main purchasers of sea bream and the size of the fish is around 1.3kg. It mainly goes through negotiation. Aquacultured sea bream has been established as a representative food in General Merchandise Stores. GMS require stable and mass supply, consistent size, and low price. And Distribution of fresh fish is undertook by the large scale distributers, which can satisfy requirements of GMS. The market share in Tokyo Central Wholesale Market shows Mie Pref. is dominating in live fish. And Ehime Pref. is dominating in fresh fish. Ehime Pref. showed remarkable growth in 1990s. At present, the dealings of live fish is decreasing. However, the dealings of fresh fish is increasing in Tokyo Central Wholesale Market. The price of live fish is decreasing more than one of fresh fish. Even though Ehime Pref. has an ideal natural environment for sea bream aquaculture, its entry into sea bream aquaculture was late, because it was located at a further distance to consumers than the competing producing areas. However, Ehime Pref. became the number one producing areas through the sales of fresh fish in the 1990s. The production volume is almost 3 times the production volume of Mie Pref. which is the number two production area. More conversion from yellow tail aquaculture to sea bream aquaculture is taking place in Ehime Pref., because Kagosima Pref. has a better natural environment for yellow tail aquaculture. Transportation is worse than Mie Pref., but this region as a far-flung producing area makes up by increasing the business scale. Ehime Pref. increases the market share for fresh fish by creating demand from GMS. Ehime Pref. has developed market strategies such as a quick return at a small profit, a stable and mass supply and standardization in size. Ehime Pref. increases the market power by the capital of a large scale commission agent. Secondly Mie Pref. is close to markets and composed of small scale farmers. Mie Pref. switched to sea bream aquaculture early, because of the price decrease in aquacultured yellou tail and natural environmental problems. Mie Pref. had not changed until 1993 when the price of the sea bream plummeted. Because it had better natural environment and transportation. Mie Pref. has a suitable water temperature range required for sea bream aquaculture. However, the price of live sea bream continued to decline due to excessive production and economic recession. As a consequence, small scale farmers are faced with a market price below the average production cost in 1993. In such kind of situation, the small-sized and inefficient manager in Mie Pref. was obliged to withdraw from sea bream aquaculture. Kumamoto Pref. is located further from market sites and has an unsuitable nature environmental condition required for sea bream aquaculture. Although Kumamoto Pref. is trying to convert to the puffer fish aquaculture which requires different rearing techniques, aquaculture technique for puffer fish is not established yet.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.91-116
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• 1991

Market liberalization progressing simultaneously with high and rapidly rising domestic wages has created an adverse business environment for domestic firms. Korean firms are losing their international competitiveness in comparison to firms from LDC(Less Developed Countries) in low-tech industries. In high-tech industries, domestic firms without government protection (which is impossible due to the liberalization policy and the current international status of the Korean economy) are in a disadvantaged position relative to firms from advanced countries. This paper examines the division of roles between the private sector and the government in order to achieve a successful structural adjustment, which has become the impending industrial policy issue caused by high domestic wages, on the one hand, and the opening of domestic markets, on the other. The micro foundation of the economy-wide structural adjustment is actually the restructuring of business portfolios at the firm level. The firm-level business restructuring means that firms in low-value-added businesses or with declining market niches establish new major businesses in higher value-added segments or growing market niches. The adjustment of the business structure at the firm level can only be accomplished by accumulating firm-specific managerial assets necessary to establish a new business structure. This can be done through learning-by-doing in the whole system of management, including research and development, manufacturing, and marketing. Therefore, the voluntary cooperation among the people in the company is essential for making the cost of the learning process lower than that at the competing companies. Hence, firms that attempt to restructure their major businesses need to induce corporate-wide participation through innovations in organization and management, encourage innovative corporate culture, and maintain cooperative labor unions. Policy discussions on structural adjustments usually regard firms as a black box behind a few macro variables. But in reality, firm activities are not flows of materials but relationships among human resources. The growth potential of companies are embodied in the human resources of the firm; the balance of interest among stockholders, managers, and workers of the company' brings the accumulation of the company's core competencies. Therefore, policymakers and economists shoud change their old concept of the firm as a technological black box which produces a marketable commodities. Firms should be regarded as coalitions of interest groups such as stockholders, managers, and workers. Consequently the discussion on the structural adjustment both at the macroeconomic level and the firm level should be based on this new paradigm of understanding firms. The government's role in reducing the cost of structural adjustment and supporting should the creation of new industries emphasize the following: First, government must promote the competition in domestic markets by revising laws related to antitrust policy, bankruptcy, and the promotion of small and medium-sized companies. General consensus on the limitations of government intervention and the merit of deregulation should be sought among policymakers and people in the business world. In the age of internationalization, nation-specific competitive advantages cannot be exclusively in favor of domestic firms. The international competitiveness of a domestic firm derives from the firm-specific core competencies which can be accumulated by internal investment and organization of the firm. Second, government must build up a solid infrastructure of production factors including capital, technology, manpower, and information. Structural adjustment often entails bankruptcies and partial waste of resources. However, it is desirable for the government not to try to sustain marginal businesses, but to support the diversification or restructuring of businesses by assisting in factor creation. Institutional support for venture businesses needs to be improved, especially in the financing system since many investment projects in venture businesses are highly risky, even though they are very promising. The proportion of low-value added production processes and declining industries should be reduced by promoting foreign direct investment and factory automation. Moreover, one cannot over-emphasize the importance of future-oriented labor policies to be based on the new paradigm of understanding firm activities. The old laws and instititutions related to labor unions need to be reformed. Third, government must improve the regimes related to money, banking, and the tax system to change business practices dependent on government protection or undesirable in view of the evolution of the Korean economy as a whole. To prevent rational business decisions from contradicting to the interest of the economy as a whole, government should influence the business environment, not the business itself.

• Korean Security Journal
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• no.36
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• pp.349-386
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• 2013

This research analyzes and evaluates The Korean Security Industry Law(TKSIL) putting the regulation of the present government about the private security industry. It nowadays becomes the important axis of the police services offered in the aspect of 'the national life safety' in connection with 'the materialization of society which is safe from the crime'. TKSIL is one of the national administration strategies which Park Gun-hye government aims on supervision policy. After seeking out the core values of the private security industrial policy which sets up in order to approach the national life safety which Park Gun-hye government aims, we make some assessments of this revised security industry law systematically. Particularly all keynote of policy about the private security of the police tried to be confirmed and the desirable direction of policy tries to be presented as to the security industry law application and real operation. In the site of organized civil complaint, the revised security industry law was revised as the direction which intensifies the administrative regulation as to the partial regulation such as it established the reason of the introduction of the arrangement license system. And grounds for disqualification of security instructor and guard, and rules of punishment is intensified order to intercept previously illegal and violent act of the security company etc. However it has the feature that it accomplishes 'the law principle(principle of statute)' the substantial portion through the effort of them changing a lot the content for the form of the law when being the clauses of the fundamental human rights limit, although it has been prescribed in "the security industry law enforcement ordinance" or "the security industry law enforced regulation". The security industry law revised this time brought from the change of the sharp policy through the revision of 17 clauses or new establishment. It can divide into 4 categorizes. (1) strictness of punishment in the site of organized civil complaint (2) Intensification of throwing out for the violation person in the private security business market time-limitedly (3) Intensification of the legal guide supervision power of police (4) upstream of the capital, name tag attachment under compulsion and the limit about other equipment use etc. Essentially "the security industry law" cannot help regulating the national interference of the private security and regulation with this content. However as to this interference and regulation, the limit has to be possible within reasonable range. As the history proved, excessive regulation by the country is not only due to bring the distortion of the security system of nation but also provoke national social cost. It can't be disregards ever that it premises the harmony which appropriate as well as reasonable in the socio-economic dimension for drawing the best combination that all things which get the compulsory education, it limits the person providing the private security service to the corporation, or it limits to the certificate of qualification holder are the ultimate for 'the safety of the national life'.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.157-183
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• 2008

'New Universities for Regional Innovation(NURI)' is a financial aid program designed to promote the development of universities as a major component of Regional Innovation System (RIS). In particular, this program emphasizes the role of regional universities to provide the qualified graduates for the regional economy. This paper is to evaluate the effect of NURI, focusing on the change of graduates' employment. The effect of the program can be evaluated by the quality of graduates' accumulated human capital, and graduates' employment performance represents the graduates' quality evaluated in the labor market. This is also believed to be a good performance indicator of the NURI program. We utilize the graduate employment survey of Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), and calculate the graduates' employment rates of the departments that received the financial support of NURI (treatment group). We also calculate the graduates' employment rates of the departments that applied for the support of the NURI program but were not selected (comparison group). By using difference-in-differences method, we compare the change of graduates' employment rates in treatment and comparison groups before and after the program came in effect. Compared with the employment rates in 2004 before the NURI program started, the graduates employment rates improved in both groups in 2005 and 2006. The improvement of the employment rates in the treatment group is larger than that in the comparison group. Moreover, the difference of improvement gets larger in the year 2006 than in 2005, which means those students who were affected more years by the NURI program are more likely to be employed. However, the difference is not statistically significant, and we cannot definetely conclude that NURI showed the desired effect on the quality of the college graduates. We calculate employment rates in two ways; whether to treat going on to graduate education as an employment or not. The result was qualitatively the same in both cases. We also tracked quality of employment by investigating the firm size where the graduates of the treatment group were employed. By utilizing data from the Employment Insurance Fund, we measure the firm size by the number of employees. We did not find any deterioration of employment quality between 2005 and 2006, though it deteriorates in 2007. Therefore, the improvement of employment rates until 2006, though not statistically significant, does not seem to come at the cost of employment quality. The interpretation of this result cannot help being very limited. First, this evaluation covers such a short time period. It only covers two years after the program started, 2005 and 2006. Second, the extent of the improvement in employment rates is not satisfactory considering the amount of financial support, even though it can be argued that the employment has improved since the inception of the program. Subsequent evaluation of the program is required to certify the NURI programs' longer term effectiveness.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.31
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• pp.27-56
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• 2006

Today's financial institutions usually take environmental issues seriously into consideration as they could not evade lender liability in an increasing number of cases. On the international scene, a brand-new concept of the "Equator Principles" in the New Millenium has driven more and more international banks to adopt these Principles in project financing. Sustainable development has been a key word in understanding new trends of the governments, financial institutions, corporations and civic groups in the 21st century. The Equator Principles are a set of voluntary environmental and social guidelines for sustainable finance. These Principles commit bank officers to avoid financial support to projects that fail to meet these guidelines. The Principles were conceived in 2002 on an initiative of the International Finance Corporation(IFC), and launched in June 2003. Since then, dozens of major banks, accounting for up to 80 percent of project loan market, have adopted the Principles. Accordingly, the Principles have become the de facto standard for all banks and investors on how to deal with potential social and environmental issues of projects to be financed. Compliance with the Equator Principles facilitates for endorsing banks to participate in the syndicated loan and help them to manage the risks associated with large-scale projects. The Equator Principles call for financial institutions to provide loans to projects under the following circumstances: - The risk of the project is categorized in accordance with internal guidelines based upon the environmental and social screening criteria of the IFC. - For Category A and B projects, borrowers or sponsors are required to conduct a Social and Environmental Assessment, the preparation of which must meet certain requirements and satisfactorily address key social and environmental issues. - The Social and Environmental Assessment report should address baseline social and environmental conditions, requirements under host country laws and regulations, sustainable development, and, as appropriate, IFC's Environmental, Health and Safety Guidelines, etc. - Based on the Social and Environmental Assessment, Equator banks then make agreements with borrowers on how they mitigate, monitor and manage the risks through a Social and Environmental Management System. Compliance with the plan is included in the covenant clause of loan agreements. If the borrower doesn't comply with the agreed terms, the bank will take corrective actions. The Equator Principles are not a mere declaration of cautious banks but a full commitment of lenders. A violation of the Principles in the process of project financing, which led to an unexpected damage to the affected community, would not give rise to any specific legal remedies other than ordinary lawsuits. So it is more effective for banks to ensure consistent implementation of the Principles and to have them take responsible measures to solve social and environmental issues. Public interests have recently mounted up with respect to environmental issues on the occasion of the Supreme Court's decision (2006Du330) on the fiercely debated reclamation project at Saemangeum. The majority Justices said that the expected environmental damages like probable pollution of water and soil were not believed so serious and that the Administration should continue to implement the project seeking ways to make it more environment friendly. In this case, though the Category A Saemangeum Project was carried out by a government agency, the Supreme Court behaved itself as a signal giver to approve or stop the environment-related project like an Equator bank in project financing. At present, there is no Equator bank in Korea in contrast to three big banks in Japan. Also Korean contractors, which are aggressively bidding for Category A-type projects in South East Asia and Mideast, might find themselves in a disadvantageous position because they are generally ignorant of the environmental assessment associated with project financing. In this regard, Korean banks and overseas project contractors should care for the revised Equator Principles and the latest developments in project financing more seriously. It's because its scope has expanded to the capital cost of US$10 million or more across all industry sectors regardless of developing countries or not. It should be noted that, for a Korean bank, being an Equator bank is more or less burdensome in a short-term period, but it must be conducive to minimizing risks and building up good reputation in the long run.