• Title/Summary/Keyword: the military of north korea

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Roles and strategic functions of the Jeju Naval Base (제주 해군기지의 역할과 전망)

  • Lee, Choon Kun
    • Strategy21
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    • s.39
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    • pp.140-162
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    • 2016
  • The construction of Jeju Naval Base was finally completed and donated to the Republic of Korea Navy on February 26th this year. There is no doubt that the new base will contribute to the substantial augmentation of Korea's naval power and maritime security. However, we should note that the new naval base took a long and hard twenty-three years to be completed. In the 21st century, Korea should adopt a new strategy that can fulfill the security requirements of Korea for the new age of international relations. The 21st century is characterized by globalization, and in the world of globalization, a national boarder has become meaningless. In the late 20th century, after the Cold War, trade between countries have greatly increased and so did the importance of the seas. Having transformed from an agricultural country into a commercial country, Korea went from a continental state to a maritime state. Korea has become the 9th largest trading state, and obviously, the importance of the sea has become significant. Korea's national strategic focus needs to be on the sea for national survival. Thus, since the 1990s, the Korean Navy has planned to build the Jeju Naval Base. Jeju, due to its geopolitical characteristics, is extremely important to the 21st century Korea's economy and national security. Jeju is the starting point of the sea route that reaches out to the world, and at the same time, the ending point of the sea route that heads towards Korea. Jeju is located in the center of Northeast Asia and thus, Jeju Naval Base is extremely important for the area's security and order. Jeju Naval Base will be very useful not only for the maritime security of Korea, but also for keeping peace and order in Northeast Asia. Jeju Naval Base was the minimal effort against the six sea route security threats towards Korea. The six sea route threats are: 1) Threat from North Korea; 2) China's Threat towards Korea's sovereignty; 3) China's treat towards Korea's fishery; 4) Threat from Japan; 5) Threat towards Korea's sea routes; 6) Threat from recent phenomena of isolationism of the United States. Jeju Naval Base is built for both warships and civilian ships--such as cruise ships--to use. Just like the United States' Pearl Harbor, Jeju Naval Base will become not only the largest military base, but a beautiful tourist site.

The Korea Maritime Security and National Economy (한국의 해양안보와 국가경제)

  • Park, Eung-Soo;Ko, Kwang-Soob
    • Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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    • v.14 no.1
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    • pp.251-258
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    • 2010
  • The Republic of Korea is the maritime country of which its infrastructure of the country's development is based on maritime trade. This can be easily understood according to degree of dependence upon foreign trade, which is the economic indicator for expressing one country's economic characteristics. In 2008, the degree of dependence upon foreign trade of Korea is 83.5%, and this figure is much higher than that of Japan and China, which is 28.8% and 68% respectively. This in turn means that the development of Korea, and also the security of Korea depends greatly on safety of the sea. On the other hand, there is a growing trend that threats to the maritime security of Korea increases as examples seen in Somalia pirates. Thus we could say that interest on this issue should increase and also measures to counter those threats should be prepared. Also Korea should take the maritime security as important as critical factors as national security, which is similar to military threats from North Korea. Therefore all citizen's interests on the issue should be raised, and organizations that are capable of mutually integrating the functions related to maritime security should be established. Finally, Korea should actively participate international efforts on maritime security, and secure maritime security of our nation therefore contribute to the nation's prosperity and future development.

An Empirical Analysis of the Determinants of Defense Cost Sharing between Korea and the U.S. (한미 방위비 분담금 결정요인에 대한 실증분석)

  • Yonggi Min;Sunggyun Shin;Yongjoon Park
    • The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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    • v.10 no.1
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    • pp.183-192
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    • 2024
  • The purpose of this study is to empirically analyze the determining factors (economy, security, domestic politics, administration, and international politics) that affect the ROK-US defense cost sharing decision. Through this, we will gain a deeper understanding of the defense cost sharing decision process and improve the efficiency of defense cost sharing calculation and execution. The scope of the study is ROK-US defense cost sharing from 1991 to 2021. The data used in the empirical analysis were various secondary data such as Ministry of National Defense, government statistical data, SIPRI, and media reports. As an empirical analysis method, multiple regression analysis using time series was used and the data was analyzed using an autoregressive model. As a result of empirical research through multiple regression analysis, we derived the following results. It was analyzed that the size of Korea's economy, that is, GDP, the previous year's defense cost share, and the number of U.S. troops stationed in Korea had a positive influence on the decision on defense cost sharing. This indicates that Korea's economic growth is a major factor influencing the increase in defense cost sharing, and that the gradual increase in the budget and the negotiation method of the Special Agreement (SMA) for cost sharing of stationing US troops in Korea play an important role. On the other hand, the political tendencies of the ruling party, North Korea's military threats, and China's defense budget were found to have no statistically significant influence on the decision to share defense costs.

A study on Korea's defense export expansion strategy - Focusing on Korea-Poland Defense Export Case - (한국의 방산수출 확대 전략 연구 - 한·폴란드 방산수출 사례를 중심으로 -)

  • Geum-Ryul Kim
    • Convergence Security Journal
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    • v.23 no.4
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    • pp.141-151
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    • 2023
  • Since the end of the Cold War in the 1990s, European countries have cut defense costs and reduced armaments as an era of peace without large-scale wars continues, and as a result, the West's defense industry base has gradually weakened. On the other hand, South Korea, the world's only divided country, was able to achieve high growth in the defense industry as a result of continuous arms strengthening in the face of North Korea's nuclear and missile threats. With the rapid increase in demand for conventional weapons systems and changes in the structure of the global defense market due to the Russia-Ukraine war, Korea's weapons system drew great attention as a large-scale defense export contract with Poland was signed in 2022. In 2023, K-Defense ranked ninth in the world's arms exports and aims to become the world's fourth-largest defense exporter by 2027. Therefore, this study analyzed the case of Korea-Poland defense exports to derive problems, and presented development strategies related to export revitalization of K-Defense, a national strategic industry. In order for the defense industry to become Korea's next growth engine, it is necessary to establish a defense organization, prepare government-level measures to protect defense industry technology, and expand military and security cooperation with allies linked to defense exports.

Status and Preservation of Cultural Relics in the Demilitarized Zone (비무장지대(DMZ) 문화유적 현황과 보전방안)

  • Lee, Jae
    • Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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    • v.52 no.1
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    • pp.216-241
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    • 2019
  • There are 35 cultural properties of fourteen kinds in the Demilitarized Zone known so far, but this number is expected to increase in the future. Among them, Cheolwon-Doseong and Jeongol-Chong of Gimhwa should be the first step toward conservation efforts by conducting a joint investigation through the collaboration of North and South Korea. In particular, the joint investigation of Cheolwon-Doseong will not only remind the North and South that they are the same people who have had common history and cultural traditions for a long time, but will also give symbolic meaning to convert the demilitarized zone into a stage for peace. Since Jeongol-Chong is a mass grave of the fallen soldiers of Pyeongan Province who fought against the invasion of the Qing of China, it should be managed as a national designated cultural asset through joint investigation. In addition, the Demilitarized Zone should become a World Heritage Site because of its importance to the legacy of the Korean War, an international war caused by an ideological confrontation. Furthermore, it has more than 6,000 kinds of temperate forests in addition to 100 species of endangered species and natural monuments. The DMZ is very qualified to be a World Natural Heritage Site, and should be included as a World Complex Cultural Heritage Site that qualifies as a World Heritage and World Natural Heritage Site. In the Demilitarized Zone, we can also find numerous highlands, tunnels and posts used during the Korean War, as well as surveillance posts, a military demarcation line, barbed wire fences, and Panmunjom, which were created by the armistice agreement. it would be desirable to select some of its sections and war facilities and to register them as modern cultural heritage assets. Finally, it is necessary to reconstruct the Dorasan Signal Fire Site, which was the communication facility of a traditional era which connected the South (Dorasan) and North (Gaesong). This would symbolize smooth communication between the two Koreas. In order to prepare for the reckless development of the Demilitarized Zone due to the upcoming cease-fire, the government and cultural asset experts will have to work hard to identify and preserve the cultural properties of the Demilitarized Zone, and they will also have to maintain consistent control over matters such as indiscriminate investigation and mine clearance.

Comparison of NSC system in the U.S., Japan, and the Republic of Korea (NSC(국가안전보장회의) 체제의 한미일 비교)

  • Kwon, Hyuck-Bin
    • Korean Security Journal
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    • no.37
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    • pp.29-50
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    • 2013
  • With the recent global threats of terrorism as well as religious conflicts, Northeast Asian countries including South Korea, China, and Japan are experiencing particularly serious security crises as demonstrated by North Korea's threats of nuclear weapons testings and long-range missile launching as well as military provocation toward South Korea such as sinking of ROKS Cheonan and bombardment of Yeonpyeong island and the territorial dispute between China and Japan over Senkaku Islands(Diaoyu Islands). As a result, Park Geun Hye Administration of South Korea and the 2nd Abe Shinzo Cabinet of Japan, both recently established, are making efforts to improve their national security and crisis management policies. One of the key elements of such efforts is the strengthening of National Security Council(NSC) or its equivalent organization as the control tower of national security policy, modeled after the NSC of the United States. This paper compares NSC organization of Korea, the U.S., and Japan and draws policy insights focusing on the current political and national security situation South Korea is facing. Although organizational structure, function, and history of NSC of each country differs, it can be inferred from this comparison that NSC-type of organizations can play an important role as a control tower of security and emergency management policies.

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Outer Space Activities and an Observation of Related Laws of Korea (국내 우주활동과 관련법 소고)

  • Park, Won-Hwa
    • The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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    • v.24 no.2
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    • pp.163-186
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    • 2009
  • The missile technology and its development in south Korea have been restrained to the limit of 180 km by America which instead provided to Korea with security protection. In the same vein, America pressured South Korea to abort its nuclear weapons program so as to prevent another possible military encounter that can easily develop into a war between South and North Korea. This restraint was a bit relaxed when South Korea joined the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) in 2001 whereby the limit was 300 km. The situation of South Korea is in much contrast with its neighbor, North Korea, which has fired Taepo Dong 1 and Taepo Dong 2 to put its alleged satellite respectively into the Earth orbit. The range of this rocket believed to be reaching more than 5,500 km, a range of the intercontinental ballistic missile, without any rein. South Korea that has just geared its full powers for its outer space industry, with the current space projects of putting its satellites into the low Earth orbit, will in future put its satellite into the geostationary orbit, 36,000 km above the Earth. To do so, such restraint had better be resolved. Korean space industry, as it is alike in other countries, started with putting and manufacturing sounding rockets, producing satellites but relying on foreign launching facilities, and learning launching capacities. Experiencing three time launchings of KITSAT, the current satellite projects of Korea are undertaken as follows: - Koreasat - STSAT - Komsat - MBSAT - COMS (Communication, Ocean, and Meteorological Satellite) Koreans waked up to the things of outer space in 2008 with the first Korean astronaut Li So-yeon, a lady bio systems engineer. Although the first Korean made rocket in cooperation with a Russian company to fire last August 2009 was a failure, it should be considered as an inevitable process for future endeavors. There are currently three outer space related laws of Korea: Aerospace Industry Development Promotion Act 1987, Outer Space Development Promotions Act 2005, and Space Damage Compensation Act 2008. The first two stemming from the two different ministries are, however, overlapping in many aspects and have some shortcomings to be improved.

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The Development Aspects of Korean Political Theatre Movement (한국 정치극의 전개 양상 - 1920년대부터 80년대까지의 정치극운동을 중심으로 -)

  • Kim, Sung-Hee
    • Journal of Korean Theatre Studies Association
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    • no.52
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    • pp.5-59
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    • 2014
  • This paper investigates the development and aesthetics of Korean political theatre from its quickening period 1920s to democratization era 1990s. Political theatre before 90s developed an antithesis resistant movement toward Korean modern history that had been scattered with suppressing political circumstances such as colonial era and dictatorial government, the movement has powerful activity and social influences. Just like the 20 century political theatre had been quickened under the influence of Marxism at Russia and Germany in 1920s, Korea's political theatre began in socialism theatre movement form around the same time. Proletarian theatre groups had been founded in Japan and Korea, and developed into practical movement with organized connection. However, the political theatre movement in Japanese colonial era was an empty vessel makes great sound but not much accomplishments. Most performance had been canceled or disapproved by suppression or censorship of the Japanese Empire. The political theatre in liberation era was the left drama inherited from Proletarian theatre of the colonial era. Korean Theatre alliance took lead the theatrical world unfold activities based on theatre popularization theory such as 'culture activists' taking a jump up the line and 'independent theatre' peeping into production spot as well as the important event, Independence Movement Day Memorial tournament theatre. Since 1947, US army military government in Korea strongly oppressed the left performances to stop and theatrical movement was ended due to many left theatrical people defection to North Korea. The political theatre in 1960s to 70s the Park regime, developed in dramatically different ways according to orthodox group and group out of power. The political theatre of institutional system handled judgment on sterile people and had indirect political theatre from that took history material and allegory technique because of censorship. In political theatre out of institution, it started outdoor theatre that has modernized traditional performance style and established deep relationship with labor spot and culture movement organizations. Madangguek(Outdoor theatre) is 'Attentive political theatre', satirizing and offending the political and social inconsistencies such as the dictatorial government's oppression and unbalanced distribution, alienation of general people, and foreign powers' pillage sharply as well as laughing at the Establishment with negative characters. The political theatre in 1980s is divided into two categories; political theatre of institutional system and Madangguek. Institutional Political theatre mainly performed in Korea Theatre Festival and the theatre group 'Yeonwoo-Moudae' led political theatre as private theatre company. Madangguek developed into an outdoor theatrical for indoor theatre capturing postcolonial historical view. Yeonwoo-Moudae theatre company produced representative political plays at 80s such as The chronicles of Han's, Birds fly away too, and so on by combining freewheeling play spirit of Madangguek and epic theatre. Political theatre was all the rage since the age of democratization started in 1987 and political materials has been freed from ban. However, political theatre was slowly declined as real socialism was crumbling and postmodernism is becoming the spirit of the times. After 90s, there are no more plays of ideology and propaganda that aim at politicization of theatre. As the age rapidly entered into the age of deideology, political theatre discourse also changed greatly. The concept 'the political' became influential as a new political possibility that stands up to neoliberalism system in the evasion of politics. Rather than reenact political issues, it experiments new political theatre that involves something political by deconstructing and reassigning audience's political sense with provocative forms, staging others and drawing discussion about it.

Rethinking Korean Women's Art from a Post-territorial Perspective: Focusing on Korean-Japanese third generation women artists' experience of diaspora and an interpretation of their work (탈영토적 시각에서 볼 수 있는 한국여성미술의 비평적 가능성 : 재일동포3세 여성화가의 '디아스포라'의 경험과 작품해석을 중심으로)

  • Suh, Heejung
    • The Journal of Art Theory & Practice
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    • no.14
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    • pp.125-158
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    • 2012
  • After liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945, there was the three-year period of United States Army Military Government in Korea. In 1948, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and Republic of Korea were established in the north and south of the Korean Peninsula. The Republic of Korea is now a modern state set in the southern part of the Korean. We usually refer to Koreans as people who belong to the Republic of Korea. Can we say that is true exactly? Why make of this an obsolete question? The period from 1945 when Korea was emancipated from Japanese colonial rule to 1948 when the Republic of Korea was established has not been a focus of modern Korean history. This three years remains empty in Korean history and makes the concept of 'Korean' we usually consider ambiguous, and prompts careful attention to the silence of 'some Koreans' forced to live against their will in the blurred boundaries between nation and people. This dissertation regards 'Koreans' who came to live in the border of nations, especially 'Korean-Japanese third generation women artists'who are marginalized both Japan and Korea. It questions the category of 'Korean women's art' that has so far been considered, based on the concept of territory, and presents a new perspective for viewing 'Korean women's art'. Almost no study on Korean-Japanese women's art has been conducted, based on research on Korean diaspora, and no systematic historical records exist. Even data-collection is limited due to the political situation of South and North in confrontation. Representation of the Mother Country on the Artworks by First and Second-Generation Korean-Japanese(Zainich) Women Artists after Liberation since 1945 was published in 2011 is the only dissertation in which Korean-Japanese women artists, and early artistic activities. That research is based on press releases and interviews obtained through Japan. This thesis concentrates on the world of Korean-Japanese third generation women artists such as Kim Jung-sook, Kim Ae-soon, and Han Sung-nam, permanent residents in Japan who still have Korean nationality. The three Korean-Japanese third generation women artists whose art world is reviewed in this thesis would like to reveal their voices as minorities in Japan and Korea, resisting power and the universal concepts of nation, people and identity. Questioning the general notions of 'Korean women' and 'Korean women's art'considered within the Korean Peninsula, they explore their identity as Korean women outside the Korean territory from a post-territorial perspective and have a new understanding of the minority's diversity and difference through their eyes as marginal women living outside the mainstream of Korean and Japanese society. This is associated with recent post-colonial critical viewpoints reconsidering myths of universalism and transcendental aesthetic measures. In the 1980s and 1990s art museums and galleries in New York tried a critical shift in aesthetic discourse on contemporary art history, analyzed how power relationships among such elements as gender, sexuality, race, nationalism. Ghost of Ethnicity: Rethinking Art Discourses of the 1940s and 1980s by Lisa Bloom is an obvious presentation about the post-colonial discourse. Lisa Bloom rethinks the diversity of race, ethnicity, sexuality, and gender each artist and critic has, she began a new discussion on artists who were anti-establishment artists alienated by mainstream society. As migration rapidly increased through globalism lead by the United States the aspects of diaspora experience emerges as critical issues in interpreting contemporary culture. As a new concept of art with hybrid cultural backgrounds exists, each artist's cultural identity and specificity should be viewed and interpreted in a sociopolitical context. A criticism started considering the distinct characteristics of each individual's historical experience and cultural identity, and paying attention to experience of the third world artist, especially women artists, confronting the power of modernist discourses from a perspective of the white male subject. Considering recent international contemporary art, the Korean-Japanese third generation women artists who clarify their cultural identity as minority living in the border between Korea and Japan may present a new direction for contemporary Korean art. Their art world derives from their diaspora experience on colonial trauma historically. Their works made us to see that it is also associated with postcolonial critical perspective in the recent contemporary art stream. And it reminds us of rethinking the diversity of the minority living outside mainstream society. Thus, this should be considered as one of the features in the context of Korean women's art.

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Comparison of Precipitation Distributions in Precipitation Data Sets Representing 1km Spatial Resolution over South Korea Produced by PRISM, IDW, and Cokriging (PRISM, 역거리가중법, 공동크리깅으로 작성한 1km 공간해상도의 남한 강수 자료에서 강수 분포의 비교)

  • Park, Jong-Chul;Kim, Man-Kyu
    • Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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    • v.16 no.3
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    • pp.147-163
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    • 2013
  • The purpose of this study is to compare precipitation distributions in precipitation data sets over South Korea produced by three interpolation methods. The differences of precipitation caused by interpolation methods is an important information when the interpolated precipitation data sets were used in researches such as ecological and hydrological modeling as well as regional climate impact studies. In this study, the precipitation data sets were produced by IDW(Inverse Distance Weighting) and Cokriging in this study and the PRISM(Precipitation-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model) data set obtained from Climate Change Information Center of Korea. The spatial resolution of the precipitation data is 1km. As a result, there was a great precipitation difference caused by interpolation methods in data of mountainous watersheds in general. Especially the difference of monthly precipitation was 10~20% or more in the mountainous watersheds near the Military Demarcation Line dividing North and South Korea, Mt. Sobaik, Mt. Worak, Mt. Deogyu, Mt. Jiri and Taeback Mountain Range. It means that a final result of a research can be affected by adopted interpolation method when an interpolated precipitation data set is used in the research for the these study sites.