Assessing South Korea's role in promoting ESG investing in the Asia-Pacific

This paper assesses the potential for South Korea to be a regional leader in advancing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing, and supporting sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific region. Many economies in the Asia-Pacific region are facing threats from climate change or other environmental limits to growth. Thus, the expansion of ESG investment and green infrastructure is a major regional challenge that must be addressed for sustainable growth. We argue that Korea can play a central role in overcoming this challenge based on the following conjectures. First, Korea’s developmental legacy has allowed it to reshape its financial market and investment habits to quickly expand its ESG market. This model is more relatable to developing economy governments than those offered by Western economies. Sharing Korea’s experience and know-how with the region’s developing economies can augment their ESG compliance capacities and make them a more attractive destination for sustainable infrastructure investments. Second, Korea’s significant presence in the region as a major creditor and exporter can induce ESG adherence from the private sector as Korean investors enhance their commitment to ESG principles. While questions remain about the sustainability of Korea’s ESG adherence due to the market’s heavy reliance on government agency finance and ad hoc pandemic response investments, the increasing global interest in the ESG market makes it likely that the Korean government will continue to incentivize adherence to ESG principles.https://keia.org/publication/assessing-south-koreas-role-in-promoting-esg-investing-in-the-asia-pacific

Manifesting the embedded developmental state: the role of South Korea’s National Pension Service in managing financial crisis

Financial liberalization has noticeably reduced the role of the state in effectively influencing the economy in post-developmental states. Yet many studies have found that the legacies of the developmental model continue to influence the policies, institutions, and socioeconomic challenges that are faced by the states that previously adopted the model. These studies, however, do not clearly identify when and how such legacies may be manifested in state behavior. This paper contributes to filling this gap in the literature by arguing that financial crises can serve as a trigger to more clearly reveal the structural evidence of the legacy in institutions that were previously established and utilized for developmental objectives. By conducting a rigorous case analysis using historical and market data on the crisis responses of South Korea’s public pension fund, this paper finds that South Korea’s developmental legacy remains passively embedded in the governance structure of the pension fund in non-crisis times but manifests during financial crises.Accepted manuscrip

The varieties of financial statecraft and middle powers: assessing South Korea’s strategic involvement in regional financial cooperation

In recent years, the financial statecraft literature has expanded from a focus on great powers to encompass the behavior of emerging powers. While offering an important corrective, the literature does not yet adequately address the full variety of the emerging powers’ strategies of financial statecraft. In particular, we argue that regional middle powers behave differently from regional great powers even when they have similar capacities at the global level. For instance, both India and South Korea are categorized as emerging powers in the financial statecraft literature and deploy regional strategies to reduce their financial vulnerability. Yet their financial statecraft strategies have clearly differed in practice. India has sought to challenge the global status quo and influence its neighbors, while South Korea has pursued more modest and defensive goals. Drawing on the middle power literature, we posit that middle powers’ relative position within their home regions explains such differences among the financial statecraft of emerging powers. To demonstrate the utility of this approach, we examine South Korea’s financial statecraft in the Asia-Pacific region. We find that its position as a regional middle power effectively explains its patterns of bilateral and regional cooperation in the monetary sphere.The Academy of Korean StudiesAccepted manuscrip

Three Papers on the Politics of Financial Cooperation and Statecraft

2023Financial globalization has increased interdependence among financial markets in different regions, requiring new frameworks of analysis of the politics of interstate relations to fully understand global financial markets. The three papers in this dissertation manuscript address this demand by formulating multiple hypotheses on what drives financial cooperation between states, how states use asymmetries in interdependence for statecraft, and how monetary policies of one economy can influence the politics of others. The first paper argues that financial cooperation in the international monetary system has a hub-and-spokes structure, with the United States as the hub economy. It demonstrates that this structure affects other economies' motivation to engage in regional financial cooperation. The second paper addresses how volatility in the Fed’s balance sheet affects the level of support for incumbent regimes in other countries. It finds that the effects differ significantly between democracies and autocracies for those with higher reliance on the global financial market. The third paper builds on theories of middle power behavior and emerging economy financial statecraft to develop a theory of middle power financial statecraft and applies it to South Korea

Alkali-Silica Reaction and Residual Mechanical Properties of High-Strength Mortar Containing Waste Glass Fine Aggregate and Supplementary Cementitious Materials

Abstract This paper presents the influence of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), such as fly ash (FA), silica fume (SF), ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS), and waste glass fine aggregate (GA), on the alkali-silica reaction (ASR) in high-strength and normal-strength mortar using an accelerated mortar bar test (AMBT). Residual mechanical properties and scanning electron micrographs were used to assess the changes in the matrix. GA reduced the mechanical properties of both normal-strength (NGA_OPC) and high-strength mortars (HGA_OPC), contributing to a decline in overall performance. This phenomenon was a result of the slipping of the GA from the matrix owing to its smooth surface. However, the inclusion of reactive SF and GGBS in the HGA improved the slip phenomenon of the GA, leading to a significant enhancement in its mechanical properties. Following the ASR expansion measurement, HGA_OPC demonstrated an ASR expansion rate approximately three times higher than that of NGA_OPC. This was attributed to the dense structure of HGA_OPC, which resulted in greater expansion than that of NGA_OPC. However, with the incorporation of SCMs into both HGA and NGA, a significant reduction in ASR expansion was observed. This was attributed to the delayed ASR of GA due to alkali activation or the pozzolanic reaction of the SCMs. Continuous exposure to the AMBT environment can lead to the destruction of GA. This was caused by the inner ASR that originated from the surface crack of the GA, which resulted in a reduction in the flexural strength of the mortar. The HGA with SF exhibited the highest resistance to ASR expansion and residual mechanical properties’ degradation. Therefore, various durability and long-term performance-monitoring studies on ultra-high-performance concrete or high-strength cementitious composites with very high SF contents and GA can be conducted

Evaluation of mechanical properties and shielding effectiveness in mortar composites reinforced with waste aluminum alloy perforated sheets

This study explored the possibility of recycling aluminum waste scrap, an industrial byproduct resulting from the increasing production of capacitors, a vital component in the modern electronics industry, as a reinforcement material for buildings without the need for re-melting and forming process. To achieve this, an aluminum alloy perforated sheet (ALS) was developed that preserves the form of aluminum scrap and is coated with copper. ALS has the potential to be used as a reinforcing and electromagnetic wave-shielding material for building structures while suppressing the increase in self-weight. Therefore, in this study, ALS was reinforced in a highly homogeneous mortar and experimentally evaluated to determine whether it could improve the mechanical properties and electromagnetic shielding performance of the structures. Static compressive, tensile, and flexural strength tests were conducted to investigate the mechanical properties of the specimens reinforced with ALS, and electromagnetic shielding measurements were performed through waveguide tests. Among them, the tensile performance of the ALS-reinforced specimens increased to 229% in strain with a strength increase of up to 2.6 times, and the electromagnetic shielding effect was improved by 3.6 times. These results show that ALS can improve the mechanical properties and electromagnetic shielding performance of mortar specimens. In addition, based on the experimental results, this study evaluates the possibility of using ALS as a reinforcing material and discusses its applications in building systems

Limitations of a proper SFTSV mouse model using human C-type lectin receptors

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) is a tick-borne virus with a human mortality rate of up to 30%, posing a significant threat to public health. However, the lack of suitable research models has impeded the development of effective human vaccines. In this study, we engineered transgenic mice (3xTg) using a novel construct that simultaneously expresses three C-type Lectin receptors, identified as critical SFTSV entry receptors. While this construct substantially enhanced viral binding and infection in BJAB cells, the 3xTg mice exhibited only limited SFTSV replication in the lymph nodes and spleen, without significant impacts on morbidity or mortality. These findings highlight that the overexpression of entry receptors alone is insufficient to fully recapitulate human SFTSV infection in mice. Moreover, our results reveal that the introduction of multiple entry receptors does not necessarily translate to enhanced infection efficacy. This underscores the need for further investigation into the interplay between SFTSV entry mechanisms and host factors to develop more robust mouse models. Advancing such models will be crucial for unraveling the pathogenesis of SFTS pathology and improving strategies for its prevention and treatment in humans