UNIVERSAL DESIGN APPLICATION THROUGH SOUTH KOREA REDEVELOPMENT (A Study Review)

The evolution toward Universal Design was began in the 1950s with a new attention to design for people with disabilities. At the same era South Korea began their development after several wars. Recently some of researchs and projects in South Korea which conducted on Universal Design concept are increasing in quantity and widening in multidiciplinary areas to make a better living for people in South Korea. This study examined those researches and projects to determine the progress of Universal Design principles application in South Korea in several periods and evaluated the result by the project’s purpose. This study is a review from several literatures related to universal design application in South Korea. The Review revealed that South Korea has published regulations, guidelines and law based on universal design principles. South Korea has established universal design principles as fundamental basis in designing and developing their public space, public facilities building and elderly residential houses. Application of universal design influenced the knowledge of diversity for people especialy in disability and elderly. Universal design encourage people with diversity in ability, ages, gender to live together without barrier to access and use every facilities in their regions. Keywords : Universal Design, Development, South Korea, Review, Diversit

Eun Kyeong Cho Assistant Professor of Education, COLA, travels to South Korea

Professor Cho traveled to South Korea in summer 2011 to make a presentation at an international seminar and to meet colleagues to continue an on going collaboration with South Korean researchers at the Korea Institute of Child Care and Education (KICCE)

Japan-North Korea relations since the North-South Summit: stuck in an ever deepening and divisive rut

Japan-North Korea relations have slipped into an ever deepening and divisive rut since the North-South summit of 2000, with little prospect of significant improvement in the near term. Japan has both intentionally and unintentionally constructed around itself a framework of international and domestic policy constraints that impede its ability to engage North Korea both bilaterally and trilaterally via US-South Korea-Japan co-ordination efforts. In particular, as the US and South Korea contemplate renewed engagement efforts with the North, Japan’s ability to follow its trilateral partners is hamstrung by domestic pressure on the abductions issue. The consequence could be that Japan will find itself as the most reluctant and least able of the trilateral partners to engage the North. In turn, this could mean that it is unable to provide crucial background support for international engagement efforts, and even undermine overall US and South Korea strategy. Meanwhile, the incapacitation of Japan’s diplomatic policy has had the effect of strengthening Japanese military containment efforts towards the North

Pushing Forward: A Look into the Environment of South Korean Female Film Directors

The Busan International Film Festival, held in Busan, South Korea, is known as Asia’s largest film event, drawing filmmakers and movie stars from all over the world. The 2017 festival witnessed a notable feat in which for the first time, the festival was bookended by films directed by women (Brasor). Though the filmmakers themselves argued that the lineup of their films was unintentional, nonetheless the event shows that female directors were gaining notice at the festival—an uncommon trend globally and in South Korea. Though conditions are improving, female film directors face unique social and economic challenges in South Korea, a society traditionally rooted in Confucian ideals and recovering from a violent recent history

How South Korean Means Support North Korean Ends: Crossed Purposes in Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation

North and South Korea share the same political and strategic aim of integration and eventual unification of Korea, although they remain divided in their understanding of what should be the specific nature of the unified Korea. Both states, in their own ways, use the same instruments of unification policy; these are military deterrence, political diplomacy,economic cooperation, and humanitarian assistance. Economic cooperation and humanitarian assistance provide the main instruments of inter-Korean cooperation, albeit in an unequal manner as it is South Korea that provides the major funding for cooperation projects. The paper evaluates whether South Korea receives economic or political value for money in its expenditure on inter-Korean cooperation. This is not therefore an argument about the military and political instruments of the unification strategies of North and South but instead remains focused on the nature and modalities of economic cooperation. My thesis is that economic instruments are being used for cross-purposes and that this should matter to South Korea as it is unwittingly helping North Korea achieve aims which it does not share, and, as a logical consequence, weakening its ability to achieve its own unification goals. I argue that South Korean means need to be re-calibrated with South Korean ends. I also argue that the South Korean unilateral approach to economic cooperation, while beneficial in opening up relations with the North, has now run its course. A determined complementary strategy of economic and humanitarian multilateralism will enable it to pursue its own agenda at the same time as supporting the moral imperative, shared by the majority of South Korea’s electorate of every political hue, of assisting the impoverished North Korean population in the short-, medium- and long-term

Shrimp amongst Whales? Assessing South Korea’s Regional-power Status

Recent developments in South Korea’s foreign and security policies as well as major structural adjustments in the military alliance between the United States and South Korea indicate a new self-understanding on the part of South Korea in terms of playing a more assertive role in regional and even global affairs. Alongside its involvement in the so-called Six-Party Talks—a multinational framework to disarm a nuclear North Korea—South Korea’s civil-military engagement in Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon demonstrates that the government’s foreign policy posture is not only focused on Northeast Asian affairs but is also intended to engage in other international security hot spots. However, although it has considerable material resources and capabilities—in neorealist terms constituting the power base of a state actor—South Korea is widely seen as a minor player in world politics. By means of a specific set of indicators—pretension, endowment, influence, recognition—this paper seeks to answer the question of whether South Korea is a regional power. The methodological approach used to evaluate its position will be based on analytical frameworks and typologies compiled from the literature on regional powers. Following the introduction of this approach, different concepts of the term regional power and the selection of the methodological instruments are presented. The subsequent section analyzes the selected set of indicators with regard to South Korea’s potential status as a regional power. The concluding chapter evaluates the findings and raises further questions related to the regional-power concept.regional power, South Korea, foreign and security policy, intersubjective un-derstanding

Pending U.S. and EU Free Trade Agreements with South Korea: Possible Implications for Automobile and Other Manufacturing Industries

[Excerpt] South Korea has negotiated free trade agreements (FTAs) with the United States and the European Union (EU), but neither agreement has yet been approved. The U.S. Congress must approve the United States and South Korea free trade agreement (KORUS FTA) and the European Parliament must vote on the European Union and South Korea free trade agreement (KOREU FTA) before the FTAs can take effect. If the FTAs are ratified, it is possible there could be a “first mover” advantage for either the United States or the European Union, depending on which FTA is approved first. Some argue that both agreements have shortcomings and should not be approved. This report provides U.S. lawmakers with a comparison of the manufacturing components in the KORUS and KOREU FTAs. Congressional interest in an FTA between the European Union and South Korea mostly centers on those U.S. industries competing with European industrial sectors, especially motor vehicles. The two pending FTAs raise questions about what it could mean for U.S. manufacturers if the United States takes longer, or fails altogether, to implement the KORUS FTA, while the European Union and South Korea possibly move ahead to approve and implement their outstanding FTA. In such a case, the possibility exists that the removal of tariff and nontariff barriers between the European Union and South Korean markets could result in U.S. manufacturers losing South Korean market share to European competitors. On balance, most U.S. and European manufacturing sectors, with some auto manufacturers in particular among notable dissenters, argue that the pending FTAs will be beneficial and are largely supportive. On the other side, labor unions in the United States and the European Union are considerably more skeptical, claiming that South Korean companies could be the biggest beneficiaries, since they could gain even greater access to the significantly larger U.S. and EU markets. Labor union leaders say the FTA will result in further job losses as their respective manufacturing workforces compete for market share with competitive South Korean manufacturers in their own domestic markets

ECONOMIC REFORMS, HUMAN CAPITAL, AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN INDIA AND SOUTH KOREA: A COINTEGRATION ANALYSIS

By employing a multivariate time series model, this study advances theoretical and empirical research on the role of economic reforms and human capital accumulation in the post-reform economic growth. We construct two indexes £­a human capital index and a composite economic reform index£­ and perform a cointegration analysis of a long-run equilibrium growth path in India and South Korea twelve years after the implementation of reform. The significant positive effect of human capital accumulation is revealed in both India and South Korea. The impact of economic reforms is found to be heterogeneous across countries: the effect is positive, significant, and sizable in South Korea, while it is negative and relatively small in India. This result is suggestive of different degrees of efficiency of reform measures implementation in two countries.Economic Growth, Human Capital, Economic Reforms, India, South Korea

The EU-South Korea Free Trade Agreement and Its Implications for the United States

[Excerpt] On October 6,2010, the 27 member European Union (EU) and South Korea signed a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA). The agreement is expected to go into effect on July 1, 2011, pending approval by the European Parliament and the South Korean National Assembly. If enacted, the South Korea-EU FTA (KOREU FTA) would be the largest FTA in terms of market size that South Korea has entered into. The KOREU FTA reflects the EU and South Korean trade strategies to use FTAs to strengthen economic ties outside their home regions. It also builds upon the surge in trade and investment flows between South Korea and the EU over the past decade. This agreement has possible implications for U.S. trade with South Korea and congressional action on the proposed U.S.-South Korea FTA (KORUS FTA). The proposed KOREU FTA is very comprehensive. It would reduce and eliminate tariffs and other trade barriers in manufactured goods, agricultural products and services and would also cover such trade-related activities as government procurement, intellectual property rights, labor rights and environmental issues. Most studies done on the potential impact of the KOREU FTA estimate that the agreement will have a small but positive effect on the economies of the EU and South Korea as a whole and that the larger relative impact would be on the South Korean economy. The greatest economic impact of the KOREU FTA would be on specific sectors in each economy. EU services providers would be expected to experience gains from the agreement, especially in the areas of retail and wholesale trade, transportation services, financial services, and business services. In terms of trade in goods, EU exporters of pharmaceuticals, auto parts, industrial machinery, electronics parts, and some agricultural goods and processed foods would be expected to gain from the KOREU FTA\u27s implementation. At the same time, South Korean manufacturers of cars, ships, wireless telecommunications devices, chemical products, and imaging equipment would be expected to increase their exports to the EU market. The KOREU FTA is similar to the proposed KORUS FTA in many respects. Both agreements are comprehensive and both would eliminate tariffs on most trade in goods soon after they enter into force. However, they differ in other respects. Phase-out periods for tariffs on some manufactured goods differ. In addition, the KOREU FTA does not cover foreign direct investment. Unlike the KORUS FTA, the KOREU FTA would not allow trade sanctions to be applied where violations of the workers\u27 rights, and environment provisions have been deemed to occur. In addition, the KORUS FTA would cover a broader range of trade in services than would the KOREU FTA. It is not clear whether these differences in the structures of the FTAs would result in appreciable differences in outcomes in terms of economic gains and losses. U.S. and European firms are close competitors in a number of sectors and industries, particularly autos. Some business representatives argue that enactment of the KOREU FTA before enactment of the KORUS FTA would give European competitors commercial first mover advantages, since EU firms, such as those in the auto industry or the services sector, could gain greater market opportunities in South Korea not afforded to US. firms. On the other hand, other factors could also mitigate such advantages. For example, U.S. multinational firms operating in the EU could benefit from the KOREU FTA. Nevertheless, the content and fate of the KOREU FTA could influence the pace and tone of any debate in the United States on the KORUS FTA in the 112th Congress