Audiovisual services in Korea: Market development and policies

This paper reviews economic development and the regulatory environment of audiovisual services in the Republic of Korea (hereafter, Korea). The paper specifically examines motion pictures and broadcasting, and discusses what drives or hinders the sector's trade potential. Korean motion pictures have benefited greatly from the elimination of government censorship, substantial investment capital, especially from the 1990s, and frequent invitations from prestigious international movie festivals. The trade potential of Korean audiovisual services depends on whether Korean audiovisual services providers create high quality content that can be shared locally and/or universally. As recently proven in Korea's film industry, Korean content does have trade potential. The most important prerequisite for high quality content is the generation of creative ideas, which would be hindered by strong government censorship and controls. The restrictive Korean broadcasting sector should learn from the success of the Korean film industry in this regard

Trade Liberalization and Manufacturing Productivity Changes in Korea during the Past Three Decades

The main objective of this study is to determine whether there have been TFP increases in the Korean manufacturing sector due to trade liberalization since the 1990s. Based on the methodology proposed by Pavcnik (2002), which focuses on the channel through which trade liberalization measures enhance overall industrial productivity by triggering the exit of low-productivity firms, this study tests the following two hypotheses: first, the TFP increase in the Korean tradable industry is not higher than that in the non-tradable industry, and second, plants with lower TFP levels did not exit from the tradable industry. Through the rejection of these two hypotheses, it is possible to infer indirectly the effect of trade liberalization on firm productivity rates in Korea since the 1990s. First, this analysis reveals that since the 1990s, the TFP of the tradable sector compared to the non-tradable sector presented a statistically meaningful increase only in the 2000s, when China joined the WTO and trade increased sharply between Korea and China. Secondly, TFP growth in the tradable sector was positively affected by exits, as it was plants with lower TFP levels that ceased to exist

Deep learning-based statistical noise reduction for multidimensional spectral data

In spectroscopic experiments, data acquisition in multi-dimensional phase space may require long acquisition time, owing to the large phase space volume to be covered. In such case, the limited time available for data acquisition can be a serious constraint for experiments in which multidimensional spectral data are acquired. Here, taking angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) as an example, we demonstrate a denoising method that utilizes deep learning as an intelligent way to overcome the constraint. With readily available ARPES data and random generation of training data set, we successfully trained the denoising neural network without overfitting. The denoising neural network can remove the noise in the data while preserving its intrinsic information. We show that the denoising neural network allows us to perform similar level of second-derivative and line shape analysis on data taken with two orders of magnitude less acquisition time. The importance of our method lies in its applicability to any multidimensional spectral data that are susceptible to statistical noise.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure

Quantum electron liquid and its possible phase transition

Purely quantum electron systems exhibit intriguing correlated electronic phases by virtue of quantum fluctuations in addition to electron-electron interactions. To realize such quantum electron systems, a key ingredient is dense electrons decoupled from other degrees of freedom. Here, we report the discovery of a pure quantum electron liquid, which spreads up to ~ 3 {\AA} in the vacuum on the surface of electride crystal. An extremely high electron density and its weak hybridisation with buried atomic orbitals evidence the quantum and pure nature of electrons, that exhibit a polarized liquid phase as demonstrated by our spin-dependent measurement. Further, upon enhancing the electron correlation strength, the dynamics of quantum electrons changes to that of non-Fermi liquid along with an anomalous band deformation, suggestive of a transition to a hexatic liquid crystal phase. Our findings cultivate the frontier of quantum electron systems, and serve as a platform for exploring correlated electronic phases in a pure fashion.Comment: 29 pages, 4 figures, 10 extended data figure

The global trade environment in the Biden era and response strategies for Korea

Many expect that the trade war between the US and China will persist, and East Asia's global value chains will undergo a significant transformation in the mid- to long-term, as China's contracts while that of ASEAN expands. Accordingly, to effectively respond to the coming changes, Korea should adopt proactive strategies to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and attract quality FDI in an effort to realize sustainable growth

Evaluation of special economic zone policy and suggestions for vitalization of free economic zone

The competition among countries to attract anchor businesses with significant economic ripple effects is intensified each day. In this regard, the current eight Free Economic Zones must be reduced in number in order to enhance their competitiveness and they must serve as 'new testing ground for regulations' so as to facilitate differentiation from Free Economic Zones of competing countries. - The government has maintained special economic zone policy to boost foreign investment, but questions have been raised about its effectiveness. - In eight free economic zones, the proportion of undeveloped land is close to half the total land area of designated areas. For example, in Donghae-Yulchon Free Economic Zone, the occupancy rate is even less than 30%. - The number of foreign-invested firms located in special economic zones account for less than 4% of the total and in the case of free economic zones, more than 90% of its occupants are domestic firms. - There is little factual evidence which suggests that foreign-invested firms located in special economic zones outperform domestic firms. - As locational considerations, foreign investors consider market accessibility and infrastructure to be of paramount importance. Nonetheless, the locational competitiveness of Korea's free economic zone is not superior to that of its competitors such as China, Hong Kong and Singapore. - The locational disadvantage of free economic zone should be overcome by recruiting a pool of professionals, but Korea faces difficulties in this regard. - Korea has to redefine its policy goal for free economic zone as 'testing ground for regulation,' and revoke the designation of several free economic zones whose policy goal is hard to achieve. Thereafter, it should reestablish the revoked zones as high-tech innovation complex or foreign investment zones. - In order to vitalize foreign investment, focus should be shifted from quantity to quality; the country's foreign investment management system which oversees and supports attraction of foreign investment should be enhanced in terms of its professionalism, and policies to attract foreign investment should become more flexible

Mounting Uncertainties in the Global Trade Order and Korea's Policy Response

The US-China trade war is propagating uncertainties within the global trade order, weakening global value chains and the WTO system. These uncertainties pose a considerable threat to the Korean economy which is heavily dependent on foreign trade. To tackle this, the Korean government needs to positively consider joining the CPTPP and make efforts to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of policies for the materials and components industries as well as export support

Lessons from the dispute over Korea’s digital certification regulation and policy suggestions for electronic commerce

For e-commerce to serve as a platform for innovation, all forthcoming regulations on e-commerce must adhere to the principles of technological neutrality and private sector-driven leadership and should include additional policy goals of enhancing consumer benefit and protection. It is important to consistently develop and implement policies that reflect the different roles of government and the private sector, and resolve the fragmentation within government ministries. - Dispute over digital certification has been ongoing for the past ten years with respect to its mandatory use as a means to verify personal identity in online banking and electronic commerce. - Digital certification was adopted "to ensure the safety and reliability of electronic messages and to promote their use" in response to the expansion of electronic transactions. - The principle of technological neutrality was adopted in the revised Digital Signature Act which went into effect in April 2002. - Although the government implemented the mandatory use of digital certification in 2002, it was only legislated in 2007. - It was after the 1st Ministerial Meeting on Regulatory Reform and Public-Private Joint Regulatory Reform Conference held by the President on March 20th, 2014 that the government became active in the establishment of improvement measures. - The latest revision of the Electronic Financial Transactions Act does not recognize the FSC's authority over the choice of authentication method e.g. digital certification. - Digital certification may be a safe authentication method for financial institutions and electronic financial service providers, but it does not guarantee consumers' security as it is exposed to the risks of loss or hacking. - Between January and September 2014, a total of 19,388 digital certificates were reportedly leaked, and consumer damages caused by phishing and pharming sites are growing rapidly. - The regulation on digital certification serves to reduce investment in the information security of e-commerce providers. Indeed, according to relevant data, Korean companies have invested little in IT security and the number of encryption patents is very small. - The government should develop and implement comprehensive, organic measures by resoling fragmentation issues within different ministries. - The mandated use of digital certification in electronic financial transactions has resulted in the standardization of authentication methods. And, although this may have its merits, in an industry like e-commerce which undergoes rapid technological progress, a hasty approach of standardization could cripple investment in and innovation of new technologies. Forthcoming regulations on e-commerce should fully respect the principles of technological neutrality and private sector-driven leadership in accordance to the US-Korea Joint Statement on Electronic Commerce. Korea suffers from a significantly higher number of personal information leaks per 100,000 persons than the US. All forthcoming regulations on e-commerce should have additional policy goals on consumer benefit and protection