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Alibaba and Coupang had enjoyed a period of success, starting with their IPOs. However, both companies have underperformed Amazon during the last 12 months. This special issue explores the underlying drivers for their tumultuous performance outcomes, including governance, political risks and internationalization strategies. This introduction paper sets the scene by studying the market perspective based on analyst reports, financial statements and stock market data. To understand growth expectations, we decompose current share prices into their present value, explained by current earnings and future value, driven by future growth and profitability. Exogenous factors such as the recent increase in interest rates, woes of governance problems associated with foreign corporations in South Korea and China's anti-monopoly drive aimed at its tech giants have contributed to weaker performance. Our analysis of implied growth rates suggests that the market expects annual revenue growth above 11% for the foreseeable future. These expectations will be hard to meet, requiring a rethink of business models and processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Exchange Market Pressure Index (EMPI) is an indicator of pressure on a currency. Because of the presence of serial correlation, financial time series may not be normally distributed even for large sample sizes. They may have undefined parameters and hence parametric tests of normality may give misleading results. In this paper, we look at the time series of EMPI of eleven countries of the world, put the data to normality check using tests suggested by various scholars. We also apply a test used exclusively for serially correlated data. No one has used this test earlier. In this context, we also compare the power of these statistical tests, which is another novel contribution of this paper. On the basis of these tests the EMPI time series is found to be non-normal. Two tests are found to be the most powerful. The test which is designed exclusively for time series data is found to be powerful only for China and South Korea, the countries which had the lowest EMPI- standard- deviation in the group of all the eleven countries studied in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With an increasing number of children diagnosed with Autism-Spectrum-Disorder in Canada, this paper focuses on how their mothers, as Asian immigrant women, experience the process of diagnosis and learn to parent their children. By taking two Asian (Korean and Chinese) mothers' critical personal narratives as major data sources, this paper aims to explore the diagnosis process of Autism-Spectrum-Disorder through a sociocultural lens on the intersectionality of (im)migrants and their cultural competence, and argues that their identity (re)construction and learning for parenting take place at the intersectionality of race, gender, class, and disability. This paper highlights possible implications for everyone involved in this 'medical' process, in the context of Canadian or other similar multicultural societies. Asian immigrant mothers usually have to deal with children with Autism-Spectrum-Disorder (ASD) and they have bitter experience of mistreatment tied to race, gender and class. This study reveals how Asian immigrant mothers struggled in their integration to Canadian society as well as their experiences of denial into Canada's medical system. The stories of these two women shed lights on the social and cultural aspects of immigrant mothers' learning strategies, including how they utilize accessible resources and networks for their children's treatment and diagnosis. This paper suggests that policymakers need to consider the social and cultural aspects of diagnosis in immigrant families to better fit their needs and provide them appropriate medical and social support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the establishment of "friendly and cooperative relations' in 1992, relations between South Korea and China have been continuously elevated almost every 5 years. The two countries have achieved great advancements in expanding civil exchanges, bringing economic relations closer, finding common ground in foreign policy and security and elevation of political relations. Despite the honeymoon period that the two countries experienced after they established diplomatic relations, however, conflict is now arising due to differences in opinion and interests in various fields such politics, economy, society, culture, diplomacy, and security. This paper will examine Sino-South Korean relations using the four factor model, which is based on four approaches, starting with economic relations, followed by perception and emotions, diplomacy and security and lastly, these factors" influence on domestic politics. Following this analysis, this paper will argue that despite their continuous but rocky developments, Sino-South Korean relations will sustainably maintain their development. Considering the synergy effect of bilateral relations, two countries are standing on the opportunity to build a New Type of Sino-South Korean relations which would allow for resolution of conflicts and misunderstandings through dialogue and communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the link between culture, history, government policies and the development of economic institutions. Specifically, the paper discusses the impact that history and culture, including the influence of Confucianism, have played in shaping the economic institutions of South Korea and the People's Republic of China. Research results indicate that culture, history and government policies all played a role in shaping the organizational structure of these two East Asian nations. However, China's economic landscape is dominated by small and medium-sized, family-oriented firms, particularly in the rural parts of the country. The South Korean economic landscape, on the other hand, is dominated by large conglomerate firms called Chaebols which are also dominated by one family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current environment is highly dynamic and undergoing continuous change, and the recent outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has shown how firms and governments need to act promptly to face unexpected threats. In this regard, location-based applications have been implemented successfully in China and South Korea, but in some Western countries, serious privacy issues have been raised. With these premises in mind, this paper has the aim of examining the factors that motivate or discourage users to adopt mobile applications able to trace location. The proposed model is based on the combination of the Protection Motivation Theory, the Theory of Planned Behavior, and the Technology Acceptance Model. A variance-based Structural Equations Modeling approach has been used to test the conceptual model using Partial Least Squares (PLS). The findings show that perceived usefulness positively influences attitude. In addition, subjective norms and self-efficacy were found to be the key drivers of the intention to adopt location-based applications, whilst perceived severity emerged as an important barrier. Finally, this study provides empirical evidence for the positive and significant relationship between the intention to use this type of apps and actual behavior. Academic and managerial implications are drawn and future research directions are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper applies the Markov-switching model to analyse the transition probabilities and generalized method of moments (GMM) with Newey–West heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation consistent covariance estimators (HAC) to examine the continuity of monetary policies in different countries when the U.S. and China change their monetary policies. Our results indicate that the euro area's monetary authority continues to increase/decrease their money supply to stimulate/depress the economy. In Japan, long-term economic recession motivated the Japanese government to maintain a loose money supply. The continuity of Korea's monetary policy in expansionary states lasts up to 5.1 years. Besides, the outcomes show the implementation of U.S. quantitative easing (QE), overnight reverse repurchase agreement (RRP), and Chinese RRP policies have significant spillover effects on other nations. Particularly, the effects on the euro area are the largest. Furthermore, although the monetary policies of China and the euro area seem to move in opposite directions, they are interdependent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The politics of international finance for coal power plants have intensified since the 2015 Paris climate agreement was negotiated. Over the past few years, Japan and South Korea have signaled their intent not to fund new coal projects overseas, leaving China and its Belt and Road Initiative as the 'financier of last resort.' In September 2021, China too announced its intent to stop providing finance for overseas coal projects. What accounts for their decision to cease financing overseas coal projects despite prominent differences in political systems, degree of internationalization of their financial systems, and economic size? Drawing on datasets of coal projects and financing supplemented by case material and interviews, this paper explores the dynamics of coal export finance and how the combination of international reputational pressures and declining demand for coal finance diminished the domestic support for incumbent coal exporters in all three countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper was to investigate the current status of read-across approaches in the Republic of Korea, Japan, and China in terms of applications and regulatory acceptance. In the Republic of Korea, over the last 6 years, approximately 8% of safety data records used for chemical registrations were based upon read-across, and a guideline published on the use of read-across results in 2017. In Japan, read-across is generally accepted for screening hazard classification of toxicological endpoints according to the Chemical Substances Control Law (CSCL). In China, read-across data, along with data from other animal alternatives are accepted as a data source for chemical registrations, but could be only considered when testing is not technically feasible. At present, read-across is not widely used for chemical registrations and regulatory acceptance of read-across may differ among countries in Asia. With consideration of the advantages and limitations of read-across, it is expected that read-across may soon gradually be employed in Asian countries. Thus, regulatory agencies need to prepare for this progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many social network sites (SNSs) have become available around the world and users' online social networks increasingly include contacts from different cultures. However, there is lack of investigation into the concrete cultural differences in the effects of contextual factors and privacy concerns on users' privacy decisions on social network sites (SNSs). The goal of this paper is to understand how contextual factors and privacy concerns cast different impact on privacy decisions, such as friend request decisions, information disclosure and perceived risk, in different countries. We performed a quantitative study through a large-scale online survey across the US, Korea and China to model the relationships between contextual factors, privacy concerns and privacy decisions. We find that the contextual influence and focus of privacy concerns vary between the individualistic and collectivistic countries in our sample. We suggest that multinational SNS service providers should consider different contextual factors and focus of privacy concerns in different countries and customise privacy designs and friend recommendation algorithms in SNSs in different countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a noncompetitive input-output analysis, this paper estimates the embodied carbon emissions in Sino-Korean trade from 2000 to 2014 from a new value-added perspective. In addition, using structural decomposition analysis, we decompose the factors driving embodied carbon emissions and analyze the carbon emissions responsibilities that China and Korea should each bear under "shared responsibility." Our results show that the traditional statistical method overestimates the true level of embodied carbon emissions and the overestimation rate is about 60%. Moreover, the input technology structure effect and the export scale effect are two important factors accounting for the surplus in China's embodied carbon emissions. In addition, under the principle of "shared responsibility," the carbon emissions values in trade are lower. This study offers a new way to scientifically allocate the responsibility of embodied carbon emissions in trade, which can ease the surplus of embodied carbon in global value chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the social construction of 'fashionability' – namely, what is 'desirable' and 'fashionable' – with reference to the concept 'cultural mediators' that foregrounds agency, negotiation and the contested practices of market actors in cultural production. It zeroes in on the cultural mediators' attitudes and positions in the two markets by drawing on 25 in-depth interviews with industry veterans. It shows that the mediators in South Korea and China increasingly occupy hybrid occupational roles and social positions across industries and sectors yet achieve limited success in countering the status quo of Western fashion through mediation. The analysis contributes to the literature with a categorisation of seven mediation practices that shape the valuation of fashion products (i.e. 'fashionability') in two ways. Empirically, this categorisation illuminates how cultural mediators make reference habitually to the broader social and cultural contexts to co-construct cultural-aesthetic objects. Theoretically, it advances a cultural-economic approach to the understanding of cultural mediation and challenges the reductionist viewpoint of actor–network theory through the notion of a matrix of cultural-economic agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines continuity and change in employment relations in two key industries – auto assembly and retail banking – across five countries: the USA, Australia, Germany, South Korea and China. The subsequent papers that constitute this symposium are discussed drawing on the varieties of capitalism (VoC) approach. Particular emphasis is laid on the interplay between continuity and change in employment relations in different types of capitalism, the conceptualization of Asian VoC and the industry-specific effects of globalization on employment relations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Combined sewer overflows (CSOs) are of major concern for urban water environment restoration that draws worldwide attention. The enaction of related policies, regulations, guidelines and criteria forms a crucial foundation for CSO control and management. Some developed countries, such as the US and European countries, are leading the CSO control and management worldwide and have developed a relatively completed legislative framework. Despite great efforts made worldwide, the existing combined sewer systems and severe illicit sanitary sewer connections to storm sewers still result in urban wet-weather flows (UWWF) pollution which is similar to or even more detrimental than CSOs, deteriorating receiving water bodies, particularly in developing countries. This article aims to review the history and evolution of CSO-related policies, regulations, permits, criteria, technical guidances and measures in typical developed countries to guide the UWWF pollution control and management in latecomers. It was found that the US has formed a complete system from national policies to states' control practices and proceeded to a green development stage. European countries have transitioned CSO control targets toward meeting water quality standards. In comparison, Japan and South Korea attach importance to end-of-pipe treatment and sewer management. On this basis, recommendations were proposed for long-term UWWF control and management in China. This is also expected to guide the enactment of related policies and regulations in less developed countries facing serious UWWF pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the structural changes of the Chinese economy and analyse how those changes have affected Korea's exports to China. Focusing on the evolution of Chinese development strategy and the changing role of China in global value chain during 2000s, we separate the role of Chinese external demand and domestic demand in Korea's exports to China. We also shed light on the driving force among Chinese GDP expenditure components in Korea's exports to China for different periods of time. The subsample analysis shows that Chinese external demand had a significant impact on Korea's exports to China before 2008, while Chinese domestic demand became important afterwards. More specifically, we find that Chinese investment is the most dominant expenditure component in determining Korea's exports to China in recent times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breaking with discriminatory views and segregated education for children with disabilities, regions often referred to as Confucian Heritage Regions (CHRs) have been moving towards inclusive education. Although some of these regions have been at the centre of attention in global education recently, there is a lack of research and information about how they 'do' inclusive education. Considering that reinforcing legislative foundations is of foremost importance for its fulfillment, this study examines legislation on the education of children with disabilities in four neighbouring CHRs: the Chinese Mainland , Japan, South Korea and China's Taiwan. The core principles that frame such legislation were analyzed and cross-compared. The findings show that despite the common Confucian heritage that is attributed to them systematically in studies of inclusive education – which is often said to influence the way disability is perceived and dealt with – the four Regions treat inclusion differently in terms of legislation. While some CHRs are clearly influenced by e.g. the USA, others are trying to design a specific perspective on inclusive education. The authors argue that the complex example of these CHRs can serve as an important template for studies on both inclusive and comparative education. The article also calls for the careful treatment of inclusive education beyond an essentialist and somewhat simplistic perspective that could reduce certain regions to a monolith. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the South Korean scholarship on modern Chinese history since 1945 can be characterized as apolitical with its objectivism, positivism, liberalism, and anti-communist nationalism. This characteristic is a product of not only the Cold War and the military regimes of South Korea but also the political orientation and stance of the senior historians who played an initial and decisive role in determining the goal, direction, and research methods of South Korean studies concerning modern China. The South Korean perspective they promoted usually meant the study of liberal, apolitical topics in Chinese history from a nationalist perspective without any political/ideological influences. The utility of modern Chinese history has mainly lain in helping to construct an anti-socialist, modern Korean nation–state through modernization. South Korean historians of modern China, the paper argues, have not been able to induce a meaningful, broad discussion of critical historical issues in modern China as they might pertain to South Korean society, thus failing to utilize them to help challenge and transform the undemocratic South Korean society and regimes. Hence, the future success of new academic undertakings since the 1990s by South Korean historians will be determined by whether or not they are able to make a radical break from the previous scholarship, in particular, from its objectivism and nationalism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines defense industrialization in three leading arms-producing states in Asia - India, Japan, and South Korea - and how their experiences compare to China's recent defense industrial developments. It argues that despite decades of considerable effort and investments in pursuit of a techno-nationalist self-arming strategy, these countries have experienced only modest success when it comes to achieving such self-reliance. Most regional defense industrial bases lack the necessary design skills and technological expertise in order to truly innovate, and at best these countries act as 'late innovators' when it comes to armaments production. The experiences of these countries have lessons for China as it attempts to move into the first tier of arms-producing states. China has over the past 15 years made significant progress in modernizing its defense technological and industrial base. At the same time, China faces the same long-term challenges that currently confront other regional arms industries - that is, making techno-nationalism work at the later stages of innovation. This is particularly critical as China's defense industry strives to move from a basically platform-centric to an increasingly network-centric technological-industrial process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to evaluate how South Korea’s inbound tourist arrivals from China have been affected by the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak. Using quarterly data, the autoregressive distributed lag model (ADLM) is performed to capture the influence of the MERS outbreak. Estimation results of the general ADLM reveal that the MERS outbreak has a significant adverse impact on the total inbound tourist arrivals from China, as well as on tour arrivals; however, for business, official, and other types of tourist arrivals, its influence is insignificant. Furthermore, the error correction model is estimated to demonstrate the long-run equilibrium and short-run dynamics among the underlying variables. Our analysis not only provides empirical evidence on evaluating the impact of the MERS outbreak on different types of tourism demand, but also identifies main determinants and suggests appropriate model specifications for each type of tourist arrivals. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The spectacular economic success of the Newly Industrialising Countries (NICS) of Asia since the 1960s, has led to the quest to identify other less developed countries which may be just about to become the next NICS of Asia. This paper examines the arguments for and against the view that there is a "second tier" of less developed countries which are about to join the ranks of the Asian NICS. While Malaysia and Thailand are generally thought to be the most likely candidates, this paper argues that one hitherto unrecognised contender. China, is likely to join these countries in achieving NIC status. This paper examines the question of whether there are likely to be more Newly Industrializing Countries (NICS) emerging over time, following in the footsteps of the original four in Asia (Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan). While some writers suggest that several developing countries are about to achieve NIC status in the near future, others argue that world trading conditions have deteriorated to such an extent as to make this very unlikely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article introduces various papers published within the issue, including one on the integration of integrity management in the performance evaluation of Korean public enterprises, another on attitudes towards political corruption in China and a paper on value-based integrity management.

This study expands the prior corporate social responsibility (CSR) studies in East Asia by demonstrating that vertical individualism, which is a rarely studied dimension for consumers in East Asia, plays an important role in processing CSR ads. Furthermore, based on the generational cohort theory and gender theory in the cultural context, through an online survey design, this study's findings show that the effect of vertical individualism on consumers' purchase intention varied across generations in East Asia: Korea (study 1; n = 221; 51% female) and China (study 2; n = 201; 47% female). For consumers in China, regardless of gender, vertical individualism is a crucial factor in triggering a strong purchase intention toward CSR ads among older consumers. However, for consumers in Korea, gender effects were found that females (males) were not sensitive (were sensitive) to the effects of vertical individualism on product evaluations across generations. Theoretical and managerial implications are further discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What explains the persistence of what many in the West now consider a 'backward' or 'archaic' cultural practice: eating dog meat? How does such a tradition remain in place despite a widespread world outcry condemning it, especially in countries that are undergoing rapid processes of globalisation, such as China and South Korea? In this paper, we address these questions by exploring recent developments in the cultural practice of eating dog meat in South Korea. More specifically, we examine the South Korean case in light of globalisation theories that would largely predict the demise of such practices in response to external pressure brought by international organisations and NGOs seeking the expansion of universal standards and values such as 'progress', or in this case, 'animal rights'. While the spread of universal values and cultural homogenisation are central elements of much theorising on globalisation, the world polity perspective (Boli and Thomas, American Sociological Review, 62 (2), 171-190, 1997) also leaves room for the persistence of particularisms within the world polity. Amid strident debates over the consumption of dog meat coinciding with the 1988 Olympic Games and 2002 World Cup, the Korean government had to negotiate the demands of competing groups of NGOs that were split on the dog meat issue. These groups followed and articulated two different 'universal norms': animal rights and cultural rights, but in the end, it appears that the cultural rights side has been more influential in shaping the Korean polity with respect to dog meat policy. We rethink the world polity theory by emphasising the way in which isomorphism and decoupling processes may overlap and occur simultaneously. Based on our exploration of the Korean debate and its consequences, we term the existence of this hybrid of decoupling and isomorphism as 'tactful resistance'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid rise of competitive space activities within Asia, this study examines the prospects for increasing international cooperation. After discussing relevant conceptual issues, it surveys the space policies particularly of China, India, Japan, and South Korea and examines the skewed patterns of cooperation seen at the international, regional, and bilateral levels. It then analyzes the historical, technology, and political factors that have impeded, especially regional, space cooperation in Asia to date. The study concludes that expanded regional space cooperation is an unlikely near-term outcome, but the paper also argues that the risks entailed in the current situation are growing and that US policy initiatives could make a difference in helping to lead countries out of this dead-end. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Beijing Olympics have been watched closely by the South Korean media. In this paper its response to anticipated Chinese dominance of the Games, not least on the part of women, will be monitored, collated and analysed. Of particular interest is the South Korean media's extrapolation of expected Chinese dominance to future geo-political circumstances in the Western Pacific Rim and the possible consequences for South Korea. Are the Beijing Olympics a harbinger of the changing nature of political relationships in the region? Is this a concern of the South Korean media? If so, what is the nature of this concern and how are future relations with the Asian nascent superpower viewed? And far from least, if Chinese women come out on top in the Games what will be the political consequences for gender outcomes for South Korea? Is this of interest to the South Korean media? If not then why not? Finally, with the balance of power slowly and steadily shifting in the Pacific Rim region what does the media consider that the anticipated dominance of China at the Games imply for the relationship between South Korea and the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scale of development and deployment of open source software (OSS) in the three Northeast Asian countries-China, Japan, and South Korea-is large enough to be noticed at the global level. OSS has redefined the dynamics of software markets in the three countries and has brought significant structural changes in their software industries. Governments have played a pivotal role in the development of OSS industry in the region. Governments in the three countries have also created impetus for continental collaborations in OSS projects. This paper examines the roles and contributions of governments to the OSS initiative in the three countries in terms of a number of technology visions and goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the development of the Six-Party process through to the joint statement by the parties on September 19, 2005, considers the subsequent decision by North Korea to stage a nuclear test in the context of the apparent stasis of the process, and then reviews the international condemnation that was the result of those tests. North Korea's decision to return to the talks is then discussed in light of the policy issues that must be solved if the September 19 principles can be realized in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine recent trends of South Korea's outward foreign direct investment from 2001 to 2021, which shows substantial change in terms of the total amount and compositions. Using gravity models, we test whether these differential time trends across the industries and destination countries survive after incorporating economic factors. Controlling for economic conditions, we find that the FDI to China has been declining much earlier than the China–South Korea political dispute, while the FDI to USA shows a steady increase, making it the top FDI destination throughout the sample period. Investment in tax haven shows rapid increase across all sizes of South Korean investors and therefore, further research is needed on its implications for tax evasion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the Japanese and South Korean governments' reshoring and diversification policies of supply chains especially away from China since the early 2010s, with particular attention to the measures taken under the 2020–21 pandemic. The article also explores how much Japanese and South Korean reshoring from China, a subset of foreign economic policy, counts as economic statecraft as a deliberate government attempt to achieve geopolitical objectives using 'economic' means. One would expect these governments, which innovated proactive industrial policies and guided the private sector to catch up with developed economies in the 20th century, to have an easy time encouraging businesses to re-shore. While these two governments have employed various policy instruments to shift their economic dependence away from China, there is only limited success in motivating businesses to return to their homeland. This leads to an intriguing departure in our understanding of the capacity of those two Asian nations, which used to be considered prototypical 'developmental states' where governments have significant influence over business behaviour. This research brings more nuance and complexity to prevailing state-as-unitary-actor assumption of the economic statecraft literature and advocates closer attention to domestic sources of foreign economic policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on signalling theory and using the cases of Alibaba and Coupang, we investigate whether and how venture capital-backed companies from emerging markets use CSR to overcome the liability of foreignness when going public in the US. Our findings suggest that such firms strategically increase their CSR activities prior to their IPO in order to signal legitimacy to investors. They also suggest that firms with both strong and weak CSR signalling strategies (as measured by signal cost, frequency and consistency) are equally likely to have successful IPOs when they are backed by reputable venture capital firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organized economic cooperation among China, South Korea (Republic of Korea) and Japan has been difficult due to the "Asia Paradox" and different interests. However, the digital age is fostering cooperation and interdependence among the three countries. As a result, it is time to explore new areas and methods of cooperation. Therefore, this study focuses on and analyzes the possibility and impacts of digital trade cooperation among the three countries in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Applying a tripartite cooperation model, this study analyzes the relative advantages of the three countries in digital trade and the "benefits" and "costs" of establishing a Digital Trade Agreement (DTA). The research indicates that the power basis for establishing an equal relationship exists. However, the "cost" of establishing a trilateral DTA is higher than the short-term "benefit," providing insufficient motivation to develop a trilateral DTA in the short-term. Nevertheless, this study suggests that in the long run, due to new opportunities and crises, the three countries will still seek to pursue a DTA in different ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dracocephalum rupestre (tribe Mentheae; Lamiaceae) is a perennial herb from Korea and China with high ornamental and medicinal value. Here, we report its complete chloroplast genome to provide insight into the phylogenetic relationships of Dracocephalum. The genome is 151,230 bp long, with two inverted repeat regions (25,643 bp each) that separate a large single-copy region (82,536 bp) and a small single-copy region (17,408 bp). It contains 133 genes that encode 88 proteins, eight rRNAs, and 37 tRNAs. The maximum-likelihood phylogenetic analysis strongly supported Dracocephalum monophyly, showing that the genus forms a sister group with the subtribe Menthinae in the tribe Mentheae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China and South Korea resumed negotiations on delimiting their maritime boundary in 2015. The overlapping maritime area of China and South Korea requiring delimitation lie mainly in the South Yellow Sea (SYS). This article proceeds on the basis that the two states probably reached a preliminary agreement on the limits of the first-stage maritime delimitation area, in which there are no third-party interests involved. This article selects 37°N and 32°N as the northern and southern limits of the first-stage maritime delimitation area on the basis of public information available. This article proposes that China and South Korea can delimit a single maritime boundary for their exclusive economic zones (EEZs) and continental shelves by applying the equidistance/relevant circumstances method, and then following the three-stage approach. After applying the three-stage approach to this case, this author concludes that the adjusted equidistance line/potential delimitation line will probably move toward South Korea, departing from the provisional equidistance line. The potential delimitation line of EEZ/continental shelf between the two states probably extends generally south-southwest-southeast. This author calculates that the coastal length ratio between the two states is approximately 1:2.14 in favor of China and the ratio of the relevant baselines length is approximately 1:1.47 in favor of China. This author deduces that the ratio of the allocated relevant areas is approximately 1:1.17 in favor of China and the ratio of the allocated provisional measure zone (PMZ) of the 2000 China–ROK Fishery Agreement is approximately 1:1.44 in favor of China, both under the adjusted equidistance line scenario, measured by the WGS 1984 Web Mercator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transboundary particulate matter (PM) pollution in Northeast Asia has raised tremendous concerns in China, South Korea, and Japan, leading to a proliferation of publications in recent years. This article summarizes the existing knowledge on the source-receptor relationship (SRR) of transboundary PM pollution between China, South Korea, and Japan with a focus on approaches, current understanding, and limitations. We found that eastern-, northern- and northeastern China are the most contributing source areas within China to PM pollution in both South Korea and Japan, but it remains debatable whether China contributes more PM pollution to South Korea or Japan than those countries themselves. Considerable differences have been reported in the estimations of China's relative contributions to receptor countries, and higher estimations were usually obtained from studies that focused on short time periods, used outdated emission inventories, and had few or no international collaboration. China's contributions range from 26% to 56% for South Korea and from 13.6% to 53.9% for Japan if the analysis periods are limited to one or several years and the receptors are limited to an entire country. We attributed these differences to the discrepancies in the analysis periods, analytical approaches, modeling settings, definitions of source and receptors, and international collaboration. We also demonstrated that current SRR studies face the challenges from data quality issues in PM measurement data and emission inventories, limited temporal and spatial scales in modeling, and limited analytical perspectives concerning the allocation of environmental responsibilities. Suggestions for future research are provided to address these challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary economic coercion increasingly features the use of 'informal' sanctions—government-directed disruption of international commerce that is not enshrined in official laws or publicly acknowledged as coercive, yet which seeks to impose costs on key firms or industries in a target country in order to achieve strategic objectives. We investigate how 'informality' mediates the link between economic interdependence and coercive power, leveraging the most significant contemporary case of informal sanctions: China's apparent retaliation against South Korea's deployment of the terminal high-altitude area defense (THAAD) missile system between 2016 and 2017. We offer three contributions. First, we introduce a new qualitative dataset that carefully documents extensive evidence of the South Korean actors and industries that experienced disruption, the mechanisms through which disruption occurred, and its apparent impacts. Second, we use that evidence in a theory-testing exercise, evaluating the utility of hypotheses from the extant literature on formal sanctions in explaining how informal sanctions are used, and which industries they target. Finding the established wisdom offers some insight but only general expectations, our third contribution is theory development: we use the THAAD case as a heuristic to conceptualize informal economic sanctions, and specify two new variables—regulatory availability and opportunism—that mediate their use and impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on the insights of the constructivist school approach, this article joins the debate on the effects of rising China in Asia. The existing scholarship devoted to no-material aspects of China's rise focused either on China's 'soft power' initiatives or their reception by certain audiences. In this article, rising China and its governance model, are construed as a form of productive power, one that is expected to bring about not only shifts in material relations and perceptions but also transformations in the national identities of countries in the region. This article focuses on South Korea and Thailand, two countries with fundamentally different political systems but a similar pattern of recent interactions with China. It analyzes the policymaking elites' discourse and public attitudes and explores the productive effects of China's rise on national identities in the two countries. This article argues that the impact of China's rise on elites' discourse has been largely negligible with narratives on kinship and historical ties being used by the elites mostly for instrumental reasons. At the same time, this article suggests that the recent shifts in public attitudes towards greater acceptance of authoritarian values observed in South Korea and Thailand, may be indicative of the productive effect of rising China on national identities in both countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19, as a global public health crisis, represents a major concern for international tourism. This study aims to explore the influence of COVID-19 on international tourists' self-protection motivations, and the role of mass media in this process. Protection motivation theory (PMT) was adopted as the guiding theoretical framework, and mass media coverage was integrated into the model as a moderating construct. Online survey data were collected to explain and predict the protection motivation of potential tourists from South Korea travelling to China under the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was performed to examine the significant factors that could evoke self-protection motivation. Results indicate that respondents' perceptions of the severity of the pandemic and self-efficacy as a coping strategy have the greatest impact on self-protection motivations. Furthermore, positive mass media coverage moderates the relationship between self-efficacy and self-protection motivation, while negative mass media coverage moderates the relationship between vulnerability and self-protection motivation. Theoretical and practical implications on how to encourage travel in a post-pandemic period are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, South Korea implemented relatively flexible quarantine measures such as recommending social distancing. In contrast, China strictly controlled the pandemic, enforcing a ban on going out. This study examined the process of forming people's pro-social tourism behavioral intention in both countries considering the differing disciplinary techniques in response to COVID-19. We employed a framework combining the Norm Activation Model and the Theory of Planned Behavior. This study contributes to creating a safe tourism environment, proposals for revitalizing tourism activities, and measures to ensure that tourism services are in line with public health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This introductory review essay examines some of the key concepts and approaches framing the ongoing debate around mixed communities and housing regeneration policies around the world. This review summarizes past positive and negative side effects of social mix reported in the extant international literature. It then describes social mix housing policies in the Global East and the Global South, including China, Japan, South Korea, sub-Saharan Africa, and Singapore. In moving forward, the review essay adopts Galster and Friedrichs's challenge to think about the progressive reformation of a "social mix version 2.0"—what it might look like, and what the policy implications of such an improved version of social mix might be. Three policy implications are discussed: intentionality of social mix; mixed-income housing transit-oriented design; and learning from the Global East and Global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is a digital asset backed to fiat currencies issued and regulated by reputable national financial institutions. Bearing in mind accelerating developments in financial technology and CBDC, this study explored tourists' adoption of CBDC as a payment method by focusing on the relationship between attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, mass media coverage, fear of missing out relative advantages, and perceived risk. A socio-psychological theory was utilized as a theoretical framework. The survey data were collected from China, Korea, and the US. The proposed framework strongly supported Digital Korean Won and Digital Yuen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Korea deployed the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) antimissile system in response to North Korea's nuclear test, leading to the Chinese government's opposition to THAAD, citing national security concerns. Chinese consumers held a large-scale "boycott for Korean products" campaign in 2014. In the same year, the China–South Korea free trade agreement (FTA) was signed. This study compares the double-difference (DID) and triple-difference (DDD) models using the impact of the THAAD political conflict on South Korean exports. In the DID model, THAAD reduced South Korean exports, while in the DDD model, the FTA effectively alleviated the impact of THAAD. The net difference of the FTA's impact on the commodities boycotted in response to the THAAD conflict exists because some boycotted commodities were promoted by the FTA while others were not. The effect of the THAAD event shock was significant only in the first two years, with minimal subsequent changes in growth. THAAD and FTA's dynamic effects provide evidence of how political conflict can eventually influence popular opinion and how the trade policy plays a significant role in the national conflict resolution. Finally, the study provides additional evidence on the effect of non-tariff barriers triggered by THAAD on the service industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines how crises in Korea, as well as rivalry between the U.S. and China, are influencing military strategies in Asia. The sinking of the South Korean Navy warship “Cheonan” by North Korea in March 2010 and the North Korean attacks on South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island in November 2010 have evoked different responses from China and the U.S. While China states that it wants to facilitate peaceful development in the region, the author attests that its long-term goal is to secure influence and exert power. The paper urges that the U.S. seek to maintain primacy in Asia for strategic purposes.

The article focuses on economic growth and economic development models in Latin America. It states that Latin American governments have used three different economic development models in the 20th Century: the Ricardian comparative advantage model, the import substitution industrialization model, and trade liberalization. It comments on problems with trade liberalization and its negative effects on economic recovery in many Latin American countries. It examines long-run economic growth patterns in Latin Americans between 1960 and 2006 and compares it to Asian economies in China, India, and South Korea which did not use the Washington Consensus framework.

The purpose of this article is to examine the Republic of Korea's (ROK, South Korea hereafter) diplomacy mainly during the Park Geun-hye and Moon Jae-in administrations, focusing on its efforts to develop a "strategic cooperative partnership" with China while emphasizing its alliance with the US amid the intensifying strategic competition between the US and China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a critical comparative analysis of the systematic ways in which technology and big data practices are employed in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in China and South Korea. This study argues that the success of the strategies depends not on isolated applications of technological tools but the responsive socio-technological webs of a wide range of actors and resources mobilized and coordinated through well-functioning technological, public health, and administrative infrastructures in the two countries. Moreover, the characteristic responses in the two countries, ranging from the coordination and mobilization by the state, health care and digital infrastructures as public good provision, to risk communication with the public, shed light on how the dynamics of risk society plays out along the developmental paths of the two East Asian societies. The future-oriented infrastructures for governance in risk society, the study concludes, are constituted in the imbrication of institutional, historical, and cultural factors, of which technologies are only but one part. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patrinia monandra C. B. Clarke is traditionally used for the treatment of inflammation, typhoid fever, injuries due to falls, abdominal pain, malaria, and acute appendicitis ulcers in China and Korea. In this study, the complete chloroplast genome of P. monandra was sequenced using the Illumina HiSeq X-Ten platform. It had a circular shape and a length of 158,940 bp, with 38.51% GC content. It contained a large single-copy region of 87,641 bp, a small single-copy region of 12,807 bp, and two inverted repeat regions of 29,246 bp. In total, 128 different genes, including 83 protein-coding genes, 37 distinct tRNA genes, and eight rRNA genes, were identified. Maximum-likelihood phylogenomic analysis showed that P. monandra is closely related to Patrinia scabiosifolia and Patrinia villosa in the Valerianaceae family. There were 4535 variable sites, 157,354 conserved sites, and 3085 singleton sites in the six Patrinia chloroplast genomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the roles and characteristics of Korean-Chinese tour guides during the rapid socio-political changes between China and Korea. Data were obtained through in-depth interviews with 12 guides working in South Korea and were analyzed using the grounded theory framework. Open coding gave 98 conceptual labels, 30 subcategories, and 13 main categories. This study allows us to innovatively investigate the psychological changes in Korean-Chinese tour guides affected by political influences. However, most of the data was collected from males in their 30s using cross-sectional analysis, a longitudinal study would therefore strengthen the value of our approach in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case study elaborates on the benefits and challenges of lecturer-led, class-level online international collaboration between two colleges in Korea and China, based on the students' feedback and the lecturers' reflections. More specifically, this study reports the content of collaboration as group assignments in 2015 and online joint classes in 2018. Students' reflections on each task were collected and thematically analyzed. The results show that students perceived enhanced understanding of the topics and each other's regions through the two collaborative activities. Furthermore, informal interactions among the students from the two different cultures appeared to facilitate intercultural understanding and enhance intercultural competence as a result. Students particularly appreciated the inclusive nature of this educational method, which is not bounded by prior educational achievement and financial restrictions. Reflections from the two lecturers further illustrate the challenges with joint class organization, including class scheduling, aligning course content, language issues, and technical problems. This study addresses consideration for international class collaboration among tertiary educational institutions at the class level in the field of tourism and leisure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The late Mesozoic tectonics of the North China Craton (NCC) and its adjacent regions were characterized by a general lithospheric extension and remarked by extensional dome structures, such as the metamorphic core complexes, syn-tectonic plutons, rolling-hinge structures, and widespreadgraben/half graben basins. According to our own field observations, laboratory work, and previous results of other groups, from north to south, five extensional domains have been delineated, namely Transbaikalia–Mongol–Okhotsk, western part of NCC, eastern part of NCC and Korea, Qinling–Dabie and its neighbouring, and the interior of South China Block, respectively. As the largest crustal scale extensional tectonic realm in the world, these domains are featured by a NW–SE extensional direction with strong extensional exhumation of middle to lower crust rocks to the surface along detachment faults. Geochronological work on these ductile detachment faults constrain a narrow activity period around 130 Ma except several extensive structures along the Tan–Lu fault, which documents a relative longer extensional period. The foundering of the lower part of the lithosphere could be a possible mechanism of this continent-scale extensional tectonics. This geodynamic model could help us to enhance the knowledge of the time, scale, and mechanism of the NCC destruction from the view of structural analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aggregate export supply function for US corn and bilateral import functions for US corn by Mexico, Japan, China, South Korea, and the EU are estimated using ARDL estimation techniques. The findings of the study show that export price, technology, and lagged exports impact positively on US corn exports, while real effective exchange rates and ethanol production negatively impact US corn export. In addition, the current import price had a negative effect on Mexico, China, and the EU demand for US corn. However, for Japan and South Korea, it is the previous price that negatively affects corn import. More so, livestock production, NAFTA and WTO involvement positively affected corn import by all importing countries. Also, the Chinese population positively impacted corn import from the US. GDP in Mexico, Japan, South Korea, and the EU had a positive effect on corn imports, while China's GDP impacted negatively on corn imports. More so, the US has a more price elastic supply of corn. Mexico, Japan, South Korea, and the EU have price inelastic demand for US corn, while China has price elastic demand suggesting China is very price sensitive. The results of this study have important implications for global corn trade and the US economy. The results suggest that increases in livestock production in all importing countries could lead to a significant increase in demand for U.S. corn. Also, policies that enhance NAFTA and WTO could lead to a dramatic increase in demand for U.S. corn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]