Today, English is spoken by more non-native speakers than native speakers; current estimates by Graddol (2007) indicate five to one. With this transformation English has become the international language of business and intercultural communication. The emergence of English as Lingua Franca is apparent in Korean society where English plays a defining role in educational, career, social, cultural, and economic domains. Despite such inextricable links the acquisition of English in Korea has not been successful. This study examines the relationship between Korean university students' International Posture or non-ethnocentric attitude (Yashima, 2002, p. 57) and their L2 (Second Language) Learning Motivation, and L2 Proficiency in English, first described by Yashima (2002) in her study of Japanese EFL (English as a Foreign Language) tertiary students. The methodology used in this thesis was quantitative as it employed Likert scales in order to elicit students' International Posture, and L2 Motivation, and obtained L2 Proficiency from percentile grades in the TOEIC exam. With the use of path analysis software, AMOS 7, data from 118 university freshman (majoring in English literature) from Hannam University, South Korea were analyzed in order examine the relationship between International Posture, L2 Learning Motivation, and L2 Proficiency among South Korean EFL students. The results indicated a significant and very strong relationship between International Posture and L2 Learning Motivation and a significant and moderate relationship between L2 Learning Motivation and overall L2 Proficiency. The findings of the study conclude that EFL learner motivation can be understood by an agglomeration of integrative and instrumental motivational orientations. The findings in this study also suggest that the tendency for Korean EFL learners to approach, rather than avoid, interaction with people of different cultures is especially important to understanding Korean tertiary level students' attitude, motivation and performance in EFL. These findings could be implemented in the classroom by providing Korean EFL learners with safe and appropriate opportunities to interact with foreigners. Potential areas for further research include longitudinal studies (utilizing both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies) that look into the effect of EFL learner age, gender, and teaching pedagogy on International Posture, L2 Learning Motivation, and L2 Proficiency.

Export Processing Zones (EPZs) are about thirty years old now (ILO and UNCTC. 1988). Their effects and influence on third world economic development and on international industrial restructuring have been criticised by different literatures. I wish to combine my practical experience of working in Shenzen Special Economic Zone for four years, with research to compare four EPZs’ development in four East Asian countries and area: Massan Zone in Korea, Kaohsiung Zone in Thailand, Shenzen Zone in China and Lat Krabang Zone in Thailand. This intended to explore the effect of EPZs on the economic development of those countries, and to provide a series of comparative data (especially on the zone of China about which there is little information).

South Korea should join the US BMD in Northeast Asia. Application of Offensive Realism clearly shows that China is a potential threat to South Korea, and Seoul requires an alliance partner in order to counter the threat from the west. The immense latent power and offensive military capabilities of China, coupled with its nuclear strategic weapons render China as a potential threat to South Korean national security. No independent action from South Korea would be sufficient to balance against China, hence the need for an ally. The United States is already engaged in relative power maximization against China. In addition, its role as an offshore balancer and status as a regional hegemon in the western hemisphere makes the US the most ideal alliance partner for South Korea. The alliance with the US to balance against China cannot be built upon the existing ROK-US alliance, because the current status of the alliance has deteriorated. One of the key causes of alliance deterioration could be attributed to the unilateral American security assistance to South Korea. Seoul’s participation in the US BMD would solve the non-reciprocating role of South Korea found in the existing ROK-US alliance. Because the benefits from South Korea’s participation in the US BMD are great for Washington, Seoul would be able to secure the US as an alliance partner to balance against China. Keywords: US, South Korea, China, Ballistic Missile Defense, ROK-US Alliance, Offensive Realism.

Export Processing Zones (EPZs) are about thirty years old now (ILO and UNCTC. 1988). Their effects and influence on third world economic development and on international industrial restructuring have been criticised by different literatures. I wish to combine my practical experience of working in Shenzen Special Economic Zone for four years, with research to compare four EPZs’ development in four East Asian countries and area: Massan Zone in Korea, Kaohsiung Zone in Thailand, Shenzen Zone in China and Lat Krabang Zone in Thailand. This intended to explore the effect of EPZs on the economic development of those countries, and to provide a series of comparative data (especially on the zone of China about which there is little information).

Beginning with the year 2000, the political society of South Korea has undergone a development towards more transparency. The increasing emergence of civil organizations as well as their new-orientation favoured the development of an alternative “online-public” which tries to mediate between the public’s interests and the state. The influence of this online-public, who profits from the fast and various ways of communication via internet, is best shown by some successful examples of online-action in the economic and the political sector. This gives credence to Dick Morris’ postulated rise of the internet to be the “fifth power” of the state.

This thesis emphasizes the role of being an information society in countries&rsquo / development perspective / furthermore aims to study the economic, social and structural dimensions of information society related policies with the case studies of Turkey and South Korea. Although in 1950s Turkey and South Korea had similar characteristics in terms of basic economic and social indicators, Turkey has lagged behind in South Korea in terms of development perspective and information society parameters. In addition, information society levels of Turkey and South Korea are measured and compared by ICT development index. Information society policies of South Korea and Turkey are analyzed in the scope of national science and technology policies separately. In theoretical perspective, transforming to information society is analyzed on the basis of &ldquo / Deployment policies in the field of ICT&rdquo / and &ldquo / Two models of network policy formation&rdquo / . The findings of the study indicate that, although hegemonic ruler organizations determine science and technology and transforming to information society related policies, government should not apply these policies without considering their internal dynamics. These policies should be re-evaluated and modified in the scope of national advantages and priorities. In addition, this study aims to indicate the importance of the role of science and technology policies on being an information society for 21st century.

This thesis examines the planning and organization of the Munich 1972 and Seoul 1988 Olympic Games with a specific focus on how the South Korean and West German governments attempted to use the Games to positively change their images abroad. Both countries attempted to distance themselves not only from their own war torn pasts, but also from their Communist counterparts, East Germany and North Korea. The West German government (and the Munich Olympic Committee) hoped to create a “peaceful” and “carefree atmosphere” that would directly counter images of Nazism, and the South Korean government (and the Seoul Olympic Committee) sought to use the Olympics to legitimize a military dictatorship and prove the country’s economic growth following the Korean War. By giving the Games so much importance, however, both governments transformed the Olympics into a flashpoint for international and domestic conflicts, and unforeseen events, such as the Black September terrorist attack, the South Korean democracy movement, and North Korea’s demands to co-host the Games, changed and defined the public images of both the Games and their host countries.

This paper aims to find out how media in different countries in the same part of a continent portray the latest development in the Korean conflict. To achieve this, the articles published by two newspapers, The Japan Times and The Korea Times, in the last five months have been analysed. The theory used to analyse the published articles is the agenda setting theory. This paper has found that geography, in the sense of proximity to the conflict, do affect what stories the newspapers publish and how they portray the story.

Much of the literature pertaining to North and South Korean reunification is written under the presumption that the two nations will—and more importantly, that they should— eventually reunify. Rather than assuming that reunification is inevitable and hypothesizing how it might come about, I examine political, social, and economic ramifications of reunification in order to discuss why Korean unification should occur, if it all.

South Korea underwent a period of high economic growth which propelled it from low to high income status in just a few decades. Instrumental in this process of rapid industrial transformation was the economic bureaucracy which formulated and implemented policies. This thesis details the role played by bureaucratic organizations in South Korea’s development and how they were able to formulate successful economic policies. In analyzing the economic bureaucracy in South Korea, a framework is used to determine its level of autonomy from special interests as well as the degree of public-private cooperation. The study finds that the high levels of corporate coherence and autonomy from special interests within the economic bureaucracy can partially be ascribed to the meticulously meritocratic recruitment and promotion process which was established prior to the first years of high economic growth. At a higher level of abstraction, the study concludes that South Korea benefited from having a strong imperative to develop its economy due to numerous external and domestic conditions. Although the level of applicability in other contexts is found to be limited, the emergence of a competent and relatively incorrupt bureaucracy remains one aspect which could possibly be reproduced elsewhere.