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This dissertation explores the process of foreign economic policy liberalization in Korea from 1980-2010. It accounts for variations in the degree of liberalization across sectors and issue areas through case studies centered on the policies related to trade, FDI, and finance. Sources of influences on this process such as democratization, the state’s developmental legacy, societal interests, ideational diffusion, and external stakeholders are incorporated into an analysis that identifies their impact on policy outcomes. This project looks at how significant changes in the internal and external parameters of the Korean economy generated coalitions favoring a more liberalized domestic economic order and those which sought to defend Korea’s state-centered, mercantilistic developmental model. It offers a detailed explication of the manner in which Korean policymakers sought to formulate political outcomes that accommodated a disparate array of actors with diverging preferences into the policy process, while seeking to serve their own particular multifaceted interests. It finds that while external and domestic proponents of reform were successful in pushing Korea into increasingly deeper levels of liberalization, these efforts were continually conditioned and often attenuated by the institutional legacies of the developmental era and the social forces that were unleashed by democratization. This left the Korean economy with a fragmented set of foreign economic policies that reflected the incomplete and highly contested liberalization reform initiatives that colored policymaking during this period. / Political Science

This study’s main contribution is a theoretical model for analysing parties’ use of deepfakes of their candidates in elections. Research stresses deepfakes’ capacity for disinformation as a challenge for democracies. In the Korean 2022 election, the two main parties used deepfakes of their candidates to communicate with voters. Given deepfakes’ well-studied negative implications, this seems perplexing. Amid this context, this study addresses the question: How can parties ethically use deepfakes of their candidates in elections? Merging AI ethics and deliberative democracy theory, three prerequisites are identified - disclosure of information, civil language, and giving justification - required for adherence to AI ethics and deliberative norms. This model was applied in a content analysis of the deepfake use in the Korean 2022 election. Results indicate strong adherence to the prerequisite of civil language, and partial adherence to disclosure of information and giving justification, and their corresponding AI ethical principles and deliberative norms. The findings suggest AI ethics and deliberative democracy theory are useful for studying the implications of parties' deepfake use. Starting from the premise of deepfakes as morally neutral, this study addresses a gap in the emerging field of deepfake research and highlights areas needing inquiry. If deepfakes become a legitimate communication tool for parties, it raises questions of the implications of such normalisation.

This thesis examines how Shinzo Abe’s historical perspectives on “comfort women” and the Nanjing Massacre are influenced by global demands. Abe’s official account on these issues have been affected by pressures to reconcile with South Korea and to face China’s rise for strategic reasons. This originates from sources including think tanks such as the Center for Strategic and International Studies and media. Joseph Nye’s concept of soft power will provide the theoretical background to analyze Abe’s views on both issues. The existence and method through which these pressures are applied will be detailed and explored. This research will hope to contribute to the understanding of historical memory in the Asia-Pacific and how it remains an issue that undergoes changes in the current political climate. / Graduate

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the filmography of Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho [Pong Chun-ho], and to provide a limited textual analysis of each film divided across two categories: the “explicitly ecological” and “implicitly ecological”. The intent is to, by viewing all of Bong’s films leading up to his critical and commercial success Parasite, argue that Parasite is as much an environmental film as it is critical of neoliberalism and globalization, both of which are common readings of not only Parasite, but all of Bong’s work.The findings are that while Parasite avoids overt and exaggerated displays of eco-destruction visible in his Sci-fi films, the film still displays a conscious environmental awareness. The rainstorm featured in the second act of the film can be viewed not only through a local lens as an example of the dichotomy between wealthy and poor families in South Korea as it pertains to environmental crises, but as a microcosm of how climate change stands to impact the financially disenfranchised across the globe as climate shifts continue to grow. / Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka den koreanska regissören Bong Joon-hos filmografi och genom en begränsad analys av varje enstaka film, uppdelade i kategorierna ”explicit ekologiska” och ”implicit ekologiska” filmer. Avsikten är att genom en genomgång av alla Bongs filmer upp till publik och kritikersuccén Parasit argumentera för att Parasit är lika mycket en ekologisk film som den är en kritik av globalisering och neoliberalism, uppfattningar som förekommer ofta när det Bongs filmer diskuteras.Slutsatsen är att även om Parasit undviker lika storskaliga och överdrivna exempel av ekologisk förstörelse som i hans science-fictionfilmer så visar filmen fortfarande upp en ekologisk medvetenhet. Regnstormen som förekommer i filmens andra akt kan ses inte bara som ett exempel på skillnaden på hur rika och fattiga familjer i Sydkorea hanterar ekologiska kriser, men kan även tolkas som ett mikrokosm av hur klimatförändringar kommer påverka de finansiellt utsatta världen över allteftersom de förvärras.

Internet has become the most efficient method in information dissemination, collaboration and interaction connecting diversity of people, places, ideas and cultures all around the world. With new communication and information technology, Internet has become a pragmatic way for NGOs to share their interests worldwide. Although NGOs have been utilizing the internet, the power of internet-activism is underestimated. Thus, this paper studies Internet-activism as the new method for NGOs to work in terms of territorial disputes. It specifically studies South Korea and Japan’s territorial disputes over Dokdo and Sea of Japan/East Sea that have been causing heated contention over a long time. It studies NGO’s different methods in raising awareness of this issue through a Korean cyber organization called VANK, Voluntary Agency Network of Korea. The purpose of this study is to prove that Internet-activism is an efficient and powerful method for NGOs.

Thesis (MTh)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This research began because of a concern that most Korean churches are not applying sense-appealing images in sermons. Only a number of Korean churches make use of sense-appealing images in sermons and this context promotes many problems. The applying of the sense-appealing images in sermons would be able to remedy the problem that the Korean preachers have, as it could be a solution to using a method when preaching to the younger generation. Presently, many youth group leaders of preachers have a challenging experience because of the communication difficulty between them and the youths. The younger generation finds the sermons tedious and uninteresting because of the preacher‘s monotonous pattern and traditional format of the sermons. These traditional types of sermons cause various issues between the preachers and the younger generation. / AFRIKKANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie navorsing het begin uit die kommer dat meeste Koreaanse kerke nie beelde in preke ontplooi wat die sintuie aangryp nie. Slegs enkele Koreaanse kerke maak gebruik van sintuiglike-aanlokkende beelde in kerke en hierdie tipe konteks lei tot vele probleme. Die toepassing van sintuiglike-aanlokkende beelde in preke sal die probleem wat Koreaanse predikers het oplos, aangesien dit die oplossing kan wees met die oog op 'n metode om vir die jonger generasie te preek. Baie leiers van jeuggroepe of predikers beleef vandag die uitdagende ervaring vanweë die problematiese kommunikasie tussen hulle en die jeug. Die jonger generasie vind die preke vervelig en oninteressant as gevolg van die prediker se monotone aanbieding en die tradisionele formaat van die preke. Hierdie tradisionele tipe preke lei tot verskeie twispunte tussen die predikers en die jonger generasie.

Purpose – Employee turnover entails considerable costs and is a major problem for the construction industry. By creating an extensive framework, this study aims to examine whether perceived work-related factors affect turnover intention in South Korean construction companies. Research design – The paper is based on the results of a questionnaire of 136 employees that was conducted and provided by a Korean construction company. Research hypotheses were tested via correlation analyses. The most influencing work-related factors, as well as differences among job levels, were determined by multiple regression analyses. Findings – Communication, immediate leaders, organizational commitment, and organizational pride substantially affect turnover intentions. All of these factors can be considered as relational factors. The most influencing factors differ among job levels. Discussion/practical implications – Immediate leaders should be aware of their role in retaining employees and enhance communication, organizational commitment and pride. This study shows how the importance of certain variables differs for groups of employees. Theoretical implications/limitations– This study is based on a sample of employees from a Korean construction company. Therefore, the generalizability of the findings has to be tested. Future research should test the proposed framework with other factors or resources. Originality/value – This study shed light on the turnover subject in the South Korean construction industry. It shows that different factors can influence turnover intention among job levels. A framework was created, which is based on 16 work-related factors including organizational factors, HRM practices and job attitudes.

This thesis explores cultural differences on interactive design features used in websites of South Korea and the United Kingdom from the perspective of both: professional website designers and end-users. It also investigates how the use of interactive design features from different cultures change over time. Four interaction types on websites; User to Interface (U2I), User to Content (U2C), User to Provider (U2P), and User to User (U2U) interactivity, and three interaction types on blogs; Blogger to Interface (B2I), Blogger to Content (B2C) and Blogger to Blogger (B2B) interactivity have been identified. Four cultural dimensions were used for the theoretical base of this study based on which four hypotheses were proposed in relation to the interaction types identified above; (a) High versus Low Context cultures for U2I, (b) High versus Low Uncertainty Avoidance for U2C, (c) High versus Low Power Distance for U2P and (d) Individualism versus Collectivism for U2U interactivity, in order to discover the effects of national cultures on interactivity in websites. We derived our own interactivity dimensions and mapped them to the four interaction types for websites and three for blogs. Interactive design features were derived from interactivity dimensions and examined in our studies. The findings revealed that there have been some changes towards homogeneity in the use of interactive design features on charity websites between South Korea and United Kingdom although there is still evidence of some cultural differences. With regard to end-users’ perspective, the result show that the use of interactive design features of blogs may be influenced by culture but this is only within a certain context. The findings also provide a valuable indication that users interacting within the same blog service can be considered as being shared concerns rather than shared national location, thus create a particular type of community in which bloggers are affected by social influence so they adopt a shared set of value, preferences and style that would indicate almost a common social culture. As a result, the cultural differences derived from their country of origin do not have that much impact.