This thesis examines and explains the development of the KEF between its formation in 1970 and 2003. Using a historical and case study approach, the thesis analyses the strategic behaviours of the KEF. The guiding questions shaping this thesis are drawn from the intersection of resource dependence theory and the literature on employer associations. In response to these questions, chronological narrative explains the development of Korea's political economy and industrial relations between 1970 and 2003 as it affected the KEF. It pays particular attention to the growth of the chaebols -- family-owned and controlled business conglomerates -- as political as well as economic forces, their changing relations with government and their labour management strategies. This thesis argues that when Korea's chaebol owners formed their association, the KEF, they did so in the absence of immediate clear or concrete challenges to their business interests. Instead, they evaluated the likelihood of some future external challenges and chose to act on these perceptions. In particular, they strategically chose to prepare for the possible re-emergence of an independent labour movement many years into the future rather than trust forever in governments? repressive systems of labour control. Resource dependence theory proved useful for examining the KEF's internal dynamics. The KEF and its chaebol members were linked through asymmetric inter-dependence. The chaebols dominated KEF membership, took financial responsibility for KEF operations and formally ruled through its governance structure. The KEF's high dependence on the chaebols inhibited any shift away from its chaebol-dominated profile. This also meant that the KEF leadership found it extremely difficult to exert control over member firms' behaviour. However, as the relationship between the chaebols and their external environment changed, internal power resources (industrial relations expertise) and external ones (a militant union movement, tripartite arrangements) helped the KEF Secretariat increase its authority. This allowed it to achieve greater discretionary power in its internal and external domains.

This thesis examines and explains the development of the KEF between its formation in 1970 and 2003. Using a historical and case study approach, the thesis analyses the strategic behaviours of the KEF. The guiding questions shaping this thesis are drawn from the intersection of resource dependence theory and the literature on employer associations. In response to these questions, chronological narrative explains the development of Korea's political economy and industrial relations between 1970 and 2003 as it affected the KEF. It pays particular attention to the growth of the chaebols -- family-owned and controlled business conglomerates -- as political as well as economic forces, their changing relations with government and their labour management strategies. This thesis argues that when Korea's chaebol owners formed their association, the KEF, they did so in the absence of immediate clear or concrete challenges to their business interests. Instead, they evaluated the likelihood of some future external challenges and chose to act on these perceptions. In particular, they strategically chose to prepare for the possible re-emergence of an independent labour movement many years into the future rather than trust forever in governments? repressive systems of labour control. Resource dependence theory proved useful for examining the KEF's internal dynamics. The KEF and its chaebol members were linked through asymmetric inter-dependence. The chaebols dominated KEF membership, took financial responsibility for KEF operations and formally ruled through its governance structure. The KEF's high dependence on the chaebols inhibited any shift away from its chaebol-dominated profile. This also meant that the KEF leadership found it extremely difficult to exert control over member firms' behaviour. However, as the relationship between the chaebols and their external environment changed, internal power resources (industrial relations expertise) and external ones (a militant union movement, tripartite arrangements) helped the KEF Secretariat increase its authority. This allowed it to achieve greater discretionary power in its internal and external domains.

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This study examined the prospects of Korean reunification. The study explores how the factors of integration affect North and South Korea after the country was divided into the two sides despite its millennium of unity. A sample of both North and South Korean newspapers covering a 47-year period of Korean reunificational efforts were analyzed as a major source of data to discover if there is any evidence of Korean national will to integrate among Koreans in the two countries. Content analysis is a major method of this research. The most obvious findings of this study are that the newspapers in North Korea did not show any significant change in their tones or attitudes throughout 47-year period studied. The North Korean regime which controls what is published in the papers is still fiercely ideological and hostile toward South Korea. The South Korean papers, on the other hand, showed marked changes in their tones and attitudes toward reunification during this period. Korean reunification remains a matter of time because the political development of South Korea, combined with remarkable economic progress, can surely heal the broken unity and national will among Koreans. The enormous financial burden to rebuild the North Korean economy which will fall upon South Koreans is a major challenge. The road to Korean reunification and the future of reunified Korea depend upon the willingness, wisdom, patience, freedom and courage of the South Koreans to assume the tremendous burden to rebuild North Korea and to strengthen diplomatic relations with the United States as well as neighboring countries to develop more positive inter-Korean relations based upon their cultural, social and economic contacts, cooperations and transactions between the two sides. If Koreans have such willingness, wisdom, patience and courage to accomplish their freedom and hope of unity, the divided Korean peninsula will be reunified and will become one nation again.

This is a study of Korean presidential elections. Its purpose is to determine how Koreans voted in the 1992 and 1997 presidential elections and to examine the factors that contributed to winners. In addition, the study compares the two elections by developing three models: candidate choice, voter turnout and political interest models. Using post election data from the Korean Social Science Data Center a multinomial logit regression was used in the candidate choice model. It shows that Korean voters selected their candidates mainly in terms of interest in the elections, age, orientation toward the governing or opposition parties, the regional effects of the Southwest (Honam) and the Southeast (Youngnam), and the evaluation of merged parties in 1992 or a united candidacy of parties in 1997. A Monte Carlo simulation was also employed to test the traditional assumption of candidate strength. It indicates that Kim Young-Sam had a more cohesive support from his older supporters in the 1992 election while Kim Dae-Jung had a greater cohesive support from his older supporters in the 1997 election. Both Kim Young-Sam's and Kim Dae-Jung's loyalists were crucial to the winning candidates in the 1992 and 1997 elections respectively. How did people vote? To address this question a logit analysis of voter turnout was employed. Comparing the 1997 election to that of 1992 the findings suggest that low-probability voters in 1997 had: low efficacy, a negative evaluation of the Central Election Management Commission, claimed to be independent, young, and lived in areas other than Youngnam and Honam. Their lower turnout was a significant factor in the opposition candidate, Kim Dae-Jung's election. Finally, since political interest is closely related to political participation, an ordered logit model of political interest was developed. The results showed that the media and popularity of major candidates significantly contributed to Korean voters' interest in the elections.