Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The history of telecommunications development has often been thought as a force that dilutes the notion of geographical space and boundaries in contemporary society. This paper attempts to give an understanding of the interactive mechanism between the spatial characteristics of a city and the patterns of changes brought by the diffusion of technology. This paper includes a case study of Seoul, the capital city of Korea, which is regarded as displaying a remarkable speed and scope in the diffusion of new information and communication technologies. Through observing the pattern of interaction grounded upon actual physical space and the regional efforts to reconstruct spaces of the city, it is assessed that the notion of geographical space is still crucial for understanding the technological landscape in the midst of digital technologies driving people toward virtual space and virtual reality. From a multi-level perspective, it is examined that the spatial infrastructure of city influences the pattern of technological development, consequently transforming spatial interaction including the pattern of individual lifestyle and the interaction among people based on urban space. Micro-, meso-, and macro-level forces interact with each other and subsequently influence the spatial infrastructure of a city. A case analysis on the background spatial characteristics of Seoul and the recent trend of major transformations is given to help understand this interactive mechanism.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: For Koreans living abroad, the return to South Korea represents a homecoming of sorts, a psychic return to the country of one’s ancestry, romanticized and distant. This paper is part of a larger project that explores the migration projects of Korean Americans to Seoul, South Korea in search of an ideal Koreanness, embodied in a specific history, culture and traditions. Korean American return migrants are perceived as both foreign yet familiar which informs their positions within Korean society in disparate ways.

Through participant observation and semi-structured interviews, I center the narratives of Korean American men and women who negotiate the interplay of ethnicity, nationality and gender ideologies. While Korean American masculinity is enhanced by their transnational ties to the U.S., Korean American femininity is perceived as unfavorable compared to ideal notions of Korean femininity. As these actors confront new expectations regarding gender and national identity particularly within their social relationships, divisions arise creating fissures between the Korean American male and female experience which shed light on the gendered dimensions of ethnic identity.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This article examines the contemporary health status of Metropolitan Seoul adult residents, employing activity limitations and chronic disease status. To take into account the recent and unprecedented pattern of population redistribution by socioeconomic status in Metropolitan Seoul, we consider individual- and area-level risk factors both discretely and simultaneously, utilizing multilevel analysis techniques. Findings suggest a significant degree of uneven spatial distribution of adverse health across small areas in Metropolitan Seoul. While most individual factors are associated with the risk of adverse health outcomes, in a pattern generally similar to that observed in Western societies, none of the area-level risk factors is associated with adverse health in this population. Of particular interest is that individuals of very low educational attainment are at substantially higher risk of activity limitations and life-threatening chronic diseases.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Seoul in South Korea has risen remarkably in the global hierarchy of cities since the mid-1970s, and it is arguably now among an elite group of about 15 of the most globally central cities in the world. While it is increasingly the object of urban studies research, few efforts have specifically focused on linking social structural changes within the city to its increasingly intense participation in the global economy. The globalization and world cities perspective suggests that as cities achieve global prominence, they should experience certain social structural transformations, some of which are problemetic, such as increasing marginalization and polarization. But critics of this view argue that the "globalizationists" ignore the role of the state, which to them, has a more profound influence over urban transformations. This paper surveys some of the research and data on Seoul's recent social transformation and compares these changes to the expectations of the globalization perspective and to the counter-argument that state policies are more important. We also discuss the likelihood that the Korean capital will improve or even maintain its prominence in the world-system's city system.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The importance of diplomatic communication before and during a crisis cannot be overlooked. Communication can help end a crisis or worsen it. This paper is the fifth in a series of papers that has examined U.S. diplomatic communication during selected crises in South Korea. Previous papers featured the seizure of a U.S. government library by university students in 1985; the role of the U.S. Ambassador in Seoul during the first three days of the Korean War in 1950; the nationwide protests that led to the resignation of President Syngman Rhee in 1961; and the prisoner of war crisis near the end of the Korean War that shook the U.S. and South Korean alliance.

Analysis of U.S. diplomatic communications can help identify mistakes as well as effective decisions made by U.S. civilian and military officials during critical times. The focus of this paper is the period of March 1961 through the military takeover of South Korea by Park and his supporters that began on May 16th that year.