1
The Discursive Constructions of North Korea and the United States: National Identities and Representastions on Fox News
Jongtae Kim
2016. 06.
North Korea, Fox News, discourse, identity, conflict
Drawing on the insights of discourse theorists and constructivists, this paper aims to examine
the notable identities and representations of North Korea and the U.S. constructed on Fox
News in the period of U.S. President Barack Obama’s first term. Through the analysis of Fox
News opinion columns, this paper finds some notable conceptual clusters around which the
negative identities of North Korea are constructed, such as “rogue,” “nuclear,” “despot,”
“criminal,” “enemy,” “unpredictability,” “danger,” “problem,” and “importance.” In
relation to North Korea, the U.S. tends to be identified and represented as the most
indispensible, respectful, and generous country leading the world for democracy and freedom
against growing global threats. The contrasting identities of North Korea and the U.S. on Fox
News are a discursive ground on which tension and conflict are justified and instigated.
Raising a need for relativism about the assumption of one’s moral superiority over the other,
this paper argues for paying more attention to the ways of deconstructing antagonistic
identities and representations between them.
2
A Comparison of the Determinants of Low Marital Fertility between Korea and Japan
Yoosik Youm, Kazuo Yamaguchi
2016. 06.
fertility, rational-choice, Korea, Japan, low fertility, comparative study, education
Using panel survey data with comparable variables, this study tests whether certain sets of
hypotheses that are related to rational-choice and purposive-action theories of birth behavior
hold in Korea as well as in Japan. First, we found that the negative interaction effect between
parity and income on fertility rate predicted by Gary Becker’s theory regarding the quality
price of children exists for both Japan and Korea. The theory is supported more strongly for
Korea than for Japan, however. This indicates that policies to reduce the costs of attaining
“high-quality children,” such as the expenses of high-quality education and daycare, will be
effective in raising fertility, but more efficiently so in Korea than in Japan. Second, we found
that the availability of childcare leave increases the rate of marital fertility in both Japan and
Korea. This tendency, however, holds more strongly in Japan than in Korea. It indicates that
childcare leave policies in Japan have been more successful than their Korean counterparts in
raising fertility.
3
Retirement Age Expectations of Women in Their 50s: The Role of Early Adulthood Work Experiences
Jeong-Hwa Ho
2016. 06.
retirement age expectations, work experiences in early adulthood, life course
With population aging and continuation of female labor force participation, there is increasing
social concern regarding when middle-aged female workers expect to retire. Literature on
gendered life course and retirement suggests that earlier work experiences are related to
retirement expectations in later life. Relying on Korean Longitudinal Study on Ageing (2012),
this paper examined how retirement age expectations of women in their 50s were related to
work experiences in early adulthood (ages 20-45). Retirement age expectations were
categorized as: expecting to retire at age 64 or earlier, expecting to retire at 65 or later, and
expecting not to retire. Early adulthood work experiences were measured by number of work
years, number of jobs, and experience of job exit due to family reasons. Results suggest that
women in their 50s with longer work years and women with fewer jobs were more likely to
expect to retire at 64 or earlier rather than not to retire. Also women with longer work years
tended to expect retire at 65 years or later than not to retire. Links between retirement age
expectations and earlier work experiences remained significant after controlling for proximate
conditions in one’s 50s such as current employment status and financial status. These findings
suggest importance of earlier life experiences in understanding later life retirement
expectations.
4
Changes in Income Position and On-set of Depressive Symptom among Adults in South Korea
Yujin Kim,Cheong-seok Kim
2016. 06.
income changes, transition to low income, depression
The relationship between income and health is rather complicated because of income dynamics
over time. To properly reflect income status changes, we examine the association of flows into
and out of low income status with on-set of depressive symptoms among working-age people
(n=3,543). Using data from the 1st -9th waves of the Korean Welfare Panel Study and timelagged
discrete time hazard models, the results show that working-age people falling into low
income or staying in persistent economic hardships, compared to those staying in middle-toupper
income, have higher risk of developing depressive symptoms at following year.
Interestingly, resolving economic hardship has negative effects on depressive symptom, but its
effect is no longer significant after considering socio-demographic factors, especially working
status. Overall, our result indicates that people who fall into low income have a hard time to
recover their original position since they face both deteriorated economic deficits and
psychological distress.