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Since the nuclear power plant disaster in 2011, Fukushima, Japan, South Korea has imposed a series of sanctions on Japanese fishery products that may be at risk of radioactive contamination. Japan filed a complaint with the WTO against South Korea for violating the SPS agreement, taking issue with South Korea’s ban on imports of Japanese fishery products. Although it was overturned, WTO exposed its unpredictable attribute during the panel decision. This study investigates and analyzes the causes of the disparity between the literal interpretation of WTO’s SPS provisions and the practical situations to which the member countries face. The unduly narrow interpretation of SPS provisions accounts for one of the main reasons for that disparity. Another main reason is the absence or lack of a proper methodology in applying scientism. Last but not least, WTO, as an international dispute settlement agency, misunderstood or distorted a prevalent view of judicial principles. It is essential to establish neutral and rational standards to restore the trust of member states and allow fair, free trade to prosper. This article suggests that the WTO should seek to amend SPS provisions to provide more reliable and predictable guidelines for future disputes.

Many attempts have been made to utilize blockchain technology in trade transactions. Therefore, this paper analyzes what kind of change will occur in the existing trade transaction process when using the blockchain technology in the trade transaction and how it will affect the trade transaction practices. In this paper, we propose the issues to be considered when introducing blockchain technology in trade transactions and how to use blockchain technology in future trade transactions. The current trade transaction process has various problems such as complicated transaction procedure, excessive cost, delays in the arrival of shipping documents, and forgery and alteration of shipping documents. To solve these problems, it is necessary to introduce blockchain technology in trade transactions. If we use blockchain technology to trade transactions, it is expected that many changes will be made in existing trade transaction practices. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a business ecosystem, to develop a platform related to the blockchain technology, and to enact and revise related laws and regulations. Also, standardization of blockchain-related technology is required.

This paper aims to examine the effects of non-tariff measures (NTMs) on the world trade in potatoes. A structural gravity trade model is estimated with a panel dataset over the 2007~2018 periods and correction for selection bias is performed by adopting the Heckman two stage and the Poisson Pseudo-Maximum Likelihood estimators. Estimation results show positive estimates for a dummy and the cumulative frequency of NTM variables, providing the best evidence for the existence of the trade facilitating role played by the NTMs. These findings suggest the existing NTMs of potato trade helps ease consumers' information asymmetry and other external effects that are actually improving food safety and legal trade environments.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the overseas expansion of companies to new markets to overcome the limitations of the domestic market and strengthen their competitiveness by acquiring global management resources. In particular, this study looked at the performance factors of foreign direct investment, focusing on the case of Korean fashion companies that laid the foundation for sustainable growth through overseas expansion for business diversification. The case company entered the Indonesian market to diversify into an unrelated diversification of footwear OEM industry and established its position as a global footwear production base in just 10 years. Key success factors for the overseas expansion of the case companies include local labor, thorough market research and preparation, parent company's management capability, localization strategy, competitive advantage, and building trust relationship between the parent company and local subsidiaries. This study suggested strategically useful implications for companies seeking overseas expansion through success case studies and discussed future research directions.

Recently, as Korea's exports and economic growth have decreased, concerns over the economy are growing. The main reason for the slump of export is the concentration of export countries and export products. In fact, the proportion of exports to China was 26.8% and that of semiconductors was 20.1% among the total exports of Korea in 2018. In the first half of 2019, exports to China and semiconductors declined by -16.9% and -24.0% respectively. As a result, domestic economic growth in the first quarter was -0.4%. So, in this paper examine the recent export trends and calculate the degree of concentration by item and country using the indicators of HHI and CR. And, analyze the effects of such concentration on export and economy of Korea. Then, the necessity of export diversification by item and region and detailed export expansion methods are presented. This paper is timely in the face of sluggish exports in Korea. And differs from previous studies in that it proposes the necessity of diversification of exports and proposes expansion strategy of export portfolio. It is expected to contribute to the export expansion strategies and export policies of individual companies and governments.

ICC has published the eighth edition of Incoterms called the language of international trading, Incoterms®2020, as of 10.Sep.2019. This rules will be valid as of 1.Jan.2020. The major revisions of this rules are ① Change Headings to a horizontal format ② Replacing ‘Guidance Note’with‘Explanatory Notes for Users’③ Change in the three-letter initials for DAT to DPU ④ Permission of B/L with an on-board notation under FCA rules ⑤ Different levels of insurance cover in CIF and CIP ⑥ Arranging for carriage with seller’s or buyer’s own means of trasport in FCA, DAP, DPU and DDP ⑦ Extended application of a procurement ⑧ Reflecting banks' trade financing practices. The purpose of this paper is to present several implications to practitioners in the use of the rules by looking at what the main features of IncotermsⓇ2020 and main contents by rule. In addition, It is to provide a study with timeliness so that woking-level officials can respond to new evolution of internation trade.

On the February of 1999, system of establishment and conversion of holding company was allowed to come up with an effective plan to solve governance problem of chaebol in Korea. Revision of Fair Trade Act and encouragement of government have an positive effect to increase number of the holding company, established 173 firms until the September of 2018. However, many affiliated companies remain out of the system, of which 57 percent firms are under regulation against defraudation for chaebol’ interest, considered to be monitored on the necessity. As a measurement for separation of financial and industrial capital, requirement of behavior restriction of the Act prohibits non-financial holding company to hold any stock of financial subsidiary, which remains out of the system. Therefore the strict regulation enhances internal transaction in and out of the holding company system aggravating wealth transition of tunneling to owners of the chaebol. This research suggests side effects from the regulations and provides necessities of relieved regulation for separation of financial and industrial capital and provided.

This article relates the current status of rail-oriented international multimodal transport between the United States and South Korea. For this article, the issue will be on rail freight transport of United States of America as this mode is the most important mode for North America. Most of all, the objective of this paper is to provide a first approximation of the rail freight infrastructure developments and improvements in the continental United States rail network. So the methodology of this paper is to conduct comparative analysis with United States and South Korea in terms of GDP, trade volume, the current status of container terminal, the implementation of international multimodal transport. United States is well established in the field of rail transportation network. But South Korea has a very strong competitiveness in the field of road transportation.

This study is for seeking Busan's response strategy under the EARC (East Asian Rail Community) design. In particular, Busan is a logistic hub connecting the continent and the ocean through sea and land. Nevertheless, 3 of 4 routes the EARC design has proposed have Seoul as origin-destination, Therefore, Busan needs to come up with a strategy to cope with this situation. This study presents the following counter strategies. First, efforts to persuade government by using the fact Busan used to be an origin-destination of Eurasian Railway in the past, as well as an origin-destination of TAR(Trans Asian Railway Project) project . Second, Busan should take initiative in forming a consultative body with cities on the EARC route and lead it. Third, a consultative organization with the government and railway-related public agencies is required for a proper policy establishment system. Finally, the importance of the Busan railway should be promoted through the construction of sculptures that indicate that it used the be origin-destination of Eurasian Railway in the past or a railway history gallery.

The purpose of this study is to provide practical implications for Korean companies searching for new market opportunities from the experimental analysis the impact of cognitive country image, affective country image and cultural openness on purchase intention of Korean products in Republic of South Africa. To examine the relationships of variables, data were collected between June and July 2019 through an online and offline questionnaire, and 335 questionnaires were used for analysis. The cognitive country image, affective country image and cultural openness had a statistically significant impact on purchase intention to Korean products. However, the cultural openness had no significant interaction effect with cognitive country image and affective country image on purchase intention of Korean products. The study results could give practical implications for Korean firms which desire to diversify their export market and pioneer future markets.

This paper analyzes the specialization and growth contribution of the fifth strategic industries in Busan using the recent 2007-2016 statistical industry data. To do this, this paper adopted the location quotient and shift-share analysis in seven strategic industries which were selected by Busan City Government in 2019. Busan’s strategic industries have comparative advantages in the smart marine industry which includes environment friendly smart industry and marine bio-industry, intelligent machinery industry, and intelligent information service industry especially in smart financial industry. The other industries seem not to have comparative advantages. According to analysis on growth contribution of the fifth strategic industries, the marine bio-industry of smart marine industry, intelligent machinery industry, airplane, life care industry, and global tourism and MICE industry have the positive effects of regional specialization.