scholarly journals The Work of Waiting: Love and Money in Korean Chinese Transnational Migration

2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 477-500 ◽  
Author(s):  
June Hee Kwon

During the past two decades, Yanbian, the Korean Chinese Autonomous Prefecture on the border with North Korea, has been dominated by the so-called Korean Wind, a massive Korean Chinese transnational labor migration to South Korea. Korean Chinese have undertaken this migration as a response to the onset of privatization in China. In so doing, they have built an economy and culture based on remittances sent back by family members working in South Korea. The ethnographic focus in this essay is on those who are waiting for remittances or the return of their loved ones, processes that are conditioned by visa constraints and economic needs. I argue that waiting, for love or money, is unwaged affective work that generates not only a financial safety net but also a binding force between the separated parties. I also argue that waiting as an act of love is eventually transformed into a form of labor that requires managing flows of money, and thereby remakes the expectations and realities of spousal relationships. My ethnography of waiting, which describes betrayals as well as appreciative partners, elaborates on the experiences of those who do not actually migrate but who nonetheless function as key agents sustaining one pole of migration. The work of waiting enables mobility and provides a foundation to migratory circulations.

2021 ◽  
pp. 26-42
Author(s):  
E. Y. Vinokurov ◽  
A. S. Levenkov

In the global financial architecture, the functions of anti-crisis support and macroeconomic stabilization are performed by the institutions of the global financial safety net (GFSN). The volume of available financing within the framework of GFNS has grown 10 times over the past decade and reached the equivalent of 4% of world GDP. The literature’s standard understanding of a system of national reserves, swap agreements, regional financial mechanisms, and the IMF requires enlargement. The article proposes the concept of an enlarged global financial safety net, namely by including two new elements — multilateral development banks and bilateral financial support. The manifestations of this phenomenon in many regions of the world are shown in the activities of the largest international development banks and at the level of macroeconomic stabilization financing by individual donor countries, including during the current COVID crisis.


2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-94
Author(s):  
June Hee Kwon

This article explores the old Korean Chinese communist party members’ rearticulation and re-remembering of the traumatic ethnic past and ethnic politics in the wake of the Korean Wind – the massive transnational migration from Yanbian, the Korean Chinese autonomous prefecture (China) to the former enemy homeland, South Korea. The ethnographic analysis is twofold. First, I examine the influence of the Korean Wind, a unique type of economic reform and open economy that Korean Chinese have experienced as an ethnic minority, in destabilizing and reconfiguring their ethnic identity. Second, I analyze the divided sense of belonging of these Korean Chinese Communists as they discuss transnational migration to South Korea as an economic phenomenon while remaining politically faithful to socialism and China. I argue that the construction of divided belonging is a Korean Chinese effort to reconcile their ethnic place in contemporary “Yanbian socialism” as it is buffeted by the Korean Wind.


Policy Papers ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 (47) ◽  
Author(s):  

The Global Financial Safety Net (GFSN) has expanded considerably since 2008, including in the non-traditional elements of the safety net such as Regional Financing Arrangements (RFAs). The resulting multi-layered structure of the GFSN makes collaboration between its various elements more important than in the past. Specifically, stronger collaboration between the Fund and RFAs would help increase the effective firepower of the GFSN and ensure a timely deployment of resources. The Fund’s experience in macroeconomic adjustment and its universal risk pooling would combine with the greater regional knowledge and country ownership brought the RFA. In this way, improved collaboration between the Fund and RFAs, including in co-financing, would significantly reduce the risk of contagion by encouraging countries to seek early assistance from the Fund. This paper is part of a broader set of proposals to fortify the GFSN (IMF, 2017b, c, d). It proposes both modalities for collaboration—across capacity development, surveillance, and lending—and some operational principles to help guide future co-lending between the Fund and the various RFAs. To date, the only operational guidance to facilitate collaboration has been limited to the high-level 2011 G20 Principles for Cooperation between the IMF and RFAs. Building on several case studies and the principles derived from them, this paper proposes an operational framework for future engagement. It aims to start a more structured dialogue between the Fund and individual RFAs on the modalities of how best to work together.


2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 337-362
Author(s):  
Myungji Yang

Through the case of the New Right movement in South Korea in the early 2000s, this article explores how history has become a battleground on which the Right tried to regain its political legitimacy in the postauthoritarian context. Analyzing disputes over historiography in recent decades, this article argues that conservative intellectuals—academics, journalists, and writers—play a pivotal role in constructing conservative historical narratives and building an identity for right-wing movements. By contesting what they viewed as “distorted” leftist views and promoting national pride, New Right intellectuals positioned themselves as the guardians of “liberal democracy” in the Republic of Korea. Existing studies of the Far Right pay little attention to intellectual circles and their engagement in civil society. By examining how right-wing intellectuals appropriated the past and shaped triumphalist national imagery, this study aims to better understand the dynamics of ideational contestation and knowledge production in Far Right activism.


Viruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1045
Author(s):  
Hyuk-Chae Lee ◽  
Sol Jeong ◽  
Andrew Y. Cho ◽  
Kyu-Jik Kim ◽  
Jun-Young Kim ◽  
...  

Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) was first identified in the 1930s and it imposes a major economic burden on the poultry industry. In particular, GI-19 lineage has spread globally and has evolved constantly since it was first detected in China. In this study, we analyzed S1 gene sequences from 60 IBVs isolated in South Korea. Two IBV lineages, GI-15 and GI-19, were identified in South Korea. Phylogenetic analysis suggested that there were six distinct subgroups (KM91-like, K40/09-like, and QX-like I to IV) of the South Korean GI-19 IBVs. Among them, QX-type III and IV subgroups, which are phylogenetically different from those reported in South Korea in the past, accounted for more than half of the total. Moreover, the phylogeographic analysis of the QX-like subgroups indicated at least four distinct introductions of GI-19 IBVs into South Korea during 2001–2020. The efficacy of commercialized vaccines against the recently introduced QX-like subgroups should be verified, and continuous international surveillance efforts and quarantine procedures should be enhanced to prevent the incursion of viruses.


2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (8) ◽  
pp. 1226-1234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanhong Gong ◽  
Xiaopiao Wen ◽  
Chaoping Guan ◽  
Zhiqing Wang ◽  
Yuan Liang

ABSTRACTBackground: The aim of the current study was to investigate the associations between family characteristics and depressive symptoms, and provide new evidence and recommendations for prevention and intervention in the depressive symptoms of older adults.Methods: The study was a cross-sectional survey conducted door-to-door, utilizing a sample of 1,317 individuals aged 60 years and above in rural China. The five family characteristic variables recorded were: living with spouse, living with descendant, support of family members, self-reported family economic status in the previous year, and family-related negative life events that occurred anytime in the past with a continuous psychological effect during the past 12 months. Gender, age, years of schooling, and self-rated physical health status were taken as potential confounders. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression models were used to examine independent effects on depressive symptoms.Results: In addition to the potential confounders, only family-related negative life events, support of family members, and self-reported family economic status had significant effects on depressive symptoms in older adults. Experiencing a family-related negative life event was the most significant variable (OR = 11.70, 95% CI: 7.72–17.73), the second was support of family members (OR = 6.93, 95% CI: 3.26–14.70), while family economic status was less important than support of family members (OR = 2.38, 95% CI: 1.08–5.25).Conclusion: This study, from the perspective of family characteristics on depressive symptoms in older adults, showed a strong correlation between being exposed to harmful family environments and depressive symptoms among the elderly. Efforts to address family risk factors and strengthen family cohesiveness deserve a higher priority, given the importance of these factors, compared with other efforts such as promoting economic development.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bookyoung Kim ◽  
Kyung-Bok Son

Abstract Background Since the influx of international immigrants to South Korea (Korea) in the 1980s, the number of immigrants married to native Koreans has increased substantially over the last 30 years. This study aims to provide recent evidence on the self-rated health of immigrant women married to native men and raising children. We evaluated the self-rated health of immigrant women sorted by their country of origin and elucidated factors that affect their self-rated health. Methods Data were obtained from the 2015 Korean National Multi-Cultural Family Survey. From the survey, a total of 6960 Korean-Chinese, Han-Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Filipino women were identified and a series of logistic regressions was conducted to elucidate factors that affected the self-rated health of immigrant women. Results The majority of immigrant women in Korea perceived that they are healthy. However, the self-rated health of immigrant women varied by country of origin. Korean-Chinese and Japanese immigrants are less likely to perceive that they are healthy compared with Filipino and Vietnamese immigrants. We identified several factors at the individual, household, and community levels and found that the majority of them are likely to be ethnic dependent. However, satisfaction with husband and experience of unmet medical needs presented consistent results in the five ethnicity groups. Conclusions Programs that strengthen spousal relationships and policies to enhance access to healthcare could be prioritized options to improve the self-rated health of immigrant women in Korea.


1992 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 372-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Minseok An ◽  
George H. Sage

In the past decade, to help maintain political stability and promote economic growth, South Korea has committed substantial resources to commercialized sports, including golf. A major source of support for building golf courses has come from government leaders and economic and social incentives as well. In the past 4 years the government has given permission to build 135 new golf courses. The official government discourse about the new golf courses is that they are being built in the interest of “sport for all.” But the golf courses overwhelmingly require membership, which is extremely expensive. Despite the enormous power and resources of the dominant groups in Korea, there are elements of opposition. The golf boom has been severely criticized because it removes large amounts of land from agricultural and industrial productivity, contaminates farm land, and pollutes water. It also represents the worst aspects of the social imbalance of wealth.


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