IN11 – THE NORTH KOREAN ECONOMY: LEVERAGE AND POLICY ANALYSIS (CRS Report for Congress, Updated March 4, 2008, 61 pages) 북한의 경제: 활용 및 정책 분석 - Click here for available text on the Internet
     
North Korea has extensive trading relationships with China and South Korea and more limited trade with Russia. Because of economic sanctions U.S. and Japanese trade with North Korea in 2006 and 2007 was virtually nil. The DPRK has been running an estimated $1.5 billion deficit per year in its international trade accounts that it funds primarily through receipts of foreign assistance and foreign investment as well as through various illicit activities. U.S.-led financial sanctions on North Korea disrupted that country's trade in 2007. In the Six-Party Talks, economic assistance (including fuel oil) is a major bargaining chip. Economic policy options in concert with actions by Pyongyang on the nuclear front include increasing or easing economic sanctions, preventing shipments of illicit cargo, normalizing relations with Pyongyang, negotiating an end to the Korean war, trade concessions, allowing the DPRK to join international financial institutions, and removing the country from the terrorism list.

The U.S. government estimates that there are 1.5 million ethnic Koreans living in America. Unofficial estimates put the number closer to 2 million, of which 1.1 million are U.S. citizens. Despite the community’s overall high levels of education and economic success, however, it remains disproportionately divorced from the American body politic. Its potential has yet to be realized and the community is not currently a consistent player in either domestic or international issues or an influential actor in promoting U.S.-Korea relations.

According to Muller, professor of history at the Catholic University of America, persistent ethnic nationalism does not happen by chance; rather, it is inevitable in the continued development of nation-states. Ethnic separation into different states has economic and cultural costs, besides bloodshed that has cost million of lives since the 19th century. Yet the expanding harmony of Europe since World War II represents not failure of ethnic nationalism but its success, having removed sources of conflict both within and between countries. "The fact that ethnic and state boundaries now largely coincide has meant that there are fewer disputes over borders or expatriate communities," Muller says, "leading to the most stable territorial configuration in European history." In existing multiethnic countries where ethnic violence erupts, partition into separate nation-states may be the most humane lasting solution.

EC9 – CHARTING THE FUTURE OF FOOD (Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, Winter/Spring 2008, 40 pages) 미래의 식량 차트 - Contact IRC for print copy

New technologies are forcing rapid globalization of markets, and the agriculture industry has no choice but to adapt. There is, however, a stark disparity between developed and developing nations; a biotech and GMO revolution is occurring in developed nations, while developing nations are struggling to overcome unfavorable intellectual property laws and trade barriers. Biofuel production is consuming more agricultural resources, raising food prices and reducing exports. Though policy experts participating in the current round of trade negotiations in Doha are attempting to address the challenges facing farmers, the outcome is unclear. This forum explores the fate of farming in the 21st century. The four articles in the forum include:  “The Softest Subsidy” (Kym Anderson and Ernesto Valenzuela) on agricultural subsidy cuts; “Food, Feed, or Fuel?” (Siwa Msangi and Mandy Ewing) which explores the linkages between biofuels and agricultural market economies; “Agricultural Trade and Climate Change” (Lee Ann Jackson) which asks if the WTO can promote resilience in the face of uncertainty; and “The Local Organic Food Paradigm”

EC10 – THE KAESONG NORTH-SOUTH KOREAN INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX (CRS Report for Congress, Updated February 14, 2008, 26 pages) 개성공단 - Click here for available text on the Internet

This report provides an overview of the role, purposes, and results of the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) and examines U.S. interests, policy issues, options, and legislation. The KIC is an industrial park located in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) just across the demilitarized zone from South Korea. Currently, over 50 medium-sized South Korean companies are using North Korean labor to manufacture products in Kaesong, but projections are for as many 2,000 firms to locate there. The complex was planned, developed, and financed largely by South Korea, and it has become a symbol of the growing level of engagement between the North and the South. The United States officially supports the KIC.

EC11 – OVERVIEW OF LABOR ENFORCEMENT ISSUES IN FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS (CRS Report for Congress, Updated February 29, 2008, 6 pages) 자유무역협정의 노동법 집행 이슈에 대한 개요- Contact IRC for print copy

Since 1993, the Administration has negotiated and Congress has approved 10 Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) that contain labor provisions with different degrees of enforceability. Three more (with Colombia, Peru, and South Korea) await congressional consideration. This report identifies two types of enforcement issues: (1) those that relate to the FTA provisions themselves, including their definitions and their enforceability, and (2) those that relate to executive branch responsibilities, such as resource availability and determining dispute settlement case priorities. This report will be updated as events warrant.

EN8 –Stern, Todd; Antholis, William.  A CHANGING CLIMATE: THE ROAD AHEAD FOR THE UNITED STATES (The Washington Quarterly, Winter 2007/2008, 14 pages) 기상변화: 미국의 미래 - Click here for available text on the Internet

Global warming has arrived at center stage, not only as an environmental issue but also increasingly as a major concern of economics and national security. Here, Stern and Antholis assert that the next US president has a pivotal opportunity to take bold, broad action on climate change. While implementing a serious program at home, the president should pursue a layered diplomacy centered on a core group of major emitters, especially China, and in the UN.

EN9 – Searchinger, Timothy; et al. USE OF U.S. CROPLANDS FOR BIOFUELS INCREASES GREENHOUSE GASES THROUGH EMISSIONS FROM LAND-USE CHANGE (Science, Feb 29, 2008, 3 pages) 생물연료를 위한 농경지 사용이 온실가스 배출 증가 - Contact IRC for print copy

Most prior studies have found that substituting biofuels for gasoline will reduce greenhouse gases because biofuels sequester carbon through the growth of the feedstock. These analyses have failed to count the carbon emissions that occur as farmers worldwide respond to higher prices and convert forest and grassland to new cropland to replace the grain (or cropland) diverted to biofuels. By using a worldwide agricultural model to estimate emissions from land-use change, we found that corn-based ethanol, instead of producing a 20% savings, nearly doubles greenhouse emissions over 30 years and increases greenhouse gases for 167 years. Biofuels from switchgrass, if grown on U.S. corn lands, increase emissions by 50%. This result raises concerns about large biofuel mandates and highlights the value of using waste products.

EN10 –Rotman, David. The Price of Biofuels (Technology Review, Feb 29, 2008, 10 pages) 생물 연료의 가격 - Contact IRC for print copy

The irrational exuberance over ethanol that swept through the American corn belt over the last few years has given way to a dreary hangover, especially among those who invested heavily in the sprawling production facilities now dotting the rural landscape. Now ethanol producers are struggling, and many are losing money. More alarming, the boom in ethanol production is driving up the price of food. Expanded use of biofuels is central to the federal government's long-term energy strategy. Meanwhile, advanced biological techniques for creating novel organisms that produce other biofuels, such as hydrocarbons, are still in the lab. Many researchers believe that the most promising way to make cellulosic biofuels economically competitive involves the creation of superbugs, microorganisms that can break down cellulose to sugars and then ferment those sugars into ethanol. Whether ethanol made from cellulosic biomass is good or bad for the environment, however, depends on what kind of biomass it is and how it is grown.

US10 – Prevost, Alicia Kolar; Thurber, James A. DELEGATE CHEAT SHEET (Politics, March 2008, 4 pages) 대의원 컨닝페이퍼 - Contact IRC for print copy

Focusing on winner-take-all states was important to John McCain's strategy; the 15 percent viability threshold prevented John Edwards from getting many delegates; and the proportional representation rule that Democrats have used universally since 1988 is keeping the race for that party's nomination running long after Super Tuesday. In all Democratic Party primaries and caucuses, pledged district-level delegates are awarded proportionally according to the vote for each presidential candidate in the district, and pledged statewide delegates are awarded proportionally based on the statewide results.

US11 – Fukuyama, Francis; McFaul, Michael. SHOULD DEMOCRACY BE PROMOTED OR DEMOTED? (The Washington Quarterly, Winter 2007/2008, 24 pages) 미국의 민주주의 장려정책 - Click here for available text on the Internet
 
The tragic result of the gap between declared objectives and strategies on democracy promotion is that many Americans are starting to view this goal as no longer desirable or attainable. Although focusing on the more traditional goals of national security is important, a zero-sum trade-off does not exist between these traditional security objectives and democracy promotion. Here, Fukuyama and McFaul assert that a more effective strategy for promoting democracy and human rights is both needed and should be available in the US.

US12 – Mead, Walter Russell.  BORN AGAIN (Atlantic Monthly, March 2008, 2 pages) 정치와 기독교 관계 - Contact IRC for print copy

The author reflects on the political activity of evangelical Christians in the U.S. He comments on the 2008 presidential election and discusses the 1776 publication written by the economist Adam Smith called "The Wealth of Nations." He explores the relationship between religion and politics and examines the changes in the beliefs of Christian Americans since earlier times in American history.

AR7– Piro, Joseph Matthew.  TEACHING REMBRANDT (Humanities, Nov/Dec 2007,  3 pages) 렘브란트 교육 - Contact IRC for print copy

In the project, Meringolo and a team of fellow New York City public school teachers; professors from Long Island University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and museum educators from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Frick Collection, The Asia Society and Museum, and the Nassau County Museum of Art are creating a Web site about Rembrandt that will meet the recommended national teaching standards in the visual arts and social studies. In a prototype project in the New York City public schools, a group of teachers began using Rembrandt’s art as the jumping-off point from which to improve literacy and teach social studies, art, and other subjects.

AR8– Heddendorf, David.  THE MODESTY OF JOHN UPDIKE (Sewanee Review, Winter 2008, 10 pages) 존 업다이크 작품 연구 - Contact IRC for print copy

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