Does Membership on the UN Security Council Influence Voting in the UN General Assembly?

Recent studies report that temporary members of the UN Security Council receive favorable treatment from the IMF, the World Bank, or in US foreign aid in exchange for their political support for permanent members. Nevertheless, few studies have examined whether this favorable treatment and these benefits have actually made any significant changes in the member states’ voting behavior in the United Nations. To explore this question, we investigate whether membership on the UN Security Council influences a state’s voting in the UN General Assembly. In the analysis of panel data for 197 countries over the period from 1946 to 2008, the empirical results show that elected members of the UN Security Council tend to behave similarly with permanent members, especially with the United States, as the number of loan programs signed with the IMF and the World Bank increases. Also, US foreign aid significantly increases temporary members’ vote coincidence with the United States and other permanent members. In this regard, this article contributes to our understanding of state voting behavior and power politics in international organizations.     

Motherless case in paternity testing

In paternity test using the DNA evidence, the analysis of the deficient case that the DNA profiles of mother or alleged father are not available is different from that of the trio case analyzed routinely. However, the motherless case that the genotypes of mother is not available has been requested and analyzed like the trio case. In this paper, we compared the motherless case and the trio case through the mean exclusion chance describing the probability of exclusion for a genetic marker system and the distribution of the probability of paternity calculated using the three current methods. We have also shown a case which can be falsely discriminated if it were requested in the analysis of the motherless case, and conclude that the analysis of the motherless case should be carefully conducted and the level for the discrimination should be different from that of the trio case.     

Allele frequencies of 15 STR loci using AmpF/STR Identifiler kit in a Korean population

The genetic variations for 15 short tandem repeat (STR) loci D8S1179, D21S11, D7S820, CSF1PO, D3S1358, TH01, D13S317, D16S539, D2S1338, D19S433, vWA, TPOX, D18S51, D5S818 and FGA were performed on 231 unrelated Korean population using commercially available AmpF/STR Identifiler kit.     

Sequences of the Cytochrome C Oxidase Subunit I (COI) Gene are Suitable for Species Identification of Korean Calliphorinae Flies of Forensic Importance (Diptera: Calliphoridae)

Abstract:  Calliphorinae fly species are important indicators of the postmortem interval especially during early spring and late fall in Korea. Although nucleotide sequences of various Calliphorinae fly species are available, there has been no research on the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) nucleotide sequences of Korean Calliphorinae flies. Here, we report the full-length sequences of the COI gene of four Calliphorinae fly species collected in Korea (five individuals of Calliphora vicina , five Calliphora lata , four Triceratopyga calliphoroides and three Aldrichina grahami ). Each COI gene was amplified by polymerase chain reaction and directly sequenced and the resulting nucleotide sequences were aligned and analyzed by MEGA4 software. The results indicate that COI nucleotide sequences can be used to distinguish between these four species. Our phylogenetic result coincides with recent taxonomic views on the subfamily Calliphorinae in that the genera Aldrichina and Triceratopyga are nested within the genus Calliphora .     

Public entrepreneurship and organizational performance in Asia: Do entreprneurial leadership,ethical climate and Confucian values matter in Korea and China

This is an empirical study on the effects of Confucian values and entrepreneurial leadership on public entrepreneurship and organisational performance in Asia based on data collected from China and South Korea. This study focuses on the differences in the effects of Confucian values, entrepreneurial leadership, and ethical climate on public entrepreneurship and organisational performance between government agencies in South Korea and China. Contrary to the conventional Western perspective, this study shows that Confucian values are not necessarily negatively associated with public entrepreneurship and organisational performance. Entrepreneurial leadership and public entrepreneurship (as a mediating variable) appear to be significant factors to organisational performance. The similarities and differences between China and South Korea are discussed.     

Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands Dispute and Taiwan’s Netizens’ Sentiments Toward Japan and China

East Asia - Senkaku/Diaoyu islands dispute has caused tensions among China, Japan, and Taiwan for decades. Although the Taiwanese government keeps a low profile on the dispute, the issue has flared...     

The Sichuan Earthquake and the Heavenly Mandate: legitimizing Chinese rule through disaster discourse

In the aftermath of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, the Chinese authorities launched a major public relations campaign to relay positive images of their relief effort and strengthen their political legitimacy. The effect has been a proliferation of symbols and political statements related to the disaster, not only in the official media, but also in cultural products such as movies or mass-media events. The earthquake has become part of the discourse of suffering, struggle, solidarity and ultimately victory. This article examines the ways in which various cultural products present the Sichuan earthquake and asks what meanings national crises have in the Chinese discourse on political legitimacy. The article analyses two cases: Chinese film, here in the form of Feng Xiaogang's blockbuster Aftershock, and performance-based discourses during the Beijing Olympics, the PRC's 60-Year Anniversary and the Shanghai Expo. By conducting a discourse analysis, we show how the earthquake has become part of a recurring discursive formation that is used by state and non-state actors alike to legitimate China's developmental model. Within this discourse, the leadership of the Party, the mastery of free markets and a revamped version of the Confucian idea of benevolent rule are marshaled as the decisive factors for winning any ‘battle’.     

Defining the limits of the North Korean Human Rights Act: A security and legal perspective

The introduction of the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 (HR 4011 or the Act) was hailed by many in the U.S. Congress as a significant and much-needed legislative effort that would substantially improve the human rights conditions of North Korea, considered to be one of the most unpredictable and undemocratic regimes in the world today. The passage of HR 4011 effectively marked a new and notable phase within U.S. foreign policy, in which the issue of human rights was directly linked to the issue of North Korean nuclear non-proliferation in a Helsinki-style framework. Relating to the Act, this paper argues from cross-cultural, security, and legal perspectives that HR 4011 may encounter specific limitations, which may hinder the Act from reaching its stated objectives of furthering “respect for and protection of fundamental human rights in North Korea” and “to promote a more durable humanitarian solution to the plight of North Korean refugees.” Although improving human rights is a fundamentally important issue, linking human rights with DPRK nuclear non-proliferation through HR 4011’s explicit Helsinki-style approach may exacerbate rather than eradicate North Korean human rights violations as well as the DPRK’s ongoing nuclear standoff with the international community.     

Correlation Between Average Tissue Depth Data and Quantitative Accuracy of Forensic Craniofacial Reconstructions Measured by Geometric Surface Comparison Method

Accuracy is the most important factor supporting the reliability of forensic facial reconstruction (FFR) comparing to the corresponding actual face. A number of methods have been employed to evaluate objective accuracy of FFR. Recently, it has been attempted that the degree of resemblance between computer‐generated FFR and actual face is measured by geometric surface comparison method. In this study, three FFRs were produced employing live adult Korean subjects and three‐dimensional computerized modeling software. The deviations of the facial surfaces between the FFR and the head scan CT of the corresponding subject were analyzed in reverse modeling software. The results were compared with those from a previous study which applied the same methodology as this study except average facial soft tissue depth dataset. Three FFRs of this study that applied updated dataset demonstrated lesser deviation errors between the facial surfaces of the FFR and corresponding subject than those from the previous study. The results proposed that appropriate average tissue depth data are important to increase quantitative accuracy of FFR.