KJCKorea
Journal Central

This study aims to empirically identify and compare the determinants of national pride and local attachment among Korean citizens through a unified analytical model. To highlight its distinctiveness from previous studies, local attachment is examined at three levels—metropolitan, municipal, and neighborhood—allowing for a nuanced understanding of their respective determinants. Using data from the 2023 Korea Social Integration Survey, multiple regression analyses were conducted. The findings reveal that higher levels of life satisfaction, trust in government, perceptions of tax fairness, social status, and age are associated with greater national pride. In addition, local attachment increases among those who own their homes and exhibit higher levels of life satisfaction, government trust and communication, inclusiveness, and social participation. Conversely, individuals with higher education levels and progressive political orientations tend to display lower levels of both national pride and local attachment. By integrating these two dimensions within a single analytical framework, this study provides valuable policy implications for strengthening social cohesion and regional governance in Korea.

This study empirically analyzes the changes in the philanthropic environment and the restructuring of the nonprofit ecosystem in Korea during the past decade, including the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. To this end, the research organizes the trends in the philanthropic environment through literature review and collects key news articles related to philanthropy via BigKinds. Using topic modeling (LDA) and word embedding (FastText), the study examines sector-specific characteristics and semantic changes in the roles of government, corporations, and nonprofit organizations as philanthropic actors observed in media discourse. The results show that the pandemic has reconfigured the partnership dynamics among the main sectors, with increasingly blurred boundaries between their respective roles. The government, while maintaining institutional influence through regulatory and fiscal reforms, has emerged as a direct fundraising actor via the 'Hometown Love Donation System.' Corporations have evolved into philanthropic actors capable of not only charitable giving but also directly administering distribution programs, largely driven by the strategic expansion of corporate social responsibility. In contrast, nonprofit organizations face weakened operational capacity due to increased financial and administrative burdens, as well as growing dependence on government and corporate resources; consequently, their position within partnership structures has become less balanced. These changes should be understood not simply as a crisis but as structural challenges necessary for the maturity of the nonprofit ecosystem, calling for greater solidarity and enhanced cooperation among all sectors to ensure sustainability. This study’s significance lies in adopting a data-driven semantic analysis and a holistic ecosystem perspective. The findings provide a foundation for future research on the transformation of nonprofit and philanthropic systems in Korea.

The purpose of this study is to develop countermeasures for serious conflicts of contemporary Korean society. Aristotle's concept of the mean(mesotēs) suggests that a virtue can turn into a vice when it is excessive or deficient, or when it is biased either within itself or between other virtues. By avoiding this and choosing the middle ground, the original purpose can be preserved and achieved. This concept shows an affinity with conflict transformation theory as a method of addressing modern conflict situations. Accordingly, the study sought ways to apply the philosophy of the mean to contemporary contexts while adopting the problem consciousness and methodology of conflict transformation theory. Consequently, this study established four principles: Adherence to the Fundamentals, Recognition of Opposition, Exclusion of Hegemony, and Full Participation, and hypothetically applied them to two case studies of conflict in contemporary Korean society. If these principles are further specified and systematized for use in future conflict situations, they can serve as a reliable countermeasure to the deepening conflict in Korean society, while making it possible to realize a process of democratically pursuing the common good by exercising practical wisdom in modern society.