BACKGROUND In order to improve the health of the most vulnerable groups in society, the WHO called for research on the multiple and inter-linking factors shaping the social determinants of health (SDH). This paper analyses four key SDH (social cohesion, social inclusion, social empowerment and socioeconomic security) across six Asia-Pacific countries: Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, T...

Despite their late development into the information communication technology (ICT) market, several countries in continental Asia have emerged as technological and industrial leaders in the world. With its information communication technology (ICT) initiatives and policies, South Korea has emerged from its chaotic history as one of Asia's most advanced ICT economies. It could be argued that Sout...

Compared to Western old age security systems, it is a matter of extreme concern for Asian countries to seek out ways to successfully develop and settle their social security systems and deal with economic growth without excessively burdening their national economies. This study draws a comparison between historical developments and recent reforms focusing on public old age security systems in S...

Norovirus is a major cause of viral gastroenteritis and a common cause of foodborne and waterborne outbreaks. Norovirus outbreaks are responsible for economic losses, most notably to the public health and food industry field. Norovirus has characteristics such as low infectious dose, prolonged shedding period, strong stability, great diversity, and frequent genome mutations. Besides these chara...

The greater horseshoe bat, Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, is an important model organism for studies on chiropteran phylogeographic patterns. Previous studies revealed the population history of R. ferrumequinum from Europe and most Asian regions, yet there continue to be arguments about their evolutionary process in Northeast Asia. In this study, we obtained mitochondrial DNA cyt b and D-loop data ...

Post-Socialist International Migration: The Case of China-to-South Korea Ethnic Labour Migration This paper examines an atypical south-north labour migration that emerged in the postsocialist international migration system: China-to-South Korea ethnic labour migration. In the past two decades, South Korea has experienced an unprecedented increase in the arrival of foreign labour. The majority o...

The species of the genus Chlorociboria Seaver are very common on the forest floor, and can be easily distinguished by small and numerous blue-green fruitbody, especially the blue substrate dyed with xylindein produced by this group. This genus has rather high species diversity in the Southern Hemisphere, while a little attention was paid to this group in East Asia area. During a field survey in...

Four species of Leptobatopsis Ashmead are recorded for the first time from South Korea. Among them, L. koreana sp. nov. and L. daedeokensis sp. nov. are newly described. We also report two newly recorded species, L. nigricapitis Chandra & Gupta and L. appendiculata Momoi, from South Korea. In addition, we describe a case of gynandromorphy of L. nigricapitis in a single specimen from South Korea...

In this study, four water mites of the genus Brachypoda (Acari: Hydrachnidia: Aturidae) are reported from South Korea and the Far East of Russia. Brachypoda (Ocybrachypoda) milicaae sp. n. (South Korea), B. (Ocybrachypoda) sokolowi sp. n. (Russia) and B. (Eubrachypoda) rossica sp. n. (Russia) are described as new for science. The latter species is the second representative of the subgenus Eubra...