This paper studies feminist geopolitical practices in South Korea in the context of "comfort women" forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese military around the Second World War. Although there has been a considerable amount of literature penned on the comfort women issue, existing discussions focus largely on the conflict between nationalist and feminist paradigms, while largely minimizing feminist activism and changing gender narratives within Korean society. Therefore, this research aims to expand the field by considering the struggles that comfort women have endured through the lens of feminist geopolitical scholarship. I argue that comfort women activism constitutes a form of feminist geopolitical practice in a way that challenges masculine gender narratives. It has opened up new spaces where comfort women survivors can produce a sense of "survivorhood" and move beyond passivity throughout their lives. The rise of their active voices signals the overturning of traditional patriarchal structures; consequently, along with other forms of activism, these narratives have eventually led to a shift in public attitudes. Unlike how nationalist accounts were dominant in the early 1990s, the increased public attention towards the feminist accounts in the mid-2010s has subsequently increased media coverage of survivors and feminist practices.
Background: Suicide attempts and depression are considerably misunderstood by Korean society. Studies regarding factors should provide basic information concerning the factors that should be considered when examining stigmatization. Aim: This study aimed to investigate sociodemographic factors related to the social stigma toward people with a history of suicide attempts or depression in a Korean nationwide community sample. Method: Face-to-face interviews were conducted with participants selected via a multi-stage cluster sampling method; 779 respondents completed Link's Perceived Devaluation and Discrimination (PDD) scale to assess the social stigma they attached to suicide attempts, and another 743 completed PDD scale to assess the social stigma they attached to depression. Multiple regression analysis, including socioeconomic and psychiatric variables, was performed to identify the factors predictive of social stigma. Results: Results of multiple regressions revealed that age ( β = .12, p = .018), sex ( β = .08, p = .038), years of education ( β = −.31, p = .006) and history of suicide attempts ( β = −.11, p = .009) significantly predicted the degree of stigma toward people who had made suicide attempts, whereas age ( β = .15, p = .003) and education ( β = −.40, p = .001) also predicted the social stigma toward people with depression, sex and history of a depressive episode did not. Conclusion: Older men with less education and no experience with suicide perceived suicide attempts more negatively. Similarly, older people with less education placed a greater stigma on people suffering from depression. These results suggest that greater access to higher education may reduce stigma toward people with mental illness.
AbstractWe conducted ambient monitoring of various hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) for 2 years (2013-2015) in two adjacent Korean cities in a megacity area: Seoul and Incheon. Measured HAPs included volatile organic compounds (VOCs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and heavy metals (HMs). The objectives of this study were to evaluate the spatiotemporal variations of HAPs, to prioritize HAPs based on health risks, to identify sources using a receptor-based model, and to estimate source-specific risks. Overall, the HAP levels in Incheon were higher than those in Seoul. The concentrations of combustion-origin HAPs, such as PAHs and some HMs, were significantly higher during the heating period than during the non-heating period. However, most VOCs exhibited an opposite trend. Benzo[a]pyrene showed the highest cancer risk in both cities, followed by formaldehyde, arsenic, and benzene; trichloroethylene was the only species that exceeded the hazard quotient of 1. Cumulative cancer risks were 2.0 × 10-4 in Seoul and 2.7 × 10-4 in Incheon. Major sources and their contributions to each HAP concentration were estimated by positive matrix factorization modeling. Based on source-specific risk assessments, we suggest that both cities should give high priority to the control of traffic pollution and the supply of cleaner fuels in non-residential sectors. Reducing carbonyl concentrations in Seoul and industrial emissions in Incheon is also necessary. Establishing new ambient standards for benzo[a]pyrene and formaldehyde is worth considering as a long-term measure. This study provides scientific information on the occurrence, health risks, and sources of various HAPs in large urban areas.
In: Heindel , J J , Howard , S , Agay-Shay , K , Arrebola , J P , Audouze , K , Babin , P J , Barouki , R , Bansal , A , Blanc , E , Cave , M C , Chatterjee , S , Chevalier , N , Choudhury , M , Collier , D , Connolly , L , Coumoul , X , Garruti , G , Gilbertson , M , Hoepner , L A , Holloway , A C , Howell , G , Kassotis , C D , Kay , M K , Kim , M J , Lagadic-Gossmann , D , Langouet , S , Legrand , A , Li , Z , Le Mentec , H , Lind , L , Lind , P M , Lustig , R H , Martin-Chouly , C , Munic Kos , V , Podechard , N , Roepke , T A , Sargis , R M , Starling , A , Tomlinson , C R , Touma , C , Vondracek , J , vom Saal , F & Blumberg , B 2022 , ' Corrigendum to "Obesity II: Establishing causal links between chemical exposures and obesity" [Biochem. Pharmacol. 199 (2022) 115015] (Biochemical Pharmacology (2022) 199, (S0006295222001095), (10.1016/j.bcp.2022.115015)) ' , Biochemical Pharmacology , vol. 202 , 115144 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bcp.2022.115144
The authors of the above paper would like to make readers aware that two authors inadvertently failed to cite support from a key grant that supported a part of the research presented in this Review. Bruce Blumberg and Vesna Munic Kos would like to add the following funding source to their list of funders. The correct wording, as it should have appeared, is below: "This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement GOLIATH No. 825489." The authors apologise for this omission.