Directions of Population Geography in the Republic of Korea

Abstract

This article aims to review geographical studies of population in the Republic of Korea by referring to 121 papers pupblished from 1960 to 1985, and to search for a future guideline of study of population geography in this country. The following remarks are drawn from this review.
In the Republic of Korea, the subject of population distribution was studied mainly in the first half of 1960s when geographical study generally began in the Korean academic world. In the second half of this decade, the geographical study of population was directed toward the subject of migration. In the 1970s, most studies of population geography concentrated in the topics of distribution and migration including population growth. The data used these studies were derived mainly from the population censuses which started in 1925. Also, since this period, statistical approaches have been introduced into Korean population geography by students who studied abroad. Coming to the 1980s, migration study accelerated and it has tended to be analysed using the micro scaled data obtained by field research.
Compared with the studies of population geography in other countries such as Japan, U. S. A and European countries, Korean population geography, with shorter history, involves the following problems: (1) studies on population structure and on population projections are fewer than those on distribution, migration and growth of population; (2) insufficiency of statistical data on population induces difficulty in the study of population geography, particularly in migration study; (3) the statistical approaches, which were introduced by the students who studied abroad in the 1970s, did not have much effect on population geography in this country.
So far, the following population problems are disclosed through various research and analysis of population: (1) in mountainous regions, depopulation is observed; (2) due to migration from rural areas to urban areas, changes in population structure are observed; (3) in urban areas, overpopulation and redistribution of the population are recognized; (4) aging phenomenon has started not only at the national level but also at the regional level.
Different from demography, geography of population must pay attention to population problems in various regions, and should place emphasis on the regional characteristics and differences of the population phenomenon in this country. Among the analytical methodologies to analyze those problems, “cohort analysis” is considered to be most useful for the study of population geography in the R. O. Korea. “Cohort analysis” can transform basic statistics into other forms of useful data in this country, where information on population change is limited.