Scores on the Test of English for International Communication Listening and Reading (TOEIC LR) have been used for rolling-based university admissions in South Korea. Because this test is not designed for that purpose by the testing organization, there may be a need to explore the validity of TOEIC LR score use for admission purposes. Accordingly, this study investigated how admissions officers in South Korea perceived TOEIC LR scores and their uses and why they used the scores for admission purposes. We adopted a sequential mixed-method design (Creswell & Clark, 2011) involving three phases of data collection: (1) analysis of application handbooks to identify the questionnaire survey target, (2) a survey of faculty (n = 20) involved in admissions, and (3) semi-structured interviews with selected participants (n = 5) to delve into their questionnaire responses. The findings were that (a) almost half of the universities in Korea were implementing special admissions and accepted the scores on the recognized English tests; (b) use of the test lacks validity because most of the admissions officers did not view the test scores as an indicator of English proficiency and academic aptitude; (c) approximately half of the admissions officers viewed the scores as a reflection of an applicant’s effort, test-taking skills learned at language institutes, and former residence in English-speaking countries; and (d) the TOEIC LR scores were used due to a lack of other English tests as well as social pressure such as test fees and testing site availability.

Acknowledging the developments in the constructive employee deviance stream (Leo and Russell-Bennett, 2014), which denote that although employees may depart from workgroup hypernorms, their behaviour might still have pro-customer intentions (Vadera, Pratt and Mishra, 2013), this research illuminates deviant employee–customer encounters and grows the ongoing discussion on the impact of employee customer-oriented deviance on various customer outcomes. Customer-oriented deviance (COD) is a form of pro-social behaviour which occurs when the employee deviates from organizational norms, defying organizational protocol and higher authority for the sake of the customer who is the main beneficiary of this behaviour. Indeed, scarce evidence explores how customer-oriented deviance during the service encounter affects customers’ psychological state as well as whether the psychological consequences deriving from employee deviance which actually render the customer more prone to reciprocally respond the employee or the organization with some kind of citizenship behaviour (Hochstein, Bonne and Clark, 2015), this study addresses the impact of three types of customer-oriented deviance on post-deviant customer evaluations. To address these issues, an experimental design with a 3x2 between-subjects design is adopted. The independent variables manipulated are three types of COD and also whether the customer participates (or not) to the solution of the problem that (s)he is currently facing. In particular, the impact of three types of customer-oriented deviance (i.e. deviant service adaptation, service communication and use of resources) on customer’s distributive, interactional and procedural justice (cognitive outcomes) and customer’s emotional state (affective outcome) is considered. This study advances current knowledge in three ways. First, it proposes that post-deviant customer consequences are both cognition- and emotion-driven, deepening the empirical understanding of the role of customer’s perceived justice and emotional state as a result of COD. Results also uncover the importance of customer participation during COD and its corresponding impact on customer encounter outcomes. The social exchange and the equity theory are extended and set as the theoretical link between customer-oriented deviance and customer’s response to the organization and the employee.

On January 21, 2011, the Korean navy commandos rescued the twenty-one crewmen abducted and detained by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean. The pirates captured alive were brought to Korea for trial and the prosecutor’s office of Pusan sentenced the leader of the Somali pirate group to life-imprisonment. The other four pirates received imprisonment terms from 12 to 15 years. Regardless of these domestic legal punishments, this rescue operation has raised a few critical international legal questions. The primary objective of this paper is to answer these questions. This research analyzes the international legal characteristics of the Korean Navy’s rescue operation. Then, a few case-studies of military rescue operation are carried out in order to justify the Korean Navy’s rescue operation. The Korean Navy’s rescue operation may be regarded as an act of forcible self-help and realization of existing international legal right.

Since the implementation of the disengagement plan in 2005, Israel has alleged that it no longer occupies the Gaza Strip and claimed its right to legitimate self-defence based on Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, including the suffocating blockade imposed there as well as the ‘Cast Lead’military Operation and others. This paper analyzes Israeli’s claim in light of international law and the objective facts taking place in the Gaza Strip resulting from the implementation of the disengagement plan.

The Proliferation Security Initiative was launched in 2003 by the Bush administration right after the So San incident. Its primary purpose is to interdict the spread of WMD and their delivery systems. Due to the provocative and challenging characteristics of the Initiative, which are inconsistent with conventional international law, there are some objections against the Initiative. This paper answers the highly topical questions regarding the Initiative in three parts. The first part addresses the origin and development of the Initiative. The second part critically analyzes the background of the Initiative such as the neoconservative ideology of the Bush administration and its world strategy, international terrorism, and the U.S. arms industry. The third part scrutinizes questions concerning the preemptive use of force for self-defense and the interdiction of foreign vessels on the territorial and high seas. The Initiative is also examined from a viewpoint of customary international law.