Abstract

Purpose - This study aims to strengthen the economic cooperation between Korea and Japan by studying the pattern of trade between them and identifying drawbacks. Thus, it aims to enable trade expansion by analyzing the factors that affect trade and identifying ways to improve them. If economic cooperation is improved, transport and communication costs, as well as the transaction cost of economic exchanges, can be minimized. Research design, data, methodology - The trade intensity index developed by the Japanese economist Yamazawa under his trade intensity theory was used to analyze the trade decision factor of Korea and Japan. Trade structure and decision factors were analyzed for the target period of 2000 to 2012, and the period ranging from 2000 to 2005 was compared with the period ranging from 2005 to 2012. This paper is an analysis of the resultant time series. The data were collected from Korea Traders Association, Korea Customs Office, and UN Comtrade (2000, 2005, 2012) and whole table indexes were calculated by the author. Trade related index was used to analyze the comparative advantage based on time-series analysis statistics data (2000. 2005, 2012) through an analysis of the trade intensity index (TII), revealed comparative advantage index (RCA), and trade specialization index (TSI). Results - The trade intensity index of the industries of Japan and Korea is 1.814 in 2000. The export ratio of Japan against China was slightly higher at 2.128. TII is indicated to be 1.600 in both 2005 and 2012, which means export ratio of Japan against China is considerably maintained in 2005; however, export ratio of Japan against China is diminishing gradually as its index is 1.600 in 2012. Second, as per the trade specialization index of the ship industry in Japan and China, TSI is indicated to be -0.818 in 2000, -0.308 in 2005, and -0.847 in 2012. Generally, it is still closer to -1 and especially, we can see it is more closer to -1 in 2012. Third, as per the revealed comparative advantage index of the ship industry in Japan and China, the RCA index in 2012 is 0.007, which is quite far from 1 as compared to the value in 2000 and 2005. Hence, the Japanese ship industry has a significant comparative disadvantage against the Chinese ship industry. Conclusions - Both countries invest most of their capital in the shipping industry. It is the shipping industry that receives the most capital investment in the two countries is invested and governmental policy funds are needed. As both countries have large shipping industries, this research project is very valuable. Japan and China are compared because they are Korea's neighbors. Also, Korea is strategically located in Northeast Asia and has a history of foreign intrusion from several countries. Therefore, the purpose of this research study is to understand the trade structures of both countries and intensify the economic cooperation between Japan and China.