This paper aims to determine whether corporate governance affects manager's real operating or investment decision to control reported earnings. Through data analysis of firms listed on the Korean stock exchange, it was found that the aggregated measure of real activity-based earnings management decreases as the size of board is larger or as a greater proportion of external directors sit on the board. Those findings are almost the same, whether a corporate governance index composed by each BOD characteristics is employed, or problem caused by endogenous relationships among variables is controlled. The results provide the first empirical evidence that real activity-based earnings management is influenced by corporate governance structure. This focus on real activitybased earnings management suggests new avenues for research on corporate governance. The results offer some insights for policy makers interested in promoting legislation to ensure strong corporate governance in their nation.

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This paper aims to examine whether earnings management strengthens the causal links between corporate governance and firm performance. It examines the association between corporate governance and real activity-based earnings management and extends it to firm performance. This study involves 1,104 listings on the Korean Stock Exchange and finds that real activity-based earnings management decreases if firms have a well-established governance system, and such earnings management could strengthen the causal link between corporate governance and firm performance as measured by Tobin’s Q. Our study results are the first empirical evidences that real activity-based earnings management is effectively controlled by a corporate governance system and that it has links between corporate governance and performance. This provides the importance of corporate governance which could effectively constrain real activity-based earnings management, such that eventually influences the firm’s performance. In particular, it provides useful insights into corporate structures in which ownership is highly concentrated. Our findings are of great importance for Korea, in which the predominant business structure for large enterprises is that of the chaebol (equivalent to the Japanese keiretsu), which consists of conglomerates of many smaller companies and in which the structure of corporate governance is that of owner control.

The endangered herb Kirengeshoma palmata, from eastern Asia, has had its population severely reduced in number through habitat loss and fragmentation. All of the individuals within five subgroups at Mt. Baek-un-san, in the southern part of Korea, were genetically surveyed by allozyme analysis. Genetic diversity levels within subgroups were relatively high, and a consistently high outcrossing rate as well as a negligible biparental mating rate were confirmed by this study. Several groups of visibly connected ramets were observed in a clustered distribution which suggested cloning. Absence of mating partner rather than pollinators decreased seed production in small mating groups. The present genetic structure of the five subgroups was probably the result of local extinction of intervening populations. Because K. palmata may be a self-incompatible species, populations with few genets face lowered seed set due to mate scarcity. Thus, this type of population may be at an increased risk of extinction as a result of inbreeding depression, loss of genetic variability, and reduced sexual reproduction. The small, genetically depauperate subgroups may need an input of seeds or plants from other populations in China or Japan in order to regenerate, but the possibility of outcrossing depression leads us to recommend outbreeding among the local subgroups of Mt. Baek-un-san to restore genetic variability.

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Korea is a land of contrasts. The mountainous Korean peninsula arches north and northwest towards the Russian and Chinese borders, where the last areas of old growth coniferous forest and the land formed five forest types. Plant and habitat diversity in Korea has been largely damaged by various kinds of human activities. The plant diversity of Korea is severely threatened due to the high population density and rapid industrialization since the 1960s, as well as the illegal collection of wild plants for ornamental, medicinal, and food purposes. Natural areas have been greatly fragmented and survive only as ecological islands surrounded by modified cultivated and industrial lands. For instance, more than 60 industrial parks are located along the coast, and these have contributed to the rapid destruction of plant diversity in the coastal areas of the peninsula. The modern concept of plant conservation in Korea is still in an infant stage. The cooperation of plant conservation bodies with disciplinary approaches based on conservation biology are essential strategies to pursue plant conservation. The capacity building for plant conservation in Korea has different management regimes by the relevant ministries. Since the late 1990s, the plant conservation body Korean Plant Specialist Group of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Species Survival Commission (IUCN SSC) has been closely linked with international conservation bodies for in situ and ex situ conservation management. Under the umbrella of the national plant conservation strategies, the different strategies and working agencies can be fully integrated. Furthermore, the systematic approaches for the recovery of threatened species, as well as habitat monitoring over the long-term basis, will need to be supported by a stable budget policy. Also, protocol for the conservation of rare and endangered plant species, including recovery works in Korea, is strongly needed.

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