Emergency management training in Korea: combining and balancing supply- and demand-centered paradigms

This article aims to encourage NEMA (or newly named as MPSS) to combine its supply-centered paradigm with a newly proposed “demand-centered paradigm” in the Korean field of emergency management training (EMT). Based on qualitative content analysis, this paper defined the current field of EMT to be a supply-centered paradigm via three components: locations, courses, and participants. This paradigm focuses on EMT provision as supplied and dictated by the national government. On the other hand, a demand-centered model is about looking into stakeholders’ actual needs for EMT. In this regard, alternatives with reference to the demand-centered paradigm via the same three components were discussed and considered. The key tenet is that having revealed that NEMA has unequivocally focused on the results side or effectiveness of EMT via a supply-centered paradigm, Korea should address and consider the same three components, this time by fusing and incorporating a fair process of EMT by enlisting active roles from the local community, academic scholars, and civilian training attendees in a demand-centered paradigm.