Gwanju Human Rights Folk School 2004

The Environmental Problems and Movements in South Korea

Nakpyeong,( Chairperson of the Executive Committee

Gwangju Federation of Environmental Movements)

1. Introduction

The Nobel Peace Prize 2004 went to Ms. Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan
environmental movement activist. This made an exceptional case, as the Nobel Peace
Prize has awarded those who have performed in the fields of movements for the
promotion of human rights and democracy, and for the eradication of wars and other
conflicts. Her winning of the prize can be interpreted as a message that the
environmental issue is now recognized as important as other issues like human rights
and democracy, and is a problem to be solved for the peace and welfare of the world.

Are the environmental problems being improved? Despite the Declaration of

the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, in 1972, and
the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development in 1992, the environmental crisis
of the world is still continued. As the climate changes, the global warming continues to
proceed and the glacier on the polar areas is melting; the rain forest, or the so-called
“lungs of the earth,” is being decreased; the diversity of the animal species is also
decreasing. The fresh-water source is severely contaminated: many around the world
suffer from the water shortage, while the amount of toxic waste is increasing. The
developed countries, in particular, are abusing the resources and energy through their
socio-economic system of mass production and conspicuous consumption. The
development policies of the 20th century are still in operation.

South Korea has one of the worst environmental and ecological conditions in
the world. Since the early 1960s the country has pushed on policies for
industrialization, urbanization, rapid growth, and export drive, and has achieved a
remarkable economic growth. Behind the scenes of this rapid economic growth, the
destruction of the environment and the ecology of the country has been also proceeded
at a high speed. Korea has experienced an unprecedentedly rapid development and
growth which was accompanied with a rapid environmental destruction. Even with the
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appearance of the Roh Muhyeon Administration, the old paradigm of growth and
development is still prevailed. The Roh Administration takes the economic growth as
one of the most important element for the national competitiveness in the time of
globalization and neo-liberalism (new freedom).

Environmental movement organizations in Korea have carried out their active struggle
against the Roh Administration’s development-oriented economic policies that do not
show any concern on the environment. The environmental organizations define the
current situation as an “environmental emergency” and are putting their efforts together
to change the Roh Administration’s policies. It is not quite clear how the government
will respond to the recent activities and demands of these environmental organizations.

The history of the environmental movement in Korea is not long. It can be said to have
started in the late 1980s. The major environmental organizations were formed
spontaneously in the early 1990s, are still in operation. Before the 1990s, the Korean
society concentrated all its efforts to drive away the authoritative military dictatorships
and establish democracy. The social movements throughout the 1990s have come to
fruition in realizing democracy in South Korea. The environmental movement in Korea
started to root slowly in this social context.

2. The Environmental Problems in South Korea

South Korea is a country of 100.00㎢, 65% of which consists of mountains, 47 million

population, four distinctive seasons, and of a rainfall of 1400~1500mm per year. The
country has the world’s fourth highest density of population. Owing to the high
manpower and the consistent economic development, the country has become the
eleventh largest economic power with a GNP of more than US$10,000 per person. The
imports and exports of South Korea have increased considerably: the country imports
the fifth largest amount of petroleum in the world; its car manufacturing industry and
the pelagic fishery also rank the fifth in the world. South Korea ranks the seventh in the
world in terms of the number of nuclear plants, with 20 of them. As the result of the
industrialization, more than 85% of the population in South Korea is living in cities. In
the early 1960s, the country was a poor agriculture-oriented country, with a GNP of
US$ 200 per person, the amount of export less than 100 million US dollars, about
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30,000 automobiles, and around 85% of the population living in the farming and fishing
communities. It, however, has achieved the economic growth at the rate of 5% per year,
and transformed itself into a urbanized industrial country.

Due to this economic growth, the country was able to overcome the poverty and
is now enjoying the wealth and convenience to certain degrees. Housing is provided to
more than 90% of the urban households and more than 13 million cars are supplied (1
car per 3.6 persons). Korean companies have advanced into more than 170 countries
across the world, and the number of South Koreans who travel abroad has also
consistently increased.

In order to understand the environmental problems in Korea, one should first

understand the economic growth and the development policies of the country. The
growth-oriented policies of the country were not concerned with the importance of the
environment and the ecology in the past. Their only interest was growth and
development. The dictatorships for 30 years since the 1960s truly suit their nickname,
‘development dictatorship.’ Those dictatorial authorities took any environmental
questioning as a challenge against their system and oppressed it. The governmental
policies, which could not last long, made indiscreet developments prevalent. The
general public also followed the governmental policies unconsciously as the
development could offer chances of employment to them, thus, chances to overcome the
poverty.

As the result of the development-oriented policies, the following environmental

and ecological problems have been caused in South Korea:

First, the injudicious land development was carried out consistently through
those projects to build cities, industrial parks, those resorts with golf links, various roads
and harbors. The abusive development and further exploitation of the land have
resulted in fundamental transformations in the ecological environment of the country. A
considerable portion of the land was submitted to meet the goals of development and
growth, and, consequently, the ecosystems of the forests and the foreshores have been
destroyed easily.

Second, the mass production and the mass consumption have become a part of
the daily life in South Korea. The development and growth-oriented policies changed
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the South Korean production-consumption structure at one stroke. In other words, the
successful economic growth was made possible at the cost of different natural
resources, water resources and energy resources. In the case of petroleum, South Korea
is the fifth largest importing country in the world, and it comes to the ninth in terms of
the total exhaust amount of the greenhouse gases. In the case of wood, South Korea is
the second largest importing country in the world, following Japan. The process of the
mass production and the mass consumption has brought out diverse and complex
ecological and environmental problems.

Third, due to the consistent urbanization and industrialization, every city has
certain problems of environmental pollution. The overgrowth of the Capital area is
indeed a serious problem that South Korea is confronted with. South Korea might be
the only country where about 47% of the entire population is concentrated in the Capital
area, as well as all the structures and functions of the political, economic, social,
cultural, and educational fields. It is quite a natural phenomenon that all the cities in the
area are suffering from the traffic-related pollutions such as the air pollution, the lack of
greens, and the difficulties of securing safe drinking water and hygienic refuse disposal
system. The industrial parks in South Korea are also confronted with the air pollution
and the toxic wastewater and other toxic waste matters.

Fourth, although it is one of the biggest energy-consuming countries in the

world, South Korea has not put out enough efforts to prevent the climate change. The
country is exhausting the ninth largest amount of greenhouse gases in the world. The
overconsumption of fossil energy means the mass exhaust of the air pollutant such as
greenhouse gases. Nevertheless, the country doesn’t seem to pay enough attention to
contriving the alternatives.

At last, South Korea has 20 nuclear plants and is the second country in Asia to
take the electric energy policy that is concentrated on the nuclear energy. The nuclear
plants have been producing a huge amount of radioactive waste, but the country has not
secured a permanent disposal site yet. The South Korean government, however, is
building even more nuclear plants. The nuclear energy issue, especially the problems
with radioactive waste disposal sites, has been one of the biggest environmental issues
in South Korea for the last 20 years.

As they have been exposed to various environmental pollutions caused by the

Gwanju Human Rights Folk School 2004

abusive land development, the mass production and mass consumption structure, and
the rapid urbanization and industrialization, the people in South Korea are now
increasingly demanding safe drinking water, pollution-free food, and clean air for their
healthy life.

The South Korea government, nonetheless, has stated its will to revive the
South Korean economy and is enforcing large-scaled development projects: the
Saemangeum reclamation project which destroys the foreshore mud-field, the
construction of the radioactive waste disposal site which is conditioned with further
construction of nuclear plants, the construction of roads which destroys the forest
ecosystem, and the construction of large-scaled dams to secure more water resource.
The government will also accelerate the development of the Capital area, the
construction of hundreds of new golf links which will damage the forest ecosystem, and
the construction of tens of tourist and resort towns.

Both the central government and the local self-governing bodies have special
sectors concerning the environmental problems and execute a considerable portion of
their budget. The government seems to emphasize the harmony among man,
environment, and development and says that it will carry out policies for the
‘sustainable development’ as adopted at the UN conference; however, its actual policies
still aim at the economic growth and development. The South Korean government is
carrying out the so-called “end of pipe” administration, i.e., the ex post facto measures,
instead of planning the preventive measures in advance. The environmental policies of
the government cannot control huge development projects. It is, thus, very likely that
the environmental problems that our generation is experiencing now will be continued
in the future, as the development-oriented policies will have seriously bad influences on
the environment and the ecosystem. For this reason, the environmental organizations
are required to carry out their struggle for a better environment.

3. The South Korean Environment Movement Against the Development

Dictatorship

Since last November, the environmental organizations in South Korea have

been displaying their struggle against the development-oriented policies of the
government, through certain extreme activities such as a sit-down strike in the middle of
Gwanju Human Rights Folk School 2004

the street of Seoul and a hunger strike. Major organizations both from the Capital area
and the local areas are putting collective efforts to achieve their goals.

The major claim of the environmental movement organizations is the

withdrawal of the large-scale development plans that will certainly destroy the
environment. They claim that the government should stop the above-mentioned
projects: the Saemangeum reclamation project, the energy policy dependent on the
nuclear energy, the construction of roads, golf links, and leisure towns that will further
the environmental destruction. The environmental movement organizations are
demanding the government to reinforce the regulations and restrictions to preserve the
environment, and abandon the development-oriented policies.

The history of the environment movement is not long in South Korea. It was
only in the early 1960s that the country started its full-out development, and the
environment movement came to the front only in the late 1980s. Under the military
dictatorship since the 1960s, the authoritative system didn’t allow any questioning, let
alone opposing, on its policies for economic growth and development. With its great
power behind, the dictatorship pushed its development policy. One-directional
development, the development propelled with the power and authority—this was the so-
called development dictatorship.

The major task of the society was to expel the dictatorial authority and realize
democracy in South Korea. The environmental problems could not attract enough
attention as a major social issue. The environmental organizations started to be formed
themselves only when the political society became democratized in the late 1980s. The
general public also started to claim for their environmental right as their basic right. It
was because they were faced with severe environmental problems. Before and after
1990, several cases of large-scaled water contamination were reported one by one. The
mass media headlined the cases, and drew the general public’s attention in the
environmental problems.

By the time of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development in 1992,

the environmental issues had drawn much attention from the international society.
Korea was not exceptional and its nongovernmental organizations sought for the
international solidarity to deal with environmental problems at the global level. With
the vision of the “Environmentally Sound and Sustainable Development” which was
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agreed upon at the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development Conference,
the organizations started to put on the breaks on the development-oriented policies.

At the moment, more than 500 environmental organizations are displaying their
activities in every corner of the country, forming a nationwide network. The
organizations have expanded at high speed since the early 1990s when there were only
tens of the organizations. In the case of the organization that I belong to, it started with
1 central unit and 7 local units in the early 1990s, but now has 53 local units. Through
this case can be observed a phase of the environmental movements in Korea. Each
environmental movement organization has members and is run with the members’
financial support. They have been coping with diverse environmental and ecological
problems, and different organizations have got together and displayed collective
activities, faced with important environmental issues. The followings are some of the
major examples of the environment movements in South Korea.

First, the struggle against the construction of the nuclear plant and the
radioactive waste disposal site, i.e., the struggle against the nuclear energy can be
mentioned. Since the late 1980s, the environment movement organizations have been
demanding the government to change its energy policy which is very dependent on the
nuclear power. They have also opposed to the construction of the radioactive waste
disposal site premised on further constructions of the nuclear plant. Nevertheless,
including the first nuclear plant built in 1978, altogether 20 nuclear plants are in
operation at the moment, producing a tremendous amount of waste every year. Because
of the organizations’ struggle against the construction of the radioactive waste disposal
site, the government have not been able to select the building site yet. The issue of the
nuclear plant and the radioactive waste disposal site is and will be one of the biggest
environmental issues.

Second, the save-the-energy campaign and the movement to introduce the

renewable energy have been continued. South Korea is the 5th largest petroleum-
importing country, and it exhausts the 9th largest amount of greenhouse gases in the
world. Diverse actions have been taken to change this ‘environment-destructive energy
policy’ into the ‘sustainable energy policy’. Movements to introduce the renewable
energy, such as the solar energy, the wind force, the heat of the earth, and the hydrogen
energy, have been continuously carried out. Faced with the crisis that the fossil energy
will be exhausted at the end of the 21st century, the world should search for an
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alternative energy that can substitute the fossil and the nuclear energy.

Third, there have been consistent movements to protect and preserve the mud
flats on the foreshore. The Saemangum preservation movement carried out since the
late 1990s makes a good example of the struggle against the one-sided development
policy of the government. The western and southern coastlines of South Korea one of
the four major mud flats in the world. The mud flats, however, have been considerably
reduced due to the reclamation projects of the government since the 1960s. Most of the
reclaimed lands have been turned into farmlands, industrial lands, or cities. As the
environmental and ecological values and importance of mud flats are recognized, the
environment movement organizations in South Korea started to prevent any more
reclamation. Mud flats are rarely found around the world, and they provide us with a
variety of species and marine resources, provide the nature with a purifying system, and
provide water birds with a habitat.

Fourth, the environmental organizations have also carried out the movements
against dam constructions and the river-reviving campaigns. Due to the different
development projects such as building cities, industrial parks and farmlands, the amount
of water consumed has increased rapidly. To ensure the supply for the daily water
consumption, the industrial water and the agricultural water, the government has built
dams up the rivers. Consequently, the amount of waste water increased, and the
construction of dams resulted not only in the water contamination but also in the
destruction of the ecosystem of rivers. Indeed, several cases of the contaminated tap
water and rivers have drawn much attention from the society. Recognizing the
environmental crises caused by the dam construction, the environment organizations
have been displaying campaigns against the dam construction, and for the preservation
of the ecosystem of rivers.

Outside the above-mentioned movements and campaigns, the environment

organizations have been coping with the environmental problems through campaigns to
reduce and recycle wastes, to encourage the Green Consumption and the Green
Transport, and to build the green city or the ecological polis. The organizations have
been carrying out diverse publicity activities and education programs. There have been
also very active international solidarity activities in the field of the environment
movement.
Gwanju Human Rights Folk School 2004

4. For the ‘Sustainable’ Future

The 21st century is said to be the century of environment. In this expression is implied
that the 20th century was a century of environmental destruction, and the 21st century
should be a century to get over the environmental destruction. It is also implied that we,
the human beings, will have the future only when we overcome the environmental
crisis.
Many environmentalists have been warning us that if the environmental
destruction is continued at the current speed, the future of the world will be quite dark.
This can be easily demonstrated with the global warming phenomenon. If the global
warming is continued, the unusual changes of the climate will be also continued and the
damages from draught, flood, and typhoons will be accelerated. The glacier on the
polar areas will melt, causing the rise of the sea level. This, at the end, will have a
direct influence on the agricultural activities.

We should overcome the environmental crisis. Then, how should we cope with
it? This is a very difficult task. The UN is recommending every country to aim to build
an environmentally sound and sustainable society, as the destructive development
policies of the 20th century should not be continued. Nonetheless, most developed
countries including South Korea are still carrying out the ‘unsustainable’ development
policies which give priority to the accumulation of the national wealth. In the case of
South Korea, the ‘unsustainable’ development policies can be observed in its land uses,
the energy policy, and the economic growth policy. South Korea, in a word, will
continue to sacrifice its environment and ecosystem for its economy. This will be the
same in the countries in the Third World.

The environment organizations, however, are making sure that they will
continue to carry out movements to overcome the environmental crisis and to build the
‘sustainable’ future. One of their major efforts is to carry out the struggle against the
South Korean government. The ‘unsustainable’ development policy, if continued, will
further the environmental destruction, and eventually kill off the life on the earth. The
environmental destruction is the life destruction, which results in the deprivation of our
basic right. To secure a safe and peaceful ground of life for our generation and the next
generation, i.e., to secure ‘our sustainable future’, the environment movement should be
carried on.