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Environmental Problems and Policy Issues in Korea

김종기 1

1명지대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to examine the current environmental conditions, identify the major causes for the environmental problems and recommend the policy issues for improving environmental performance in Korea. The environmental problems are chronic issues in Korea. During the last 4 decades, rapid industrialization and urbanization gave rise to severe environmental degradation. Korea has adopted and updated various kinds of policy measures to solve environmental problems. The main instruments are based on regulatory systems, such as emission/discharge permits, ambient environmental standards and the designation of zones where special conditions apply. In recent, Korea has added an array of economic instruments including emission charges, a deposit-refund system and a waste management discharge. Some progress is being made, but as yet there is no broad improvement of actual environmental quality. The challenge of future improving environmental performance in Korea lies in: I) expanding environmental infrastructure capacities to the desired level; 2) strengthening the integration of environmental concerns in sectoral and economic decision making; 3) enhancing the level of environmental technology and industries; 4) further integrating environmental concerns in national land development planning, and 5) assuming international environmental responsibilities commensurate with its level of economic development and continuing efforts towards ratification and implementation of international agreements.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.