The Korean Economic Growth and the Sound and Sustainable Development - The Ulsan Metropolitan City in Korea - - 韓國의 經濟成長과 지속 가능한 開發 - 蔚山 廣域市를 중심으로 - Heenam Ahn (Univ.of Taegu in Korea, Ph.D) Deokho Cho (Univ. of Taegu in Korea, Ph.D) ( Sept.8, 1999 Asian Planning School Association

Tables of Contents I. Introduction II. Theoretical Reviews of the Environmentally Sound and Sustainable Development 1. The Background and Method of Research 2. DPSER Model on the Sustainable Development Policy 3. The Economic Growth and Environmental Degradation III. The Korean Economic Growth and Urbanization Policies 1. The Korean Economic Growth Policies 2. The Urbanization Policy in Korea 3. The Korean Environmental Policies IV. Industrialization Policies and the Environmental Problems in the Ulsan Metropolitan City 1. Policies of Industrialization and Urbanization in the UMC 2. The Environmental Problems in the UMC 3. The Environmental Policies in the UMC V. The Korean Experiences and Policy Alternatives on the Sustainable Development Model VI. Conclusion

I. Introduction Nature, it is said, does not make a jump. But the economic development that happened in East Asia countries after World War II is close to a jump. By the early twenty-first century Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and China will probably exceed North America or Europe in terms of economic productivity. South Korea has played a leading role in the East-Asian economic growth because she is one of the most successful countries in terms of economic growth. Many developing countries try to learn Korean experiences in terms of economic development even if she recently faced some economic difficulties. The Ulsan Metropolitan City is a symbol of Korean development in terms of the growth of heavy-chemical industry and urbanization. However, this city meets serious negative impacts of economic growth such as air pollution, freshwater shortage, and ocean pollution and so on because heavy-chemical industry complexes, which are the main causes of environmental problems, are located in this city. Due to these negative externalities, she paid a lot of costs and environmental issues became recently the main topic in Ulsan urban planning. She has made an effort to overcome these environmental problems by transforming an industrial structure from the heavy-chemical industry to high technology and low pollution industry. Sustainable development policy is a major approach to solve her urban problems. Ulsan's urban environment has improved slightly.

II. Theoretical Reviews of the Environmentally Sound and Sustainable Development 1. The Background and Method of Research In order to meet the challenges of environment and development, each country has searched a new approach to the economic development. Economic development should be maintained or accelerated in one way and environment must be improved in another way. Developing countries emphasize the economic growth for escaping from the poverty but it generates environmental problems. Developed countries have the more concern on the environmental protection or its improvement. Korea - a semi-developed country, achieved the rapid economic growth and recently increased the social concerns on the environmental issues. Moreover, it is located in the turning point of government policy from the economic growth to the improvement of environment. Especially, the UMC is a representative city of the Korean experiences in the rapid economic growth, urbanization, industrialization, and even environmental policies. This research examines the urbanization, industrialization, and even environmental policy and extracts some policy models on the sustainable development in both areas. The UMC's experiences will suggest some lessons on the sustainable development for solving the dilemma of developing countries which confront with the contradiction between the economic growth and environmental protection.

2. DPSER Model on the Sustainable Development Policy "Sustainability refers to the ability of a society, ecosystem, or any such ongoing system to continue functioning into the indefinite future without being forced into decline through exhaustion... of key resources." -- Robert Gilman, President of Context Institute ( 1998). It is the emerging doctrine that economic growth and development must take place, and be maintained over time, within the limits set by ecology in the broadest sense. It means that environmental protection and economic development are complementary rather than antagonistic processes (Ruckelshaus, 1989). 3. The Economic Growth and Environmental Degradation However, Korea that is a semi-developed country still uses more environmental resources and consumes more materials. If she does not change industrial structure from heavy-chemical industry to high technology or sustainable development policy, environmental problem cycle will move upward along the right hand side of the bell shaped graph. Now she is located in a turning point of the bell shaped graph. Depending upon the adjustment of industrial structure, its curve can move upward or downward. Very recently, some cities in Korea follows downward slope of bell shaped graph because they transform their industrial structure (Ulsan, 1997).

Figure 1. Development Framework of DSPER Structure

Figure 2. The Framework of DSPER Structure

Figure 3. Economic Growth and Environmental Problems Resources Use Material Consumption Environmental Pressures Environmental Problem Cycle of Before ESSD Carbon cycle, Nitrogen cycle, Water cycle Environmental problem cycle of after ESSD GNP (time) Source: Velliga, Pier(1998), Industrial Transformation Research, p.2, Figure 2. Economic Growth and Resources (revised by an author).

III. The Korean Economic Growth and Urbanization Policies 1. The Korean Economic Growth Policies In 1960s Korea was a desperate and poor country due to the Korean War and social unrest such as the student movement in 1960 and the military coup in However, Korea became a member of the Organization of the Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) which its members are composed of the developed counties in The Korean national income as a whole grew at an average annual rate of 7.9 percent during the period from 1963 to 1995(Kim and Hong, 1997). It comes from several different factors such as a strong government policy for economic development, highly skilled labor and low wage, individual's willingness to overcome poverty, and the "Can Do Spirit for Economic Growth." An authoritarian military government built the Economic Development Five Years Plan in This plan was directed by a strong and authoritarian government and lasted until the 1980s (see Table 1).

<Tabel.1> The Goal and Policy Issues of Economic Development Five Years Plan Source: This table (Kim, p.170, Table 7-1) is revised by author, following the direction of this paper.

2. The Urbanization Policy in Korea 3. The Korean Environmental Policies The Pollution Prevention Act was enacted in 1963, which is regarded as the first environmental law in Korea. The Act was revised in January 1971 to introduce permissible emission standards. As the country continued to attain rapid economic development, public concerns about environmental pollution heightened. In response, the Pollution Prevention Act was replaced with the Environmental Preservation Act in 1977, including the environmental impact assessment, environmental standards, and restrictions on the total volume of pollutants. However, due to the ever-worsening condition of the environment caused by industrialization in the 70s-80s, the Environmental Preservation Act was separated into six laws in1990: the Basic Environmental Policy Act, the Air Quality Preservation Act, the Water Quality Preservation Act, and the Noise and Vibration Control Act. A number of environmental laws were enacted more recently: There are 24 environmental laws under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Environment. In summary, the Korean environmental policies actually implemented in the 1980s when the government office on the environment was established and the environmental problems were most urgent social issue in the 1990s.

IV. Industrialization Policies and the Environmental Problems in the Ulsan Metropolitan City 1. Policies of Industrialization and Urbanization in the UMC The UMC is one of the fastest industrialized cities within the country or in the world since 1962 when she became a city. She is a symbolic city of Korean development in terms of industrialization, urbanization, and even environmental problems. The Korean government nominated Ulsan as a special industrial area and established an industrial center by the 'Special Law of the National Industry Site Development'. Based upon this law, the Ulsan National Industry Complex was constructed. At the initial stage of industry complex development, its population and size were respectively 85 thousands and km 2. However, its population and size are separately 991 thousands and 1, km 2 in The number of population has increased about 12 times and urban size six times during 34 years. She also has grown to the seventh largest city and is well known to all over the nation and the world for its petrochemical and heavy industries and became one of the important nucleus cities in the Pacific Rim areas (UMC, 1997). The development process of the UMC is lined up with the building process of industry complexes.

. Economic Status of Ulsan Metropolitan Area in 1996 Source: Ulsan Commercial Chamber (1998), The Economic Status of Ulsan Metropolitan City in the Circumstances of Ulsan Commercial and Industrial Sites (p.2).

Figure 4. The Location of Ulsan Industry Complexes

2. The Environmental Problems in the UMC These explosive urbanization and industrialization however created several environmental problems such air quality, sewage water, soil, and river and ocean pollution in UMA. Especially, Ulsan's environmental problems are serious more than that of any other city because most manufacturing plants are pollution-related industries such as petroleum-chemical or automobile and shipbuilding industries. At the initial stage of development of industry complex, there was no consideration on its environmental impacts. Moreover, the characteristics of environmental problems are that its impacts slowly show up and last for the long time. Heavy chemical industry complexes were usually constructed in the 1960s but environmental problems actually were generated in the 1980s. Moreover most industrial complexes were located in the water front area. This resulted in the pollution of river and coastal water. Detrimental smog of manufacturing plants moved to the residential area from the spring to the fall, following the direction of the southeast wind. More specifically, source industries of environmental pollution are summarized in Appendix 1.

3. The Environmental Policies in the UMC Ulsan opened the department of environmental management in Local government approached more positively these environmental problems, comparing it with central government. She employed a monitoring system on the pollution such as air and water, smoke, noise, poison, coastal water, and so on. This plan focused on the improvement of quality of life for the Ulsan citizens. The basic principle of this plan is that the emission of pollutants should be "Zero Base." The local government controls the environmental pollution as follows: 1) In order to construct a new factory, it must produce the environment- friendly goods or recycle the waste. 2) In order to increase the scale of existing factory, total amount of pollutant emission should be less than that of the existing plant. 3). If this plan is implemented successfully, Ulsan will be changed from the symbol of polluted city to a clean city environmentally in 2002.

V. The Korean Experiences and Policy Alternatives on the Sustainable Development Model Everything in Korea has been dramatically changed except human species during the last 40 years. 1)A political system changed from a strong military dictatorship to the democratic society that is based upon the local autonomy. 2). Economically, she advanced from a desperate poor country to a developed or semi-developed country. 3).The structure of economic base has altered from the agriculture to the manufacture, or even the information industry. In terms of urbanization, the rural society has changed to an over-urbanized one. 4). However, this rapid growth created serious negative results such as air, water, and ocean problems. Korea has become a better society in terms of economy but this rapid growth created a serious negative result. But the concern on the environmental problems has been dramatically increased and Korea also experienced the local autonomy in the political system. As a result, the trend of environmental degradation has reversed like Figure 1, following the down-slope trend of bell-shape curve. These reasons can be summarized as follows:

1) In order to promote economic growth in the initial stage of development policy, the Korean government adopted the growth strategy of heavy-chemical industry that is a pollution-related manufacture. Passing the time, these manufacturing plants however have deteriorated the environmental problems of the industrialized cities. Ulsan is a symbolic city of economic growth and environmental problems. The local government should adopt the sustainable development policy to improve environmental problems in this city. It is a sustainable development strategy. 2) The central government did not consider the environmental impacts of heavy- chemical industrial complexes. Fortunately, the central government had continuously reforested in mountain areas since 1960s and succeeded in building a green national land except urban areas. 3)The local autonomy was not established until 1995 and environmental policies were controlled by the central government. It resulted in the inefficient correspondence on the local environmental problems. Moreover, it just focused on the compensation to environmentally damaged citizens or replacement instead of improving the quality of local environments. 4) The non-profit organization and citizens has participated in the improvement of environmental problems. Many environmental organizations and citizens and even some factories recently involved in the improvement of environments in the central and local level. The public concerns on the environmental issues increased explosively because the environmental problems such as fresh water, air quality, bad smell and so on are directly related with the quality of their lives.

5) Due to the rapid economic growth, the GNP has dramatically increased and the income per capita reached about 10,000 dollars. The basic needs for human life are significantly solved. The citizens and the government concerned the environmental problems and quality of life. These concerns have contributed the change of economic policy from the growth-oriented one to the sustainable development, considering the local environmental problems. VI. Conclusion East Asian rapid economic growth, urbanization, and industrialization have placed increasing demands on air, water, and land resources. Much of the region, particularly major urban areas, is plagued with unacceptably high air and water pollution levels. Environmental problems are getting worse. Urgent steps are needed to reverse this trend and to foster a more efficient and environmentally friendly growth in years ahead, following the downward direction of Figure 1. A new policy approach is clearly needed in order to handle the global environmental issues and challenges posed by rapid changes in social structure. The government must accordingly develop environmental technologies to match those of advanced nations, take immediate action to cope with environmental problems, and take an initiative in solving global environmental problems. An environmentally friendly consumption patterns and business management system must be fostered. The ideal of "Environmentally Sound and Sustainable Development (ESSD)" for the economic growth must be promoted.