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<DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Dear friends and colleagues,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Michael Rank's commendably succinct message</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>draws attention to a major current concern in
Korea.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>In November in Seoul, at The Economist
Conferences</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><FONT
size=4>Business Roundtable with the South Korean government,</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><FONT
size=4>President Lee Myung-bak and his full team of economic</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><FONT
size=4>ministers and other top officials all harped a good deal on
</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><FONT size=4>green
themes. I append the relevant section of the </FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><FONT
size=4>summary </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><FONT size=4>that I
wrote for participants. You'll note a degree of
scepticism.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><FONT
size=4></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><FONT
size=4><STRONG>Songdo</STRONG>, the subject of the article that Michael links
to, is</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><FONT
size=4>probably a lost cause by now for the poor spoonbills.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><FONT size=4>(For a
broader and more positive view of this project overall,</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><FONT size=4>from a
source which one might have expected to be critical,</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><FONT size=4>see <A
href="http://www.japanfocus.org/-David-McNeill/3247">http://www.japanfocus.org/-David-McNeill/3247</A>.)</FONT></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Then there is <STRONG>Saemangeum</STRONG>: mother of all white
elephants,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>and politically the purest pork. They </FONT><FONT
size=4>built the world's longest </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>sea-wall, at vast expense and here again destroying
wetland</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>bird habitats. </FONT><FONT size=4>Yet after almost 20
years, nothing has been done</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>with it because no one can agree what </FONT><FONT
size=4>the ruddy thing is for! </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Some links: </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.birdskorea.org/Habitats/Wetlands/Saemangeum/BK-HA-Saemangeum-Mainpage.shtml"><FONT
size=2>http://www.birdskorea.org/Habitats/Wetlands/Saemangeum/BK-HA-Saemangeum-Mainpage.shtml</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>(Birdskorea.org is excellent on environmental issues
generally)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/bs/tour_investment_support/pds/content/cms_view_495624.jsp"><FONT
size=2>http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/bs/tour_investment_support/pds/content/cms_view_495624.jsp</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>(A casino now, forsooth!)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><A href="http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2911923"><FONT
size=3>http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2911923</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Now we have the <STRONG>Four Rivers Restoration Project
</STRONG>(4RRP),</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>which is ploughing ahead despite many serious
concerns.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>These are summarized in </FONT><FONT size=4>an
article I wrote last May; also</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>appended here, if I may, since it is not </FONT><FONT
size=4>in the public domain.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>An excellent piece on the 4RRP is this by James
Card:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><A href="http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2188"><FONT
size=3>http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2188</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>His opening paragraph reads as follows:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; TEXT-INDENT: 0px; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; FONT: medium 'Times New Roman'; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"
class=Apple-style-span><SPAN
style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; LINE-HEIGHT: 21px; FONT-FAMILY: georgia, times, serif; FONT-SIZE: 14px"
class=Apple-style-span>The Korean peninsula was once called geum-su-gang-san, “a
land of embroidered rivers and mountains.” Before South Korea industrialized in
the postwar years, the rivers were wild-running freestone streams barreling down
the mountains and turning into sandy shallow rivers edged by wetlands as they
reached the sea. In her 1898 book<SPAN
class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN><EM>Korea and Her Neighbors</EM>,
19th-century travel writer Isabella Bird described the upper Namhan River as
“where pure emerald water laps gently upon crags festooned with roses and
honeysuckle, or in fairy bays on pebbly beaches and white sand.”<BR><BR>That
world is long gone now...</SPAN></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; TEXT-INDENT: 0px; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; FONT: medium 'Times New Roman'; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"
class=Apple-style-span><SPAN
style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; LINE-HEIGHT: 21px; FONT-FAMILY: georgia, times, serif; FONT-SIZE: 14px"
class=Apple-style-span></SPAN></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Finally, ecological doubletalk is only one
instance</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>of how ideology befuddles the brain and skews
policy.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>There is also egalitarian doubletalk, whose
progeny</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>is <STRONG>Sejong City</STRONG>: like Saemangeum an
ill-considered</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>pork-barrel scheme </FONT><FONT size=4>on whose purpose no one
agrees, </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>and a political hot </FONT><FONT size=4>potato which will
waste time and </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>money for years to come, belying its website
name:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><A href="http://www.happycity.go.kr/"><FONT
size=3>http://www.happycity.go.kr/</FONT></A><FONT size=4>. Here are two
views:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><A href="http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2914963"><FONT
size=3>http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2914963</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/397800.html"><FONT
size=3>http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/397800.html</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Happy New Year to one and all,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Aidan FC</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 14pt" lang=EN-GB><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Aidan Foster-Carter<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN style="COLOR: black" lang=EN-GB><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Sociology
& Modern Korea, Leeds University, UK
<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black"
lang=EN-GB><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black"
lang=EN-GB><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">Flat 1, 40 Magdalen Road,
Exeter, Devon, EX2 4TE, England, UK<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black"
lang=EN-GB><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">T: (+44, no 0) <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>07970 741307 (mobile); <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic">01392 257753<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN></SPAN><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Skype</I>: Aidan.Foster.Carter<SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-style: italic"
lang=EN-GB>E: </SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: black" lang=EN-GB><A
title=mailto:afostercarter@aol.com
href="mailto:afostercarter@aol.com">afostercarter@aol.com</A>,<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><A
title=mailto:afostercarter@yahoo.com
href="mailto:afostercarter@yahoo.com">afostercarter@yahoo.com</A><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>W: <A
title=http://www.aidanfc.net/
href="http://www.aidanfc.net/">www.aidanfc.net</A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black"
lang=EN-GB><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><STRONG><I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Constantia; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 11pt" lang=EN-GB>Here's
hoping (malgré tout) for a peaceful, healthy and prosperous New
Year!</SPAN></I></STRONG><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>-----------------------------</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT
size=4>A major theme was what President Lee called the “new national vision” of
low carbon green growth. (So new, indeed, that it hardly figured in his campaign
for office in 2007.) Strategy and finance minister Yoon Jeung-hyun outlined the
“Green Growth Five-Year Plan”, dating only from July, whereby Korea “will invest
two percent of the GDP as public spending on green growth between 2009 and
2013.” Similarly, according to the only recently appointed knowledge economy
minister Choi Kyunghwan, five ‘green tech industries’ are among 17 ‘new growth
engines’ announced in January; the other 12 being in ‘high-tech convergence
industries’ and ‘value-added service industries.’ (More on services in the
following section.)<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT
size=4>Minister Choi, who is also a member of the national assembly, admitted
that he had recently expressed the fear that South Korea plans to go green too
fast. In his view public consensus is missing. Moreover his brief includes being
in charge of industry, so he fights their corner. (MKE is the new name for what
used to be the ministry of commerce, industry and energy or MOCIE: arguably a
more accurate moniker than the trendy new one, with its aura of IT.) Kim
Hyung-Kook, who chairs the presidential committee on green growth, conceded that
for a country whose emissions had more than doubled since 1990, going green
would be hard. He saw his committee as open to foreigners, and a ginger group to
the rest of government.<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT
size=4>The US$18bn Four Rivers Restoration Project (4RRP) was little mentioned,
despite its being the most tangible project in this field as well as a major
focus of public debate. Many view it as a covert rebranding of President Lee’s
former ‘grand canal’ scheme, which he had pitched more for logistical than green
reasons (though few were convinced) and reluctantly dropped. In sum, despite
right-on rhetoric and good intentions, doubts remain about both the depth of
this new conversion to eco-friendliness, and just how green some aspects of it
really are.<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><o:p><FONT
size=4>...</FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><o:p><FONT
size=4></FONT></o:p></SPAN> </P><SPAN style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"
lang=EN-GB><o:p>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT
size=4>As participants left, they may have noticed posters and preparations in
the Hyatt for an event next day: the 2009 International Forum for Green Growth
and Saemangeum Project. This is about the world’s longest sea-wall (33km) and
largest polder on Korea’s southwest coast, not yet complete after nearly 20
years and some US$7.5bn. No one agrees what to do with the site; plans have
altered several times, while critics claim it is bad for the environment.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT
size=4>An editorial on October 21st in the <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">JoongAng Ilbo, </I>Seoul’s leading daily,
linked this to other currently planned large-scale projects under the headline:
“Prudent Policy, Please.” Besides the Four Rivers project, this also alludes to
the main hot potato of current political debate: a US$18bn plan to move half the
government to a new administrative city 160km south of Seoul. (Interestingly
this went unmentioned in the Roundtable.) Even if modified as seems likely into
a scientific or educational complex instead, this will still be an costly
distraction.<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=4></FONT> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
size=4>____________________</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=4></FONT> </P>
<H4 style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"
lang=EN-GB><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">Brief for Oxford Analytica.
Edited version published 22 May 2009. </FONT></SPAN></I></H4>
<H4 style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"
lang=EN-GB><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">Some slight
updating.</FONT></SPAN></I></H4>
<H4 style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"
lang=EN-GB><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN></I> </H4>
<H2 style="MARGIN: 12pt 0cm 3pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><FONT
size=5>SOUTH KOREA:
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"></P><SPAN lang=EN-GB><FONT size=3><FONT size=5>Rivers
restoration project rekindles canal controversy</FONT>
</FONT></SPAN></FONT></o:p></FONT></SPAN></H2>
<H2 style="MARGIN: 12pt 0cm 3pt">
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"></FONT></o:p></P><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT
size=4>SUBJECT: <SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">The Lee Myung-bak
administration’s environmental infrastructure
plans.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></FONT></H2>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=4><B>SIGNIFICANCE: </B><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Critics claim the government’s ideas are
environmentally unsound, and a ploy to resurrect the president’s dream of a
nationwide canal network via the back door.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=4><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">ANALYSIS: </B>On April 27 President Lee
Myung-bak presided at the launch of an interim plan to upgrade South Korea’s
four major rivers: the Han, Nakdong, Geum and Yeongsan. This is to be finalized
by end-May, with work starting in September after the rainy
season.</FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman">The four river restoration project (4RRP) is a core part
of a 50 trillion won (37 billion dollar) ‘Green New Deal’ announced earlier this
year. Costing 14 trillion won, the 4RRP aims to:</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman">* Provide more and better water. Two new dams and 13
reservoirs are to store an extra 1.25 billion cubic metres of fresh water by
2012.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman">* This, and dredging the river beds, are also meant to
improve control of seasonal flooding. The latter has worsened since the 1970s,
possibly because of the effects of industrialisation.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman">* Amenites will include 1,411 kilometres of new cycling
paths, sprucing up cultural relics near the river banks, and general riparian
beautification for leisure and tourism purposes. </FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman">* It is hoped thereby to create some 190,000 jobs
directly and more indirectly, boosting local economies along the rivers and
contributing to more balanced regional development.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman">* New photovoltaic and small hydropower plants on or near
the four rivers, as well as larger green spaces, are supposed to reduce carbon
emissions by 100,000 tons annually.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=4><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Canal redux? </B>On February 26 prime
minister Han Seung-soo said “there should be no more controversy over this
project,” calling it “the backbone of our Green New Deal plan.”
</FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman">However, this has not silenced claims that the 4RRP is
essentially a covert bid to revive Lee Myung-bak’s pet project for a ‘Grand
Korean Waterway’ (GKW): a 540 kilometre cross-country canal linking Seoul to the
port of Busan in the southeast, costing 16 trillion won.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman">Mountainous and densely populated, South Korea has high
logistics costs. But few experts supported the GKW, fearing rather a white
elephant and ecological harm. Yet Lee persisted, <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>until forced to drop the idea last June
amidst a deepening political crisis caused by protests against US beef imports
and complaints that he was riding roughshod over public opinion.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=4><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Water shortage. </B>Among the varied aims
of the 4RRP, water shortage is a growing problem. Though South Korea’s yearly
rainfall of 1,274 millimetres is 30% above the global average, its dense
population means per capita water supply will fall to 1,199 cubic metres by
2025; the UN regards 2,000 as the safe minimum. Yet daily consumption per head
at 397 litres is the highest in OECD, suggesting a need for action at the demand
as well as the supply end.</FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=4><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Protest. </B>Environmental NGOs are
influential in South Korea. Their record includes:</FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman">* Holding up for several years construction of the
world’s longest seawall (see below).</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman">* Delaying the last section of the KTX high speed rail
link from Seoul to Busan, now set to open finally in 2010. On April 23 the
Supreme Court convicted Venerable Jiyu, a Buddhist nun, for obstructing this;
most famously in a 120-day hunger strike in 2005 against a planned 13 kilometre
tunnel near her monastery, said to threaten the habitat of a rare salamander.
</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=4><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Green? </B>Ecological NGOs are predictably
sceptical of the 4RRP and its green credentials: </FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman">* Birds Korea (BK) claims that the plans to dredge rivers
and build dams, weirs and bicycle paths will breach obligations under the
Convention on Biological Diversity and the Ramsar Convention on wetlands, to
both of which South Korea is a signatory.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman">* BK also argues that vegetated riverbanks, appropriately
supported, would be stronger and cheaper to maintain than concrete, as well as
more attractive for biodiversity and recreation.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman">* Or again, silting and stagnation from dams will harm
rather than help water quality. Tap water potability has become a public concern
in recent years; bottled water sales have soared despite official insistence
that mains water is safe to drink. Water quality and quantity and flood control
alike would be better guaranteed by restoring natural flood-plain
wetlands.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman">* Conversely, a construction-focused approach will
disturb and restrict water flows, destroy natural river beds and edges, reduce
biodiversity and risk long-term ecological damage.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=4><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Bulldozer. </B>Relatedly, critics query the
underlying perspective and priorities of this project:</FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman">* President Lee is a former CEO of Hyundai’s construction
arm. Nicknamed ‘bulldozer’, he is viewed as espousing an old-school view of
development as covering nature with concrete.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman">* The construction sector, accounting for nearly 20% of
GDP, is suffering in the downturn. This affords an excuse for public works
projects as Keynesian stimulus, and for job creation. On this basis the 4RRP,
like the GKW before it, is popular in most of the localities affected, with
hopes of regeneration and new employment outweighing environmental
concerns.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman">* In Lee’s favour, his controversial removal of a raised
motorway to restore a long-hidden stream while mayor of Seoul is now applauded
as much improving the capital’s amenities.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=4><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Exempt? </B>There is disquiet that no full
feasibility studies have been done. Indeed, a 1999 law mandating such a survey
for all projects costing over 50 billion won was recently amended to exempt
works for “natural disaster prevention” – as the 4RRP is classified – from this.
</FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=4><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Canal reduced. </B>Similar unease affects
another canal project, predating the GKW and still going ahead. On May 6
President Lee visited the site of the 18 kilometre Gyeongin canal. By 2011 this
will connect the Han river in Seoul with the port of Incheon on the Yellow
(West) Sea for cargo ships of up to 4,000 tons.</FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman">Conceived in the 1990s, this idea was abandoned five
years ago amid doubts that it could be economic. In 2003 the Board of Audit and
Inspection (BAI) criticised officials for fudging a cost-benefit analyis by the
Korea Development Institute (KDI) to make it look viable. Lee revived the 2
billion dollar project, but doubts persist and KDI’s study remains
unpublished.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=4><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Green growth. </B>More broadly, on May 12
the Presidential Committee on Green Growth said 12.6 trillion won will be
invested by 2013 in green technologies, to create half a million jobs.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>4.2 trillion won will be spent on
Internet infrastructure, green IT products, and low-carbon transit systems,
while R&D into other various green technologies, such as high-efficiency
solar batteries and hybrid vehicles, will receive 8.4 trillion
won.</FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=4><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Seawall saga. </B>If precedent is any
guide, two relevant cases point in opposite directions:</FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman">* Confounding early scepticism, upgrading of the Han
river in Seoul – initally for the 1988 Olympics – has been a success. The river
now is far cleaner and more attractive than before.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman">* However, the main recent precedent for large-scale
nature-remaking is discouraging. At 33 kilometres, Saemangeum on the southwest
coast is the world’s longest seawall, infilling an estuary and adding 400 square
kilometres of reclaimed land. This remains controversial:</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=4>* Begun in 1991, the wall was not finished
till 2006. Environmentalists opposed it, saying it would destroy some of East
Asia’s most important wetlands, crucial for migratory birds. In 2007 the RSPB, a
British bird protection body, reported that seabirds were starving there.<SPAN
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT
size=4>* Conceived mainly to boost and placate the neglected Jeolla region,
which complained at missing out on major development projects, Saemangeum’s
precise purpose has never been agreed or clarified. Talk variously of industrial
or agricultural uses has come to little so
far.<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT
size=4>* Last year the area was designated a free economic zone (FEZ), again to
no visible effect. <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=4><SPAN style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"
lang=EN-GB>* In March the central and provincial governments agreed to make
</SPAN>Saemangeum a “model green vacation spot”, international tourist resort,
or even “a Korean Dubai”. This latest twist appears no better thought out, nor
more likely to succeed, than its many predecessors.</FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"></FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=4><SPAN style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"
lang=EN-GB>* - as witness that by October the state-run </SPAN>Korea Rural
Community Corp. (KRC) was touting the wholly different concept of an
“eco-friendly manufacturing hub.”</FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><o:p><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=4><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"
lang=EN-GB>CONCLUSION: </SPAN></B><SPAN style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"
lang=EN-GB>Lee’s river restoration plan is ambitious and far-reaching.
Confidence that it will actually achieve its diverse goals would be higher if
feasibility studies had preceded it. If this goes ahead but proves to have
little or negative impact, especially on the environment, this will only cement
the president’s reputation for bulldozing projects without consultation, and
could work against the ruling party in 2012’s presidential and parliamentary
elections.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang=EN-GB><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
size=4>________________________</FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P></P></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>In a message dated 1/7/2010 18:42:09 GMT Standard Time, rank@mailbox.co.uk
writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial>If
you're interested in development vs conservation, "cities of the <BR>future"
and "ecological doubletalk" in Korea you may be interested in
<BR>this<BR><BR>http://tinyurl.com/yl7ldsv<BR><BR>Michael
Rank<BR><BR><BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>