the Rise in Fine Dust in Korea and the Collapse of Governance

Koreans have been bombarded over the past few weeks with non-stop news reports about the responses of former presidents Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye to the criminal charges they face for corruption. Although those individuals should be held responsible for their actions, one has to wonder whether the personal self-serving actions of those politicians are the most critical issue for the nation, or whether we are being distracted from a more serious problem: the collapse of governance.

Over the past 12 years, starting at the end of the Roh Moo-hyun administration, the capacity of government to identity national problems, to formulate solutions and to implement them effectively over the long-term has declined precipitously. We have witnessed the degradation of the political status of qualified civil servants, the empowerment of big business and the appointment of unqualified political figures to high government positions who proceeded to undercut the authority of the government officials serving under them to do their job.

The promotion of a "pro-business" approach to governance that valued short-term profits over the long-term well-being of the nation did permanent damage to the government itself. Today, politicians spend most of their time trying to promote their image and little time coming up with brave and effective solutions to real problems. The low-key and complex process of solving problems is less important than the image perceived in the media.

At the heart of this war on government is the promotion of deregulation (which means literally de-criminalization). The result of deregulation is that government officials have lost the ability to serve as a check on for-profit organizations. Today, profits for business has become the critical issue in the policymaking process and consequentially the government has lost its ability to formulate and implement long-term policies.

That problem has been made worse because deregulation has been paired with privatization so that infrastructure is run for profit. Such an approach poisons attitudes toward the community at every level.

The clearest example of the collapse of governance in Korea is the inability of South Korea to respond to the devastating increase in fine particulate matter in the air. The government is unable to identify the sources of the pollution for the public, to formulate a long-term solution or to demand that industry make the necessary improvements required to address...