Environmental Governance in Korea: The Case of Air Pollution Management

The South Korean system of air quality management reflects the overall development of environmental governance in that country, which has progressed from the initial adoption of coercive environmental regulations to market-based incentives and voluntary agreements among the relevant actors. The post-1990 decrease of several visible air pollutants highlights the effectiveness of these policy instruments. Nonetheless, the recent increase of CO2, NOx, and PM10 emissions, caused as it is by the country's energy-intensive industrial structure, indicates that Korea's air quality management has yielded mixed results at best. Air quality standards generally meet the national standards, but they tend to be more flexible and lenient than WHO guidelines. Effective air quality management requires a comprehensive and integrative approach incorporating the interests of diverse stakeholders into the policy-making and policy implementation processes. In this respect, a satisfactory balance between environmental protection and constant economic expansion has to be explored in extensive way.