KOREA's CASE: DIALOGUE and CONSULTATION with CIVIL SOCIETY in terms of TRADE and ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

By KIM DoHoon, Senior Research Fellow, Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade

I.                   Introduction

  1. This study explores the mechanisms used by the Korean Government to enhance transparency and to conduct consultation with civil society in terms of trade and environmental issues. It also describes civil society's experience and assessment regarding the government's transparency and consultation practices.
  2. From the government side, officials in the Ministry of Environment; Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade; Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy, and the Prime Minister's Office were contacted. The sections on experience and assessment are described based on interviews with the following NGOs: Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI); Korean Federation of Traders' Association (KFTA); Korea Federation of Industries (KFI); Green Korea United; Korea Federation for Environment Movement; Hyundai Institute of Eco Management; Korea Environment Institute (KEI); Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP); and Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade (KIET).

II.                Background

  1. The Korean government is characterised by a highly centralised administration and top-down administrative decision-making. Therefore, administrative information has also been highly centralised and is often closed to public access. Consultation with interested parties has not been strongly required. However, this administrative climate is rapidly changing. The adoption of the Information Disclosure Act in 1996 transformed the attitude of administrative agencies. This Act requires the release of information to the public upon request, with limited exceptions for reasons such as national security, reunification, privacy protection and commercially sensitive material. In addition, the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) requires administrative agencies to announce in advance their plan to enact, amend, and abolish Acts and subordinate statutes.
  2. Communication notes [1] and discussion groups have been used more frequently as consultation methods by the Korean government than public hearings. The former methods have facilitated the rapid progress of government policies, because the government has been able to select interested parties to be heard, particularly business people. However, public hearings have been employed whenever policy issues are expected to have a great impact on the economy. Recently, relatively new mechanisms are actively used by the government such as Internet sites, newsletters or periodicals, and information disseminating networks (see paragraph 11) etc.
  3. In Korea, issues related to the interaction between trade and environmental policies do not yet seem to be sensitively perceived. Even though Korea has been strongly pursuing a so called outward oriented development strategy relying on international trade, and has consequently been actively engaged in international trade agreements, trade liberalisation and/or international trade agreements have never provoked serious environmental issues at the domestic level. Until now, the only concerns Korea has regarding trade issues related to their economic impact, such as growth and price effects on Korean industries or the Korean economy in general.
  4. Since the late 1980s, environmental issues have started to attract people's attention at the domestic level. On the one hand as Korea's industrial development has been so rapid and explosive, it has sometimes provoked direct environmental concerns. On the other hand, people, with increased income level, have become more sensitive to environmental issues. Against this background, some NGOs specialised in environmental issues have been gaining a greater following. However, their concerns have been limited to domestic issues such as water and air pollution and protection of the nature. As a result, environmental NGOs have not been very interested in trade issues.
  5. The relative lack of sensitivity of environmental NGOs to �rade and environment�� issues in Korea may in part be due to the lack of policy dialogues between the government and these NGOs on the issues. In fact, the government's efforts for policy dialogue with the private sector have been directed towards discussions with firms at the expense of those with environmental NGOs.

III.             Transparency and Consultation Mechanisms

  1. Three ministries usually deal with policy issues regarding trade and environment, although other ministries may intervene for specific issues. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT) is in charge of all matters related to international agreements or negotiations. It has a specific division specialised in multilateral environmental agreements, which is called the �nvironment Co-operation Division��. The Ministry of Environment (MOE) is in charge of managing domestic regulations related to the environment. It has a division in charge of the relationship between international issues and domestic environmental issues, which is called the �lobal Environment Division��. The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE) deals with environmental issues from the perspective of industrial competitiveness.

A.     Formal standing consultation mechanisms

1.       Consultation mechanisms specifically dealing with trade and environmental issues

  1. MOE has recently established a policy dialogue tool focussed on trade and environment. Through the Discussion Group on Trade and Environment, established in July 1999, specialists in this area from government-financed think-tanks (see below) and private research centres meet with MOE officials on a monthly basis. Most big industrial groups (so-called Chaebol) run their own research centres specialised in environmental issues and five of them are participating in this discussion group. However, no environmental NGOs currently participate in the group. This group discussed six major WTO agenda items at its July meeting. Some of the members are expected to conduct in-depth research in their specialised fields and share the results with other members of the group and eventually hold seminars for the public.
  2. MOFAT manages a list of trade policy specialists. The specialists, coming from public and private research centres and universities are named as advisory committee members. MOFAT officials frequently consult these specialists on various trade issues and sometimes ask them to attend, together with government officials, international talks and negotiations. Among them, certain experts are named as specialists on trade and environmental issues.
  3. MOFAT has recently established a list of people to whom they intend to disseminate trade-related information more quickly (by means of e-mail or facsimile) in an effort to improve their information dissemination system. The list includes the members of MOFAT's Advisory Council and those of its sub-councils, the members of the Economic Co-operation Committee at the Private Level (including KCCI and KFI), deans of graduate schools specialised in trade, MOFAT Advisory Group on Regional Issues, researchers of public and private research centres specialised in trade, mass media representatives, members of the Congressional Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade and political parties.

2.       Environment-related consultation mechanisms

MOE-organised Discussion Group on Environmental Policies with firms

  1. MOE also organises the Discussion Group on Environmental Policies with private firms with the help of KCCI in order to disseminate information to private firms and have consultations with them on the environment policy issues. The Group meets twice a year, while four working level sub-groups meet four times a year each. The main subjects which these sub-groups work on are general environment policies, air pollution, water pollution, and waste. The Discussion Group, as well as its sub-groups, consist of MOE high level officials, the KCCI secretariat, other major business association representatives, private company representatives, and research centre representatives.

MOE-organised Discussion Group on Environmental Policies with NGOs

  1. The Discussion Group on Environmental Policies organised by MOE is remarkable. Established in 1994, this group, despite being organised (established in 1994) and financed by the government, namely the MOE, consists of 20 representatives [2] who are designated by the NGOs themselves, which is quite different from the usual consultation meetings for which the government chooses the people to consult. This group meets on a quarterly basis. The vice-minister and an assistant minister of MOE participate in the meetings. MOE usually gives briefs on major policy issues and hears NGOs' opinions on these issues. Some trade-related issues have been discussed in this context, but not at an in-depth level.

MOCIE-organised Discussion Group on Industrial Environmental issues with firms

  1. MOCIE on its side organises the Discussion Group on Industrial Environmental issues with private firms in order to disseminate information to private firms and consult with them on the industry-related environmental issues. The Group gathers researchers from private research centres specialised in environmental issues and government-financed think-tank (KIET), a professor, and the KCCI secretariat along with MOCIE officials. The Group meets on a monthly basis and discusses environmental issues including trade-related issues from the industry perspective. Major issues discussed are levies on the emission of pollutants, rationalisation of environment regulations, a deposit system for wastes, designation of environment-friendly firms, and the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

B.     Formal ad hoc consultation mechanisms

  1. The government sometimes organises ad hoc policy consultation meetings when urgent or important issues arise. For example, MOFAT organised an ad hoc task force team that was composed of government officials from different ministries and experts from different private sources in order to consult them about major issues at the Singapore WTO Ministerial Conference.

Committee dealing with issues related to climate change

  1. To cope with policy issues subsequent to the Climate Change Convention and Kyoto Protocol, the Korean government established a government-wide Inter-ministerial Committee headed by the Prime Minister in 1998. Under the Committee, there is an Ad hoc Vice-ministerial Meeting and a High Level Task Force Meeting gathering director generals and presidents of government-financed think-tanks. This Task Force meets monthly. The Task Force gives mandates to five working groups such as the working groups on negotiations, on energy and industry, on environment, on agriculture, and on R&D. These working groups, managed by relevant ministries, actively consult with specialists from government-financed think-tanks and private research centres. When concrete proposals are made at this level, the working groups consult with firms or industry associations.
  2. As concrete results of the Committee's discussion, some experimental projects to reduce energy consumption have been launched. For example, the government has made Voluntary Agreements with 11 representative high energy-consuming firms such as steel, cement, petrochemicals, and electricity. Under the Agreements, these firms can benefit from financial and technical assistance in exchange for their concrete commitments to reduce energy consumption. The Korean government plans to enlarge the Agreements to a larger number of firms from 1999.

C.     Information dissemination mechanisms

Newsletters, reports and Internet web-sites

  1. MOE publishes a monthly report entitled �nternational Environmental Development�� in order to disseminate the information on major international environmental issues, including multilateral environment agreements. The report transmits environment-related news articles from major domestic and international sources. It also includes the mission reports made by MOE officials when participating in international environmental talks. The report has a special section reserved to the issues on trade and environment. The report, in published form, is distributed to the private sector including firms, business associations, related government-financed think-tanks, and environmental NGOs for free. In addition, the whole content of the report can be found at the MOE Internet site �ww.moenv.go.kr��.
  2. MOFAT also publishes a monthly newsletter entitled the �lobal Environment Report�� in order to disseminate the information on major international environmental meetings including international talks on trade and environment. MOFAT officials, who participate in these meetings and talks, write articles for the newsletter. As MOFAT is more specifically in charge of issues between trade and environment, this newsletter seems more specialised in trade and environmental issues. For example, the OECD Joint Working Party Meetings on Trade and Environment are reported in summary in the newsletter. The newsletter, in the published form, is distributed to the private sector including firms, business associations, related government-financed think-tanks, and environmental NGOs for free. In addition, the whole content of the newsletter can be found at the MOFAT Internet site �ww.mofat.go.kr��.

Informal practices

  1. Government officials are sometimes called to seminars and training programmes organised by academia or private organisations. On those occasions, they deliver the information on specific issues. As trade and environmental issues involve a lot of technical information including from international sources such as international talks or documents from international organisations, officials from MOFAT and MOE are frequently asked to deliver the information.

D.     Semi-public organisations as intermediaries between the government and private sectors

Government-financed think-tanks

  1. Many Korean ministries have specialised think-tanks working on long term policy issues at a more in-depth level [3] . As they have been established to conduct research on potential future policy issues, they may play the role of information dissemination and policy consultation before the policy is actually implemented by the government. They organise seminars and conferences when their research on policy issues has been developed to a certain level. As many representatives of private sectors including firms and NGOs are often invited to these meetings with related government officials, these seminars and conferences can be considered as means of information dissemination and/or policy consultation between the government and private sectors. The government often asks these think-tanks to organise meetings on relatively urgent issues such as multilateral trade negotiations or multilateral environmental agreements before they go to the negotiating table, in order to consult public opinion. As their research results are in general disseminated to the general public in forms of reports and books, these think-tanks play a role of disseminating information as well.
  2. There are three think-tanks working on the issues related to trade and environment. The Korea Environment Institute, financed by MOE in the past, is more specialised on environmental issues than trade issues. However, there are a few researchers working on trade and environment common issues. The Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, financed by the Ministry of Finance and Economy in the past, focuses on international trade issues including international negotiations and agreements. Again this institute has its own team on trade and environmental common issues. The Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, financed by MOCIE in the past, works on industrial policy issues and trade policy issues with the perspective of domestic industries. It also runs a research team working on trade and environmental issues. These researchers are participating in the ad hoc discussion group meetings organised by MOE.
  3. There are other forms of informal exchanges of information between government officials and think-tank researchers: frequent informal meetings and researchers' active participation in international trade talks accompanying government officials. The researchers are often called upon to deliver information on policy issues in seminars and conferences as well as to government officials.

Industry Organisations

  1. The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) runs a working centre on environmental issues. This centre, established in 1997, has played the role of information dissemination and policy consultation mechanism. To do so, the centre has established 225 contact points from KCCI member companies. Contact points, are in, general the working level responsible people who are in charge of environmental issues at their companies. The centre publishes a bi-monthly newsletter on industry-related environmental issues (entitled Industrial Environment Information) which is put on the Internet site of KCCI and organises quarterly policy dialogue meetings between the government and member companies on environmental issues. Sometimes, trade-related environmental issues are discussed in this context. As KCCI has its regional network, the centre plays the role of information dissemination at the regional level as well. An advisory committee was formed to consult with the centre, gathering representatives from major business associations, environment-related public organisations, 11 industry associations, and regional chambers.
  2. The Korean Federation of Traders' Association (KFTA) plays the role of the official consultation counterpart of the government and the information dissemination centre for Korean traders in the context of trade policies. It takes part in the various consultation processes the government organises. For example, the government consults the KFTA every time they are to formulate new trade policies, to change existing trade policies, and to go to international trade talks or negotiations. KFTA officials are also summoned to the Discussion Group on Trade and Environment. In this sense, the KFTA plays the role of an intermediary between the government and traders for the policy dialogue in terms of trade and environment.

IV.              Experience with transparency and consultation

  1. This section summarises the reactions of non-governmental organisations interviewed on their views and experiences with the above-mentioned transparency and consultation mechanisms.
  2. Despite various efforts by the government to disseminate information and to consult with the private sector, the assessment of the latter does not seem very positive in general. This is especially true when it comes to the environmental NGOs' assessment.
  3. The exception is the case of government-financed think-tanks and industrial or traders' organisations, if they are considered part of the private sector as the Korean government usually does. As they are frequently informed and consulted by the government, they seem to be quite satisfied with the current system in terms of transparency and consultation. Researchers from think-tanks are sometimes asked to accompany government officials when they attend important international talks or negotiations. They are supposed to give government officials direct policy advice on the spot. This has undoubtedly contributed to improving policy dialogue between the government and these think-tanks.
  4. Private firms do not seem to be totally satisfied with the current system, despite the fact that they are better informed and more frequently consulted by the government than environmental NGOs are. To date, the intermediary role for disseminating information and consulting in this context played by semi-public organisations does not seem to be particularly well appreciated by private firms. This may be partly because private firms have not been concerned about the issues on trade and environment and so they had not developed sufficient expertise on the issues to evaluate the information until very recently. The government also put forward the same rationale as the reason why they were not very active to inform and consult private firms until recently. However, since private firms (at least major conglomerates) have recently established their own research centres on environmental issues and their members have been directly called upon as consultation partners by the government, they seem to have become more satisfied with the government's efforts.
  5. The environmental NGOs' assessment, particularly of those who are specialised in environmental issues, regarding the current government system for enhancing transparency and consultation is rather negative. They feel excluded from the information flow and consultation network of the government, particularly in the context of trade and environmental issues. Even though there are some meetings where they can get information about the government's policies, they think that meetings are held too infrequently. Again in this case, the lack of interest and expertise on the issues by environmental NGOs is the reason put forward by the government for making fewer efforts to share information and consult with them. Considering that these NGOs are relatively satisfied with the efforts of the MOE for disseminating information at least on pure environmental issues, this may well be a relevant factor.
  6. However, as the government holds a near monopoly on information about trade and environmental issues, a lack of effort on the part of the government for disseminating information may have resulted in a lack of interest by these NGOs. The fact that one of those NGOs recently published a report on globalisation and environmental issues (mainly translating several reports on the issues made by foreign academia and international NGOs) shows that they are increasingly interested in these issues.
  7. Environmental NGOs do not seem to have confidence in the current system for lodging their opinions and comments on governmental policies, either. Instead of bringing their opinions directly to the government, they seem to have preferred using mass media as the means of advocating their causes [4] . It has often provoked emotional reactions from the general public, which has forced the government to change policies or to take measures to cope with the issues raised. This attitude of environmental NGOs has not helped to improve the government's confidence in these NGOs. Until very recently, the government did not make a great effort to inform NGOs about their policies nor to consult them. The lack of dialogue and consultation between the government and NGOs has made NGOs resort more and more to emotional reactions.
  8. The relationship between the government and environmental NGOs has recently improved thanks to each other's efforts to engage in dialogue. On the government's part, the fact that MOE has been organising the Discussion Group on Environmental Policies between NGO representatives and government officials since 1994 is a good example. The fact that the Internet site of MOE shows the link sites of major environmental NGOs is another example. MOFAT also seems to be making efforts to improve relations with environmental NGOs by inviting some NGO representatives to accompany MOFAT officials while attending international environmental talks. On the NGOs side, they try and invite government officials to their open seminars with the general public.

V.                 Overall assessment on transparency and consultation activities

  1. There still seems to be a gap in perception about the seriousness of problems between the government and civil society, particularly environmental NGOs, in terms of policy issues on trade and environment. Whereas the government treats these issues very seriously, assuming that they will have a great impact on the whole economy, environmental NGOs' interest in these issues seems to be limited to being informed on the issues and learning about foreign NGOs' reactions to the issues. The perception gap still seems to hamper the development of sincere dialogue on the issues. This in turn seems to further degrade NGOs' assessment on the current system of transparency and consultation on this matter.
  2. On the other hand, Korean firms have begun to feel the seriousness of the issues and are keen to know the impact on their business. It is for this reason that they have recently established their own research centres on environmental issues and their researchers have started to actively participate in the current consultation mechanism. Although firms have been more privileged consultation partners of the government than other segments of civil society in Korea, they do not seem to be completely satisfied with the current system. In view of their keen interest in collecting information, firms also seem to demand that the government establish a better system of information dissemination.
  3. As described above, the intermediary role played by government-financed think-tanks and industry organisations is not perceived as totally satisfactory. Currently, the activities of think-tanks, as organisers of seminars and conferences on trade and environment, are not very active, partly because they do not yet regard issues on trade and environment as urgent and partly because they have not accumulated sufficient information.
  4. Although the government is trying various new information dissemination methods, such as the Internet sites, periodicals and information network etc, personal contacts are still perceived by firms and NGOs as the best way to get information and to consult. In this sense, environmental NGOs seem to desire that their representatives be included in various discussion groups. In addition, it is requested by other segments of civil society and, particularly by environmental NGOs that government-financed think-tanks and industry organisations should improve their intermediary role by organising more meetings and undertaking more personal contacts with them.

[1] When the government needs to consult the private sectors on specific policy issues, they often use official communication notes. The government sends these notes to interested parties requesting reactions. The reactions of interested parties are taken into account in the government's policy formulation or implementation. Before government officials participate in international talks or negotiations, they often use these notes to collect the opinions of so called specialists on related issues. However, it is totally up to government officials who to choose as consulting partners. Environmental NGOs are often excluded from the list of consulted interested parties, whereas business representatives such as KCCI and KFTA and government think-tanks are almost always consulted.

[2] There are ten representatives from environmental NGOs, five representatives from NGOs dealing with more general economic issues, two representatives from NGOs specialised in consumer protection and three representatives from religion-related NGOs.

[3] In the past, these think-tanks were directly financed by their affiliated ministries. The current government has centralised the official financial source to the Prime Minister's Office. However, although many research projects are given to them by individual ministries under the contract basis, they are still quite dependent on their affiliated ministries.

[4] At the early stage of development of these NGOs, campaigning directly to the general public must have been perceived as a development strategy by them.