[New Release] Korea Suffers from Regulations... "Let's Not Just Endure, But Change"

In 2017, the Makgeolli industry suffered due to the government's excessive drinking warning regulations. Packaging materials were required to include government-designated excessive drinking warning phrases, but the authorities instructed them to reprint the same content with the order reversed. Small Makgeolli manufacturers faced losses worth hundreds of millions of won as they had to discard previously ordered packaging materials.

In 2015, the government demanded that sundae (Korean blood sausage) and tteokbokki, considered national snacks, obtain certification from the Korea Food Safety Management Certification Institute (HACCP). About 1,400 companies were targeted, but most found it difficult to bear the costs of compliance. Approximately 80% of these were small businesses with annual sales under 100 million won, while the estimated cost for compliance was at least 20 million won.

What distinguishes regulations that must exist for the public good from unnecessary regulations that hinder innovation? The book Conditions for Good Regulation is a regulatory compass created by eight experts who have long pondered regulatory issues. Based on 13 criteria such as the overall public interest, predictability, scientific evidence, and public consultation, it provides guidelines to distinguish good regulations with concrete examples.

The background for creating a regulatory guidebook for citizens lies in South Korea’s reality as a regulatory powerhouse. The Kim Dae-jung administration began earnest regulatory reforms in 1998. Since then, every president has made it a national agenda, yet South Korea remains among the world’s most heavily regulated countries for decades. It has even been classified alongside authoritarian states like China and Russia as a red-flag country.

The cause is attributed to the characteristics of the public sector. Regulation is essentially a process where public officials expand their influence, so it tends to increase continuously. In fact, when laws are enacted, teams to operate the laws or related public institutions are often established. The authors believe regulatory reform has been slow because it ultimately demands that public officials relinquish their authority.

The book also offers tips for citizens to eliminate regulations. It explains how to break the rigid logic of public officials, what their vulnerabilities are, and how to increase the effectiveness of regulatory petitions. In this regard, the book acts as a catalyst for regulatory innovation by encouraging citizens to actively use their previously underutilized “right to petition.”

Of course, no country is without regulations. However, poorly made regulations must be refined. Regulations that excessively infringe on citizens’ fundamental rights and freedoms must be dismantled. This is a call for citizens to take action themselves, not just rely on the government. Therefore, the authors proclaim: "Don’t just endure regulations, stand up and change them!"

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.