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Seoul Searching: Wake-up Call
South Korean President Kim Dae Jung sacked his Transport Minister last week amid
an uproar over the United States decision to cut the safety ratings for Korea's
two air carriers. The downgrade was an embarrassing blow for a country preparing
to host the world's biggest tourist event next year, the Soccer World Cup.
Perhaps, though, it will serve as a wake-up call for Korea, where safety has
long taken a back seat to expediency.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration put Korean Air and Asiana Airlines in
the same safety category as Panama. No offense to Panama, but that can't be
good; Korea's economy is at least 20 times bigger and it's in the OECD. It
should have world-class airline safety. The FAA, however, doesn't think it does,
so the carriers now can't expand their services in the U.S. or code-share with
American airlines. That will cost them millions of dollars in lost business as
travelers switch to airlines that can get them to destinations in America more
conveniently.
The problems at the airlines started before Transport Minister Oh Jang Seop took
the job five months ago. Oh, however, didn't appear to bring a sense of urgency
to the task of bringing the carriers up to international standard. What's more,
it's hard to avoid the impression that the government doesn't get excited about
safety issues until the international community gets involved. Just look at the
carnage on Korea's roads: the country has the highest traffic accident fatality
rate in the OECD, having recently taken the top spot from Turkey. But it didn't
start to do anything about the problem until very recently. It is hard to escape
the conclusion that only the approach of the World Cup has stirred the
government to action. The gridlock traffic in Seoul will be bad enough, but it
wouldn't do to have too many foreigners run over during the tournament.
Korea is not a country with a safety culture. After decades of Japanese
colonialism and a devastating civil war, there were understandably other
priorities. For a long time, safety was considered a luxury that rich countries
could afford, not small countries trying to industrialize at warp speed. That
led to some spectacular catastrophes, such as the 1995 collapse of a major
department store in Seoul that killed 500 shoppers. And people are still dying
because somebody cut corners on fire safety procedures, or didn't put up a
decent highway sign, or failed to install circuit breakers in street lamps to
prevent them from electrocuting people after heavy rain. Sure, the economy isn't
doing too well now. But Korea is a well-off country by any measure. It is time
to stop acting like a poor one.
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