Fatal deregulation at a snail’s pace

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Fatal deregulation at a snail’s pace

Published: 26 Nov. 2024, 19:47 Updated: 26 Nov. 2024, 21:25

Suh Kyoung-ho
The author is an editorial writer of the JoongAng Ilbo.

A snippet caught my eye while scanning the morning papers the other day. It was a short article about how the work of plucking electric poles along the roads in the Daebul Industrial Complex in Yeongnam, South Jeolla, is finally picking up. I couldn’t believe that power poles and overhead wires that came to symbolize outdated or unnecessary regulations under the Lee Myung-bak presidency (2008-2013) are yet to be removed. I had to double-check and, to my astonishment, they indeed still exist.

During a transition committee meeting in January 2008, President-elect Lee mentioned how it took months to get one pole removed in the industrial complex, causing hazards for vehicles carrying large shipbuilding blocks through the roads into the industrial site. Media reported on Lee’s remark, and within days, two poles were removed. The extraction went on even under rain despite the risk of an electric shock. Lee Kyung-sook, who was heading Lee’s transition team, added a poetic spin to the move. “The poles in our hearts also should be plucked out,” he said to emphasize the need to do away with deep-seated customary regulations that stifle everyday lives. This is how the tale of an electric pole came about.

But making the poles go away was easier said than done. The Daebul complex was built in 1997 as an export gateway for automotive parts and fabricated metal going to China and Southeast Asia. The power cables were built above ground instead of under, which cost more as the industrial site originally was not expected to host heavy-duty transport trucks and haulers. When the industrial site failed to draw tenants, it started hosting ship block and module builders from 2000. The builders produced blocks taller than 32 meters (105 feet) in line with the increased vessel sizes, but poles that were 8 to 12 meters tall got in the way. The South Jeolla provincial government admitted that wires had to be cut off or trucks had to choose a longer journey to make way for the shipments.

But pulling out a few poles couldn’t solve the problem. The industrial complex should have been renovated to accommodate a newer design and tenants. But since there were too many aged industrial sites across the country, government spending could not single out the complex for upscaling. The budget was the issue rather than outdated regulations. Then-Industry Minister Kim Young-ju spoke of systematic issues in response to the president-elect’s comment on power poles. The management of an industrial complex falls under the local government’s responsibility after it is established, but Yeongam County lacked the budget for the upgrade.

After the poles somehow lost the central government’s attention over Lee’s five-year term, the work of installing an underground power cable network progressed at a snail’s pace due to budget issues to finally come to a stop in 2016. The removal operation was renewed after the conversion from overhead to underground power distribution became a part of the government’s 2023 New Green Deal project. The budgeting was allocated for 2025, too. But that may not be the end of overhead power lines. The Jeolla provincial government said that next year’s undergrounding procurement will be the last, citing budget strains.

Power poles symbolized “outdated and excess regulations” during the Lee administration. They were paraphrased as “thorns under fingertips” under the Park Geun-hye administration and “red flags” under the Moon Jae-in administration. In his memoir, former president Lee wrote that he merely meant to emphasize the improvement of government efficiency under his new government with the example of the poles, but they somehow came to denote his regulatory reform drive in a departure from his original intention.

A deregulatory drive does not need a grandiose metaphor or slogan. There is a simpler and more effective way. In a co-authored book “Economic Policy Agenda 2022,” former economy-related bureaucrats, including Byun Yang-ho, former head of the financial policy bureau of the Finance Ministry, proposed the government benchmark a certain state to keep regulations up to its levels.

The Economist’s latest edition featured the nomination of Elon Musk as Donald Trump’s “disrupter-in-chief” after the tech titan and the world’s richest man who became Trump’s “first buddy” along the campaign trail has been named the co-head of a new department tasked with deregulation and government streamlining. The world will closely watch how the man commanding a corporate empire accountable for 2 percent of the U.S. stock market can circumvent nepotism and conflicts of interests and see through his vow to chop “at least $2 trillion” from the federal budget. If the United States succeeds in drastic deregulation, why not make it our benchmark?

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.