Book on Korea’s Environmental Policy
By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter
Prof. Choi Yearn-hong's new book, the first publication written in English on South Korea's environmental policy and management, is composed of the author's scholarly papers over the past decade during his teaching career at the University of Seoul.
Choi, a graduate from Yonsei University in South Korea and Indiana University in the United States, is the first public policy scholar and poet in the field of environmental policy and administration in the country.
Although the book is largely designed for college students, all the papers and poems contained in the book can be read easily by other ordinary people, who are interested in environmental protection and nature conservation.
``On the surface, poetry is nothing to do with public policy and administration. But I believe poetry can purify public policy, a kind of prose,'' the author wrote in the preface. ``Therefore, as a poet, I have included my nature poems to end my collection of environmental public policy essays with some sense of purity.''
From water quality and ecosystems to nuclear issues including radioactive waste management, the book covers a wide range of environmental issues facing the country. It also explores the possibility of regional cooperation for environmental protection in Northeast Asia.
It also provides some concrete case studies such as the water quality and ecosystem of the Han River, which passes through Seoul, in an interesting comparison with the water resources management of Washington and the Potomac River.
One of the major contributions of the book is to make all readers familiar with international environmental cooperation as well as environmental issues and politics in South Korea. It also gives readers a chance to look into the environmental policy and management from a comparative perspective.