S. Korea May Resume Daylight Saving Time
By Kim Se-jeong
Staff Reporter
Should Korea resume daylight saving time or not? The outdated and forgotten topic of debate has risen again, with the Lee Myung-bak administration having a ``Green Growth'' slogan since last year.
Daylight saving is included in the agenda of the Presidential Committee on Green Growth, which was created earlier this year.
``It has become a more fixed system now in developed countries. We're also reviewing the pros and cons of it,'' an official at the committee said last week.
The media reported that the committee plans to resume daylight saving around May next year.
But the official said, ``We're in the process of evaluation, which will take some time, followed by consultations with interest groups, especially those who oppose the idea. I don't know how long it will take.''
Coming from a part of the world where the clock shifts one hour back and forth each year, Rodney Grapes, a New Zealander who teaches at Korea University, is happy in Korea not to have to go through the cumbersome routine.
Grapes said daylight saving time, also known as summer time, had worn him out, especially when he was younger.
Transcending just putting a clock one hour back and forth, Grapes said he had to learn to adjust his biological clock to the artificial time, which sometimes took him months. Then he had to readjust himself when the time went one hour back.
``It's good that I don't have to go through that again in Korea,'' Grapes told The Korea Times.
But a 29-year-old woman with a white color job welcomed the idea. Having spent a few years in the United States where daylight saving is in full swing, she said the system is a non-binding method of making people spend time more wisely.
``By putting the clock one hour back and forth, I was reminded of the significance of time, especially when I had to lose an hour," said the woman, who was identified only by her family name, Kim.
History of 'Summer Time'
The idea was first conceived by Benjamin Franklin while he was a U.S. envoy to France in 1784. He hinted the idea in his famous proverb, `` Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.''
The modern-day idea was first proposed by New Zealand entomologist George Vermon Hudson, whose shift-work job gave him leisure time to collect insects and made him aware of the value of after-hours daylight.
Briton William Willet, who conceived the idea independently in 1905, has received the most credit for inventing it.
On April 30, 1916 during World War I, Germany first shifted its clocks to conserve coal during wartime.
According to a report by the Korea Energy Economic Institute (KEEI) released in 2006, 86 nations have introduced daylight saving time.
The KEEI, commissioned by the presidential committee, is currently undertaking new research on the effectiveness of the idea.
Korea previously implemented daylight saving twice, first in 1948. It didn't last longer than a decade because of a lack of awareness and an inadequate social structure.
``As you can imagine, when you rely on agriculture, there's less need for daylight saving," Lee Sung-gun, a KEEI researcher, said.
It resumed in 1987 ahead of the 1988 Summer Olympic Games in Seoul, but the system did not last long due to public opposition.
Advantages
Energy conservation is the first thought when it comes to the advantages of daylight saving. A KEEI survey conducted in 1988 showed the scheme saved electricity consumption by 0.28 percent.
``It wasn't that substantial,'' the researcher said.
Auxiliary advantages are more amusing. According to the KEEI, in 1987, consumption of alcohol decreased by 0.8 percent from the previous year and revenues of ``karaoke" establishments and bars went down by 30 percent.
In America, daylight saving reportedly contributed to reducing late-night crime and car accidents.
Opponents of daylight saving time point out the change in lifestyle and ensuing physical disturbance and inconvenience.
However, the debate on daylight saving time in Korea has a unique aspect because of the eccentric working environment.
In theory, few would oppose it, but few also believe it could actually happen.
It's no surprise that employees in Korea are expected to work longer hours.
Reports of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) indicate that working hours in Korea are among the longest ― this year, Korea ranked first.
Although Kim supports the resumption of daylight saving time in theory, she remains doubtful about how it would affect her work schedule.
``Unlike other Western countries, employees aren't supposed to leave the office before the boss is gone. Also, the workload won't let you leave just because your legal working hours for the day are up. I might end up staying longer in the office when daylight saving time starts.''
That's exactly what Korean labor unions argue.
Lee Seung-chul, spokesman of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, said, ``It will likely exacerbate current working conditions, which are bad enough. People will end up staying in the office longer rather than going off and doing something else.''
Lee said daylight saving time must be preceded by a change of perception of working conditions.
Kim asked the government to be more specific on how to implement the system so as to minimize side effects. ``Unless the government takes the lead with concrete and detailed ideas, the program will go sour,'' she said.
The government seemed to be eye-to-eye on that particular issue.
``Our focus is a change in lifestyle, and it won't happen without a change in work environments,'' said an official at the presidential committee during a telephone interview with The Korea Times.