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1) Japan (1945-1954) Since the mid-Meiji era, environmental disruption caused by mining in the Ashio and other areas has occurred. Nevertheless, the Japanese government did not pay any serious attention to environmental issues, because the government, after a while, had built up a war regime. Environmental policy in Japan was initiated after the Second World War. After the war, GHQ (the General Headquarters of the Allied Powers) pushed forward the democratization of political and economic institutions in Japan, and rewrote the Constitution of Japan, thereby radically introducing a democratic form of government in 1946. As Japan’s postwar rehabilitation occured, the air and rivers in large cities, such as Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama, and Fukuoka, were gradually polluted. Initially, such pollution issues were regarded as a policy concern for local governments. In the 1950s, several large local governments enacted ordinances for pollution control, and the first of these was the Tokyo Prefectural Ordinance for Factory Pollution Control of 1949. In contrast, the central government was blind to these issues. It is important to note that Japan’s environmental policy was characterized by local governments’ initiatives. 2) Korea (1961-1969) The Korean War broke out on the Korean Peninsula in 1950-1953. The Korean government could not afford to concentrate on environmental issues. Thus, environmental policy in Korea was initiated when Park Chung-Hee took power in 1961. Under the conditions of the North-South division of the Korean Peninsula, President Park built up an authoritarian political regime, and stimulated modernization through a Five-year Economic Development Plan in 1962. At that time, political leaders in Korea recognized industrial smoke as a symbol of Korea’s economic development. Even though the Pollution Prevention Act, which was modeled on Japanese legislation, was enacted in 1963, it was not properly enforced to effectively alleviate the environmental problems caused by economic development (Koo,1979,p.11). 3) China (1973-1976) At the time of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, under the leadership of Mao Zedong, environmental issues did not enjoy the level of consciousness found at current stage (Qu,1991,p.211). Although no environmental laws and regulations were enacted, relevant clauses were written into other laws and regulations such as the “Provisional Sanitary Criteria for Designs of Industrial Enterprises of 1956” and the “Provisional Outline for Water and Soil Conservation of 1957”. Afterward, the Strategy of the Great Leap Forward in 1958-1961 was a setback and subsequent to it was the Cultural Revolution in 1966-1976. During the first half of this era, the 4
country’s political, economic and social lives were pushed into disorder. In 1972, significant environmental problems such as water pollution in the Dalian Bay and the Guanting Reservoir became widely known. In June of the same year, Premier Zhou Enlai sent a Chinese delegation to the United Nations Conference on Human Environment (UNCHE). At this conference, the Chinese delegation stated that the fundamental cause of environmental pollution lay in capitalist countries. At the same time, however, the Chinese government became aware of the seriousness of China’s environmental issues(Qu,1991,p.214). In 1973, the First National Conference on Environmental Protection proposed by Premier Zhou was held in Beijing. Numerous cases of pollution and damages were reported by delegates from all over the nation. The “Certain Regulations on the Protection and Improvement of Environment” and the policy of “overall planning, rational layout, comprehensive utilization, turning harm into benefit, relying on the masses, everybody set to work, protecting the environment and bring benefit to the people” were approved at this conference. The Chinese government, thereafter, began to stress the campaign for comprehensive utilization of the industrial “three wastes (waste gas, waste water, and solid waste)” in order to reduce the hazards of pollution. It also promulgated the “Trail Standards of Discharge of Industrial Three Wastes of 1973”, which regulated the discharge of specific toxic substances and the height of chimneys in main industrial sectors (e.g. power plant, metallurgical industry, chemical industry). Moreover, in 1974, the Environmental Protection Leading Group of the State Council was formed, but this was not an authorized government body. 3-2 Progressive Period The term “Progressive Period” is used here to mean the period that the government, on a sectoral basis, adopts various policy responses against environmental issues, such as water pollution, air pollution and destruction of nature, and creates administrative organizations in the field of environmental policy. 1) Japan (1955-1964) In the mid 1950s, under the state measure of establishing petrochemical complexes and the plan for national income doubling, rapid growth of Japan’s economy began. During this period of rapid economic growth, several kinds of pollution diseases occurred, such as Minamata disease in 1956 and Itai-itai (ouch-ouch) disease in 1957. In 1958, nearly seven hundred fishermen in Urayasu strongly protested against water pollution caused by Honshu-seishi Co., one of Japan’s biggest paper companies. In response to this, Diet passed two laws that year to preserve water quality. These laws were the first environmental legislations enacted at the central level. The Honsyu-seishi Incident is symbolic of the strong influence of citizens’ movements on Japan’s environmental policy development. In the subsequent year, pollution spread across the nation, mainly in petrochemical complex 5
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Page 4 and 5: 1.Introduction High rates of econom
Page 8 and 9: areas. Pollution damages became so
Page 10 and 11: As a part of the policy reform sinc
Page 12 and 13: condition of the disease, however,
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Page 22 and 23: through a similar pattern. Thus env
Page 24 and 25: References Agency of Natural Resour
Page 26 and 27: Environmental Affairs 2(2): 103-108
Page 28 and 29: Table 1 Comparative Chronological T
Page 30 and 31: China Japan Korea China Japan Korea
Page 32 and 33: 1.National Experience (1) Events of
Page 34 and 35: 20 % 15 10 Japan Korea China 5 0 19
Page 36 and 37: 4,000 kg.oil equivalent 3,500 3,000
Page 38 and 39: 70 % 60 50 40 30 Agriculture Indust
Page 40: 70 % 60 50 40 30 Agriculture Indust

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