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Zachary Burgess

Phillips

AP English

14 December 2018

The Future of the Children and Environment in South Korea

South Korea, one of the world's most successful countries, suffers from problems beyond

their neighbor's nukes. The environment in South Korea has seen a trend of poor conditions which

can be linked to the decreasing numbers in average childbirth. The South Korean government

making great efforts towards environmental cleanliness and providing a safe environment for

Korean youth, can simultaneously clean the environment and increase the birth rate.

After the stalemate in the Korean War in 1953 and the resolution in World War II, South

Korea emerged into an industrial powerhouse. Both of those wars began an enormous movement

from "agrarian to industrial living" (Smith). Three-fourths of the Republic lived in rural areas

before the wars, today eighty two percent of inhabitants live in urban areas. This mass

industrialization caused a major issue of air pollution. Factories produced monstrous amounts of

greenhouse gases. The UN gathered recently and concluded that the pollution issue reached new

levels. At this meeting, the UN reports that 7 major countries are far from achieving their pledges

to decrease greenhouse gas emissions. One of those seven includes South Korea (Mooney).

Although the environment suffers, South Korea's biggest issues lie elsewhere.

Aside from air pollution in South Korea, the country suffers from pollution to their water

too. In February 2018, The Sanchi, a trade ship carrying a hard-to-see petroleum, closed in on the

end of it's trip from North America to South Korea. While traveling through one of the worlds
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most traversed parts of the ocean, it collided with the CF Crystal. The Sanchi erupted in flames

and left an almost invisible oil in the ocean, damaging the sea creatures (Myers). This nearly

invisible oil affects the diet of Koreans since they consume large amounts of seafood. Korean

population becomes directly impacted from this crash due to increasing prices of the food and

parents not wanting their children to consume potentially polluted food. The fear for the future of

kids drives parents into not having more or any children. During the 1970s, the average women

gave birth to a whopping 4.5 children. A national campaign began to urge women to have no

more than 2 kids. Evidently, the campaign worked better than expected because today, the

average births per woman are 1.05 (Poon). To keep the South Korean population at a stable rate,

the average needs to be raised to 2.01 so the offspring can replace the parents. The solution

sounds easy on paper, but in reality, Koreans struggle to make that change. The Japanese Times

writes about South Korea's birth issue by saying; "Experts blame sky-high housing prices, the

costs of raising children, and fears over unemployment." The job market in South Korea has been

and continues to be one of the most competitive job markets in the world. Dr. Kim Doo-Sub,

president of the Asian Population Association states "there is severe competition for the younger

generation to enter the labor market…(Oh)" In many countries, women become treated

differently than men. Even though South Korea has the second highest working hours in the

OECD, women still acquire the responsibility to tend to the child even if they work (“​Birth

Strike': South Korea Takes on Falling Fertility Rate”)​. The South Korean women conclude they

will be better off having a career than a child or marriage arrangement.

Factoring in the long hours, competitive market, and the oppression women face in the

workforce, women struggle to balance a kid and a job. Companies in Korea choose to push
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women to quit instead of paying for maternity leave, and if they return to work after, they become

viewed lesser (“​Birth Strike': South Korea Takes on Falling Fertility Rate”)​. A woman who had a

kid and a job told Citylab she "felt [she] had to choose between earning money and being with

[her] child, and [she] felt really guilty (Poon)." When an adult has to contemplate their wealth for

the life of a child, where do the problems begin? If a trend continues where families only have

roughly 1 child, the workforce will see fewer people entering it and will cause the social costs of

supporting the elderly to start to overwhelm the national economy (Poon). With a negative trend

of people entering the workforce, fewer people become responsible for preserving what natural

resources the country has. The environment requires the attention of the population equally as

much as the population relies on the environment.

Korea has a large population relative to their miniscule country size. Recently, South

Korea's garbage has been a concerning issue. Reported in the Philippines Daily Inquirer, South

Korea had dumped 5100 metric tons of trash at the Mindanao International Container Terminal.

Fear rose that South Korea would run out of space to dispose of trash and resort to low and

mid-income countries. This raises concern for the future state of South Korea's environment

considering they had to resort to dumping garbage in another country. Along with the garbage

issue, chemical contamination in South Korea was named as one of the most severe

environmental issues. Chemicals include pesticides in eggs, hygiene product chemicals, and radon

found in beds (“​Korean Time on Environmental Doomsday Clock Creeps 26 Minutes Closer to

Midnight than Last Year”)​. These environmental concerns create fear for the future of South

Korea and the population. Children become most affected by the environmental issues due to the

time they spend outside.

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Young children typically spend more time outdoors than adults resulting in more time

exposed to outdoor pollutants, ultimately affecting their growth. Very young children become

exposed to more outdoor pollutants since they crawl. Lead and pesticides can settle on the ground

and when children pass through the oral exploration development stage, they could be

contaminating themselves (“​Rules and Regulations That Impact Children's Health”​). No parent

would want their child to be in an environment where they live at constant risk of contamination.

Children develop in a constant state of growth making them more prone to environmental

contaminants. A toddler who plays in the dirt, that may have high levels of lead, can get lead

poisoning. If the air quality is bad while a child with asthma plays, their chances of an asthma

attack skyrocket (“​Children's Environmental Health”​). According to Benjamin Haas from The

Guardian, South Koreans dread air pollution more than the nukes in the neighboring country.

Adults may even avoid reproduction altogether due to their concern about their child being

contaminated or having health issues relating to the poor quality of the environment. South Korea

needs to implement nature saving laws and policies to clean the environment and to push for a

cleaner future.

Important people in the world include the group of children. Children will grow to lead

and change the country. By exposing children to contaminants, their critical body systems can be

heavily affected. During childhood, the nervous, reproductive, metabolic, and respiratory systems

develop (“​Rules and Regulations That Impact Children's Health”​). If these systems result in being

affected, they could have major repercussions in their adult life. It can easily happen since

children spend more time outside, on all fours, and commonly put body parts in their mouth

(“Children's Environmental Health”). Children also consume more food, water, and breathe more
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air per pound of body weight. From a physiological standpoint, children have more permeable

and sensitive skin. The EPA says "children also retain ingested substances longer in the stomach

and the small intestines, they have a more permeable blood-brain barrier, and they have a greater

cerebral blood flow." These scary thoughts drive parents away from reproduction. The

environmental contamination in South Korea pushes parents away from intercourse since they

fear for their kid or kids having physical issues in life. One of the last issues a parent wants is

their kid having physical or mental ailments, this fear drives South Korean parents away from

having families which results in the average births per woman going down over the years. To try

and compensate, the South Korean government provides one hundred thousand won a month for

families with children under 6 and with an income below nineteen million won (“South Korea's

Birth Rate Hits Another Record Low”). The money provided helps support the families that need

it so Koreans become encouraged to have more children. South Korea hopes by slowly providing

money to those who need the money, will spark more reproduction, so the population will start to

see a forward-looking growth.

Implementing environmental laws and policies along with providing a financial boost to

people that think about beginning a family will encourage the production of kids and begin to

reverse the degradation of the South Korean environment. To keep South Korea as an advanced

country, these changes need to be made. The future requires nature and the population to

cooperate and work together to keep the other one going, without that partnership, both fall.
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Works Cited

“Children's Environmental Health.” ​Centers for Disease Control and Prevention​, Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention, 5 Jan. 2017,

ephtracking.cdc.gov/showChildEHMain.action.

Choon, Chang May. “South Korea Short of Babies despite Government Efforts.” ​The Straits

Times,​ 3 Sept. 2016,

www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/s-korea-short-of-babies-despite-govt-efforts​.

Haas, Benjamin. “South Koreans More Worried about Air Pollution than Kim's Nukes.” ​The

Guardian,​ Guardian News and Media, 15 May 2018,

www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/16/south-koreans-more-worried-about-air-polluti

on-than-kims-nukes​.

“Korean Time on Environmental Doomsday Clock Creeps 26 Minutes Closer to Midnight than

Last Year.” ​Income Inequality in South Korea the Most Severe in Asia : National : News :

The Hankyoreh​, 7 Oct. 2018,

english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/864762.html.

LaMotte, Sandee. “Having 5 or More Babies May up Alzheimer's Risk.” ​CNN​, Cable News

Network, 18 July 2018,

www.cnn.com/2018/07/18/health/pregnancy-childbirth-alzheimers-study/index.html​.

Lee, Wooyoung. “South Korea's Birth Rate Hits Another Record Low.” ​UPI​, UPI, 27 June 2018,

www.upi.com/South-Koreas-birth-rate-hits-another-record-low/2421530083547/​.

Mooney, Chris, and Brady Dennis. "Climate Change Warning is Dire."​ Washington Post,​ 08 Oct.

2018, pp. A.1​. SIRS Issues Researcher​,​https://sks.sirs.com​.

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Mooney, Chris. "U.N. Report: Nations Off Track on Pledges to Cut Emissions."​ Washington Post,​

28 Nov. 2018, pp. A.8​. SIRS Issues Researcher,​ ​https://sks.sirs.com​.

Myers, Steven L., and Javier C. Hernandez. "A Ghostly Spill Menaces Asia's Richest Fisheries."

New York Times​, 13 Feb. 2018, pp. A. 1​. SIRS Issues Researcher​, ​https://sks.sirs.com​.

Oh, Seungmock. “South Korea's Birth Rate at Record Low.” ​Www.theepochtimes.com,​ The

Epoch Times, 24 Sept. 2018,

www.theepochtimes.com/south-koreas-birth-rate-at-record-low_2655491.html​.

Poon, Linda, and CityLab. “South Korea Is Trying to Boost Its Birth Rate. It's Not Working.”

CityLab​, 29 Sept. 2018,

www.citylab.com/life/2018/08/south-korea-needs-more-babies/565169/​.

“Rules and Regulations That Impact Children's Health.” ​EPA​, Environmental Protection Agency,

1 Nov. 2018,​ ​www.epa.gov/children/rules-and-regulations-impact-childrens-health​.

Roh, Seungjun. “PDF.” MDPI, 23 May 2018. ​file:///H:/downloads/sustainability-10-01693.pdf

“Seoul's Tougher Air Pollution Law Bans Outdoor Classes.” ​South China Morning Post,​ South

China Morning Post, 29 Mar. 2018,

www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/2139435/tougher-air-pollution-law-thesouth-k

orean-capital-bans-outdoor​.

"Take back your garbage ASAP, South Korea told." ​Philippines Daily Inquirer​ [Makati City,

Philippines], 15 Nov. 2018. ​Global Issues in Context,​

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A562367982/GIC?u=rale84535&sid=GIC&xid=65980

614. Accessed 3 Dec. 2018.

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The Japanese Times. “'Birth Strike': South Korea Takes on Falling Fertility Rate.” ​The Japan

Times,​ 19 Jan. 2018,

www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/01/19/asia-pacific/social-issues-asia-pacific/birth-strike-

south-korea-takes-falling-fertility-rate/#.XAfuX9u6MdU​.

  
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