Content area
Full Text
Excessive and ambiguous regulations have been the bane of business life in Korea, but more than a simple reduction in the number of regulations is needed for real improvement.
Korea is one of the most heavily regulated market economies in the world. This is a natural consequence of government-led industrialization over the last four decades. However, there is a cultural background for the current state of regulation in Korea. Korean society has long been influenced by Confucian values, which emphasize obedience to authority. It is implicitly accepted that what the government does is good for the society. Under these kind of social values, what the government does is assumed to be right and must be obeyed. Even today, many in Korea believe that it is in their interest for the government to gives its approval before private individuals undertake any type of business, whether or not the business is subject to specific regulations.
As a result, Korean regulations have developed a very distinctive and unique nature. They are pervasive and large in number, and also highly judgmental and vague so that most of the decisions and interpretation of the regulations resides with the regulators themselves. In particular. many interventions are made based on "past practices"...