Remember ”Korea, the hub of Northeast Asia”, the oft cited and just as oft derided plan to turn Korea into a business and financial center? Remember the centerpiece of that plan, Songdo? Current attitudes about “the Hub” hover between amnesic to morbid, but the legacy is with us nonetheless. Take for instance the Songdo International School. Yes it is opening… or is it?
The fate of the school aside, what really jumped out at me was a quote from the article in the previous link:
Songdo International School is considered to be the first school in Korea that will be directly operated by a foreign educational institution, the U.S. International School Service. Strict regulations concerning such international schools have also obstructed Songdo International from opening.
Remember how the Korean government promised any foreign business operating in Songdo would operate in a regulation-free nirvana, unseen by anybody in Korea? I do, or something akin with less hyperbole. Yet here is one of the key projects to make regulation-free Songdo mired in regulation. It’s a good thing few believed the idea, the situation may have been even more embarrassing.
Meanwhile, one thing that always perplexes me is when the foreign press, or companies, rarely cite examples when they talk about Korean regulations and red tape. The claim it is excessive and an insurmountable hurdle is offered at face value. This can lead to a situation where people, including policy makers, can wonder about the veracity of the claim. Accordingly I present this article on labels and pricing in Korea. Excerpts:
The Ministry of Knowledge Economy said yesterday that the nation’s processed food makers will not be allowed to set recommended prices for those items in a bid to stimulate price competition… 279 processed food items will no longer bear recommended prices.
“After conducting surveys, we found that prices of processed foods vary depending on where they are sold. So we reached the conclusion that printing recommended prices on packages is meaningless,” said a ministry official.
Meanwhile, recommended pricing is already not allowed for over 32 industrial products including TVs, refrigerators and washing machines, as well as for all children’s clothes and men’s and women’s suits.
The ministry plans to expand the no-pricing policy to all clothes in the near future.
In addition, more detailed price information will be printed on ketchup, noodles and flour to help consumers. For example, price per gram of ketchup will be printed along with the retail price. Currently, 33 items including sugar and cooking oil come labeled with a recommended price per unit.
So let’s get this straight. Some items no longer are required to have a price listed. Some items still are required however. Some items in the future will no longer be required to have a price, and yet some others will be required to list even more pricing information. Meanwhile there are some goods you are forbidden by law to print a price on. Finally, to add insult to injury, the government itself says that these regulations are “meaningless”.
That almost tops a Monty Python routine in absurdity.
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