We must ride bikes, or so goes a parody given by the Korean prez:
“Green life revolution is the spirit of our time,” Lee said in his biweekly radio address yesterday morning. “Bringing back the use of carbon-free bicycles as the main means of transportation is the path that we must take. We should select the path as soon as possible.”
Really? It’s the “path we MUST take” Mr. Lee? If it is that much of an imperative, why is the Korean government trying to prop up the fifth largest Korean auto maker and its supply base? Why just two months ago the Korean government began offering rebates because:
The move is an effort to boost flagging automobile sales as the industry struggles due to a global and domestic economic retreat. The government is hoping the campaign will promote new auto sales, which would stimulate one of the domestic economy’s key industries.
Is this a change in policy? Is Korea Inc. going to start favoring bicycles now, and let Ssangyong at up twist in the economic winds? Well consider this part from Lee’s speech:
“we will need 10 million or 20 million bicycles; it will be sad if we import all bicycles from foreign countries,” Lee said, noting that Korea imports more than 2 million bicycles a year from China, the Netherlands and Canada.
Yes, what a shame if Korea had to import better, or cheaper, bicycles from its trade partners, or, much like the world did 50 years ago with Korea, buy bicycles from a developing country where bicycle mass-production would be a notable industrial achievement on the road to prosperity. Why do that when it can buy overpriced bicycles AND incur the opportunity costs from not allocating Korea’s labor and capital where it’s actually the most useful?
Pandering, obvious duplicity, and a bald-face appeal to wasteful mercantilism in one speech… Who knew Lee Myung-bak was such a funny guy?
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Does ‘carbon-free’ also mean no carbon frames? I’ve been eyeing up a sweet deal at the local MTB shop… If they start mass-producing bikes here, they better do the same with clothes/accessories as well, cuz you can’t be a 50 year-old with a bike without an outfit that’s over 500,000 won.
Your over-heated response to what was obviously a rhetorical “must” suggests a little objectivity wouldn’t be amiss…
Wait, if we’re huffing and puffing while riding around town aren’t we exhaling more CO2?
This guy reminds me of Hoover more and more each day–i.e. well-intentioned conservative thinking there’s nothing the government cannot solve. Look where that got us 80 years ago.
Robert, one of your work-experience buddies has posted an article on your site that appears to be about bicycles and someone called Lee. Unfortunately, it makes almost no sense, at least, in English.
It could maybe do with a rewrite.
Scrub my last comma!
@Pyotr
You forgot something snarky on the other post. You’re slipping, man.
Life is pretty hectic out here in “Whack-a-mole” land, dude.
I can haz postin privilgz?
Dogbertt’s been into the LOL Catnip again.
Dram-man posts often lead me there.
People won’t ride bicycles for transportation in Korea because it is too fucking dangerous.
Why is it dangerous? Because no one follows traffic laws and no construction management company follows road construction or building safety codes or any other regulation or requirement because they aren’t enforced by the government. The president comes from this last group of Korean construction management folks, who routinely engage in criminal stupidity when it comes to worker and citizen safety, and likely everything else.
이명박 grandstanding about Korean leadership for the developing world in reducing CO2 emissions is disgusting.
http://g8live.org/2008/08/20/green-growth-plan-withers-on-specifics/
China has LOTS to teach Korea about how to design modern neighborhoods to support non-automobile transportation. Driving a car that runs on tap water will still leave a bigger carbon footprint than riding a bicycle when you consider all the rest of the things that go with cars like pavement, components, automobile tires, etc.
Brand new construction in Korea is designed so that people can’t conveniently walk (let alone ride a bicycle) from one Well County to the next I-Want because of obsession with building walls (protecting people from what?) and catering to automobiles.
So who is the person in Korea is can take the most accountability for the massive gaps in common sense in construction management and government enforcement issues?
I’ll believe it when high-ranking members of the government exchange their luxury cars for a bike.
PS. A carbon-free bike? I wonder what they will use to make the tires, the paint, and the lubricant.
#11.
I used to ride my bike here quite a bit. Everybody thought I was insane, and in the end, I came to my senses! Too easy to die on the road here!
The only more bicycle-hostile place I’ve ever ridden in was Phoenix, AZ in the early ’90s. They’ve cleaned their act up considerably since then.
On my screen now there’s an ad below the Seoul Selection banner:
Listen to President
Korean President’s radio address also available on the internet
http://www.youtube.com
And a click takes you to http://www.youtube.com/PresidentMBLee
the official YouTube channel of ChongWaDae. It seems to be working fine. The last video was uploaded only 23 hours ago, the one before that 2 days ago.
Did someone at the Blue House misplace the memo or something?
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