Public Disclosure of Environmental Violations in the Republic of Korea

Abstract

Since 1989, environmental authorities of
\n the Republic of Korea have published on a monthly basis a
\n list of enterprises violating the country's
\n environmental rules and regulations. This may be the longest
\n environmental public disclosure program currently in
\n existence. Over the period 1993-2001 in excess of 7,000
\n violations have been recorded in these monthly violation
\n lists, involving more than 3,400 different companies. In
\n this paper, the authors provide a comprehensive descriptive
\n analysis of this dataset. Results suggest that the news
\n media have given an important, though perhaps declining
\n coverage, to the violation lists, with a focus on publicly
\n traded companies, failures to operate pollution abatement
\n equipment, and prosecutions.