hankyoreh

The South Korean government is making a determined effort to get South Koreans to use the metric system after making limited progress in the past 46 years, official sources said Sunday.

The move is centered on changing the measurements for determining the size of homes and land, as well as those for gold, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said.

On July 1, Seoul started calling for the disuse of the Korean terms "pyeong" and "don" in all business transactions, government bulletins, advertisements and media reports. It will enforce the recommendations by issuing warnings, and punish repeat offenders with fines up to 500,000 won (US$545) starting in August.

Pyeong and don, adopted during the Japanese colonial period (1910-45), replaced the traditional measurements of "joom," "dan," "jim" and "muk" that had been used in Korea since the Gojoseon period.

A single pyeong cannot be exactly measured by the metric system and is usually calculated as being 3.305 square meters, while one don of gold equals 3.75 grams. Both are impossible or hard for people to measure precisely using current systems and can be disadvantageous to consumers. Don was a weight scale used by Japanese cultured pearl harvesters.

The size of a 30-pyeong apartment could differ by up to 3.3 square meters depending on how a developer calculates a single pyeong.

Both of the measurement scales also halted reforms pushed by the Joseon court in 1902 that adopted the metric system. One joom was designated as equal to a square meter.

"Until now, builders, realtors, the media and jewelry shops have generally followed government recommendations on the switch to the metric system," said Commerce Minister Kim Young-ju. He said it is about time to establish uniform measurements that can promote fair business practices and remove vagueness in transactions.

The Commerce Ministry has recommended that future homes be built according to the metric system from the outset.

Under the metric system, the size of apartments that are currently 30 pyeong would be 100 square meters.

By the same calculations, the Korean Peninsula can be measured as covering 220,000 square kilometers instead of 67 billion pyeong.

For gold, policymakers said simple gram measures should be used in all transactions.

In addition to being more convenient, the ministry said adoption of a metric system is in accordance with global trends for moving towards uniformity. Huh Nam-yong, a director of the product standardization team at the ministry, said only the United States, Liberia and Myanmar cling to traditional forms of measurement, with Washington gradually moving towards the metric system.

"Even Japan stopped using pyeong and converted to square meters in 1976, while China made a successful conversion in 1985," he said. The official said the European Union is making metric measurement of products mandatory for all imported goods starting in 2010, so South Korea must make a timely transition.

Huh pointed out that while pyeong and don have persevered, South Korea successfully adopted centimeters, meters and kilometers to gauge length and distance, while using kilograms to determine weight.

These took over from traditional standard measurements of "mun," "li" and "mal" for size, distance and weight, respectively.

The ministry official also said that the levying of fines is aimed at getting people to make the effort to change old habits, not at straining business activities.

"The South Korean fines are quite moderate compared to countries like Britain and Japan that slap fines of up to 10 million and 4 million won," he said.

The ministry, meanwhile, said that although complete conversions have yet to take place and some people have voiced complaints, businesses and consumers are making the transition.

In the real estate sector where the most complaints have been raised, realtors and construction companies are using square meters and putting pyeong in parentheses for the time being, but said they will delete the latter so they will not be fined.

Seoul said it planned to hold at least 240 different meetings nationwide until September to inform consumer groups, local merchants and business leaders on the need for change.
SEOUL, July 22 (Yonhap News)