`Korea first to implement green growth policy in OECD`

“We think that Korea was able to overcome the global financial crisis the fastest among OECD member states through the ‘Green New Deal Policy’ such as the four-river restoration and high-speed rail projects.”

In a news conference at the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province on Friday, OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria announced the report “Launching of OECD Urban Policy Reviews” that included this and other information. This is the first time for the organization to survey Korea’s urban policy, studying related policies from 2009 to last year.

The report said, “Korea is the first OECD member state to conduct a comprehensive green growth policy,” adding, “The Green New Deal Policy that was integrated as a green growth strategy was centered on public infrastructure projects, including the four-river restoration project and high-speed railway network construction. Korea’s economy started to recover from early 2009 due to the Green New Deal Policy.”

Korea has made rapid progress in urbanization unprecedented elsewhere in the world, the report added, while the country achieved robust economic growth over the past 50 years, thanks to implementation of urban policy in tune with social needs by the period. As urbanization has entered its maturity phase, however, the OECD said Korea is facing problems such as decreasing labor force due to its aging population, decline of small and medium-size cities, and high energy consumption.

The report recommended priority policy measures such as “reinforcement of interconnection between urban policies," coping with changes in population structure including the aging population, urban policy specialized for respective regions, and reinforcement of policy forecast and assessment.

The OECD also recommended coping with Korea`s rapidly aging society through improvement of public transportation, introduction of more housing for the elderly, and provision of welfare services for senility using information communication technology. The report added that Korea requires improvements in urban design and cultural engagement policies for foreign migrant workers to ensure social integration.

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