Blackouts

Korea ranks 11th in the world in per capita alcohol consumption but first in the level of alcohol percentage. People who drink too much can experience amnesia in the morning, which is known as a "blackout." Not only individuals, but society can also experience a massive blackout. Just as a heavy drinker can wake up disoriented and distressed, society can also suffer massive damage after a period of blackout.

In a pro baseball game between the Seoul Doosan Bears and the host Daegu Samsung Lions on April 16 last year, Doosan`s Jung Soo-bin made a sudden bunt in the eighth inning and was running to first base when the lights at the stadium suddenly blacked out. A transformer malfunction caused the game to be suspended. The same thing happened Sept. 15 the same year at Seoul`s Mokdong Stadium, where Doosan and the Seoul Nexen Heroes were in the first inning. As power consumption shot up, the Korea Power Exchange implemented circular power supply for fear of blackouts. The sudden cut in power incurred compensation demands worth a combined 14 trillion won (12.2 billion U.S. dollars) after 7.53 million households, plants and elevators lost power. This, however, was not a blackout.

On August 14, 2003, eight U.S. states including New York suffered a blackout due to power oversupply. Subways and airplanes as well as mobile phones stopped operating. Waterwork pumps stopped and caused a stop to water supply and sewage flowed onto the streets. The emergency generator was on but patients at hospitals suffered from the blackout. The number of help requests was 60 percent higher than normal that day. Blackouts occur mostly in large cities and can start massive chaos.

The Korean government promoted a nationwide anti-blackout drill Thursday to cope with a potential surge in electricity demand this summer. Seoul also examined manuals to deal with potential disruptions at plants, apartments, buildings and subways. Those opposed to the drill said it had connotations of totalitarianism. Anti-blackout exercises are a must when the reserve capacity for power generation is low. But dependence on reducing energy consumption is not a fundamental solution. The incumbent government should finalize restructuring of the power industry that started from its predecessor. Government policy should ensure that blackouts never happen again.

Editorial Writer Hong Kwon-hee (konihong@donga.com)