When the first oil crisis erupted back in 1973, Korea's gross domestic product was W87 trillion and its crude oil imports amounted to 280,000 barrels a day (US$1=W1,043). In 2006, Korea's GDP rose to W759 trillion, while crude oil imports totaled 2.44 million barrels a day. The nation's GDP and daily crude oil import volume rose 8.7-fold over that period. Japan's GDP, which was 117 trillion yen in 1973, grew 4.7-fold to 550 trillion yen in 2006. But its crude oil imports fell 15 percent over that period, from 5 million barrels to 4.25 million barrels a day. This difference is what distinguishes Korea from Japan in their starkly different levels of readiness in dealing with a looming third oil crisis.

Japan drafted an energy conservation law in 1979, enabling the country to set energy conservation as a long-term national objective. Japanese businesses staked everything on developing energy-efficient technologies and products. Japanese tire maker Bridgestone burns used tires to generate 120,000 KWh of electricity each day, meeting a third of total power needs at its plants. It uses the leftover residue as ingredients to produce cement. Through these measures, Bridgestone has been recycling 100 percent of its used tires since 2006, up from just 68 percent in 1992.

The Japanese public also put energy conservation into practice. In the summer of 2006, a nationwide energy conservation drive led to 70 million KWh of electricity being saved in the Tokyo metropolitan area alone, which is enough to power a city of 250,000 people for a month. In one mountain village on Tokushima Prefecture, around 13,000 residents spend the cold winter months without heat. Through these efforts, Japan has become the world's most energy efficient country. Japan boasts a level of energy efficiency that is three times higher than Korea's.

During the first five months of this year, Korea saw total energy consumption rise 4.3 percent compared to the same period last year. They say passenger car traffic has declined in the Seoul metropolitan area, but parking lots at large discount stores these days are packed with more cars than ever on weekdays. There hasn't been much improvement in the level of energy awareness among Koreans, with air conditioners blasting away inside buildings during summer, creating temperatures so low that people have to wear long-sleeved clothing. In Korea, subcompact passenger cars with engines 1,000-cc or smaller account for a mere 6.8 percent of total vehicle sales. In Japan, such vehicles account for 30.8 percent of total car sales. Electricity usage rose 9.4 percent which is why natural gas usage rose 25 percent -- to generate the extra power. It costs W103.2 worth of natural gas to generate each KWh of electricity, almost three times as expensive as atomic energy which costs W38.2. An increase in power generation by natural gas combustion increases the financial burden on Korea. This is not the way to go for a country that does not produce a single drop of oil.

Korea was not like this in the past. Right after the first oil crisis erupted in 1973, the president delivered an address to the nation urging all Koreans to conserve as much energy and expensive raw materials imports as possible. The president also launched a nationwide campaign to conserve 10 percent of energy usage, which included a 5 percent reduction on gasoline and heating oil use, walking distances of up to 2 km, turning off lights during daytime and limiting neon signs. Cheong Wa Dae set the example. The president shut off the air conditioner in his office during summer and conducted business with a flyswatter in hand to chase away the flies that flew in through the open windows. And to save water, he put bricks inside the water tanks of his toilets in his office and bedroom.

The reason Korea was able to emerge from the first and second oil shocks was because the country's leader and other high-ranking officials got the public to join the energy conservation drive by setting examples. Hong Kong, which boasts one of the world's best nighttime views, goes dark after 9 p.m. That's because the public shares the sense of crisis felt by the region's leadership. In order for Korea to survive the third oil crisis, the leadership must be the first to set an example for the public to follow.

(englishnews@chosun.com )