South Korea puts foot down on measurements

http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200610/kt2006102220054910510.htm ^

[Ben Sadley]

Use of Traditional Measuring Units to Be Fined

By Cho Jin-seo Staff Reporter

Shops, restaurants and companies that use traditional units of measurements such as pyong and keun from next July will suffer legal sanctions, the government said yesterday. The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said that business owners that do not follow the international standard of measurements _ meter-kilogram-second _ will be subject to up to two years in prison or a seven million won fine.

The move is intended to prevent errors in using traditional units, which sometimes differ from region to region, or from item to item. It will also reduce the time and cost being spent translating the units in international trade, the ministry said.

``We cannot delay the adoption of the international standard of measurements as we aim to raise the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita to $20,000,¨¨ the ministry said in a statement. ``If there is a 1-percent error in measuring goods, that could cost consumers 2.7 trillion won,¨¨ it said.

South Korea had adopted the International System of Units in 1961, encouraging people to switch to meters, kilograms and seconds for measurements. But the metric system hasn¨t replaced the centuries-old habit of using traditional units such as li (length), pyong (area), and keun and don (weight) in everyday life.

Especially, even government agencies and the media have used pyong as a standard for measuring the area of buildings and houses.

According to the plan, restaurants and shops that describe or promote goods in the traditional units will have to pay a maximum 500,000 won.

Those who use or possess equipment marked in non-standard units will face the maximum punishment while those producing or importing items measured in non-standard units will receive up to one year in prison or a five million won fine.

The ministry is planning to inform the public until June, before it kicks off nationwide inspections in cooperation with local governments.

The metric system is widely used in every country in the world with the exception of the United States. In the United States, industrial use of SI is increasing, but popular use is still limited to British Imperial Standard units (discarded by the United Kingdom in 1972).

Some of the traditional units used in Korea are borrowed from China or Japan, while others are of domestic origin.

[Ben Sadley]

Lol, I know the metric system is old hat, but still: This is typical legislation that is disguised as "progressive". The UK has already taken similar steps toward indoctrinating people and business with the threats of legal action.

According to this law, possession of a "pound" scale could in theory result in 2 yrs jail time.

[kinoxi]

The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said that business owners that do not follow the international standard of measurements _ meter-kilogram-second _ will be subject to up to two years in prison or a seven million won fine.

Uh ,OK.

[snarks_when_bored]

South Korea puts foot down on measurements

"Dammit, Suk Dong, it is 5 inches!"

[newgeezer]

I expect they'll be more than happy to make an exception for their wonderful, US-bound Kias, Hyundais and Daewoos to allow for MPH markings on their speedometers, PSI on their tires, etc.

[I see my hands]

IMO, the reason Jimmy Inbred Moron Carter's initiative to switch to he metric system failed is because the emphasis was on converting.

People would try to determine it the liter of grape juice for 99¢ was more or less than they had paid for a quart. Didn't want to be cheated, you know.

Multiply that by every other measure we use day to day. That's a lot of learning. Forget about it.

Better to have told people to look at the grape juice and decide if that much is worth the price asked.

(not an endorsement of the metric system)

[YouPosting2Me]

"South Korea puts foot 1/3 of a Meter down on measurements

[Cdnexpat]

There are no pound scales, or at least none that I have seen. I would say the measuring unit they are targeting is pyong, which is the measurement used for all real estate transactions. This is going to be very unpopular.

[JoeFromSidney]

Back in '62, when I was stationed in Thailand, one of the tasks I was assigned was testing a public address system that included a gasoline-engine-driven generator. One of the things I wanted to determine was how long it would run on one tank of gas. I told one of my Thai assistants to go buy a quart measure. He came back to tell me it was illegal to sell quart measures, but he'd bought a one-liter measure. It didn't matter to me, of course, but it emphasized how strict the local laws were on weights and measures.