Posted on 10/23/2006 2:10:07 PM PDT by 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.
According to this law, possession of a "pound" scale could in theory result in 2 yrs jail time.
"Dammit, Suk Dong, it is 5 inches!"
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.
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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.
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