LETS (Local Exchange Trading System) and other
sorts of social money are operational in Korea
too, although the language has been the barrier
which made it difficult for non-Koreans to
see how they are put into practice. I stayed
in South Korea from Nov 29 (Monday) to Dec
04 (Saturday) and visited projects in Seoul
and Taejon to establish contacts with them.
And I owe a great deal of this report to Ms.
Kanako Taguchi, a Japanese exchange student
currently at Yonsei Univ., for translation
and contacts. I really appreciate her contribution.
LETS was introduced to Korea for the first
time by an
article in the magazine "Green
Review", although it remained almost unknown
to the general public. It was Minaisa
Club, a not-for-profit organisation in
search of alternative lifestyles, which was
virtually the first promoter of social money
to Koreans. This club came to know about the
idea of LETS in November 1997 when the whole
country was suffering from the monetary crisis,
wrote an article about projects in Great Britain
for a magazine it published for members, and
started the first LETS in Korea in March 1998.
This trial was reported by Chosun Ilbo (Korea's
largest newspaper), with inquiries mainly
from NGOs, the public administration and ordinary
people. Among others, NGOs were the most dynamic
actors, including representative cases such
as Hanbat
LETS (Taejon) and the Green
Monetary System (nationwide).
Mr.
Lee told me, during my interview, that projects
undertaken by the public administration are
organized as a personal project by one officer
rather than as its official project (which
is commonplace in Japan) and tend to stop
when the person in charge moves to another
section (in Japan such experiences become
inactive while the public sector finishes
its involvement). This is a huge difference
between Korea and Japan where I live.
In 1999 LETS throughout Korea worked together
to submit a report under the name of "national
network of Pumasi" (pumasi means "mutual aid"
in Korean and is used widely to stand for
"LETS" too) when they were asked to do so
by an institution of the Korean government,
although the current regime shows no interest
at all in LETS. Mr. Lee also said that the
Minaisa Club LETS is not active currently,
even though there are some possibilities to
revive it in 2005 by linking this system with
self-employed workers or new entrepreneurs.
The most active case in Korea is Hanbat
LETS at Taejon. It started with 70 people
in February 2000; the membership has grown
to 550 now, of which 100 or 150 are active
traders. The LETS office shares its building
with a medical cooperative founded by its
members, with its drugstore and clinic accepting
partial payment in LETS. It is in close contact
with organic farmers in the suburbs of Taejon
too who partially accept LETS. Members register
all the transactions openly on the website,
assuring global transparency as everybody
can check the trade record.
This LETS started as a grass-root initiative
with no subsidy at all from the administration,
although it gave some financial aid in 2002
and 2003 to print bills. These bills, although
still available today, are only seldom used
nowadays after it introduced an online message
board system from Gojan
LETS at Ansan, in the suburbs of Seoul.
It also offers an "ambulant movie" service
for the poor and delivery in LETS of vegetables
which were refused due to some defects not
in the quality of food but in appearance (small
onions or curved cucumbers, for instance).
Another
famous experience is the Green
Monetary System by the Green
Network which promotes organic farming.
This is a trial to link organic farmers with
consumers as follows: organic shops get some
Green Currency at Green Network (called "Shinsi"
[divine market] as it was the name of the
barter fair in ancient Korea) office in exchange
for Won when they are open and spend Won for
several transactions. In this way Shinsi financed
Won are passed on to organic farmers, helping
them financially. Bills equivalent to 100
million Wons (US$100,000) are printed by Korea
Minting and Security Printing Corporation,
the same factory which makes Korean Won bills,
but they haven't been put into circulation
for several reasons.
I visited Gojan
LETS, Ansan and Tool/Technic
Bank at Chung-ang University Social Welfare
Center (a place for children), Seoul. Gojan
LETS is located in the suburbs of Seoul and
members gather once a month to register their
transactions on top of holding markets or
exchange news. The Tool/Technic bank was run
by those who were involved with this center,
such as parents of children who stay there
or student staff, but people gave up trading
when some people accumulated too many LETS
points without any intention of spending.
I observed that the dynamism of LETS relied
on the Internet or the so-called "3.8.6 generation".
Korea provided state-of-the-art Internet-connection
technology to people after the IMF crisis
in 1997 and I found out that this advanced
infrastructure (even more advanced than in
Japan!) greatly changed people's life and
the way they communicate with each other.
Some non-Korean LETS websites have message
boards too but I've never seen any site as
active as Korean ones. And the fact that several
LETS are run mainly by the "3.8.6" generation
(people who struggled for the democratization
of South Korea in the 1980s when they were
students) appears quite significant for the
further development of this movement.
I asked some questions about their knowledge
of projects throughout the world and they
seem to have little idea of what is happening
in this field outside their country, except
for LETS. I'm sure, however, that further
activities will develop if social money experts
from other countries keep in close touch with
them, since they were quite interested when
I told them about projects in other countries.
Miguel Yasuyuki Hirota
mig@olccjp.net
- japanese version: http://www.janjan.jp/world/0412/0412081408/1.php
- korean version: http://www.chosun.com/economy/news/200410/200410280366.html
