Protecting children

It is always a pleasure to see children and parents celebrate the annual Children's Day. With presents in their hands, happy kids will have fun at amusement parks, playgrounds, theaters and restaurants. Society as a whole, not just the parents, should be willing to put themselves at the service of their children to make it the greatest day of their year. It would be also good to pledge that we will try our best to make them equally as happy for the other 364 days in the year.

When thinking about ways to give our children a happy life, one important thing we should not forget is to protect them from accidents and an unsafe environment. Of course, it is a formidable challenge for any nation to ensure children grow in a safe and healthy environment, but we must admit we have a lot more to do than other developed countries.

Few doubt that Korea is something of a slacker when it comes to the level of public safety. It has one of the world's highest fatality rates from traffic accidents. We can all remember the collapse of a department store some years ago, and the failure of a bridge. A low sense of public safety, a tendency to rush and corruption-prone regulations are to blame for the shameful situation.

It thus comes as no surprise that Korea has one of the world's highest rates of deaths among children caused by accidents. Government statistics show that 767 children aged 14 or under lost their lives last year in various accidents, including drowning, suffocation and poisoning. That is equivalent to 8.3 per 100,000 people, which is the third worst among the member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. That is much higher than 3.8 in Sweden and Britain, 5 in Germany and 5.8 in Japan.

What's more unpleasant is that the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the National Emergency Management Agency released the figures in a boastful manner, saying that the number of fatalities keeps decreasing, from 1,269 in 2001, 1,210 in 2002, 1,016 in 2003 and 891 in 2004.

But the drop in the fatality rate did not come as a result of a corresponding decline in the number of accidents involving children. In fact, the number of accidents is increasing, from 2,342 in 2003 and 3,345 in 2004 to 4,040 last year.

The steady growth in the number of accidents involving children is clear proof that the initiative President Roh Moo-hyun took three years ago has not been entirely successful. On Children's Day that year, Roh declared that 2003 would be the "First Year of Children's Safety." He vowed to reduce the number of accidents involving children by 10 percent each year and decrease the rate by half in 2007 to meet the average level of OECD members. We know well enough where his promise went.

The government needs to conduct a complete review of its policy on children's safety. Some of the successful programs such as designation of "school zones" and regular inspection of school facilities, and the expansion of safety education and emergency training should be reinforced. New programs must also be developed. The fact that more than half of the accidents injuring and killing children occur at home leaves parents with greater a responsibility than anyone else. No more children should fall victim to the carelessness and indifference of adults.

2006.05.05