As the high oil price situation caused by the Middle East crisis persists, the government said on the 24th that it will implement a "five-day rotation driving restriction for vehicles" starting at 12:00 a.m. on the 25th. The five-day rotation limits driving by day of the week according to the last digit of a vehicle's license plate number. On Monday, vehicles with last digits 1 and 6 are not allowed to operate. Tuesday is 2 and 7, Wednesday 3 and 8, Thursday 4 and 9, and Friday 5 and 0. The government said, "The public institutional sector is required to participate, and the private sector should participate voluntarily."
Minister Kim Seong-hwan of the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment reported a "response plan including energy saving related to the Middle East crisis" to the Cabinet meeting that morning. After implementing a "maximum oil price system" on the 13th to control supply prices, the government decided this time to implement the five-day rotation to reduce demand.
The Minister said, "The public institutional sector will be required to follow the five-day rotation for passenger cars." Even now, public institutions located in cities and counties with populations of 500,000 or more follow the five-day rotation. Starting tomorrow, public institutions located in cities and counties with populations under 500,000 will also be required to implement it. In addition, compact cars and hybrids, which were previously exempt, are newly included. However, electric and hydrogen vehicles and vehicles carrying people with disabilities, pregnant women, or preschool children are excluded from the five-day rotation.
The institutions subject to the five-day rotation number about 20,000 nationwide, including schools. The main targets are: ▲ central government ministries and affiliated agencies ▲ local governments ▲ metropolitan and provincial offices of education ▲ public institutions ▲ local public corporations and local public enterprises ▲ national university hospitals ▲ national and public universities ▲ national and public elementary, middle, and high schools. The government also decided to separately ask constitutional institutions such as the National Assembly and the National Election Commission to implement the five-day rotation at a level similar to public institutions.
In addition, a "warning" will be issued to those who violate the five-day rotation in the public institutional sector for the first time. If violations are repeated two to three times, access to parking lots will be denied. Those who violate it four times or more will face disciplinary action. Those who receive disciplinary action may face personnel disadvantages.
The Minister said, "The private sector will first participate voluntarily, but if the resource security crisis alert related to crude oil is raised from caution to alert, we are considering making it mandatory."
The five-day rotation for vehicles is a measure under the Energy Use Rationalization Act. Articles 7 and 8 of the Energy Use Rationalization Act say that if the Minister of Climate and the Minister of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources recognize that a serious disruption to energy supply and demand has occurred or is likely to occur due to changes in domestic and international energy conditions, they may order owners and managers of energy-using equipment to restrict the use of such equipment to stabilize supply and demand. Vehicles are included among energy-using equipment.
However, it is uncertain how much energy savings can be achieved through the public institutional sector's five-day rotation for vehicles. This is because, if the head of a local government with public institutions determines that public transportation is poor and the five-day rotation is difficult to apply, it may not be applied.
For the private sector, the government decided not to mandate the five-day rotation for vehicles but to encourage voluntary participation. Earlier, during the oil shocks of the 1970s, the government completely banned the operation of luxury passenger cars with eight cylinders or more and the operation of passenger cars on public holidays, except for ambulances, news-gathering vehicles, and foreign vehicles. Later, in the year after the 1990 Gulf War, a ten-day rotation was implemented for about two months.