The Environment Ministry’s conclusion that some Volkswagen cars sold in Korea were involved in the same emissions cheating scheme as those sold in the U.S. leaves many things to do for the Korean government, the local car industry and, of course, the German automaker.     

First, the Environment Ministry should examine a broader number of samples of all vehicles sold by Volkswagen and its high-end brand Audi in the country. The seven cars in six diesel-engine types that were tested by the ministry is too small a group in view of the gravity of the case.

It goes without saying that additional actions should be taken depending on the follow-up results. The ministry, based on the first round of examinations, revoked certification for the tested models, banned their sale, ordered a recall of about 125,000 cars and imposed 14.1 billion won ($12.3 million) in penalties. This is definitely not a light punishment, yet the automaker should brace for more suffering in light of its wrongdoings.   

Second, the Transportation Ministry should make a prompt follow-up investigation into fuel efficiency of Volkswagen cars sold here. This is because the defeat device software that manipulated the emissions levels was basically designed to fake fuel efficiency.

Third, Volkswagen should make quick compensation for Korean consumers. The automaker has already promised to provide consumers in U.S. and Canada with a $1,000 voucher, but has not taken any step for consumers here.

It has already been more than two months since the scandal broke in the U.S., and Volkswagen executives must have known that the Korean government’s examination would turn out the same results as in the U.S. It will only further damage its reputation if executives here keep to the line that they are waiting for a decision to be made by the head office.

Fourth, the Volkswagen scandal should lead government and industry officials to rethink their blind pursuit of diesel-powered cars. Volkswagen showed that diesel is not yet as clean and fuel-efficient as it had been claimed to be. It is obvious that the Korean industry’s faith in the diesel car boom and their efforts to catch up with European carmakers like Volkswagen were misguided.  

All in all, the Volkswagen scandal tells us that how difficult it is to use fossil fuel as a cheap, and at the same time, environmentally friendly source of energy and that we need to expedite efforts to reduce reliance on coal, oil and natural gas.

In the auto industry, the efforts should focus on developing alternative energy sources. It is regrettable in this regard that the Korean government and the local industry still lag far behind their competitors.

Take the electric car industry as an example. A U.K. market research firm’s report showed that the accumulated numbers of electric cars sold in Korea by September this year was 3,300. This compares with 70,000 in the U.S., 30,000 in China and 20,000 in Norway.

This discrepancies are set to widen in the coming years as the government has decided to cut the subsidy for each electric car from 15 million won to 12 million won in 2017-18 and 10 million won in 2020. Obviously, we are going against the tide.