Money was beginning to come in and people questioned sacrificing land for money. Land is money; the environment is a symbol of a country's wealth. Apprehension of this caused the Pollution Prevention Act which was legalized in 1963, although it was not effective as they could not enforce it due to the government's limited budge and human resources available. .
It got worse. In 1967 air population increased near Ulsan where the government of South Korea planned their first industrial complex, and the first case to be made to the general public. The pollution created health problems and damaged the agriculture. The government probably thought this would blow over, hence initiating any antipollution project of any sort. Antipollution was seen as a would-be hinder to the Five-Year plan and therefore regarded as anti-governmental. However, the government suggested that the polluting industries that polluted Ulsan compensate the victims on a victim by victim basis and to help relocate people who lived in the polluted areas. .
Having industries pay to relocate people can be seen as a waste of money. If the government had limits on pollution to protect its land the money could have been better spent elsewhere, although they probably would not have had the money in the first place. In response, the Ministry of Public Health and Social Affairs created the Pollution Control Section (which later became the Pollution control Division) that would coordinate the pollution control functions that had been scattered throughout various administrative agencies beforehand. In the 1970s the government began to establish heavy industry and chemical production in accordance to the second Five-Year plan. They began a movement to modernize the rural areas. During this, period pollution and damages (like red tides in Chinahe Bay in 1972) were spreading across their country. .
As with many nations who begin industrializing for the first time, the factories were big pollution creators which caused a rise in the water and air pollution which in turn caused damages to eyes and skin of people near Kwangyang Bay in 1977.