By Kim Se-jeong
Staff reporter

"Father and Daughter," a 2000 Dutch film directed by Michael Dudok De Wil that won the Academy Award for animated short film that year, truly captures something both common and symbolic of the Netherlands: a bicycle.

Every single character appearing in the film is riding a bicycle. In reality, what the film portrays isn't at all an exaggeration.

It may be interesting to note that the Netherlands has more bicycles than people: approximately 20 million bicycles and a population of 16 million.

An average person owns at least one bike, some two or three.

Thirty percent of the daily transportation volume is by bicycle. Bicycle paths are laid out in an orderly fashion throughout the entire country, which in total is longer than the length of the highways.

This is the result of the Netherland's national "Ride a Bike" campaign begun in the 1990s.

Suffering from an inefficient public transportation system, the rising number of cars, heavy traffic, and environmental and health consequences, the government finally rolled up its sleeves to "make a good balance," said Rudd Ditewig, ambassador for the bicycle policy and traffic consultant in Utrecht.

He came to Seoul last week for to introduce the Dutch bicycle policy.

He has visited Korea before, for a previous bicycle seminar in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province last year.

Twenty years have passed since the campaign began and the bicycle has grown into an industry, as several have made names for themselves internationally.

Accumulated expertise and the development of public bicycle policy have spiked the interest of other countries.

Korea is one of those, keen on spreading the bicycle craze.

The main drive is President Lee Myung-bak, who put forward the "green growth" slogan when he was inaugurated.

"Because the President is enthusiastic, this spreads to ministers, directors, and so on. And I have had people from Cheong Wa Dae visit me," said Shin Hee-cheol, head of the department of highway and traffic safety for national bicycle transport research at the Korea Transport Institute, during a recent phone interview.

He took over the position a little more than a year ago to come up with a master plan for a network of national bike lanes, which he said will be implemented very soon.

Besides Shin's office, the government for the first time set up teams dedicated to devising bicycle policy.

These recent developments and the people involved are seeking to share and learn from international cooperation.

According to the Dutch Embassy in Seoul, one of the local organizers of last week's "Korea-the Netherlands Joint Seminar on Bicycle Policy" inquired about the country's bicycle policy.

"That's why we decided to organize an event like this," Kim Man-sok, senior commercial officer at the embassy, told The Korea Times.

The most fundamental problem for Korea is a lack of bike lanes, said Lim Hyun-taek, director of the urban and metropolitan transport division at the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs.

Those who ride bikes in Seoul can't agree with him more. Except for a few districts in the city that are new, there has been no consideration of bike riders in city planning.

Chang Soon-dal from the Seoul Bicycle Association said that a policy without securing sufficient lanes would be of no use.

"There are not enough lanes for bicycles throughout the city, which forces me to ride next to mobilized vehicles."

Bicycle parking lots are another thorny issue. Not only allotting proper bike parking areas and maintaining the facilities but also preventing bicycle theft are also factors that will incur costs.

Ditewig said the Dutch government is constantly trying experimental policies to figure out what is best for cyclists.

And he hoped for a substantial exchange of ideas and technology with Korea in that regard.