Analyzing the effects of carbon emissions trading, which is scheduled to be introduced in Korea in 2015, requires an accurate assessment of $CO_2$ abatement costs by both industries and firms. Firms faced with regulatory constraints are unlikely to minimize their production costs due to rising production costs caused by allocative inefficiency of inputs. The use of a distance function would results in underestimation of $CO_2$ abatement costs, because it fails to capture the allocative distortion costs. Recognizing the disadvantage of the previous approach, first, this paper tests for allocative efficiency of input for the Korean steel industry over the period 1990-2010, then derives the marginal $CO_2$ abatement costs by applying a cost function approach. The hypothesis of allocative efficiency in inputs is rejected and the steel industry pays an annual average cost of 92,000 won in removing an additional ton of $CO_2$ over the sample period.