G17 Juliana Rhavin p.

Zorilla SCIENCE HW 10-14-19

9 Ruby Mr. Raqueno

Environmental Policies of South Korea

In pursuit of better air quality around its capital, the South Korean government launched
its “1st Seoul Metropolitan Air Quality Control Master Plan (2005-2014)” in 2005. Under
this law, various projects were implemented in an effort to reduce exhaust gas
production from vehicles, as well as the administration of emission facilities and controls
that were placed around multiple energy utilities and cities across the country. The
follow up to this plan was formulated in 2013 and spans from 2015 to 2024. South
Korea’s Minister of Environment also has numerous measures for dealing with air
pollution outside of Seoul.

South Korea heavily adopted nuclear power in a kind of Faustian bargain to reduce
emissions from fossil fuel power plants; however, the country is now facing a significant
nuclear waste storage problem. Rather than back down on this nuclear bet, the
government appears to be doubling down. Currently, the South Korean government is
waging a massive public relations campaign in an attempt to convince its citizens of the
need for more nuclear waste storage sites.

One of the most prominent and controversial water-focused environmental projects of

South Korea is the $18 billion Four Rivers Project. By connecting four of South Korea
most polluted and largest rivers of which include the Han, Nakdong, Geum and
Yeongsan, as well as hundreds of miles of tributary streams, this project has several
aims:

 Securing abundant water resources to protect against water scarcity

 Gain better and comprehensive control of flooding
 Improve water quality
 Restore river ecosystems
 Create multi-use open spaces for populations living along rivers and tributaries
  Increase shipping and transportation3

Clean Technology in South Korea

Over the past five years, the South Korean government has made a massive push for
clean energy. In 2010, Seoul invested $8.2 billion into a 2,500 MW wind farm. In 2011,
the government introduced a plan to produce 1.5 million jobs from clean energy and
grab 18% of the global clean energy market by 2030. Additionally, by 2030 South Korea
also plans to meet 20% of its total electricity consumption with renewable resources. In
an effort to get closer to this goal, South Korea’s energy ministry called for 30.8 GW of
solar power generating capacity and 16.5 GW of wind power capacity to be added to
the country’s energy market4. In 2014, the government pledged over $1.9 billion to
create six clean energy-related businesses.

Furthermore, South Korea recently took an even bigger leap towards improving their
renewable energy generation by beginning construction of a 4-gigawat high-voltage DC
(HVDC) transmission link to connect the east of the country to the capital city of Seoul
that is located in the northwestern region of the country. This $320 million contract will
further increase the ability of the Korean electrical transmission grid to operate in a
stable and reliable manner5. As a result of these efforts, a 2015 report by the United
Nations Climate Change Conference determined South Korea to be among one of the
world’s leading producers of clean technology patents, along with the United States,
European Union, Japan and Germany.

A Clean Future?
South Korea’s aggressive embrace of both clean technology and environmental policies
appear to foreshadow a clean future for the country. Arguably the biggest question
hanging over South Korea is one regarding nuclear waste disposal. The South Korean
government has pursed nuclear power as a green alternative to coal-fired power plants;
however, a lack of disposal sites and the potential threat of a nuclear disaster could
reverse some of that environmental advantage. While the government has stated some
intentions on decoupling nuclear energy from the notion of ‘green’ energy, many still do
not expect South Korea to distance itself from nuclear power any time soon.

References
1. “Armed with NASA Data, South Korea confronts its choking smog” – NPR
2. Choi, I., Shin, H., Nguyen, T. T., & Tenhunen, J. (2017). Water policy reforms in
South Korea: A historical review and ongoing challenges for sustainable water
governance and management. Water 9(717), 1-20. DOI: 10.3390/w909717.
3. “South Korea’s four rivers restoration – Hard engineering to restore soft nature” –
Waste & Wastewater International
4. “South Korea finalizes energy plan to boost renewable power generation” –
Reuters
5. “South Korea strengthens grid to take on more renewables” – Green Tech Media