Government Official
Kyung-Kyu Cho
Minister of Environment
Cho was appointed as the Minister of Environment on September 13, 2016. After he came into the office, he put extensive effort into implementing new aggressive climate change policies. For instance, at his first press conference on October 18, he stated that the government was considering introducing a quota system for expanding the supply of electronic vehicles.
Minister Cho participated in the UNFCCC COP 22, the Climate Change Policy & Practice Conference held in Morocco between November 7 and 18 as the head of the delegation. (His predecessor, YOON Sung-Kyu (March 2013 – September 2016), attended COP21.) The National Assembly ratified the Paris Agreement on November 3 and it went into effect on November 4.
Contact: Public Relations Team: Ms. KANG Yu-Ri Office Phone Number: +82-44-201-6063 Website: http://eng.me.go.kr/eng/web/main.do
Climate Program Advocate
Department of Green Energy, the Seoul Metropolitan Government
The Department of Green Energy of the Seoul Metropolitan Government received a plaque of appreciation from four renewable energy organizations on November 3, 2016. Since 2012, the Department of Green Energy has supported ‘Reduce One Nuclear Power Plant & Sunshine Seoul Policy’, ‘Feed-in Tariffs (FIT) Policy’, and the ‘Climate Change Fund Small Solar Generation Loan System’ to support the number of small-scale sunlight plants. Also, they supported the ‘Mini Sunlight Generation Business’ that can be installed in apartments and houses in Seoul. These efforts designed by the Department of Green Energy have been highly appreciated and provided guidance for the central and other local governments.
Contact: Director, Department of Green Energy: KWON Min Tel: +82-2-2133-3550 Website: http://english.seoul.go.kr/
Climate Program Advocate
Jieon Lee
The Korean Federation for Environmental Movement
Jieon Lee, who is the director of Energy Climate Department in Federation of Environmental Movement, has persistently encouraged the Korean government to construct renewable energy power plant and criticized the expansion of coal-fired thermal power plants.
Contact: web@kfem.or.kr
Climate Opponent
Various Organizations Opposed to Renewable Energy
Overall, in Korea, public opinion about climate change issues and renewable energy is pretty much supportive. However, a number of local environmental organizations opposed the construction of the renewable energy plants including the wind generation complex in Muju and the Tidal Power Plant in Ganghwa Island. They argued that the development of renewable energy plants will hurt clean environmental zones. For example, the Jeonbuk Green Federation opposed construction of wind power generation plants, and the Incheon Federation for Environmental Movement opposed construction of tidal power plants.
Contact:
The Jeonbuk Green Federation
President: LEE Se-Woo Tel: +82-63-282-0117
Email: jeonbuk@greenkorea.org Address: Jeonju Gaeksa-Gil 59 Wansan-gu, Jeonju City, North Jeolla Province, Republic of Korea (postal code. 54999) Website: http://greenjeonbuk.org/
The Incheon Federation for Environmental Movement
President: CHOI Joong-Ki Choi, JIN Dae-Hyun Jin, CHO Kang-Hee
Tel: +82-32-426-2767 Fax: +82-32-426-2768 Email: inchon@kfem.or.kr
Address: 747 Kyungwondae-Ro, Nam-Gu, Incheon-Si, Republic of Korea (postal code. 22228)
Website: http://inchon.ekfem.or.kr/
Learn More
The quota system for expanding supply of electronic vehicles:
(http://www.hankookilbo.com/v/d0fb2860bd104a8b9f8dc4a4cef4a358)