Broadcast Media
Korea Broadcasting System (KBS) is the national public broadcaster of South Korea. It is a public corporation which is funded by the South Korean government and license fees collected from the South Korean people, but managed independently. It is one of the largest TV networks as well as one of the major presses that provides radio, television, and online services. It started as Kyeongseong (Seoul’s old name) Broadcasting Corporation in February 1927 with broadcasting radio programs and started TV broadcasting in December 1961.
Since it is a public enterprise and a major broadcaster in South Korea, it does not take a specific position towards climate change. Instead, KBS shows the trends in world climate issues, South Korea’s environment policies, and the global climate agreement. So far, the South Korean government supports and took an active role in the Paris Agreement. KBS appears to the government climate change policies because of the concerns about abnormal climate issues and environmental problems in S. Korea.
Content Sample:
KBS http://news.kbs.co.kr/news/view.do?ncd=3385052
‘Disappearing Grasslands in Baekdu-daegan area due to Climate Change’
Due to unique climate conditions, grasslands have been developed in Baekdu-daegan mountains area which is 1,300 meters above sea level. Baekdu-daegan area is called as the subalpine zone and has the right conditions for grass to grow rather than trees. The area is habitat to a number of endangered plants. Because of abnormal climate change, however, the grasslands have become much smaller than they use to be and several lowland trees have begun to grow there. Basically, climate change is destroying the area’s eco-system.
Contact: 3rd floor, 31, Eonnam-gil, Seocho-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea, 06779. http://kbs.or.kr/
Online Media
Energy News, established in August 2010, is an on-line daily newspaper focused on energy and environmental issues including petroleum, natural resources, electricity, renewable energy, and nuclear energy. Energy News publishes its off-line newspaper weekly. Energy News tries to act as a guide for the public to follow whether or not the government is properly implementing its ‘low carbon green growth project.’ It organizes some conferences regarding energy issues, including the Asia Pacific Gas Conference (APGC).
As Energy News is a major energy newspaper, it does not take a specific point of view towards climate change. Energy News tries to follow the role of the press by checking if the government properly designs and implements its energy and environmental policies. Therefore, Energy News supports the Paris Agreement, but it sometimes criticizes government policies that slow down achieving the stated goals set by the government.
Contact: Mailing address: 13, Yeouigongwon-ro, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea, 07235. www.energy-news.co.kr/
Print Media
The Korea Energy Newspaper began as the Monthly Gasoline Journal in 1994, which was the first magazine focused on the oil industry. It aims to provide energy and environmental news related to various industries and economic impacts. It has organized the International Green Energy Expo annually since 2004.
The Korea Energy Newspaper aims to provide news and data concerning environment and energy issues which are highly related to several industries and economic outcomes. The Korea Energy Newspaper has put forth opinions that the Paris Agreement would hurt several industries, but it largely supports the Paris Agreement and environmental improvement.
Content Samples:
http://www.energy-news.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=45709
‘The New Regime for Climate Change, Expanding LNG Power Plants Desperately Needed’
Initially, the South Korean government announced that it would increase the development of eco-friendly alternative energy such as LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) in order for it to meet its greenhouse gas reductions goal. However, this voice has been weakened recently. The article points out the importance of power generation by LNG because of the electricity market systems in South Korea.
The current system does not reflect the greenhouse gas emission costs in the generation costs. Thus, the increase in the price of emission rights would not lead to the reduction in greenhouse gas emission, unless the price of emission rights equals fuel conversion costs (even when the emission costs are included in the generation costs). Therefore, the article introduces alternative methods such as the establishment of emission credits in the power generation sector and LNG portfolio standard obligation. As such, the government should regulate the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions in the power generation sector as a whole, instead of distributing the emission permits to each individual power generation company. This strategy would eventually minimize the power generation costs and optimize the operation system.
Content Samples:
http://www.koenergy.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=87033
The article suggests the South Korean government should create leading cities that use hydrological cycle technologies. The article explains that “rainwater’ can be a solution for environmental challenges and help South Korea meet its commitment to the Paris Agreement. Rainwater should permeate into the soil properly so that it can prevent the underground water to be drained and can purify the water. The Ministry of Environment has designed “Low Impact Development (LID)” for its urban development plan, which is a more environment-friendly development method that is expected to reduce pollution and slow down water flow speed in order to improve the water cycle system in cities.
Contact: Mailing address: 1213 ho, 19, Seoun-ro, Seocho-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea, 06732. http://www.koenergy.co.kr/