Environment
Korea's environmental policies and challenges
Seoul's Skyscrapers Are an Unlikely Home for Honeybees
Some 30 rooftops of high-rise buildings in Seoul are homes to honeybees. Park Jin, CEO of Urban Bees Seoul, a beekeeping co-op based in South Korean capital, is behind the movement to make the mega-city friendlier for the insects. The most difficult part about urban beekeeping is changing people’
Don't Waste That Banchan: Where South Korea's Food Waste Goes
Kimchis, fresh vegetables, fruit, fish, seafood, meat, pickles, pancakes…. One of the many pleasures of dining out in South Korea is the selection of banchan, or side dishes, that accompanies most meals. But seldom — if ever — do all banchan get eaten. Diners take a few mouthfuls of this
Hyundai's Hydrogen Dream
“We believe hydrogen energy is the key to a more sustainable world.” “If you’re going to pick an energy storage mechanism, hydrogen is…incredibly dumb.” The first of these quotes is from South Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor Company (HMC), which this month launched the Nexo, its brand new hydrogen
After the Olympics: Can One of South Korea's Oldest Forests Be Restored?
The 2018 Paralympics is opening on Mar. 9, providing a valuable opportunity to highlight one of the Olympics’ biggest, but often unmentioned, environmental scandals: a series of wide scars running through what was once a protected ancient forest. Environmentalists reacted with outrage in 2014 when the South Korean government
Last Murmurations of a Destroyed Wetland
Once, you could stand in the middle of the Saemangeum estuary at low tide and look out on a vast expanse of shimmering gray mud seemingly as boundless as the ocean itself, a landscape pockmarked with thousands of tiny volcanoes and home to diverse species of wildlife. All of that
The Myth of S. Korea’s World-beating Nuclear Energy Exports
“Mommy, can I go and play by the nuclear power station?” — The above promotional image is from the website of KEPCO, South Korea’s largest energy provider. This autumn, South Korean media and netizens were busy arguing out the pros and cons of building new
Plane Madness? Second Airport Plan Angers Jeju Islanders
On Tuesday morning, the wind blew tufts of black hair across freezing paving stones by the Blue House. Giant fiberglass Pyeongchang Olympic mascots — a white tiger and an Asiatic black bear — looked on as five electric razors hummed across five scalps. Villagers from Seongsan, a quiet county on
Pretty and Polluted: Jeju Overfilling With Tourists
2011 was a busy year for the civil servants of Jeju Island. South Korea’s most famous island — bar Dokdo — had made the shortlist for the so-called “new seven wonders of nature.” With no restrictions on the number of telephone votes cast by each individual, Jeju’s public
CCPI 2018: South Korea's Climate Change Response Sucks
South Korea has been ranked 58th out of 60 countries worldwide in Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) 2018, an instrument that assesses action taken on climate protection. The index, compiled by European NGO Germanwatch, aggregates performance in terms of 14 indicators within four categories: greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy, energy
Under Moon: Business as Usual for S Korea's Nuclear Power?
President Moon Jae-in’s commitment to renewable energy was thrown into doubt on Friday when a specially-appointed public debate committee recommended resuming construction of reactors 5 and 6 at Shin-Kori nuclear power plant. In his election manifesto earlier this year, Moon pledged to halt construction of new nuclear and
Moon Jae-in May Not Live Up to His Promise in "Oxy Affair"
Victims of South Korea’s deadly humidifier disinfectant scandal, which has killed dozens of consumers and left hundreds more injured for life, had pinned their hopes on the new Moon Jae-in administration to provide compensation. But the signals now coming from the government are mixed. Humidifiers are widely used in
Meet the S. Korean Companies Destroying Indonesia's Virgin Rainforest
In the 1850s, travelling British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace described New Guinea as “a country which contained more strange and new and beautiful natural objects than any other part of the globe.” Almost 150 years later, American ornithologist Bruce Beehler echoed Wallace’s sense of awe, calling part of the