Forty-six dead and four missing. Thirty-five injured. Sixteen thousand evacuated and 5,500 displaced. More than 1,000 public facilities and dozens of cultural heritage sites damaged. Hundreds of houses destroyed, 30,000 hectares of farmland damaged and 700,000 livestock killed.
As South Korea counts the cost of the devastating flash floods and landslides caused by the torrential rains that lashed the country last weekend, questions about responsibility – and response – are being raised.
The country’s president, Yoon Suk Yeol, blamed inadequate preparations and acknowledged that “this kind of extreme weather event will become commonplace” and urged action to deal with the climate crisis, but environmental activists have questioned that commitment.
“We have once again witnessed how unsafe a society is that only pays lip service to climate crisis response,” says Kim Seo-gyeong, a member of the Youth 4 Climate Action group leading the Korean arm of the global school climate strike movement.
“Is it normal for a society where survival itself is determined by luck if we don’t make efforts to become safe?” asks the 21-year-old, who is one of 19 applicants from the group who filed a lawsuit against the South Korean government in 2020 claiming that insufficient action on climate change violates their fundamental rights.
“The responsibility and risks of climate crisis response have been entirely shifted on to individuals,” she tells the Guardian.
‘Where are the solutions?’
In response to the rains and floods, President Yoon declared 13 municipalities as special disaster areas, including Cheongju, where a riverbank broke and instantly flooded an underground roadway. Fourteen people died after being unable to escape their vehicles.
He acknowledged the increasing frequency of extreme weather events due to the climate crisis, but stopped short of presenting concrete plans for comprehensive climate action. Yoon did, however, reprimand the environment minister for poor water management, and took issue with the failure to implement his instructions in 2022.
Activists say that despite the growing threat to South Koreans from the climate crisis, little is being done to address its causes.
Daul Jang, advocacy specialist from the Seoul office of Greenpeace east Asia, says: “Where did the discussion on the root cause of the climate crisis go? What are the solutions?”
Sejong Youn, director of Plan 1.5 and a lawyer in the pending youth-led climate litigation case, says the reality of climate change in South Korea has become a major threat to people’s lives and livelihoods.
“The monsoon is part of the Korean summer, but the downpours in the past few years are nowhere near what we have seen before. Winters have also become warmer, and less winter snow results in a drier spring, leading to severe drought and increased forest fires,” he says.
“We need to recalibrate the way we manage natural disasters, not just by reflecting recent events but by incorporating the expected risks of the future,” he says. “More importantly, the government needs to enhance its mitigation efforts. Climate adaptation and mitigation must go hand in hand.”
‘A fossil fuel-based inertia’
Dr Lee Yu-jin, vice-director of the Green Transition Institute, says that while South Korea appears to be following international discussions, such as the 2050 carbon neutrality declaration and NDCs as part of the Paris agreement, challenges remain to its commitments, given the export-oriented structure of its economy.
“Korea is still trapped in energy-intensive industries and a fossil fuel-based inertia, which puts it at a high risk of falling behind in the rapid decarbonisation trend,” she says, accusing the country of lagging behind in global climate crisis response and the transition to renewable energy, “leaving it isolated like an island”.
South Korea’s traditional industries, which underpin much of the country’s economy, such as semiconductors, automobiles, and shipbuilding, are all carbon-intensive.
Fossil fuels are responsible for more than 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions and are by far the most significant contributor to climate change.
According to UK-based thinktank Ember, South Korea has one of the highest levels of greenhouse gas pollution from coal per person in the developed world, and in 2022, wind and solar accounted for just 5.4% of the country’s electricity production, much less than the global average of 12%.
The country is also one of the largest public financiers of fossil fuel projects around the world.
Joojin Kim, executive director of Solutions for Our Climate, says that for South Korea to do its part, it must phase out coal by at least 2030 and gas by 2035.
The government has committed to decreasing emissions by 40% below 2018 levels by 2030 and set a target of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050. However, under Yoon, it has changed how it would achieve this, by reducing the industrial emissions reduction target and shifting it to carbon capture technology and international offsets.
The current government also stated that it would speed up the transition to clean energy by cutting coal-fired power generation and expanding nuclear and renewable energy, with the latter target lowered in favour of nuclear power.
“This cannot be achieved unless the government is willing to transform our fossil fuel-oriented energy system, and to cease bankrolling fossil fuel expansion,” Kim says.
“South Korea has the financial, human, and technological resources to phase out fossil fuels. What it lacks is the political will and policies to incentivise a faster transition.”
The South Korean government has said it will prepare “reasonable implementation measures” for reduction targets and strategies, “considering economic and social conditions and feasibility”, to comply with the greenhouse gas reduction targets committed to in the international community.
The legal basis regulating gas emissions targets and carbon neutrality was recently challenged by the state human rights commission, which said it was unconstitutional since the target was too low and unfairly passed the burden to future generations.
For Kim Seo-gyeong, the youth climate activist, the reality of South Korea’s response to the climate crisis is disheartening.
“The measures taken by the government are insufficient to prevent the climate crisis or protect citizens from social inequality and risks caused by the climate crisis.
“The disasters we face today are just beginning.”
