A devil's bargain cripples South Korea's energy security

In the 2025 film KPop Demon Hunters, a slick South Korean boy band acts as cover for a diabolical plot to feed humanity to a ravenous, fiery, subterranean monster.

- David Fickling

Exhaust gases billowing from the chimneys of the Taiwan Thermal Power Station, a large coal-fired power station, in Taiwan, around 50km from Seoul. South Korea is the biggest consumer of coal per capita after Kazakhstan, China and Australia.

(PHOTO: AFP)

Believe it or not, that’s a decent way of thinking about South Korea’s energy policy.There’s been lots of reasons for fans of the energy transition to idolise the country of late. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung was one of the first world leaders to name the Iran war as a reason to accelerate the switch to clean power. “Relying on fossil energy is extremely dangerous for the future,” he said during a visit to Jeju island, an aspiring wind and solar hub. “All energy sources must be rapidly transitioned to renewable energy.”

By 2030, the country wants to generate more than 30 per cent of its electricity from renewables and 70 per cent from clean sources, including nuclear. Even parking lots are now required to install solar panels on canopies.

Such comments and initiatives are catnip for a world enamoured with the soft-power allure of Korean-wave entertainment. The truth is a lot less shiny.

South Korea is the biggest consumer of coal per capita after Kazakhstan, China and Australia. Unlike those three, its build-out of renewables is minuscule, at less than 10 per cent of generation, and stalling. About 60 per cent of grid power comes from fossil fuels, and debt-laden state monopoly Korea Electric Power or Kepco, is an implacable impediment to change.