[세종만사] Ministry of Environment, ‘busy’ with successive international negotiation meetings

[세종만사] Ministry of Environment, ‘busy’ with successive international negotiation meetings

Publication date: 2024-11-17 16:00 Updated: 2024-11-17 11:55

Minister of Environment Kim Wan-seop

○… Ministry of Environment, ‘busy’ with successive international negotiation meetings

An international conference attracting attention from all over the world will be held in November. One is the ’29th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP-29)’, which has been held in Azerbaijan since the 11th, and the other is the ‘5th Intergovernmental Conference on Plastic Pollution, scheduled to be held in Busan, Korea, on the 25th. Negotiating Committee (INC-5)’. At COP-29, where the Minister of Environment will attend as the chief representative, the ‘New Climate Resources Creation Goal’ (NCQG)’ is expected to be discussed as a major agenda item. Following the recent US presidential election results, much attention has been focused on the international community’s willingness to respond to the climate crisis. At this year’s Busan INC-5, there is intense interest both domestically and internationally as to whether an international agreement on plastic pollution will be reached. The Ministry of Environment, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, focuses on producing meaningful results that contribute to the global community as the conference host country.

○… National Assembly continues to be postponed… How long will the boycott strategy last?

The 11th Basic Plan for Electricity Supply and Demand (Electricity Basic Plan) has not completed its final hurdle, reporting to the National Assembly. The report was scheduled for the 7th and 12th of this month, but was canceled. In order to implement the electric version, a report to the National Assembly must be completed, which is a mandatory procedure, but this is actually holding back the situation. The problem is not simply because of the National Assembly schedule. The opposition party demands a complete revision of the electricity budget, with the goal of reducing the proportion of nuclear power plants and increasing the proportion of renewable energy. They are continuing their boycott strategy by holding the electric card for revision or negotiation. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is also in an urgent situation as it plans to complete the report to the National Assembly within this year and implement the previous version. If the electricity bill is postponed, not only the new power plan but also the implementation of the transmission network investment plan, which is a follow-up process, will inevitably be pushed back. The situation is urgent, but given that the target party is the National Assembly, the only answer is persuasion. Regarding the current situation, an expert in the energy field said, “It is a cross-section of the politicization of energy issues,” and pointed out, “There are already issues piled up in the power sector, and even if the National Assembly cannot help, it should not make it difficult to solve the problems.”

○… There is an urgent need to secure national funding, but Sejong City is ’embarrassed’ by the happenings.

While Sejong City is struggling to secure government funding, including support for the International Garden City Expo, it is suffering from a letter that was sent by mistake. Sejong Mayor Choi Min-ho sent a personal letter to request cooperation from the ruling party regarding the recent budget cut for the garden fair by the Sejong City Council. The content of the letter is a request to block this as the Democratic Party is expected to push for a reduction in the government support budget for garden fairs as a party line at the National Assembly’s Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee to be held soon. The problem is that the letter was wrongly delivered not only to the ruling party members of the Agricultural and Marine Affairs Committee, but also to some opposition party members, and it was eventually made public by the opposition party at the plenary meeting of the Agricultural and Marine Affairs Committee on the 14th. The opposition party criticized Mayor Choi for gaining an advantageous position by making this issue an issue, and in the end, at the plenary meeting of the Agricultural and Marine Affairs Committee, a plan to cut the entire government subsidy for the garden fair was passed. It is predicted that there is little chance that the budget plan, which has decided to cut the entire amount, will be revived in the National Assembly’s Budget and Accounts Committee.

〈Sejong Team〉