Abstract
Before 2008, South Korea’s interest in climate change diplomacy was practically nonexistent. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was established in 1992, and most post-1992 Korean administrations assumed the position of developing country and maintained a passive stance as an observer of international climate change issues. The Kim Dae-jung administration responded actively to the UNFCCC with launching “the Committee for Climate Change Convention” and establishing a comprehensive national plan on climate change. Even these efforts, however, led to no noteworthy diplomatic accomplishments. Although Korea retained developing country status in relation to the UNFCCC, it was an economically advanced middle power with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) membership; it was also, at the time, one of the world’s largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters. Nevertheless, Korea’s pre-2008 climate change diplomacy was still passive and did not leverage or reflect the nation’s position internationally.
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Notes
- 1.
Rahn Kim, “Environment Minister Yoo Chairs OECD Meeting in Paris,” The Korea Times, April 1, 2012, accessed August 25, 2015. http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2012/04/117_108148.html.
- 2.
Olav Stokke, Western Powers and Global Poverty: The Determinants of the Aid Polices of Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden (Uppsala: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, in cooperation with the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, 1989); Cranford Pratt, Middle Power Internationalism: The North-South Dimension (Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1990); Richard A. Higgott and Andrew Fenton Cooper, “Middle Power Leadership and Coalition Building: Australia, the Caims Group, and the Uruguay Round of Trade Negotiations,” International Organizations, 44, 4 (1990): 589–632; Cooper, Higgott, and Nossal, Relocating Middle Powers: Australia and Canada in a Changing World Order (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1993); Andrew Fenton Cooper, Niche Diplomacy: Middle Powers after the Cold War (Houndmills: Macmillan, 1997).
- 3.
Cooper, Higgott, and Nossal, Relocating, 19.
- 4.
Ibid. 25–26.
- 5.
Kim Richard Nossal, The Politics of Canadian Foreign Policy (Scarborough, Ontario: Prentice-Hall, 1989): 50.
- 6.
Hongying Wang and Erik French, “Middle Range Powers in Global Governance,” Third World Quarterly 34, 6 (2013): 985–986.
- 7.
Stephen M. Gardiner, “Ethics and Global Climate Change,” Ethics 114, 3 (2004): 578–579.
- 8.
Chukwumerije Okereke, “The Politics of Interstate Climate Negotiations,” in The Politics of Climate Change, ed. Maxwell T. Boykoff (London and New York: Routledge, 2010): 49–50.
- 9.
Harley Stevenson, “India and International Norms of Climate Governance: A Constructivist Analysis of Normative Congruence Building,” Review of International Studies, 37, 3 (2011): 1000.
- 10.
Robert O. Keohane and David G. Victor, “The Regime Complex for Climate Change.” Perspectives on Politics, 9, 1 (2011): 9.
- 11.
Sun-young Park, “President Lee Vows to be ‘Early Mover’ in Climate Change Combat,” MK News, July 9, 2008, accessed August 25, 2015. http://news.mk.co.kr/newsRead.php?year=2008&no=430780.
- 12.
“Full Text of S. Korean President’s Keynote Speech at U.N. Climate Conference,” Yonhap News, December 17, 2009, accessed August 25, 2015. http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2009/12/16/88/0301000000AEN20091216007600315F.HTML.
- 13.
Ibid.
- 14.
It was during the Lee administration that all the so-called Four Major Laws on Climate Change—Framework Act on Low Carbon Green Growth, Smart Grid Promotion Act, Act on Allocation and Trading of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Allowances, and Green Building Construction Support Act—were enacted.
- 15.
Elizabeth R. DeSombre, Domestic Sources of International Environmental Policy: Industry, Environmentalists, and U.S. Power (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2000).
- 16.
Investment in a developing country by a developed counterpart is called “bilateral CDM.” Given that investment in a developing country by another developing country involves only developing nations, it is thus referred to as “unilateral CDM.”
- 17.
On April 23, 2005, the CDM Executive Board authorized the registration of Cuyamapa hydroelectric project in Honduras as the first unilateral CDM project, thereby giving the official green light to unilateral CDM. As of 2009, unilateral CDM projects accounted for some 70 % of all CDM projects.
- 18.
Ministry of Strategy and Finance. White Paper on Hosting the Green Climate Fund. Sejong: Ministry of Strategy and Finance. 2013.
- 19.
Green Climate Fund, “Selection of the Host Country of the Fund,” GCF/B.01-12/09, August 3, 2012, accessed August 25, 2015. http://gcfund.net/fileadmin/00_customer/documents/pdf/B1.01-12.09_Selection_of_host_country_FINAL_6Aug.pdf: 6–7.
- 20.
The board was composed of 24 nations, 12 developed and 12 developing. The 12 developed nations were seven EU nations—UK, Sweden, Denmark, France, Germany, Poland, and Spain; the USA; Australia; Japan; Russia; and Norway. The 12 developing nations were China, Indonesia, and India (3 Asia); Mexico, Belize, and Colombia (3 South America); Benin, Egypt, South Africa (3 Africa); Zambia (1 LCDs/Africa); Barbados (1 AOSIS/South America); and Georgia (Other).
- 21.
Ministry of Strategy and Finance, White Paper on Hosting the Green Climate Fund (Sejong: Ministry of Strategy and Finance, 2013): 38.
- 22.
Ibid. 40–41.
- 23.
Green Climate Fund, “Report of the Host Country Evaluation Committee,” GCF/B.02-12/04, October 5, 2012, accessed August 25, 2015. http://www.gcfund.net/fileadmin/00_customer/documents/pdf/B.02_Report_of_the_Host_Country_Evaluation_Committee_5_Oct.pdf: 7, 10, 13, 16, 17, 20, 23.
- 24.
Green Climate Fund, “Report of the Second Meeting of the Board, 18–20 October 2012,” GCF/B.02-12/13, March 14, 2013, accessed August 25, 2015. http://www.gcfund.net/fileadmin/00_customer/documents/pdf/B_02-12_13__Report_of_the_Meeting_13March2013.pdf: 7.
- 25.
Liane Schalatek, Setting the Course: The Third Meeting of the Green Climate Fund Board Lays the Groundwork for Key Decisions later This Year (Washington, DC: Heinrich Boll Stiftung, 2013): 14.
- 26.
Switzerland and Lichtenstein are non-EU European countries while Mexico, like Korea, is an OECD member state with a developing country status in the UNFCCC.
- 27.
Earth Negotiations Bulletin, “Durban Highlights: Monday, 28 November 2011.” November 29, 2011, accessed August 25, 2015. http://www.iisd.ca/vol12/enb12524e.html.
- 28.
United Nations Convention on Climate Change, “Party Groupings,” accessed August 25, 2015. http://unfccc.int/parties_and_observers/parties/negotiating_groups/items/2714.php.
- 29.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, “Strategic Partnership and Green Growth Alliance,” accessed August 25, 2015. http://sydkorea.um.dk/en/about-korea/strategic-partnership-and-green-growth-alliance/.
- 30.
Cooper, Higgott, and Nossal, Relocating, 1993, 19.
- 31.
“Green Growth,” The Economist, January 27, 2000, accessed August 25, 2015. http://www.economist.com/node/328735.
- 32.
UNEP is the only exception, preferring the use of “green economy.”
- 33.
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, “Green Growth, Resources and Resilience: Environmental Sustainability in Asia and the Pacific,” January 1, 2012, accessed August 25, 2015. http://www.unescap.org/resources/green-growth-resources-and-resilience-environmental-sustainability-asia-and-pacific: 17.
- 34.
United Nations General Assembly, “Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development,” A/RES/42/187, December 11, 1987, accessed August 25, 2015. http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/42/ares42-187.htm.
- 35.
Michael Jacobs, “Green Growth,” in The Handbook of Global Climate and Environmental Policy, ed. Robert Falkner (West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013): 199.
- 36.
Status of international organizations whose contributions from donor nations are considered ODA.
References
Articles and Books
Cooper, Andrew F., ed.1997. Niche Diplomacy: Middle Powers After the Cold War. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Cooper, Andrew F., Richard A. Higgott, and Kim Richard Nossal.1993. Relocating Middle Powers: Australia and Canada in a Changing World Order. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.
DeSombre, Elizabeth R.2000. Domestic Sources of International Environmental Policy: Industry, Environmentalists, and U.S. Power. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Gardiner, Stephen M.2014. Ethics and Global Climate Change. Ethics 114(3): 555–600.
Higgott, Richard A., and Andrew Fenton Cooper.1990. Middle Power Leadership and Coalition Building: Australia, the Cairns Group, and the Uruguay Round of Trade Negotiations. International Organization 44(4): 589–632.
Jacobs, Michael.2013. Green Growth. In The Handbook of Global Climate and Environmental Policy, ed. Robert Falkner. West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.
Keohane, Robert O., and David G. Victor.2011. The Regime Complex for Climate Change. Perspectives on Politics 9(1): 7–23.
Nossal, Kim Richard.1989. The Politics of Canadian Foreign Policy. Scarborough, Ontario: Prentice-Hall.
Okereke, Chukwumerije.2010. The Politics of Interstate Climate Negotiations. In The Politics of Climate Change, ed. Maxwell T. Boykoff. London: Routledge.
Pratt, Cranford, ed.1990. Middle Power Internationalism: The North-South Dimension. Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Schalatek, Liane.2013. Setting the Course: The Third Meeting of the Green Climate Fund Board Lays the Groundwork for Key Decisions later This Year. Washington, DC: Heinrich Boll Stiftung.
Stevenson, Harley.2011. India and International Norms of Climate Governance: A Constructivist Analysis of Normative Congruence Building. Review of International Studies 37(3): 997–1019.
Stokke, Olav, ed.1989. Western Middle Powers and Global Poverty: The Determinants of the Aid Policies of Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. Uppsala: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies.
Wang, Hongying, and Erik French.2013. Middle Range Powers in Global Governance. Third World Quarterly 34(6): 985–999.
Official Documents
Green Climate Fund. 2012. Selection of the Host Country of the Fund. GCF/B.01-12/09, August 3, 2012. http://gcfund.net/fileadmin/00_customer/documents/pdf/B1.01-12.09_Selection_of_host_country_FINAL_6Aug.pdf: 6–7. Accessed 25 August 2015.
———. 2012. Report of the Host Country Evaluation Committee. GCF/B.02-12/04, October 5, 2012. http://www.gcfund.net/fileadmin/00_customer/documents/pdf/B.02_Report_of_the_Host_Country_Evaluation_Committee_5_Oct.pdf: 7, 10, 13, 16, 17, 20, 23. Accessed 25 August 2015.
———. 2013. Report of the Second Meeting of the Board, 18–20 October 2012. GCF/B.02-12/13, March 14, 2013. http://www.gcfund.net/fileadmin/00_customer/documents/pdf/B_02-12_13__Report_of_the_Meeting_13March2013.pdf: 7. Accessed 25 August 2015.
Ministry of Strategy and Finance. 2013. White Paper on Hosting the Green Climate Fund. Sejong: Ministry of Strategy and Finance.
United Nations Convention on Climate Change. 2014. Session 2.5 of the ADP, 4–15 June 2014: EIG Opening Statement. June 3, 2014. https://unfccc.int/files/documentation/submissions_from_parties/adp/application/pdf/adp2-5_statement_by_eig_20140604.pdf. Accessed 25 August 2015.
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. 2012. Green Growth, Resources and Resilience: Environmental Sustainability in Asia and the Pacific. January 1, 2012. http://www.unescap.org/resources/green-growth-resources-and-resilience-environmental-sustainability-asia-and-pacific. Accessed 25 August 2015.
United Nations General Assembly. 1987. Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development. A/RES/42/187, December 11, 1987. http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/42/ares42-187.htm. Accessed 25 August 2015.
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Kim, S. (2016). South Korea’s Climate Change Diplomacy: Analysis Based on the Perspective of “Middle Power Diplomacy”. In: Lee, S. (eds) Transforming Global Governance with Middle Power Diplomacy. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59359-7_7
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