By Oh Young-jin
Staff Reporter
Korea is expected to increase its reliance on nuclear power for its energy needs.
Knowledge Economy Minister Lee Yoon-ho Friday said that the ``renaissance of nuclear energy'' was dawning, explaining that the country has over-relied on fossil energy without giving adequate attention to its adverse effects on climate change.
In a forum at Bankers Club in downtown Seoul, Lee said, ``With its safety ensured, there is no energy source as good as nuclear power in terms of efficiency and ecology.
``As part of a re-alignment in the nation's energy policy, related technologies will be 100 percent localized by 2012,'' the minister said.
However, Lee was less enthusiastic about renewable sources of energy. `It takes time to help them take root as viable sources of energy.''
He said that the renewable sources of energy need to be subsidized to be commercially viable so pushing them too hard will put a dent on the budget without corresponding benefits.
Lee's energy policy runs counter to that of the U.S. administration led by President Barack Obama, which places heavy emphasis on renewable energy, but is more similar to that of the Bush administration, which relied on oil and nuclear power.
Lee said the planned hikes in utility and household gas charges should account for more of the costs of the project.
``Gas and utility charges should be more reflective of real costs.''
He said that the gas and utility charges will be raised more faithfully starting next year.
The minister was also critical of corporations' lack of responsiveness to their carbon footprints.
``I feel that our firms are too lax in coping with global trends against carbon emissions,'' he said, explaining that they were excluded from the Kyoto Protocols so they have not paid adequate attention to the carbon reduction efforts. He said that he is encouraging corporations to speed up and narrow the gap with their counterparts in advanced countries in terms of carbon emission reduction but it was hard to come up with the right policy.
He said that a new rule for car fuel efficiency will be drawn up this month.
The Obama administration is setting the standard for the fuel efficiency and renewable energy adoption. The Lee Myung-bak administration is also pushing for the ecological-minded development under the banner of ``green growth.''