By Kim Young-jin
Korea’s successful bid to house the secretariat of the United Nations climate fund was due in part to extensive lobbying by President Lee Myung-bak, sources said Sunday.
Lee placed phone calls to other heads of state in the run-up to a board meeting of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) in Songdo, west of Seoul, Saturday, during which Korea was elected to host the fund and paid a surprise visit to the meeting before the vote, the sources said.
Though Lee’s popularity in his waning days in office remains only in the high 20s, analysts say he enjoys support from other heads of state, having cultivated relationships by hosting the G20 Summit in 2010 and the Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) in March.
In an example of that standing, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who attended the NSS, was quoted as telling Lee that Korea was a “role model” for his country as he lent support for the GCF bid.
Detailed results were not released but Seoul reportedly beat out Germany by a narrow margin, winning wide support in Asia including from Japan.
The President also reportedly lobbied heads of state on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Mexico and the Rio+20 U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development, both in June, and at the APEC summit in Vladivostok last month.
Watchers say Lee’s network was also influential in the nation’s winning bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympic in Pyeongchang and to become a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council for 2013-14.
Launched at the end of 2010, the GCF aims to funnel funds from industrialized nations to developing countries in order to help them deal with problems related to climate change.
During his tenure, Lee has championed a “green growth” strategy that seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and develop clean energy technology as growth engines.
Korea has invested some 2 percent of its gross domestic product in green growth. The policy aims to drive down dependence on fossil fuels and move toward alternative energy sources such as wind and solar power.