Hopes high for new environment ministry chiefs

Expert, ministry official cherished vice minister’s expertise

By Kim Se-jeong

President Moon Jae-in’s nominations for environment ministry took many by surprise.

Kim Eun-kyung, above, and Ahn Byung-ok

Kim Eun-kyung, the minister nominee, and Ahn Byung-ok, the vice minister who was sworn in on Monday, were little regarded due to their scant experience in politics and government. But many in the environment and energy communities said they are highly qualified and expressed high hopes the ministry under the new leadership could do its job as the nation’s highest environmental regulatory body.

Kim provided environmental policy expertise to the late former President Roh Moo-hyun at Cheong Wa Dae and the Democratic Party of Korea. She was a victim of phenol contamination in the Nakdong River in Daegu in 1991, which got her into environmental advocacy work. Later, she led the opposition movement against a new incineration plant in Nowon-gu in Seoul ― she was elected a member of the Seoul city council after that. She awaits a confirmation hearing at the National Assembly.

Ahn is a scholar and environmental activist. He founded the Institute for Climate Change Action and led the Citizens’Institute for Environmental Studies and Korea Foundation for Environmental Movements (KFEM). He studied oceanography at Seoul National University and earned a doctorate in applied ecology from the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany. Ahn was outspoken about the perils of the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project in 2007. He was the mastermind of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s energy policy which aimed at reducing energy reliance on nuclear power plants.

Yang Soo-gil, the director of the Sustainable Development Solution Network Korea chapter who knows him, said, “Ahn is passionate about and committed to making Korea’s development sustainable. I am positive he will get the job done well. Under the conservative governments, the ministry was mostly hands off due to money pressur.”

The ministry seemed to welcome the new leadership. “It’s so good that the new leaders have so much knowledge about the environment,” one anonymous official said. “I am looking forward to working with him.”

A KFEM official also welcomed the news and said the country’s rivers should run freely again soon. “The vice minister is so well aware of the project’s impact on the ecosystem. I hope Ahn will work to get all 16 dams fully open by this summer.”

Ahn is also expected to overlook the nation’s water management system, which used to be split between the environment and industry ministries. It came under the environment ministry after the new government came in.

The Korea Times’ attempt to find comment on Kim alone was unsuccessful.

Yang warned the two of resistance from businesses.

“The Ministry of Environment never won over money. The balance between the environment ministry and money is very important. That is what the two should deal with wisely.”

In a column published by the Kyunghyang Shinmun earlier this month, Ahn seemed to know the approach: “Days to come under Moon will not be easy. A lot of time and money is needed to retrieve what had gone wrong in energy and environment policies. Moon will also face strong resistance from businesses. Moon shouldn’t look at them. He should look at the people.”