Environmental groups chastise candidates for neglecting climate

Members of the Korea Federation of Environmental Movements' Incheon branch, hold up signs after the group and other local environmental groups jointly issued a statement on Feb. 9 criticizing the four leading presidential candidates for neglecting the climate crisis in their pledges. The signs warn the candidates, "Do not push us to the brink of climate catastrophe with your deceptive politics," "An election with no mention of the climate crisis is a precursor to climate catastrophe," and "The candidates must squarely face the climate crisis and honestly respond to it." Courtesy of Climate Media Hub

Activists urge candidates to hold climate policy debate

By Ko Dong-hwan

A coalition of local environmental groups issued a joint statement Wednesday, accusing leading candidates of the upcoming presidential election of being engrossed in criticizing each other while neglecting public concern over the climate crisis.

More than 18 groups joined in penning the statement out of urgency, including the Korea Federation for Environmental Movements, Green Korea and Solution for Our Climate, as well as youth-centered groups like BigWave and Youth 4 Climate Action.

Titled, "Rife with Scandals and Devoid of Actual Pledges, This Election is a Disgrace to Democracy," the groups called out the ruling and main opposition parties, Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and People Power Party (PPP), for not competing on the basis of future policies, but instead getting carried away with continually stoking hatred, blaming each other and making allegations.

"We have lost faith in our new upcoming government, and are left with only bitterness towards our country's subpar politicians," the statement read. "They keep burdening us with additional stress by digging up the past and phone records."

They pointed out PPP candidate Yoon Suk-yeol's pledge to rebuild the country's diminishing nuclear power plants is "an irresponsible call to use the dangerous energy source as political leverage and a populist measure amidst the unforeseeable future."

"This election has devolved into something people are ashamed of, discouraging them from expressing who they want to vote for," the statement read. "It's no longer the kind of election where people could encourage each other to vote and take pictures in front of polling stations. What can we possibly hope for from the president out of this shameful election?"

The groups highlighted that the next president will stand in the midst of the country's critical transition period, as the next five years under the new president's term coincide with the planet's next seven years ― seen as a golden period for people to make last-ditch efforts to slow down the ever-worsening impacts of the climate crisis.

"The 20th president of Korea coming out of this election will be the country's last president with a chance to fight the climate crisis," the statement said.

The groups said that Korean citizens have already expressed their environmental concerns publicly: residents living near coal power plants have delivered their petitions to the candidates to stop building coal-based power plants; people have showed their support for various environmental protesters who have taken to the streets despite the social distancing and quarantine regulations amid the COVID-19's pandemic; and an online anti-coal energy petition movement has collected more than 10,000 supporters in just one month.

"People across the world have woken up after going through the unprecedented pandemic and consequences of the climate crisis," the groups said. "Voters in Germany and the United States in their recent elections have chosen climate policies over finger-pointing, which ultimately, just divides the country and benefits only certain groups. They voted for benefits for all, and the new governments in those countries are preparing for the climate crisis with policies based on scientific findings."

The groups urged the candidates to face the voters, who are now deeply concerned with environmental issues, and to stop their smear campaigns. They said that the next president must be a climate leader who can rid the country of coal power plants and lead the country towards neutralizing carbon emissions by 2050.

"Before it is too late, come forward with plans to prepare for the climate crisis and earn the public's trust," the groups said, demanding that the candidates immediately halt the building of new coal power plants in Gangneung and Samcheok in Gangwon Province, as well as produce a roadmap for ending the use of coal power plants before 2030, and hold a climate crisis debate before the election.

Earlier this month, a coalition of youth environmental groups, Plan 0, drew positive responses from the four candidates after visiting their election camps to demand that they hold a climate crisis debate on TV. The DPK's Lee Jae-myung, along with Sim Sang-jung of the minor progressive Justice Party, confirmed that they would join such a debate without any conditions, while Ahn Cheol-soo of the minor opposition People's Party said that he would "look for an available moment to join the debate." The PPP's Yoon Suk-yeol said that he would join "only if the three other candidates choose to participate in it."