North Korea's strong interest in climate change offers opportunity for cooperation
2024-05-29 07:39:41
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| Yeo Min-ju, a professor of atmospheric science at Yonsei University, speaks during a forum hosted by the Ministry of Unification on "green detente" at the Royal Hotel in central Seoul, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Jung Min-ho |
By Jung Min-ho
Under the national principle of Juche, or self-reliance, North Korea shows almost no interest in working with other countries for a common cause. Yet North Korea sent a representative to last month's 27th U.N. climate change conference, known as COP27, in Egypt. The North also sent a representative to COP26 in Scotland a year ago.
Moreover, North Korea reported its first Voluntary National Review to the U.N. agency in 2021 for the 2030 sustainable growth agenda, acknowledging "climate-related" natural disasters and vowing to step up efforts to reduce greenhouse gases.
All this suggests Pyongyang's strong interest in climate change and presents an opportunity for inter-Korean cooperation in the area, according to experts Wednesday.
"The Soviet Union's first gas pipeline in Western Europe, which has become an issue recently, was constructed when the Iron Curtain (the line dividing Europe following World War II) was still firm because of the strong interests of both sides," Cho Yong-sung, a professor at the food and resources economics department of Korea University, said during a forum hosted by the Ministry of Unification in Seoul on "green detente." "Given the current impasse, perhaps the South needs to think big … about the possibility of a higher-level cooperation with the North, potentially involving other countries, instead of limiting it to a single project or a sector."
The suggestion comes at a time when Seoul and Washington are trying to bring Pyongyang back to talks amid North Korea's growing missile and nuclear threats.
If there are a handful of issues that would interest both North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Joe Biden, climate change must be high on the list, according to Kim Ho-hong, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Strategy.
Experts at the forum shared the view that natural disasters, which threatened North Korea's food security with unusual frequency in recent years, were probably what forced the leader to pay attention to the issue. In August, North Korea's state media reported the overflow of the Taedong River, which runs through the capital. The second flooding of the river in just two months prompted the authorities to issue a warning and put nearby residents on alert.
Natural disasters, such as floods and drought, result in soil loss, which in turn worsens North Korea's food shortages; a lack of food and energy sources eventually leads to forest damage, which poses a detrimental effect on climate heating as forests soak up greenhouse gases.
"It's a vicious circle," Kang Taek-koo, a researcher at the Korea Environment Institute, said. "I believe North Korea might be open to cooperation on climate change, which South Korea should prepare for in terms of how to approach it."
Although North Korea appears to be serious and genuine about tackling the issue, Kang said the North may also have a political motive to promote itself as a normal state and capitalize on it later.
Seoul and Pyongyang agreed on forestry cooperation during a summit in 2018 that included joint efforts to combat deforestation, research on seedlings and other countermeasures against natural disasters. But little progress has been made amid a stalemate in nuclear talks.
（作者：新闻中心）
