Moon turns focus to environmental issues
President Moon Jae-in turned his focus to key environmental issues such as climate change and fine dust during meetings held at Cheong Wa Dae, Tuesday.
He underlined the importance of stepping up cooperation with neighboring countries such as China and Japan to fight climate change.
“Last month, Korea, China and Japan published a joint study which confirmed the impact of fine dust in the three countries,” Moon said during a luncheon with members of a national council on climate change led by former United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, according to Cheong Wa Dae press pool reports.
“Since an agreement at the 2017 Korea-China summit, the two countries have expanded cooperation in sharing information, technologies and policies regarding fine dust.”
The remarks came ahead of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to Korea today.
In recent years, environmental issues have emerged as a key point of contention and consultation among the two neighbors, particularly after many Koreans have started to show concern about the impact of fine dust from China and called on the active diplomacy with China to deal with the issue more fundamentally.
Moon has previously said that fine dust is not just a domestic issue, but a problem related to China.
Underlining that diplomacy has a crucial role in dealing with fine dust, Moon named Ban, one of Korea’s most seasoned diplomats, to lead the national council for climate change in March.
The leaders of the three countries are expected to meet later this month in China and are likely to discuss stronger cooperation for responding to common environmental challenges, among other pending issues affecting the three countries.
“The public is also interested in cooperation among our neighbors. They have partially admitted to their responsibilities, paving the way for joint action. The government will make further efforts to implement cooperative tasks through discussion among environment ministers of the three countries.”
Moon called on the council’s urgent action for consistent international cooperation on climate change ahead of a global forum on green growth to be held in June 2020.
Seoul will host the P4G Summit, a biannual event for sharing innovative ideas for advancing green growth among leaders in government, business and academia. The President also underlined the importance of the people’s participation in his administration’s drive to fight climate change.
“We will announce suggestions gathered from the public in June. Their participation will be crucial to preparing fundamental solutions,” Moon said.
He stressed the outcomes of some of the initiatives underway to protect the environment, such as reducing the usage of plastic bags and disposable cups.
“There were some doubts about this policy in the beginning, but in just a year, disposable collection at coffee shops has dropped by 72 percent, and the usage of plastic bags at bakeries has been reduced by 79 percent.”
During a Cabinet meeting held earlier, Moon also reiterated the need to support the people and the National Assembly to maximize the effects of the government’s ongoing efforts to reduce fine dust, which Moon defined as a “national disaster.”
The President expected that the new “seasonal fine dust management” initiatives, aimed at restricting high-emission cars, will be effective in curbing fine dust.