More potential victims of humidifier disinfectants reported

Hundreds of more potential victims of toxic humidifier disinfectants were reported over the past month amid concerns over the government’s move to stop receiving health damage reports from next year, a civic group said Tuesday.The Asian Citizen’s Center for Environment and Health said a total of 310 potential victims made health complaints to the Environment Ministry to join the third round of the public health investigation into the humidifier disinfectant impacts. Of them, 38 were reported by

Dec. 15, 2015

Korea expected to speed up green drives for Paris deal

South Korea is expected to beef up its anticarbon moves in order to meet the targets of the Paris agreement approved by the global community Saturday. Envoys of 195 countries made a historical accord in Paris to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius, which experts consider the threshold for catastrophic climate change.As part of efforts to scale up the countries’ commitment, their pledges will be reviewed every five years from 2023 under the agreement, officials said. In an effort to j

Dec. 13, 2015

UN officials warn of climate disaster if Paris pact fails

LE BOURGET, France (AP) – Talks on a universal climate pact shifted to a higher gear Monday with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urging governments to set off an ``energy revolution'' to rein in heat-trapping carbon emissions and avert disastrous global warming.Foreign and environment ministers joined the talks outside Paris after lower-level negotiators who met last week delivered a draft agreement with all crunch issues left unresolved.Warning that ``the clock is ticking towards climate cat

Dec. 7, 2015

World must 'look beyond national horizons' for climate deal: U.N. chief

World leaders must "look beyond national horizons" to secure a "meaningful climate agreement" at U.N. talks in Paris next week, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday.   More than 120 heads of state and government, including South Korean President Park Geun-hye and U.S. President Barack Obama, will attend the climate conference with the hope of producing concrete steps against global warming.   "A meaningful climate agreement in Paris will build a better today and tomorrow," Ban said i

Nov. 26, 2015

Korea, China, Japan to intensify fight against yellow dust

South Korea, China and Japan have agreed to strengthen a joint research project to combat yellow dust originating in China's northern provinces, a local environmental research body said Monday.  The three countries have decided to increase the number of monitoring stations and the period of analysis starting next year, during the 18th Expert Meeting on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollutants in Northeast Asia held last week, the National Institute of Environmental Research said.  In South Korea,

Nov. 23, 2015

Korea, Canada agree to cooperation on climate change

President Park Geun-hye and her Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau agreed Wednesday to closely cooperate on how to cope with challenges posed by climate change.The consensus was reached in their meeting on the sidelines of an annual summit of Asia-Pacific leaders in the Philippines. It came just two weeks before Park, Trudeau and leaders around the world are to meet in Paris to try to produce a new legally binding deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions that scientists say are to blame for global

Nov. 19, 2015

Korean plane flies back due to heavy smog in China

A passenger jet of a South Korean low-cost carrier bound for China's northeastern city of Harbin has flown back home due to the record heavy smog in China, the company said Wednesday.The ZE861 plane of Eastar Jet Co., carrying 144 passengers, took off at 2:50 p.m. on Tuesday but returned to Cheongju International Airport at 9:40 p.m. on the same day. "The smog near the airport in Harbin was so heavy that the plane could not make a landing," a company official said. "The plane made a temporary la

Nov. 11, 2015

Koreans less concerned about climate change than five years ago: U.S. survey

South Koreans are less concerned about climate change now than they were five years ago, though nearly 90 percent of them think the global challenge will affect them personally at some point in the future, a U.S. survey showed Monday.The Pew Research survey of 45,435 people in 40 countries around the world showed that 48 percent of the South Korean respondents believe that climate change is a very serious problem, a sharp drop compared with 68 percent who thought the same way in 2010.South Korea

Nov. 10, 2015

World in 'uncharted territory' as greenhouse gases hit new high: UN

GENEVA (AFP) – Concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere hit a new high in 2014, the UN said Monday, warning the resulting climate change was moving the world into "uncharted territory".In its annual report on Earth-warming greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the World Meteorological Organization said concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide once again broke records last year."Concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are no

Nov. 9, 2015

Korea dedicates 2 new nuclear reactors

South Korea on Monday dedicated two new nuclear reactors that will account for 3 percent of the country's electricity output.South Korea's 23rd and 24th nuclear reactors, built at a cost of 5.31 trillion won ($4.58 billion), can generate 158 million kilowatt hour of power per year, according to the commerce ministry.The nuclear reactors -- the Shin-Wolsong 1 and 2 units in Gyeongju, 371 kilometers southeast of Seoul -- can allow the country to push up its electricity reserve ratio by some 3.4 pe

Nov. 9, 2015

U.N. climate fund finances Korean energy project

The United Nations climate change fund chose Korea’s renewable energy supply model as its first project to fund, the South Korean Finance Ministry said in a press release Friday. 　In the 11th Green Climate Fund meeting held in Zambia from Nov. 2 to 5, the climate fund board decided to adopt the Korean proposal on the integrated supply and storage system for renewable energy.　Korea’s renewable energy model, with a duration of five years, aims at replacing unsustainable energy with renewable energ

Nov. 6, 2015

Artificial island to be built for endangered species

An artificial island will be built in Incheon to better protect endangered birds, officials said Sunday.The Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority said it would construct an 8,900-square-meter-large artificial island in the wetland preservation district in Songdo, Incheon, by late 2018 as part of its efforts to protect internationally endangered bird species. About 5.8 billion won ($5.13 million) will be injected. The wetland in Songdo has served as a habitat and resting place for birds, especiall

Oct. 18, 2015

Korean professor elected to lead U.N. panel on climate change

A South Korean sustainable development expert was elected as the new chief of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on Tuesday, the organization said.Lee Hoe-sung, a Korea University professor known for his expertise in energy-environment policy, was selected to succeed Rajendra Pachauri as chairman of the U.N. panel in a vote at a meeting in Croatia, the IPCC said in a press release on its website.Lee, 69, who has served as a vice chairman of the panel, was among six candidates for the

Oct. 7, 2015