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| Sat, 23rd May 2020 13:31:00 |
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Could a green new deal turn South Korea from climate villain to model? |
A year ago, Soyoung Lee was one of a crowd of climate activists demonstrating on the streets of Seoul in a campaign inspired by the global school strike founder Greta Thunberg.
Today, the 35-year-old lawyer is the youngest member of the South Korean parliament and a driving force in the government's green new deal, which aims to create millions of jobs in renewable energy and help the economy recover from the coronavirus lockdown.
Lee's transformation highlights how much progress the global wave of youth climate activism has made in a remarkably short space of time. It also raises hopes that South Korea – a country long considered one of the world's worst climate villains – will set a global example by accelerating the shift away from fossil fuels.
Lee was invited to stand as a candidate for the president Moon Jae-in's Democracy party in last month's legislative elections. She proposed a green new deal in the campaign manifesto as a way to appeal to young voters.
"I was the first to suggest that," she said. "I want to decarbonise Korean society. This is my personal mission. That is why I went into politics."
Winning her seat in a landslide, she is now part of a ruling coalition with a huge majority to push through any measures it chooses.
The government's priority is to boost the economy after the Covid-19 crisis. South Korea has won praise around the world for its handling of the health pandemic, but its powerful industrial conglomerates have taken a big hit from the downturn in global trade.
Many business leaders and veteran ministers want recovery to focus purely on digital technology. But civil society and lawmakers like Lee have persuaded the president that it is possible to create jobs and raise climate ambitions.
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