National parks and protected areas
South Korea boasts a high concentration of national parks. Visitors can enjoy the 22 land and sea parks, which account for 6.6% of the country's surface area. A paradise for hikers and climbers, an oasis of nature, they are nevertheless very busy, especially in autumn, when the maple trees turn red (danpung). It's often possible to make one's way away from the crowds to appreciate the pictorial beauty of the landscapes, and find the calm conducive to meditation in these places of nature.
Seoraksan National Park, in the north-east of the country, has a mountainous profile, with waterfalls and granite peaks. It is also home to magnificent forests and rivers, as well as 10th-century temples in an enchanting, meditative setting. The park is famous for the hike to the UlsanBawi rocks, the path to the Heundeulbawi stone next to the Gyejo hermitage, and the Sinheungsa temple with its bronze Buddha.
Gayasan National Park is home to the Haeinsa temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Mount Wolchulsan National Park, south-west of Seoul, is popular for its picturesque scenery and rock formations.
Jirisan National Park, in the south-west of the country, is an ideal place for hiking, with its alternating mountain and rice paddy landscapes. It is also the country's first national park, created in 1967.
Bukhansan National Park is home to exceptional biodiversity, including over 1,300 species of flora and fauna.
Hallasan National Park, on Jeju Island, is unique and exceptional for its geology and subtropical climate. It features volcanic landscapes: craters, lava tunnels and rainforests.
Hallyeohaesang National Maritime Park, located between Yeosu and Geoje, combines sea, land and islands. Famous throughout the country, certain sites attract many visitors: Deungdaeseom rocks, Yeonhwado island, Geoje's Haegeumgang river, Oedo island botanical garden, Mount Mireuksan.
Dadohaehaesang National Park is the country's largest marine park, covering an area of over 2,200 km2.
Namsan National Park, south of Gyeongju, is an open-air museum that tells the story of more than ten centuries of history. Mount Namsan is dotted with temples, Buddhas carved out of the rocks and tumuli tombs covered in greenery, giving the area a unique atmosphere.
The antinomy of green growth or the country's dilemmas
South Korea is heavily dependent on imported energy. It was therefore decided to develop nuclear power in the 1960s, which accounted for over 50% of electricity by the 1980s. The country's economic growth, based on the export of fossil fuels for production, doubled its greenhouse gas emissions between 1990 and 2005. In 2009, South Korea embarked on a strategy of "green growth" as a new development model, which combines decarbonization of the economy with improved quality of life. This national strategy has resulted in the development of renewable energies, a carbon market and the deployment of "green" technologies. Moreover, in response to the trend towards greenwashing, South Korea's Ministry of the Environment has in recent years developed laws to financially penalize companies found to have misled the public about their environmental impacts and ecological claims.
The paradox of this "green growth" is that it has been accompanied by a very sharp rise in greenhouse gas emissions, through an increase in fossil fuel imports over the last fifteen years, despite improvements since 2017. This paradoxical situation is associated with two main factors. One is related to incidents in nuclear power plants, coupled with corruption scandals in the maintenance of these facilities. Faced with pressure from environmental associations and the Fukushima accident in Japan, the government decided to shut down nuclear reactors. This led to intensive use of the country's thermal power plants and increased imports of fossil fuels. On the other hand, South Korea launched a vast industrial recovery program in the wake of the 2008 economic crisis. Precisely, all economic growth is calculated via GDP, itself based on the exploitation of fossil fuels... Growth that is "green" is therefore necessarily an illusion. The country's image as a spearhead in the fight against climate change appears contradictory.
Korea is the world's ninth-largest carbon emitter, with 31% of its electricity coming from coal, of which it is the world's5th-largest importer. Plans to build thermal power plants have been abandoned, and in 2017 the government decided to phase out nuclear power. In 2023, the country set itself a target of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 45.6% by 2030 in constant operations. Will it succeed?
Another dilemma of this "green growth" is the construction of 16 dams, completed in 2011 as part of the "Four Rivers" project, whose ecological damage seems to outweigh the benefits. In 2013, a report by an independent consultancy highlighted increased pollution around these dams, as well as design problems. Other consequences could be attributed to these large-scale developments: fragmentation of natural environments impacting biodiversity, drought in the Chungcheong region, etc., even though the project's objectives included managing water shortages and restoring water quality.
Air Quality
Air quality is a major concern in South Korea, especially in the cities. Seoul is one of the world's most polluted cities. This is mainly due to the country's ageing fleet of diesel-powered cars and its thermal power stations. Fine-particle pollution from abroad, an allegation often put forward, must however be weighed against domestic emissions. Measures are being progressively implemented by the government, such as the introduction of electric buses, the expansion of the metro system and the introduction of car-free days. These initiatives have led to a 19% reduction in emissions between 2005 and 2020, with even more significant reductions in Seoul and the Gyeonggi region. A great improvement, but many challenges remain.
Waste management: "Jongnyangje", a model based on sorting and recovery
The model deployed is called "Jongnyangje". It is based on sorting at source by households, combined with drastic regulations, including fines for non-compliance, video surveillance and... the encouragement of tattling. Anyone reporting a breach of the sorting rules is awarded a bonus of 80% of the value of the fine. The target set for 2016 is an 80% recovery rate for bio-waste (or food waste). After selective collection, it is transformed into fertilizer. This approach is similar to that of the circular economy (waste from one activity becomes the raw material for another). The country is also developing "upcycling" (or recycling from the "top down" by transforming waste into a higher-quality product). For example, a clothing label distributes shoes and clothes made from automotive equipment and parachute canvas. Upcycling is even well established in Seoul, in the Upcycling Plaza. With a waste recovery rate of over 60%, South Korea is one of Asia's leading countries, and one of the best in the world. To optimize the rotations of municipal waste collectors, 200 "smart-bins" have been installed in Goyang. Powered by solar panels, these smart garbage cans compact waste and alert city services when they are full. Clever, but it also has an energy cost, which increases "digital pollution". While recycling is optimized in the country, waste reduction at source seems to be an area for improvement. Indeed, the least polluting waste... is the one we don't produce. The "3R" approach is based on the 3 pillars of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Visitors can see for themselves the omnipresence of plastic, particularly in food packaging. The "green growth" strategy has not only initiated waste recycling, but also encouraged the cleaning-up of rivers and the expansion of green spaces in cities, as well as education and awareness-raising among young people. These measures have been welcomed by associations and civil society.
All the attention paid to this issue has had a significant impact: the average South Korean now throws away around 1.02 kilograms of household waste a day, around a third of the amount produced in 1991. By 2030, South Korea aims to halve its plastic waste and recycle 70% of it.
Citizen initiatives and local environmental initiatives
The first environmental organizations, including the KPRI (Korean Pollution Research Institute), were set up in the 1970s, in protest against the risks posed by the country's industrial development and its choice of nuclear power. The KPRI uncovered the heavy metal contamination of the town of Onsan and its inhabitants. Other environmental initiatives, such as "green villages", have been developed throughout the country. The emblematic example is Ansolgi, in South Gyeongsang province.
South Korea has also implemented "intelligent and ecological" cities, such as Songdo, a new district in the city of Incheon, designed in 2001 to minimize the carbon footprint, with transport accessible in less than 10 minutes on foot and a vast bicycle network, 40% of the surface area dedicated to green spaces, green roofs and solar panels, heating from waste incineration, buildings constructed with at least three quarters recycled materials, seawater filtering and rainwater recovery for watering green spaces. It is estimated that Songdo emits 30% less greenhouse gases than a city of equivalent size.
