ID :
79124
Wed, 09/09/2009 - 14:36
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/79124
The shortlink copeid
Prime minister reiterates bid to fight climate change
SEOUL, Sept. 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-soo on Wednesday called on the country and the international community to step up efforts to fight climate change, saying the world can no longer afford to live a life of "business as usual."
"Climate change is a global issue that affects us all regardless of territorial
boundaries," the prime minister said in a keynote speech at an international
conference, Green Korea 2009, held at a Seoul hotel.
"Hence, like many other global issues of our time, but more particularly so, the
challenges of climate change cannot be resolved by any single country," he added.
The prime minister said powerful hurricanes and typhoons, such as the latest
typhoon in Asia, Morakot, that claimed over 600 lives in Taiwan alone, were clear
reminders of how global warming is permanently changing the climate on an
"unprecedented scale and pace."
Korea is no exception, he said, noting the average temperature on the Korean
Peninsula rose by 1.5 degrees Celsius over the past 100 years, clearly surpassing
the average increase of 0.74 degree in global temperatures over the last 150
years.
The country, however, is moving to combat climate change as it launched a "Green
New Deal" at the beginning of the year to put its national vision of a
low-carbon, green growth policy into action, said the prime minister, who also
heads the presidential council on green growth.
Han said Korea's growth in the past was based on capital and labor made possible
by rapid and extensive development, which resulted in economic development and
quality of life becoming two mutually exclusive goals.
"Under the new paradigm of qualitative growth, however, the most important
factors of production are new ideas, transformational innovations, and
state-of-the-art technology. This enables a mutually beneficial relationship to
develop between growth and environment, allowing us to catch two birds with one
stone," he said.
He noted it will take many years to change the very basic paradigm of growth, but
said it was now clearly time for the world to start trying.
"Now that we are faced with the crisis, we must do our utmost to turn climate
danger into change opportunity, a change for the better, a change for moving into
a new paradigm of green growth," Han said.
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)
"Climate change is a global issue that affects us all regardless of territorial
boundaries," the prime minister said in a keynote speech at an international
conference, Green Korea 2009, held at a Seoul hotel.
"Hence, like many other global issues of our time, but more particularly so, the
challenges of climate change cannot be resolved by any single country," he added.
The prime minister said powerful hurricanes and typhoons, such as the latest
typhoon in Asia, Morakot, that claimed over 600 lives in Taiwan alone, were clear
reminders of how global warming is permanently changing the climate on an
"unprecedented scale and pace."
Korea is no exception, he said, noting the average temperature on the Korean
Peninsula rose by 1.5 degrees Celsius over the past 100 years, clearly surpassing
the average increase of 0.74 degree in global temperatures over the last 150
years.
The country, however, is moving to combat climate change as it launched a "Green
New Deal" at the beginning of the year to put its national vision of a
low-carbon, green growth policy into action, said the prime minister, who also
heads the presidential council on green growth.
Han said Korea's growth in the past was based on capital and labor made possible
by rapid and extensive development, which resulted in economic development and
quality of life becoming two mutually exclusive goals.
"Under the new paradigm of qualitative growth, however, the most important
factors of production are new ideas, transformational innovations, and
state-of-the-art technology. This enables a mutually beneficial relationship to
develop between growth and environment, allowing us to catch two birds with one
stone," he said.
He noted it will take many years to change the very basic paradigm of growth, but
said it was now clearly time for the world to start trying.
"Now that we are faced with the crisis, we must do our utmost to turn climate
danger into change opportunity, a change for the better, a change for moving into
a new paradigm of green growth," Han said.
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)
