S. Korean president heads to Copenhagen for U.N. climate summit

By Byun Duk-kun
SEOUL, Dec. 17 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak was due to arrive
in Copenhagen later Thursday for the U.N. conference on climate change where he
will deliver a keynote speech, urging immediate global action and the
establishment of a global partnership for new green technologies.
The South Korean leader will attend a climate summit Friday that will also
involve the leaders of over 100 advanced and developing countries, including the
United States, China and Russia.
Lee's attendance in the two-week conference that began last Monday comes as the
United Nations is struggling to hammer out a new international convention on
climate change to replace the Kyoto Protocol that will expire in 2012. The
protocol was designed to cut the world's greenhouse gas emissions, which have
been cited as the main reason for global warming.
One of the remaining hurdles to striking such a deal is the large gap between
advanced nations, represented by the United States, and developing economies,
such as China and India, on how much the latter group of countries must
contribute to joint efforts to tackle climate change. Developing countries assert
that global warming was mostly caused by the long industrial history of already
developed nations.
Lee was expected to stress the need to put aside such differences and start
taking action, according to the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.
"President Lee will stress the need to change our approach from 'you first' to
'me first' when dealing with the issue of climate change," it said in a press
release.
The South Korean president will also call for the establishment of an
international research institute to jointly develop new technologies to fight
global warming.
He will also announce Korea's official bid to host the U.N. climate conference in
2012, it said.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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