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South Korea ENERGY
Unavailable
Figure 9. Selected Industrial and Mining Activity, 1988
Source: Based on information from K.P. Wang et al., Mineral
Industries of the Far East and South Asia, Washington, 1988, 74-
75.
The Korean Peninsula is only modestly endowed with natural
resources, and North Korea has far more natural resources than
South Korea. During the Japanese colonial period (1910-45), the
north served as the center for mining and industry whereas the
south, with somewhat greater rainfall, a warmer climate, and
slightly greater arable terrain, served as the center for rice
production.
(see Physical Environment
, ch. 2).
South Korea's mineral production is not adequate to supply
its manufacturing output. Energy needs are also met by importing
bituminous and anthracite coal and crude petroleum. In 1987
approximately 23.4 million tons of anthracite coal, approximately
4,000 tons of tungsten, 565,000 tons of iron ore, and 47,000 tons
of zinc ore were mined. Lesser amounts of copper, lead,
molybdenum, gold, silver, kaolin, and fluorite also were mined
(see
fig. 9).
Energy producers were dominated by government enterprises,
although privately operated coal mines and oil refineries also
existed. In 1990 South Korea still had no proven oil reserves.
Offshore oil possibilities in the Yellow Sea and on the
continental shelf between Korea and Japan yielded nothing through
the 1980s, but exploration continued. South Korea's coal supply
was both insufficient and of low quality. The potential for
hydroelectric power was very limited because of tremendous
seasonal variations in the weather and the concentration of most
of the rainfall in the summer months. Accordingly, Seoul placed
an increasingly heavy emphasis on developing nuclear power
generation.
Electric power in South Korea was provided by the Korea
Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO). When KEPCO's predecessor,
KECO, was founded in 1961, annual power production was 1,770
million kilowatt-hours (kwhr); production reached 73,992 million
kwhr in 1987. The ratio of usage during 1987 was 17.9 percent for
residential customers, 16.2 percent for public and service
businesses, and 65.9 percent for the industrial sector. Energy
used in electric power generation consisted primarily of nuclear,
coal, oil, and liquified natural gas (LNG). Of the 54,885 million
kwhr of electricity generated in 1985, 22 percent came from
nuclear plants then in operation, 74 percent from thermal plants
(oil and coal), and 4 percent from hydroelectric sites. It was
predicted in 1988 that the generation structure by the year 2000
would be 10.2 percent hydroelectric, 12.2 percent oil, 22.9
percent coal, 10.2 percent LNG, and 44.5 percent nuclear.
South Korea placed a heavy emphasis on nuclear power
generation. The country's first nuclear power plant, the Kori
Number One located near Pusan, opened in 1977. Eight plants were
operational in 1987 when atomic power generation was an estimated
71,158 million kilowatts, or 53.1 percent of total electric
power.
South Korea's first antinuclear protests occurred in December
1988 when residents near the Kori complex demonstrated against
low-level waste that had been secretly buried just outside the
plant. In 1989 residents near other nuclear reactors protested
the environmental damage they said was caused by the units.
Sixteen antinuclear groups joined together to form the Movement
for the Eradication of Nuclear Power Plants. The government,
however, asserted that the South Korean nuclear program was well
run and that none of the 193 antinuclear protests reported since
1977 was serious.
Data as of June 1990
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