South Korea’s Nuclear Power Phase-Out and the Role of Media

Abstract

South Korea is a resource-poor country, which heavily relies on importing energy from outside. Therefore, the South Korean government tried to develop the technologies of producing nuclear power energy, which was succeeded in the 90s. Furthermore, based on the advanced technology of nuclear power, in 2009, the government celebrated winning a contract to build nuclear power plants in the United Arab Emirates. Since then, in South Korea, nuclear power energy was considered a leading economy for the country’s future. However, there were countless social-environmental conflicts related to using nuclear power energy. Furthermore, with the ‘unexpected’ Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011, the nuclear power phase-out debate has initiated in South Korea. As a consequence, nuclear power phase-out was included in the energy transition policy when the newly elected government took presidential office in May 2017. In fact, nuclear phase-out was a presidential pledge during the presidential election. However, this policy of nuclear power phase-out became one of the most intense social-political conflicts of the society, and the mass media played a key role to intensify the conflict.