More than 20,000 South Koreans hold a rally in Seoul due to dissatisfaction with the government's climate crisis policies

Recently, more than 20,000 South Koreans held a large-scale rally in the Gangnam area of Seoul to express their dissatisfaction with the government's climate crisis policies.

This summer, South Korea has encountered unprecedented high temperatures. The number of "tropical nights" has set a new historical record, which has brought many inconveniences to people's lives and dealt a heavy blow to agriculture. For example, the cabbage planting area in alpine regions has sharply decreased, and the price of kimchi raw materials has soared. It is even predicted that by 2090, cabbages will be completely unable to be planted in alpine regions, and the kimchi industry is facing a crisis.

Although the South Korean government had previously set emission reduction targets, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 40% of the 2018 level by 2030, and promised to increase investment in renewable energy, it has faced many obstacles in actual implementation. Some environmentalists point out that the government is slow in taking action on climate change issues, lacks substantive measures, overly relies on traditional fossil fuels, and invests insufficiently in renewable energy, making it difficult to achieve emission reduction targets.

South Korea's Constitutional Court made a landmark ruling on August 29, determining that the government's measures in dealing with climate change are insufficient and violate citizens' basic rights. This ruling has further aroused public dissatisfaction. They demand that the government take immediate action to deal with the climate crisis, urge the government to turn to renewable energy, and suspend development projects that damage the ecosystem.

This rally has attracted widespread attention from all sectors of society and also put the South Korean government under great pressure. South Korean President Moon Jae-in said he will take the Constitutional Court's ruling seriously and promised to take more active measures to deal with climate change. Whether South Korea can overcome the limitations of its own development model, actively explore a low-carbon development path, and play its due role in dealing with the global climate crisis has become the focus of attention. We will continue to follow up and report on the follow-up development.