South Korea

From New Delhi to Bangkok to Seoul, Asia is facing the world’s most serious air pollution catastrophe.  Experts say this poor air quality becomes fatal with the onset of heat waves and drought from climate change, but citizens are coming up with their own solutions to tackle the dirty air.

Technology is gendered. It may be treated as neutral, but its application and support through government policy impact gendered identities, needs and priorities. South Korea’s pandemic response and post-pandemic strategy have inadvertently reversed the nation’s progress in promoting gender equality. This article reviews two gendered experiences of the digital transformation precipitated by Covid-19. It points out the absence of gender inclusion in the national policy advocating digital transformation, and the resulting marginalisation of women. 

In July 2020, South Korea announced its New Deal, which aimed to propel the country into a green economy. But work is still needed to solidify policies towards a carbon neutral society.

Efforts to follow social distancing and mask-wearing rules have been crucial to South Korea’s success in containing the Covid-19 pandemic, but experts worry that other measures—such as sharing data from confirmed cases—have stigmatised and harmed marginalised communities. 

The creation of “green jobs” has been a key focus of South Korea’s current Green New Deal policy. However, the government has made little progress in accomplishing its stated goals and ambitions, including offering decent compensation to young workers and career seekers. This article explores why this is the case. 

Both Japan and South Korea have announced that they would become carbon neutral by 2050. However, neither country has a clear roadmap or specific policies to attain this target. And, in fact, both governments are pursuing policies that are inconsistent with their pledges. 

How is the city you live in changing? And what does the city of your dreams look like? Recently, cities are undergoing drastic changes on two axes: smart cities and green cities. The new city of Songdo in South Korea offers insights into what is truly needed in the transformation of an Asian city.

South Korea has put forth a “Green New Deal”, whose ambiguous targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and failure to propose a just transition to clean energy make the program unworthy of its name.

In Singapore and South Korea, fact-checking initiatives have been effective in fighting Covid-19 disinformation. But other tactics – like confusing or overly broad laws – could be used to maintain political power.