An assessment of the role of coal in the long-term energy plan for Korea

Abstract

During the last two decades, Korean industry has been developed very quickly. Energy consumption also has been increased very rapidly by the growth of industry. These energy requirements should be imported from other countries because Korea has few energy sources. Korean energy consumption depends highly on oil, even though oil has less security of supply and a higher price than other energy sources due to the limitation of oil reserves and the oil cartel. The Korean government wishes to import energy sources with more security of supply and a lower price. Evaluation of this impact in the long term is approached by studying five issues. These are: (1) Description of energy consumption sectors in Korea; (2) Description of energy resources/production in Korea; (3) Description of energy resource imports in Korea; (4) Description of longterm energy requirements in Korea; and (5) Conclusions and recommendations.