[2025 Audit] Minister Kim Seonghwan: "Actively Pursuing Renewable Energy Hub in Northern Gyeonggi"

Revealed During the National Assembly Audit of the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment

Yonhap News Agency

On October 14, Minister of Climate, Energy and Environment Kim Seonghwan stated during the National Assembly audit by the Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee that he would "actively pursue" the proposal by Park Jeong, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker representing Paju City (Eul District), to foster the northern Gyeonggi region as a renewable energy hub.

During the audit, Assemblyman Park pointed out, "Given the limited land area of our country, it is realistically difficult to find large-scale sites for new and renewable energy," and proposed, "We can convert the restricted protection zones in the northern border area of Gyeonggi (approximately 1,646 square kilometers south of the Civilian Control Line) and additional undeveloped land that becomes available if the Civilian Control Line is moved northward, into sites for renewable energy."

Recently, the government set a target to increase renewable energy generation to 270 terawatt-hours (TWh) by 2035, converting 37% of total power generation to renewables. Assemblyman Park argued, "To achieve this, we must expand current facilities from 34 gigawatts to at least 130 to 200 gigawatts, and secure land more than three times the size of Seoul (1,700 square kilometers)."

Minister Kim also expressed agreement with the proposal to build an "energy expressway" in northern Gyeonggi, which would transmit renewable energy produced in the region to the Yongin semiconductor cluster.

Assemblyman Park explained, "The existing energy expressway project, which transmits electricity from the southern region to the Seoul metropolitan area, requires hundreds of kilometers of transmission lines, resulting in enormous costs and time. In contrast, the northern Gyeonggi region only requires about 30 kilometers from Paju to Seoul, and about 80 kilometers from Goyang to Yongin, which would dramatically reduce both costs and construction time."

He emphasized, "Building an energy expressway in northern Gyeonggi is the only solution that can simultaneously address the Seoul metropolitan area's power risk and the government's renewable energy targets." In response, Minister Kim said, "Renewable energy should be sourced locally, and it is appropriate for the Seoul metropolitan area to meet its power needs within the region."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.