Political polarization and the energy policy paradox: assessing the impact of South Korea’s nuclear power phase-out policy

2024/10/04 by Ryeon-Woo Kim, C.J. Kim, Minkyu Kim +2 · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Korean Peninsula Historical and Political Studies #Risk Perception and Management #Computational and Text Analysis Methods

paper · doi:10.1080/09644016.2024.2411933

openalex publication_date 2024/10/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/14

Abstract

Polarization surrounding nuclear power has intensified in Korea following the 2011 Fukushima disaster. In 2017, President Moon Jae-in implemented an energy policy that shifted the focus from nuclear to renewable energy, a departure from previous governments’ approaches. Additionally, Moon administration supported various participatory governance initiatives to minimize social conflicts, including participatory deliberative polls concerning the construction of the Shin-Kori nuclear power plants. However, the Moon administration’s policy was followed by polarization between nuclear and renewable energy factions escalating toward the end of the term. We employed mixed-method approaches combining media and survey analyses to investigate this issue. The results demonstrate that, despite initially appearing to be policy neutral, renewable energy alternatives underwent polarization under the Moon administration. We emphasize the need to investigate effective strategies for utilizing participatory projects as tools to break, rather than reinforce, the political gridlock impeding energy transition.

Citations

• Have American's Social Attitudes Become More Polarized?
• Polarization and Partisan Selective Exposure
• The Politicization of Climate Change and Polarization in the American Public's Views of Global Warming, 2001–2010
• Containing the Atom: Sociotechnical Imaginaries and Nuclear Power in the United States and South Korea
• A Widening Gap: Republican and Democratic Views on Climate Change
• Reconstructing the public in old and new governance: A Korean case of nuclear energy policy
• Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Discussions

• New article! Political polarization and the energy policy paradox: assessing the impact of South Korea’s nuclear power phase-out policy, by Ryeon-Woo Kim et al. doi.org/10.1080/0964... [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]