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On November 30th, 2015, high-ranking officials from most countries on Earth will convene for two weeks at the so-called “COP21” summit in Paris. The objective of this international conference is to reach a strong agreement, which many parties hope will be legally binding, to curb greenhouse gas emissions and keep global warming below 2° Celsius.

To learn more about South Korea’s efforts and interests with regards to the COP21 negotiations, we had the pleasure of interviewing Chung Suh-Yong, who is a professor at Korea University and one of the leading experts on the political and economic aspects of climate change in South Korea.

Professor Chung was a Member of the Presidential Committee for Green Growth, the Honorary Committee to Host the Green Climate Fund in the Republic of Korea and the Council of the Global Green Growth Institute. He sat on the Policy Advisory Board of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is currently the Director of the Seoul Center for Climate Sustainable Development Law and Policy. He also chairs the Committee on International Cooperation at the Seoul Climate Change Center.

Professor Chung holds degrees in law and international relations from Seoul National University and the London School of Economics. He received his PhD from the Stanford School of Law.

There are several weaknesses [in terms of climate change readiness], but once again I would like to emphasize that most of the weaknesses are not Korea-specific, they exist everywhere. Rather, Korea needs to take it as […] a chance to take further leadership role by creating very good best practices. And then showing that we can actually overcome all these weaknesses […] I’m sure that Korea can do it.

The interview was recorded on November 10th in Seoul.