North Korea’s leader wants to boost consumption of coal, a key source for power, cooking, heating in the country
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sees coal as a key way to boost the economy, but burning more coal may worsen pollution in a country already choking on some of the world’s most toxic air.
With the country staggering under the weight of international sanctions over its nuclear weapons program and human rights violations, defectors and analysts say Pyongyang has increased the domestic use of coal, which is blocked for export.
Seven coal power plants and one oil-fired plant produce nearly 50 percent of North Korea’s electricity, with the rest coming from hydro power, according to South Korean government data. For households, coal is also a key fuel source for cooking and heating.
But an increased reliance, which Kim announced in his New Year address, may have deadly implications.
Per capita, North Korea’s air pollution mortality rate was the world’s highest at 238.4 deaths per 100,000 population as of 2012, a 2017 report from the World Health Organization (WHO) showed. That was 10 times higher than the rate in South Korea and higher than those of China and India, where smog often envelops major cities.
North Korea has acknowledged the correlation between coal and polluted air, but said it has had limited access to cleaner options.
“A combination of limited capital investment in infrastructure, limited access to efficient and low emission technologies… and reliance on energy produced from coal in low efficiency thermal power plants has impacted air quality in urban and industrial areas,” North Korea’s 2012 report on environment and climate change outlook submitted to United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) said.
