South Korea’s transition bottlenecks keep LNG in play

The country’s new government has grand plans for renewables, but the structural changes needed for these policies will take years to carry out

Newly elected South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has promised to cut the country’s reliance on LNG while phasing out coal and rapidly scaling renewable power. However, the country’s power system was not designed to adapt quickly, and the structural changes needed to support this vision are likely years away from materialising. Electricity demand is forecast to climb steadily amid continued investment in the semiconductor, AI and datacentre sectors. With nuclear output already near its limits, renewables constrained by transmission bottlenecks and regulatory misalignment, and a lack of cross-border interconnectors, South Korea’s dependence on LNG is likely to expand in the coming years. Lee