Korea can manage very well without nuclear power

‘Koreans can live without nuclear power’http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2014/02/181_152350.html
By Ko Dong-hwan

Kim Ik-jung, a microbiology professor at Dongguk University, has expressed concerns that South Korea may face the same kind of fiasco as Japan’s Fukushima meltdown, which took place in March 2011 in the wake of an earthquake and tsunami.
The biggest challenge for Kim is to persuade Korea not to take the same path as Japan. He noted that the Gori nuclear power plant turns 35 this year, while the plants in Fukushima are all aged over 30.

Being a commissioner at the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (www.nssc.go.kr) in Jongno, Seoul, apart from his teaching tenure, Kim has given anti-nuclear seminars to universities, Catholic-affiliated committees and media outlets over 530 occasions in the past three years. He was also invited to Kyoto by Japan’s anti-nuclear committee to give lectures

to doctors and local citizens in 2012.

“Koreans have been brainwashed by false knowledge that nuclear energy is clean, futuristic, cheap and safe,” Kim said in a recent interview with The Korea Times.

He criticized the Korea Nuclear Energy Promotion Agency for pushing to modify school textbooks so they are “nuclear-friendly.”

Kim said the agency is only part of the invincible “nuclear industry conglomerate” represented by the government, education authorities and powerful firms, including Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power and its affiliates like Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction and Samsung C&T Corporation.

Kim argued Koreans can still live without nuclear power by doing a couple of things: controlling electricity demands and expanding sustainable energy output.

“Korea, which is poorer than most European countries, uses more electricity than them, which is nonsensical,” said Kim. He emphasized the nation is the only country with rising domestic electricity demands and sustainable energy output of less than one percent of the whole.

He said nuclear power has offered literally zero influence to the goodness of humanity — it’s invisible, odorless, cancerous and lethal, as well as expensive to manage. Kim wrote a book, “Hanguk Talhaek (Korea Out of Nuclear Energy).” Published in November, it purports to be an anti-nuclear energy textbook for all Korean citizens..

“After all, I’m a university professor teaching microbiology and immunology in Gyeongju,” Kim added. “I do the anti-nuclear campaign when I don’t have classes. Call me an amateur activist.

Moist Japanese people still don’t realize, or ignore, the seriousness of Japan’s “doomsday clock” that started ticking after the accident, Kim claimed.

He forecasts that the Japanese government, endorsing strong ultra-conservatism which puts the world at vigilance, will drive the country to danger as the government and parliament are firmly gearing toward embracing nuclear power.

The professor said he was disappointed over the results of the recent Tokyo governor’s election on Feb. 10 where another ultra-conservative lawmaker, Yoichi Masuzoe, won over nuclear-conscious candidate Morihiro Hosokawa, the former prime minister who promised to ditch nuclear power.

“Eighty percent of Japanese don’t want nuclear power plants and yet they elect nuclear-friendly politicians. Should we feel sorry for them?” Kim said. He also noted Japanese voters aren’t aware of the truth thanks to the nation’s unilateral journalism and insidious politics.