The Raw Materials of Economic Security: South Korea’s Evolving Energy and Critical Minerals Policies in an Era of Disruption

The former concerns “the ability of the energy system to react promptly to sudden changes in the supply-demand balance,” while the latter targets “timely investments to supply energy in line with economic developments and environmental needs.”18 Responses to the early-2000s commodities boom—which followed explosive economic growth in China and other Asian economies—also helped boost security. [...] The IEA estimates mining for clean energy must at least quadruple to a total of more than 28 million tons per annum by 2040 to meet climate goals.26 Extraction is highly concentrated: Australia extracts half the world’s lithium, Indonesia a third of its nickel, China 60 percent of its rare earths, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo 70 percent of its cobalt.27 But the most alarming concentrat. [...] Priorities include the diversification of trade; enhanced stockpiling and energy efficiency; and, most The Raw Materials of Economic Security: South Korea’s Evolving Energy and | 113 Critical Minerals Policies in an Era of Disruption important of all, accelerated diversification and decarbonization of the national energy mix. [...] oil rose from zero to 12 percent of Korean imports in the same period.40 Russian exports to Korea, by contrast, were relatively flat in the decade preceding the war, and satisfied five percent of LNG and six percent of oil imports in 2021. [...] The protection of the essential character of the ‘miracle on the Han River’ remains at the heart of Korea’s economic security pursuits and Yoon’s Indo-Pacific Strategy.