Reframing Growth

Elite Paradigms and Korea’s Green Pivot

Bibliographic Data

ID8130461
AuthorsSun Ryung Park (University of British Columbia, corresponding author)
Year2026
Volume99
Issue1
Pages1-20
Publication date2026-02-20
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePacific Affairs (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0030-851X • E-ISSN: 1715-3379
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0030851x.2026.2629091
OpenAlexW7133857719
LanguageEN
References cited24

South Korea’s energy transition accelerated in 2020–2021 despite entrenched dependence on fossil fuels and nuclear power. This article argues that Korea’s green shift was not an inevitable response to structural constraints or international pressures, but the outcome of an elite-driven paradigm shift that reframed climate policy as a strategy for industrial competitiveness. External developments—including the Paris Agreement, regional peer competition, and diplomatic pressures—alongside domestic concerns over air pollution and nuclear safety, created openings for reinterpretation. Political entrepreneurship then actively channelled these shocks into a paradigmatic reframing and embedded this reorientation within the state through the Green New Deal, the 2021 Framework Act on Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth, and enhanced 2030 Nationally Determined Contributions. Although the transition was later contested under President Yoon Suk-yeol through renewed emphasis on nuclear energy and adjustments to renewable targets, key elements of the green-growth nexus persisted due to legal codification and international commitments. Comparative references to Japan and Taiwan highlight how differences in elite authority shape the timing and durability of green transitions.

Cognitive reframing · Elite · Power (physics · Asian Industrial and Economic Development · Sustainability and Climate Change Governance · World Systems and Global Transformations

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