Korea South Environment - 2021

Environment - current issues

air pollution in large cities; acid rain; water pollution from the discharge of sewage and industrial effluents; drift net fishing; solid waste disposal; transboundary pollution

Environment - international agreements

party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protection, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Marine Dumping-London Protocol, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands, Whaling

signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 24.57 micrograms per cubic meter (2016 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 620.3 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 30.28 megatons (2020 est.)

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 6.672 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

industrial: 4.45 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

agricultural: 15.96 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

Total renewable water resources

69.7 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

Climate

temperate, with rainfall heavier in summer than winter; cold winters

Land use

agricultural land: 18.1% (2018 est.)

arable land: 15.3% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 2.2% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 0.6% (2018 est.)

forest: 63.9% (2018 est.)

other: 18% (2018 est.)

Revenue from forest resources

forest revenues: 0.01% of GDP (2018 est.)

Revenue from coal

coal revenues: 0% of GDP (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 81.4% of total population (2021)

rate of urbanization: 0.31% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Major infectious diseases

respiratory diseases: Covid-19 (see note) (2020)

note: a novel coronavirus is causing an outbreak of respiratory illness (COVID-19) in South Korea; as of 19 July 2021, South Korea has reported a total of 180,481 cases of COVID-19 or 352.03 cumulative cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 population with 4.02 cumulative deaths per 100,000 population; as of 19 July 2021, 31.78% of the population has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 18,218,975 tons (2014 est.)

municipal solid waste recycled annually: 10,567,006 tons (2014 est.)

percent of municipal solid waste recycled: 58% (2014 est.)