hankyoreh

By Kim Jeong-su, environment reporter

As fears surrounding the safety of nuclear power plants have been on the rise due to a corruption scandal as well as a string of breakdowns, more than 1,000 professors from about 100 universities nationwide declared their intentions to engage actively in movements to lead Korea away from nuclear power. The group of professors who are spearheading the denuclearization campaign labeled this the “First Declaration” and decided to expand a signature campaign among professors and intellectuals, spurring curiosities as to whether a declaration will be made public.

The pro-denuclearization professor group gathered at a ceremony to commemorate the one anniversary of its establishment on Nov. 11 at the Seoul Environment Foundation’s Rachel Carson Hall. The group said, “While European countries have been closing existing nuclear plants and stopping the construction of new plants, in South Korea, Powerful interest groups in the fields of politics, economics, media, and academia are insisting on extending the operations of aged nuclear reactors, including the Kori Reactor #1 and Wolseong Reactor #1. With their frequent breakdowns, those reactors are ticking time bombs.”

The group also warned “If we don’t stop the exploitation and destruction of the environment, blindly chasing after present comforts and greed, we will be stepping onto the path to ruin.” The declaration was endorsed by 1,052 professors from 107 universities (103 domestic and four foreign universities).

The declaration stated, “We must start removing the destructive danger posed by nuclear power and ensure that we and our descendents can lead a sustainable life in coexistence with nature. With the recognition that nuclear power damages human dignity and rights of future generations, we will aggressively engage in academic and political measures to ensure denuclearization and the conversion to renewable energy, and the dissolution of the ‘nuclear mafia’.”

On the academic and political measures, executive committee co-chairperson Yoon Soon-jin said, “First, we will get three or four forums running with help from expert professors to develop alternative energy plans that lead to denuclearization, strengthen solidarity with experts from countries that have official denuclearization at the national level such as Germany, and launch campaigns to raise the public awareness of the seriousness of the nuclear issue.”

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