Korea, Energy Island

Wired to no one

South Korea sits between China and Japan, with one land border and nothing crossing it. No pipeline reaches the country and no power line leaves it: in every year since 2000, Ember records the electricity it traded with its neighbours as zero. So the 628 TWh it generated in 2025, and nearly every fuel behind that, had to be found at home or landed at a port. For an economy of chip fabs, steel mills and shipyards, that makes energy a question of security before it is a question of price.

• 11th Basic Plan for Electricity Supply and Demand (제11차 전력수급기본계획) — final ↗ — Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE), Republic of Korea, Press release with annex, 2025-02-21
  Press release p.6 · 전원별 발전량 및 비중 전망 · '30년 · 합계 · Press release p.6 · 전원별 발전량 및 비중 전망 · '38년 · 합계
• Ember — Yearly Electricity Data ↗ — Ember, 2026-11-11 CC BY 4.0
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