The International Energy Agency's 2002 comprehensive review of Korea's energy policies and programmes.  This report comes at a time when Korea has become the 26th Member of the IEA and when the country’s energy policies are being substantially reformed, to mobilise investments and increase efficiency.

The report brings information on all energy sectors (oil, gas, coal, nuclear, electricity, renewables) showing what role different energy sources could play in the context of a heavily dependency on external sources of energy.

The report analyses the effect of efficiency measures to reduce the energy intensity of the Korean economy, still one of the highest of the IEA countries. 

A special attention is paid to the assessment of the energy policy reforms currently unfolding in Korea, in particular in the electricity and in the gas sectors. The report analyses in details the electricity reforms, the gradual emergence of an electricity market in Korea and their implications. KEPCO has now been restructured and its partial privatisation is a matter of time. The report shows how the government’s ambitious plans still require a number of measures for the market to achieve a satisfactory outcome, the role of nuclear remaining a source of uncertainty for future competition in the generation industry. Though less advanced, the reforms in the gas sector are progressing well. The report shows the main challenges which the government will need to resolve for the market to deliver its promises.