Special Leadership Lecture by MKE Minister Lee Yoon-ho Lee Yoon-ho, the Minister of MKE (the Ministry of Knowledge and Economy), who is also a Yonsei alumni, delivered a special leadership lecture at the auditorium in Baekyang Hall on April 7. The Minister said, “Regarding the current situation with greenhouse gas problems, green growth is not an option but a way for survival, and it is also a chance rather than a crisis for Korea, a country that has no natural resources.” During his one-hour lecture, he requested students to keep a positive view on future. “Green growth is a big issue,” he warned. “If the average temperature of the Earth goes up 5 degrees, most of the port cities on the planet will vanish.” In case of Korea, we will lose a land equivalent in size of 300 Youido islands, if the average temperature goes up just 2 degrees. In fact, the average temperature of Korea has risen 1.5 degrees for the last 100 years, and the sea level of Jeju Island has risen by 22 centimeters. Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty to prevent a global climate disaster. According to the treaty, the developed countries have to reduce the CO2 emission in 2012 by 5.2 % of the total CO2 emission in 1990. However, Korea’s greenhouse gas emission has increased twice from 1990 to 1998. Regarding this situation, there was a conference in Bali in December 2007 to discuss a revised plan to cover the immediate future up to 2050. Another conference is also scheduled to be held in Copenhagen in December this year to discuss a new international treaty. It will be hard for Korea to be exempt from the obligation of reducing greenhouse gas this time. Reducing greenhouse gas, therefore, is a very important goal for us at the moment. It has now become a national as well as an international objective. It is rare for a country to adopt a ‘green growth’ as a national development policy like Korea. Other countries, however, are putting efforts on developing green technologies. The Minister said, “We also started a ‘Green Race.’ “It is very important to take the lead in developing green technologies by selection and concentration,” Minister Lee went on. Especially, Korea has almost no energy resources, yet the country ranks at 10th place in CO2 emission worldwide. In foreign trade and GDP, the country ranks at 12th place worldwide. Korea is a consumption-oriented country. “Developing a new clean energy is a great chance for us,” he said. MKE is now planning various projects such as Eco-town development and shifting to LED from the traditional lightings. He also appreciated his ties to his old college: “I must be a very lucky person since I have a chance to share thoughts with students of my alma mater. What is your view of yourself and the world? The view is the background of your actions. To put it in a nutshell, whether you are optimistic or pessimistic really matters.” “Hoping for a good outcome while having a pessimistic view is same as wanting one’s car to go forward while putting the reverse gear.” The Minister quoted this saying to bring home his point. He also requested the Yonsei students to be always active and optimistic, introducing a phrase from a TIME magazine article that optimists are “not those who believe everything happens for the best, but those who make the best of things that happen.”