Labour as Green Energy Partners: Presentation to Seoul National University
In August 2026, GES team member Christopher Khatouki delivered a presentation to the Seoul National University Annual Conference on Korea Studies. Chris participated in the Political Economy panel with Professor Nahee Kang, King’s College London, and Professor Timo Fleckenstein, London School of Economics.
Chris presented his ongoing research on the role of organised labour in South Korea’s green energy transition. He argued that, despite ambitious greening strategies, the Korean government has so far struggled to incorporate or institutionalise the voice of working-class interests. Instead, it has circulated between treating it either as an obstacle to be overcome or as a limited and distant interlocutor. He concluded by stating that a successful and comprehensive form of Green Energy Statecraft will require new institutional and state capacities to incorporate labour groups as genuine policy partners.
