[K-Women Talk] What the Scorching Chuseok Has Left Us

Extreme Heat Alters Holiday Traditions
Climate Lawsuit Filed by Children and Adolescents
A Warning Urging Action from the Older Generation

Kim Kyung-sun, former Vice Minister of Gender Equality and Family

The long tunnel of summer has passed. With the weather cooling down in the mornings and evenings, there is a sense of relief that the scorching, endless summer has finally come to an end. It felt real when UN Secretary-General Guterres insisted that we should now say “global boiling” instead of “global warming.” The concern about the boiling Earth became most serious while experiencing the truly hot Chuseok holiday.

On Chuseok day, the highest temperature reached 33 degrees Celsius, and on the last day of the holiday, it rose to 34 degrees Celsius, making me wonder if we can still call Chuseok (秋夕) by its traditional name in the future. Of course, this year’s early Chuseok played a part, but the unusually hot and long summer extending into Chuseok, and the anxiety that this phenomenon might not be limited to this year but could worsen, had a greater impact. The heated Earth is even changing the Chuseok ancestral rites table and dining table.

In Korea’s East Sea, the pollock, a cold-water species, was once the most commonly caught fish. Records show that in 1943, pollock catches amounted to 210,000 tons, accounting for 28% of the total catch, but by around 2008, the catch had dropped to “0,” causing it to disappear. Instead, squid, a warm-water species, became the representative catch, but recently even squid catches have decreased due to rising water temperatures, while yellowtail catches have surged. The sharp rise in apple prices at one point was also influenced by the northward shift of apple cultivation areas, reducing the cultivation area, showing that the effects of climate change are spreading in all directions.

The sense of crisis about the heating Earth is inevitably more sensitive among the younger generation than the older generation. Recently, the Constitutional Court ruled on a constitutional complaint filed by children and adolescents regarding the Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth Basic Act. The court found that Article 8, Paragraph 1 of the law presented at least a minimum greenhouse gas reduction target for 2030 but did not provide any form of reduction targets for 2031 to 2049, violating the principle of prohibition of underprotection of environmental rights. This decision is significant as it is the first climate lawsuit ruling in Asia. It can be interpreted as a strong warning from Korea’s youth generation urging the older generation to take action.

So, what should be done now? Responses to climate change must be multidimensional. First, efforts in the international community are most important, and domestically, responses at the central and local government levels, the role of civic groups, educational institutions, as well as families and individuals, are all necessary.

Efforts through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the most important mechanism for international climate change response, have already been concretized through the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. The industrial sector and others must actively respond to national-level efforts to implement these agreements. At the family and individual levels, various participations such as waste separation, using tumblers, and saving energy are taking place.

However, what was disappointing during this hot Chuseok was that political efforts for climate response did not seem very prominent. The deadline for follow-up measures after the constitutional nonconformity decision is February 2026. To set new long-term greenhouse gas reduction targets through 2050, a prompt framework for consultation must be established. We should not be trapped in political disputes between parties but urgently prepare solutions and alternatives from the perspective of future generations?children and adolescents?who are experiencing the climate change problem that breaks records every year. After going through the hot Chuseok, I reflected on what I should do out of the urgency to ‘do something.’ First, I will start by carrying a tumbler with me.

Kim Kyung-sun, Former Vice Minister of Gender Equality and Family