1. ROK Nuclear Energy Plans

At the Nautilus Asia Energy Security workshop held at Tsinghua University from Nov. 5-7, 2006, Jungmin Kang presented a summary of the policies and plans for future nuclear energy development and nuclear spent fuel management in South Korea.

2. DPRK Energy Infrastructure Investment

The Korea Energy Economics Institute (KEEI) has been researching the effects of North Korea's investment in energy infrastructure, which is expected to have a multiplier effect on the country's economy.

3. Securing Japanese Fuel Supplies

OhmyNews International (Hisane Masaki, "Qatar: Japan's White Knight," 12/05/06) reports that Qatar is becoming a vital part of Japan's energy security, as the Persian Gulf state aims to become Tokyo's largest supplier of liquified natural gas by 2010. An article from the Wharton School of Business notes that, as a country highly dependent on oil imports, Japan has to play a delicate balancing act between geopolitics and securing its energy needs.

4. Chinese Rural Electrification

Stanford University's Program on Energy and Sustainable Development published a working paper ("Rural Electrification in China 1950-2004: Historical processes and key driving forces," Working Paper #60) tracing the history of rural electrification in China in three stages. The study concludes, "The process of rural electrification has now neared its end, having become almost fully integrated into the power sector in China."

5. Security Aspects of Climate Change

In an article in the Sydney Morning Herald ("Security ignored in half-baked effort on global warming," 12/11/06), security analyst Andrew Wilkie argues that the broader security implications of global warming, such as conflicts arising from population and economic displacements due to sea level rise, are getting short shrift in the debate over climate change policies.

6. Assessing Nanotechnology Risks

In a presentation at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, fourteen leading scientists discussed the "five grand challenges" to nanotechnology risk research. They argued that, as the pace of commercial development of nanotechnology is increasing, developing solid science on the risks involved is urgent.

7. ROK Cutting Ozone Emissions

Yonhap News reports that South Korea is planning dramatic cuts in the production and use of ozone-depleting substances such as freon next year, in line with the Montreal Protocol.