Undergraduate students from Skian, an academic society of the Department of Economics at Chung-Ang University—Sunbin Kim, Mingyu Kim, and Seohyun Lee—won the Excellence Award at the 4th Korean Peninsula–Northern Region Paper Competition, hosted by the HK+ National Strategy Project Group of the Center for International Area Studies at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.
The competition was organized to encourage academic exploration of political, economic, and diplomatic issues surrounding the Northern region and to reflect the perspectives of undergraduate students and young researchers.
The Skian team conducted research on energy cooperation between South Korea and Russia in the post–Russia–Ukraine war era. The study focused on changes in Russia’s external strategy amid the prolonged conflict. As Russia seeks to move away from its traditional Europe-centered natural gas export structure and pursue a “pivot to Asia” through the development of the Northern Sea Route and the Far Eastern and Arctic regions, the team argued that South Korea could explore new opportunities for energy cooperation.
In their presentation, the team highlighted South Korea’s high dependence on natural gas, noting that as of 2023, approximately 30% of electricity generation and 45% of city gas consumption were based on natural gas. They emphasized that with over 40% of imports relying on the Middle East, rising tensions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz pose a significant threat to South Korea’s energy security. Accordingly, the study proposed that cooperation with Russia—particularly in LNG development projects in the Far Eastern and Arctic regions—could serve as an important alternative to strengthen South Korea’s energy security and diversify its import sources.
The award was highly regarded for successfully linking international geopolitical developments with South Korea’s energy security challenges through rigorous academic analysis and for deriving concrete policy implications.