South Korea was one of the first countries to be hit by the coronavirus infections. Having rapidly contained the health emergency in the immediate period, Seoul arguably mitigated the economic fallouts more successfully than the majority of advanced economies but could not avoid substantial losses. The far-reaching fallout of COVID-19 has been testing the country’s energy transition pathway, as actors involved are facing difficult decisions amid more stringent financial constraints to deliver their ambitious targets, including achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. Amid the combined effects of the pandemic and the global energy prices shocks, addressing the nexus between energy security on the supply side, affordability, and the safety of people’s lives and property, has become even more pressing. Against this backdrop, natural gas has tailored a special role to bridge the low carbon re-alignment of the entire Korean energy system, also in the face of the current and future challenges to Korea’s energy security. But long-drawn hurdles stemming from rather unsuccessful efforts to reform the gas system risk weakening its ability to cope with present uncertainties and heightened volatilities.

中文翻译：

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大门口的混乱：能源转型期间 COVID-19 大流行和能源价格冲击对韩国天然气行业的影响

韩国是最早受到冠状病毒感染的国家之一。首尔在近期迅速控制了突发卫生事件，可以说比大多数发达经济体更成功地减轻了经济影响，但无法避免重大损失。COVID-19 的深远影响一直在测试该国的能源转型路径，因为在更严格的财务限制下，相关参与者正面临艰难的决定，以实现其雄心勃勃的目标，包括到 2050 年实现碳中和。在大流行的综合影响下全球能源价格冲击，解决供应方面的能源安全、可负担性以及人民生命财产安全之间的关系变得更加紧迫。在这样的背景下，面对韩国能源安全当前和未来的挑战，天然气在整个韩国能源系统的低碳调整中发挥了特殊的作用。但是，由于天然气系统改革相当不成功而产生的长期障碍可能会削弱其应对当前不确定性和波动加剧的能力。