Lee Hoe-sung, a Korea University professor has been elected new chair the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN body tasked with assessing climate science. Prof. Lee is a brother of former South Korean Prime Minister Lee Hoi-chang.
There were five other nominees in the one-country, one-vote election. In a final run-off ballot, held in Croatia, Prof. Lee defeated closest rival Jean-Pascal van Ypersele from Belgium 78 votes to 56.
The ICC was created in 1988. It was set up by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) to respond to climate change and its impacts. With 195 nations as it members, the Nobel-winning IPCC has been taking scientific approaches toward climate change.
The IPCC’s assessment reports, compiled by fleets of international experts from around the world, are seen as the gold standard of climate science. They are meant to provide the evidence to guide governments in finding answers to climate change and are used as evidentiary materials during inter-government negotiations.
Prof. Lee, the long-serving vice-chair of the climate panel, has been committed to the IPCC since the Second Assessment 1992. The IPCC completed its Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) in November 2014.
He is currently a professor at Korea University Graduate School of Energy Environment Policy and Technology. He also serves as a council member of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), board member of Asian Development Bank President’s Advisory Board and executive board member of the Korean Academy of Environmental Sciences.
In 1988 when then presidential candidate Lee Hoi-chang’s illegal political fund scandal erupted, Prof. Lee was questioned by prosecutors. The New Korea Party (currently the Saenuri Party) was accused of illegally raising political funds with the help of the National Tax Service in the run-up to the 1997 presidential election.
Samsung allegedly made cash deliveries totaling 6 billion won to Prof. Lee on four separate occasions. The prosecution, however, decided not to indict Prof. Lee and Samsung, saying it had happened before the Political Fund Act was revised. Considerable controversy arose as Samsung got off the hook easily.
