As Iran war creates energy shortages, South Korea looks to Northern routes

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz in the Middle East has hit South Korea particularly hard. The Asian country imports the vast majority of its crude oil through the chokepoint, so it’s more vulnerable than most.

It was against this backdrop that the Korean Maritime Institute hosted a panel on Arctic shipping at this week’s Arctic Encounter Summit in Anchorage.

While the current shock to energy logistics makes the topic particularly timely, South Korea’s interests in the Arctic Ocean routes extend beyond the current crisis.

“Korea is not looking at Arctic shipping simply as a transport route,” Umji Kim, director of the Polar Strategy Research Division at the Korean Maritime Institute, said during the discussion. The country also regards it as “a strategic nexus that can be connected to domestic industry and the broader Maritime Capital Region Strategy,” she said.

This strategy aims to develop a maritime economic hub centered on the port cities of Busan and Ulsan, and South Gyeongsang Province.

In the coming decades, South Korea intends to take advantage of the Arctic shortcut known as the Northern Sea Route to export goods to Europe, one of its biggest markets. Shipbuilding and logistics technology are also important industries in South Korea, and growth in Arctic ship traffic could fuel an economic boon for revitalizing these industries. That, in turn, could generate jobs in South Korean ports that have been experiencing a loss of investment and outmigration.

South Korea’s active interest in the Arctic dates back to at least 1993 with the launch of a formal Arctic survey and research initiative. The country first experimented with using the Northern Sea Route that runs along Russia’s northern coastline in 2013, and joined the Arctic Council the same year.

In 2017, a South Korean shipping company became the first business headquartered in a non-Arctic state to join the Arctic Economic Council. The Polar Activities Promotion Act, enacted in 2021, requires a government plan that maps out Arctic activities. South Korea’s 2026 budget sets aside more than $400 million for Arctic shipping-related projects.

The panel acknowledged that Arctic shipping routes won’t emerge overnight. Unpredictable weather, sea ice, and seasonality will continue to challenge mariners. To produce more accurate forecasts, they need fixed and mobile infrastructure, sensors and predictive models — all of which are high up on South Korea’s Arctic research agenda.

Abbie Tingstad is a visiting professor of Arctic research at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.