SOUTH KOREA PERSPECTIVE

Seoul watches the meter tick. The price of fuel in the capital has crossed the symbolic 2,000 won per liter threshold, a psychological milestone not reached since the 2022 crisis following Ukraine's invasion. The increase is directly tied to Iranian tensions compressing global supply. For the 25 million residents of the Seoul metropolitan area, this translates into daily trade-offs: drive or take the metro, deliver or cancel, heat or conserve. The South Korean press frames this crisis with a mix of industrial pragmatism and existential anxiety — South Korea imports nearly all its energy and has no credible alternative supplier in the short term. An article in the Korea Times highlights an unexpected secondary effect: in Pakistan, surging prices push consumers toward electric motorcycles, creating a substitution market where Korean battery manufacturers could seize an opportunity. Seoul reads the energy crisis through a dual lens: the immediate suffering of the consumer and the medium-term industrial opportunity. Battery and solar chaebols see the $150 barrel as the best marketing campaign ever devised for the energy transition — but Gangnam taxi drivers count every won.