<With Teacher Issue PICK> Cold Arctic, heated competition for supremacy
2024-08-31 12:41:04
As glaciers shrink and the 'Northern Sea Route' gradually opens due to global warming, numerous countries, including Russia and the United States, are competing over sovereignty over the polar region, resource development, and sea route development.
The speaker continued his lecture by saying that, unlike Antarctica, where the Antarctic Treaty does not recognize the sovereignty of a specific country, each country can develop and use resources in the Arctic, so conflicts related to sovereignty or resource development and use may continue to arise. .
Professor Kim said, “There are growing concerns about the Arctic environment as the amount of Arctic ice decreases significantly every year due to global warming, but paradoxically, as the ice decreases, a new route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the Arctic Ocean has opened.” The lecture continued.
In comparison, other countries are risking their lives to develop Arctic resources and are investing heavily in icebreakers. Among them, Russia, which owns as many as 41 icebreakers, is said to be planning to build more.
Russia has conducted large-scale maritime exercises in the Arctic in 2022, and has continued to increase military tensions, such as the appearance of Russian and Chinese bombers in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).
Professor Kim explained that as the UN began to impose economic sanctions on Russia due to the war in Ukraine, they are trying to use the development of Arctic sea routes and resources as a breakthrough.
Accordingly, the United States began to keep Russia in check by upgrading the existing Arctic Policy Committee coordinator position to 'Arctic Region Special Envoy' in 2022 and announced a 10-year Arctic strategy.
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