As the Middle East crisis drags on, the government has launched an all-out response, tightening the weekday driving restriction for private cars known as the five-day rotation. Participation by the private sector will be voluntary for now, but officials are preparing to make it mandatory if oil supply disruptions worsen.
Meanwhile, President Lee Jae-myung ordered officials to study limiting free public transit for seniors during peak commuting hours.
On the 24th, the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment announced it would implement the five-day private car rotation (weekday system). The ministry said the policy will be mandatory for the public sector and recommended on a voluntary basis for private individuals and businesses.
Earlier this month, on the 5th, the government issued a "watch" level alert for oil and natural gas resource security; on the 18th it raised the alert to "caution." The resource security alert system has four levels: watch, caution, warning, and serious.
The government said it would consider making the measures mandatory for the private sector if the alert rises to the "warning" level. The last time authorities expanded mandatory driving restrictions to include the private sector was in 1991, when a 10-day rotation was in effect for roughly two months during the Gulf War.
Climate Minister Kim Seong-hwan said that since the Gulf War there has not been a public car rotation targeting the general population, so a renewed measure would cause significant disruption. He said the president asked officials to consider a phased rollout. The ministry will actively consider staged steps — for example, initially restricting access to public parking lots if the five-day rotation is applied to the private sector.
If the private rotation covers 23.7 million vehicles, the ministry estimates that operating it for a month could save roughly one day's worth of oil.
The ministry also plans to restart five nuclear reactors that are currently under maintenance by May to reduce reliance on liquefied natural gas (LNG), which has surged in price due to the Middle East crisis, and to operate coal-fired power plants flexibly depending on fine-dust conditions.
On the same day, the president again instructed officials to study ways to limit free public transit for seniors during peak commuting hours.
At a Cabinet meeting at the Blue House, when Minister Kim briefed the government on energy-saving measures to respond to the Middle East crisis, the president asked, "Isn't it difficult because public transit becomes so crowded during rush hour?"
He suggested that while it is hard to distinguish commuters who must travel to work, officials should study ways to restrict those traveling for leisure or errands.
He also said that even with incentives to promote public transit, rush-hour conditions remain unbearable, making it difficult to encourage use then. "Study ways to disperse demand," he added, noting that the Ministry of Health and Welfare should be involved as well.
