South Korea may be facing power outages

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SEOUL, July 27 (UPI) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak Friday called for a greater effort to save energy as South Korea faces power outages if unnecessary usage isn't cut.

Lee's comments came during a visit to the Korea Power Exchange, the country's power distributor, Yonhap News Agency reported.

"Forcing manufacturing factories to use less electricity in the name of saving power would ultimately lead to a fall in production capabilities" and hurt growth, Lee said. "After all, a little more should be saved at households and service facilities."

Last year, South Korea suffered massive power outages and officials are worried about a similar problem this year.

Lee said South Koreans have consumed 2 million kilowatts more power this year than they did last year.

"Though we have to increase overall energy production, it would be outside of our energy policy to blindly increase production in line with consumption without reducing unnecessary consumption," Lee said.

"Should we use 2 million kilowatts of power more next year, how can we meet it? Can we cover it just by building several more power plants?" he asked. "It could be warmer next year. Global climate is unpredictable. If so, the Republic of Korea could find itself in crisis."