SEOUL — South Korea is prepared to restrict the number of privately owned cars on the road if international crude benchmarks climb into the $120–$130 per-barrel range, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho told lawmakers on Tuesday.
“If prices move decisively beyond $120, we will have little choice but to activate demand-management tools, including alternate-day driving quotas for private vehicles,” Choo said during a National Assembly economy committee hearing, according to a ministry readout.
Global energy markets have tightened sharply in recent weeks on the back of supply cuts by OPEC-plus members and shipping disruptions in the Red Sea. Brent crude briefly touched $118 a barrel on Monday, its highest level since mid-2022, stoking inflation concerns across energy-import-dependent Asia.
South Korea buys roughly 92 percent of its primary energy from overseas, leaving households and factories highly sensitive to swings in oil prices. Authorities have already extended a tax cut on fuel to the legal maximum and released 3.2 million barrels from strategic stockpiles this month, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said.
The mooted quota system would echo measures last used during the 1979 oil shock, when Seoul banned private vehicles from city streets every other day based on license-plate numbers. “The legal framework still exists under the Emergency Energy Supply Act, but implementation requires a Cabinet resolution,” said Lee Jong-whan, an energy-policy professor at Korea University.
Auto makers warned that rationing could undercut a fragile post-pandemic recovery. “Curtailing car use will immediately hit showroom traffic and after-sales demand,” Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association Vice-Chair Park Seung-ho said in a statement. Opposition legislators also accused the government of “spooking consumers instead of tackling refinery margins.”
Environmental campaigners, however, argue the government’s trigger point is too high. “Even at $100 crude we should be shifting commuters onto public transport,” said Kim Yuna of the Green Transport Network.
Analysts at NH Investment & Securities reckon every $10 rise in Brent adds 0.15 percentage point to South Korea’s headline inflation. “If prices decisively clear $120, the Bank of Korea’s easing bias could evaporate,” strategist Han Seung-il wrote in a note.
Whether the psychological $120 line holds may become clear as early as next week, when OPEC-plus meets to review production targets. For now, traders and motorists alike will be watching Seoul’s traffic—and the global oil ticker—just as closely.