South Korea pledged Monday to phase out coal power plants that lack emission-reducing measures, an ambitious step for a country that generates a third of its electricity from the fossil fuel.

Seoul announced its decision to join the Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA) of governments and organisations pushing to eliminate unabated coal as a power source, as Brazil hosts UN climate talks in Belem.

"Our long-term goal is to create a decarbonised green society where renewable energy takes up a large share in our power mix and use nuclear power as a complementary source, phase out coal and use gas as an emergency source," South Korea's Climate Minister Kim Sung-whan told reporters in the Amazonian city.

The pledge does not give a date for an end to all of South Korea's use of unabated coal, b

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