Actor Gu Sung-hwan named ambassador for South Korea’s Net Zero campaign

Actor Gu Sung-hwan has been named a public-relations ambassador for South Korea’s “Net Zero” campaign by the Presidential Commission on Climate Crisis Response, Yonhap reported on 29 September.

Gu appears on MBC’s “I Live Alone”. The commission said his image of finding happiness in everyday life fits a campaign that presents carbon reduction through small daily changes. The appointment is intended to help communicate that carbon neutrality can be approached through actions in ordinary life.

Gu is due to appear in a television commercial for the campaign in November. He said he believed he had been given the meaningful role because many people liked the ordinary life he had shared.

“By carrying out what I can do in my own life, I will do my part to help more people feel that carbon neutrality is within reach and join the effort,” he said.

The commission’s announcement makes Gu a public face of the campaign, but it does not change the campaign’s focus: encouraging people to connect climate action with daily choices. The message is that participation should feel attainable rather than distant from ordinary routines.

That framing is central to the appointment. The commission is using a familiar public figure to present its climate message through the routines and experiences associated with his public image. The campaign’s stated emphasis remains the same in the announcement: small changes in daily life are the route by which people are invited to see carbon neutrality as something within reach.

The planned November commercial will carry that message to television audiences while keeping the focus on ordinary daily life. The featured image for this report is an everyday urban climate scene in Seoul and is not a picture of Gu Sung-hwan.