The U.S. officially announced on Monday that it will pull out of the Paris Agreement.
This means, one year from now, the U.S. will become the only country to have left the climate accord.
Yoon Jung-min has the details.
Some two years since U.S. President Trump first announced plans to withdraw from the Paris Agreement in June 2017,... the Trump administration said on Monday that it has officially filed paperwork to pull out of the climate accord.
"The United States will withdraw from the Paris climate accord, but begin negotiations to re-enter either the Paris accord or entirely new transaction on terms that are fair to the United States."
As the letter was formally submitted to the United Nations,... the U.S. will leave the agreement one year from now, which will be the day after the 2020 U.S. Presidential election.
President Trump had criticized the agreement,... saying it hurts the U.S. economy while China, one of the big polluters, increases emissions.
The Paris Agreement went into effect on November 4th, 2016, and under UN rules, no party can abandon the agreement for three years from its implementation, meaning now is the earliest date the U.S. could file its withdrawal papers.
The Paris climate accord was agreed during the Obama administration who aimed to cut U.S. greenhouse emissions by up to 28 percent by 2025 from the level of 2005.
Once the U.S. leaves, it will be the only country to have left the agreement.
The move has been criticized over its impact on global warming,... and Democratic presidential contenders have promised to rejoin the agreement if they win.
Yoon Jung-min, Arirang News.