Less than a week since signing the global climate deal in Paris, Japan and South Korea are pressing ahead with plans to open scores of new coal-fired power plants, casting doubt on the strength of their commitment to cutting CO2 emissions.

Even as many of the world's rich nations seek to phase out the use of coal, Asia's two most developed economies are burning more than ever and plan to add at least 60 new coal-fired power plants over the next 10 years.

Officials at both countries' energy ministries said those plans were unchanged.

Japan has been criticized for its lack of ambition - an 18-percent target for emissions cuts from 1990 to 2030 is less than half of Europe's.

Analysts say Japan and South Korea could reduce carbon emissions by much more than they pledged in Paris.

South Korea did scrap plans for four coal-fired power plants as part of its pledge to the Paris summit, but 20 new plants are still planned by 2021.

In Japan, 41 new coal-fired power plants are planned over the next decade, and taxes favor imports of coal over cleaner-burning natural gas.

When asked if the Paris agreement could lead the Korean government to reduce the planned number of coal-fired plants, an energy ministry spokesman declined to comment, but a ministry official with direct knowledge of the matter said on condition of anonymity that there was no change in the offing.

Japan's environment ministry also declined to comment, but an official said, anonymously, that the Paris climate deal would have no impact on the ministry's assessments of coal plants.