American Pressure, South Korea's Nuclear Power Hanhwa Abandons Orders for North America, EU, Japan, and Ukraine Nuclear Power Plants

¬ The contract dispute with American Westinghouse spreads

The South Korean government and ruling party on the 19th proposed that during the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, there was an unfair contract signed with American nuclear power company Westinghouse while taking over the construction of the Czech nuclear power plant, and they began to investigate the truth.

The presidential office spokesperson Kang Yu-jung stated that day: "We have instructed the secretary room chief Kang Hoon-sik to report to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy the content of the agreement between Hanhwa, KEPCO, and Westinghouse in order to dispel the public's doubts. Hanhwa and KEPCO are public institutions. The instruction requires investigating whether the process of signing the contract was conducted in accordance with laws and regulations, and whether the principles and procedures were followed."

Previously, some media reports stated that in the agreement signed by Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP) and Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) with Westinghouse Electric Company (WEC) last January, there were clauses that included purchasing goods and services worth $650 million (about 900 billion won) per reactor for the next 50 years, as well as providing a $175 million (about 240 billion won) royalty fee. To ensure this clause, KHNP and KEPCO decided to issue letters of credit worth $400 million (about 560 billion won) per unit. The agreement also contained content that Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power cannot engage in new nuclear power plant orders in North America, the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom, Ukraine, and Japan.

In July last year, the Czech government selected Hanhwa as the preferred negotiation partner for the two units of Dukovany 5 and 6. However, WEC lodged a complaint with the Czech government, claiming that "South Korea had stolen core technologies." Since then, the contract between the Czech government and Hanhwa was delayed repeatedly. In January last year, Hanhwa and WEC announced: "They have decided to strengthen cooperation in the global nuclear power market and withdraw all legal measures."

The Democratic Party has already begun to investigate the truth. The chairman of the party's policy committee, Han Jeong-ae, said that day: "This is a treasonous act of selling technological sovereignty and nuclear power sovereignty, leading to the loss of national interests. We will thoroughly investigate the truth with the standing committee as the center."

Members of the Democratic Party under the National Assembly's Committee on Industry, Trade, and Small and Medium Enterprises also criticized: "The agreement period is 50 years, which actually deprives the nuclear power sovereignty. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power, and Korea Electric Power Corporation are equivalent to signing a lifetime slave document themselves."

Hanhwa stated: "If the agreement had not been reached at that time, it would not have been possible to proceed with the Czech nuclear power plant project. It is difficult for WEC to independently win overseas orders, so they cooperated with South Korea." A nuclear power expert said: "North America, which is WEC's own backyard, and Japan, which has its own nuclear power industry, were originally difficult markets to enter. In the EU, there is room to collaborate with WEC based on the Czech case to enter the market."

On the same day, shares of KEPCO and Doosan Enerbium fell sharply. An official from an energy state-owned enterprise said: "From media reports to the presidential office issuing instructions to investigate the truth, everything happened too quickly. Seeing the systematic actions of the Blue House (government) and the ruling party, it feels terrifying."

Another person in the energy sector said: "During the early days of the Moon Jae-in administration, pressure was exerted on the presidents of four subsidiaries of KEPCO to submit their resignations uniformly, which caused controversy and even led to a prosecution investigation. Now it feels very similar."

Han Hwa's president, Hong Joo-ho, ended his term this month, but KEPCO's president, Kim Dong-jo, will continue until September 2026. Kim Dong-jo served as a special advisor to Yoon Suk-yeol's election campaign and after Yoon's election, he became the vice-chairman of the National Unification Committee of the Presidential Transition Committee.

Source: Chosun Ilbo

Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1840949038948361/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author."