Finance minister vows all-out efforts to win Czech nuclear deal

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choi Sang-mok vowed to secure the final deal for Czech nuclear plants amid ongoing criticism that it would result in a pork-barrel project.

“We will put an utmost effort to ensure that the construction of the Czech nuclear power plant reaches the final contract without any setbacks,” Choi said during a ministerial meeting on external economics.

Korea's consortium, led by the state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, is seeking to finalize a contract to build two nuclear reactors in Dukovany, in March next year. The consortium was selected as the preferred bidder in July.

Construction of the two 1,000 mega-watt capacity plants is expected to cost some 24 trillion won ($17.5 billion), marking the largest deal since sealing the nuclear export project worth 20 trillion won to the United Arab Emirates in 2009.

Opposition party lawmakers have asserted that Korean firms slashed bidding prices too deep, eroding profitability to secure the bid. Industry Minister Ahn Duk-geun and other government officials related to the deal flatly denied the accusations.

During Thursday's meeting, Choi reaffirmed that the unbinding deals reached during President Yoon Suk Yeol’s four-day official visit to the Czech Republic in September will be fine-tuned.

“The government will actively support the 56 memorandums of understanding signed to swiftly lead to exports and orders,” Choi said.

The contracts were centered on forming a nuclear energy alliance between the two countries with industry ministries promising to cooperate in the nuclear energy sector such as nuclear power plant construction, technology development and human resource training.

The finance minister also said authorities were closely monitoring the possible impact of mounting uncertainties surrounding the upcoming US elections and geopolitical risks in the Middle East.

“It is necessary to prudently observe changes in external conditions as the US presidential election is only 20 days away and there is a possibility that conflicts in the Middle East will heighten,” he said.

“We will remain vigilant and monitor external trends while maintaining the center of gravity of foreign policy to prevent economic sentiment from being contracted.”

The ministers discussed measures to respond to technology leaks to strengthen global industrial competitiveness.

“We will strengthen punishment for trade secret leaks and unfair competition by establishing new punishment regulations related to increasingly sophisticated technology leakage methods,” he said.

The government also plans to establish a system to prevent technology leaks by utilizing big data on patents.