Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Ahn Deok-geun: “There was no guarantee that there would be financial support for the construction of nuclear power plants in the Czech Republic.”

▲ Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Ahn Deok-geun

Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Ahn Deok-geun denied claims by some that the Korean government had pledged financial support to a project to build a new nuclear power plant in the Czech Republic, saying “it is not true.”

Minister Ahn responded as follows to a question from Representative Kim Jeong-ho from the Democratic Party of Korea during the investigation of the Committee on Trade, Industry, Energy, Small and Medium Enterprises of the National Assembly stating that “financial support was taken a included in the letter of intent for investment submitted by the Korea Export-Import Bank and the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation when bidding for a nuclear power plant in the Czech Republic.” I did it.

In his investigation, representative Kim raised suspicions, saying, “Last July, President Yoon Seok-yeol met with Czech President Petr Pavel at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit ( NATO) and promised financial support for the construction of a nuclear power plant through the Export-Import Bank.

In response, Minister Ahn said, “The letter of intent to invest is usually submitted to projects like this, it is a general statement of cooperation, not a statement of support for the project with the intention of projects related to nuclear power plants, and our government sent them too.” “I put eight,” he explained.

When representative Kim did not give him a chance to answer, Minister Ahn got the right to speak with the chairman after the question period and personally read the original letter of investment intent written in English.

Minister Ahn read the part in the original English that said, “Please note that this letter does not constitute a commitment to provide funds for the construction project of a new nuclear power plant in the Czech Republic,” and then he said , “It is clearly written that we do not provide financial support for this project.” “Yes,” he said.

(Photo = Yonhap News)