On the 31st, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy issued an official position, saying, “It is not true” about the so-called “North Korean nuclear power plant construction promotion theory”.
The Ministry of Industry said, “The controversy related to the construction of the North Korean nuclear power plant is spreading unnecessarily, so despite the fact that the trial is currently underway, we would like to reveal the following positions within the minimum scope necessary.”
The Ministry of Industry said that it has confirmed the contents of the report on the’Promotion Plan for Nuclear Power Plant Construction in North Korea’, which is known to be in the Ministry of Industry, and the process and progress since the preparation.
According to the Ministry of Industry, the background of the document was written after the first inter-Korean summit was held on April 27, 2018.
The Ministry of Industry said, “In case the inter-Korean economic cooperation becomes active in the future, various practical policy ideas have been reviewed by each department of the Ministry of Industry, and documents related to North Korean nuclear power plants were also confirmed as internal data from the Ministry of Industry reviewed in terms of cooperation ideas in the energy field.” Revealed.
The document is for a total of 6 pages, including 4 pages of the main text and 2 pages of reference materials, and states that “this report is an internal review material and not the official position of the government” in the preface.
In addition, in the conclusion, it was reported that the limitations of the review were described, saying, “There is a limit to the derivation of specific measures due to high uncertainty depending on the content and level of denuclearization measures between North Korea and the United States. .
The Ministry of Industry explained that the contents of the document are also various possibilities for ideas without specific plans, such as reviewing not only the North Korean region but also other regions in South Korea as locations, or mentioning a plan to transmit power to the North after the construction of nuclear power plants in South Korea.
According to the Ministry of Industry, the document was closed without further review or public disclosure.
The Ministry of Industry said, “Therefore, this issue has not been promoted by government policy, and the claim that the nuclear power plant construction in North Korea was promoted in secret is not true.”
However, the Ministry of Industry could not come up with an answer to the deletion of documents related to nuclear power plants.
Shin Hee-dong, a spokesman for the Ministry of Industry, said in an e-briefing held at the Seoul Government Building from 6:30 pm on the same day, “I am sorry for any understanding regarding the deletion of documents.” I think.”
In addition, regarding the point that the government’s plan to build a nuclear power plant in North Korea while pursuing the policy of’de-nuclear power’ is contradictory, he said, “Because it was an issue reviewed in terms of sharing ideas for cooperation in the energy field, it is not contradictory with the energy conversion policy. Told.