Ministry of Industry: "North Korean Nuclear Power Plant Has Not Been Promoted as Government Policy... Internal Idea"

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Haeyoung] The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy has denied allegations that it pursued nuclear power plant construction in North Korea, stating, "This matter was never promoted as a government policy, and the claim that the government secretly pursued nuclear power plant construction in North Korea is not true."

On the 31st, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy released a statement saying, "We have confirmed the contents, preparation background, and subsequent progress of the report titled 'Plan for Promoting Nuclear Power Plant Construction in North Korea' within the ministry," emphasizing this point.

Earlier, prosecutors confirmed that a Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy official deleted document files containing plans to promote nuclear power plant construction in North Korea during the process of obstructing the audit of Wolseong Unit 1 by the Board of Audit and Inspection. Officials from the ministry, including Mr. A, who is accused of damaging public electronic records, violating the Audit Act, and unauthorized access, deleted 530 internal nuclear power-related documents just before the audit, among which many were related to North Korean nuclear power.

After investigating the background of the document's preparation, the ministry explained, "Following the first inter-Korean summit held on April 27, 2018, various practical policy ideas were reviewed by each department within the ministry in preparation for the potential activation of inter-Korean economic cooperation." It added, "The documents related to North Korean nuclear power were confirmed to be internal ministry materials reviewed as energy sector cooperation ideas." This reaffirmed the previous position stated on the 29th through reference materials that these were "internal materials reviewed at the idea level."

According to the ministry, the document was six pages in total, including four pages of main text and two pages of reference materials. The ministry explained that the document "describes the limitations of reviewing (North Korean nuclear power promotion)." The reason is that the preface states, "This report is an internal review document and not an official government position," and the conclusion states, "Due to high uncertainty depending on the content and level of denuclearization measures between North Korea and the U.S., there are limitations in deriving specific promotion plans, and additional review is needed after denuclearization measures are concretized," which the ministry emphasized.

The ministry repeatedly denied allegations of pursuing nuclear power plant construction in North Korea, stating, "The document's content describes various possibilities at the idea level without concrete plans, including reviewing sites not only in North Korea but also other areas within South Korea, or mentioning plans to build nuclear power plants in South Korea and transmit power to the North."

The ministry explained, "This document was concluded without further review or external disclosure," adding, "Unnecessary controversy regarding North Korean nuclear power plant construction is spreading, and although this matter is currently under trial, we are expressing our position within the minimum necessary scope."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.