'Anti-Nuclear Phase-Out' Civic Groups File Complaint Against Former President Moon Jae-in Over Early Closure of Wolseong

President Yoon Suk-yeol is seeing off former President Moon Jae-in after the inauguration ceremony of the 20th president held at the National Assembly on the 10th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Civic groups opposing the 'nuclear phase-out policy' have filed a complaint with the prosecution against former President Moon Jae-in on charges of improperly ordering the early shutdown of Wolseong Unit 1.

At 4 p.m. on the 10th, five civic groups including the Anti-Nuclear Phase-Out National Scandal Public Accusation Group and the Energy Promotion Group, along with over 2,600 accusers, held a press conference in front of the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office and announced that they would submit a complaint against former President Moon on charges of abuse of authority, stating, "In relation to the Wolseong Unit 1 nuclear phase-out national scandal case, the early shutdown of Wolseong Unit 1 was carried out under direct orders and reports."

Jo Gi-yang, representative of the Facts and Science Citizens Network, claimed, "Due to the illegal nuclear phase-out policy of the Moon Jae-in administration, the stock price of the public enterprise KEPCO fell from 60,000 won to the current 20,000 won range, electricity rates are increasing, and the entire nuclear power industry has been devastated," adding, "The profitability of national industries and the suffering of the people have intensified."

Kang Chang-ho, head of the Energy Promotion Group and chairman of the Saewool Unit 1 Power Plant labor union at Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power's Saewool Nuclear Power Headquarters, said, "(Former President Moon) ignored multiple factual reports on Wolseong Unit 1 from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KEPCO," and added, "The early shutdown of Wolseong Unit 1 proceeded through face-to-face and approval systems, followed by economic feasibility manipulation."

Kang urged, "The accused began ordering the early shutdown of Wolseong Unit 1 through comments and abused authority via Blue House secretaries," and called on the prosecution to "immediately summon and investigate the accused, whose charges are clear."

According to the complaint, in April 2018, when the Office of Science and Technology Advisors of the Presidential Secretariat uploaded a report to the Blue House internal reporting system stating that "steel reinforcement is exposed on the outer wall of Wolseong Unit 1, so maintenance will be extended," former President Moon commented, "When do you plan to decide on the permanent shutdown of Wolseong Unit 1?"

The complaint alleges that starting with this comment, former Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Baek Woon-gyu, former Blue House Industrial Policy Secretary Chae Hee-bong, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power President Jung Jae-hoon, and others improperly intervened in the process of manipulating the 'economic feasibility evaluation' of Wolseong Unit 1, which ultimately led to the early shutdown.

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