[2023 National Audit] "LH Researches 'Attracting Google to Pyongyang' Immediately After North Korea's Liaison Office Explosion"

LH "Reviewed Purely for Research Purposes"

Shortly after North Korea blew up the Inter-Korean Joint Liaison Office in 2020, the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) conducted a study aimed at attracting a Google data center to Pyongyang, spending nearly 100 million won on the project.

According to materials submitted by LH to Yoo Kyung-joon, a member of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee from the People Power Party, on the 16th, LH commissioned a research project titled "Survey of the Current Status and Growth Prospects of Pyongyang and Surrounding Areas" in August 2020 with a budget of 90 million won.

Yoo Kyung-joon, member of the People Power Party. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

The study results included ▲ the possibility of establishing data infrastructure supporting high-level industries in the central Pyongyang area by attracting data centers from companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Naver to Pyongyang, ▲ the need to locate eco-friendly energy industries in large undeveloped blind spots on the outskirts of Pyongyang, ▲ the potential to supply energy across North Korea, including the Pyongyang area, using solar and wind power, which could be utilized to operate data centers requiring massive amounts of electricity.

However, Representative Yoo pointed out that on June 16, 2020, two months before the study, North Korea unilaterally declared the severance of relations and blew up the Inter-Korean Joint Liaison Office. He said, "Despite North Korea's atrocity of blowing up the Joint Liaison Office, a symbol of inter-Korean dialogue, I wonder if LH focused solely on pro-North Korea research that suits the regime's tastes," adding, "It should be pursued considering various factors such as public sentiment, inter-Korean relations, and changes in the international situation."

Regarding Representative Yoo's claims, LH explained, "Considering various factors, the research is conducted at a minimal level, and the matters mentioned in the external research report were reviewed purely from a research perspective."

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