Jung Jin-wook "Yoon's Sudden Dream of Becoming an Oil-Producing Country, a Show for Turning the Tide"

"Trying to Prevent Approval Rating from Falling Below 20%"

Regarding President Yoon Suk-yeol's announcement on the 3rd that the government plans to proceed with drilling due to the high possibility of oil and gas deposits in the waters off Yeongilman, Pohang, Gyeongbuk, Rep. Jeong Jin-wook of the Democratic Party of Korea said, "The president said he would 'brief' the entire background and circumstances, but none of the public's suspicions have been resolved," adding, "I wonder why the president suddenly talks to us about the dream of becoming an oil-producing country."

President Yoon Suk-yeol made an announcement on the oil and gas deposits in the East Sea during a government briefing held on the 3rd at the briefing room of the Presidential Office building in Yongsan, Seoul. The photo shows an image displayed at the briefing indicating the promising structural extraction areas. [Image source=Presidential Office, Yonhap News]

On the 7th, Rep. Jeong appeared on SBS's 'Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show' and said, "Recently, President Yoon's approval rating reached 21%. Former President Park Geun-hye's approval rating was 24% just before her impeachment," adding, "Perhaps, if we infer, this is a phase-shifting show to prevent the approval rating from falling below 20%."

He pointed out, "Actgeo is almost a one-person company. While experts can collaborate and work together, its annual sales were about 30 million won, meaning it was practically inactive, but suddenly increased to about 7 billion won last year," and added, "This seems to be from a contract awarded by the South Korean government." He continued, "If so, this budget was essentially dormant but started to be used from last year through the reputation of Dr. Abreu."

He also said, "Of course, Dr. Abreu will certainly argue that there is economic feasibility here, but when we inquired with the Korea National Oil Corporation about the money spent, it costs 88 million USD (about 120 billion won) per drilling well. Since there are at least five wells and generally about ten, this is a 1.2 trillion won project," emphasizing, "Is it appropriate to entrust 1.2 trillion won of taxpayers' money to a small company that is almost a one-person business?"

He added, "If the contract is not followed, the money will be lost, so they are determined to start drilling unconditionally from December this year," questioning, "Is there a need to rush this much?"

He further pointed out, "In the overall process leading to President Yoon's briefing on the 3rd, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy was completely excluded. There was so-called 'Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy passing,'" and said, "Then, conversely, there is a question about who has been leading this project."

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