Democratic Party Vows to Uncover Full Extent of 'Great Whale Project' Failure Through Parliamentary Investigation

Regarding reports that the Korea National Oil Corporation concluded, after a detailed analysis of samples obtained from the first exploratory drilling of the 'Great Whale Project,' that gas recovery at an economically viable level is impossible, the Democratic Party of Korea criticized, "The Great Whale Project is a tragedy brought about by the reckless challenge and irresponsible governance of an incompetent administration."

In December last year, the drilling vessel West Capella entered Namoe Port in Busan to verify whether petroleum and gas are buried in the promising structures of the East Sea deep-sea gas field. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

On September 19, Democratic Party spokesperson Park Kyungmi stated at a press conference at the National Assembly Communication Center, "Last June, then-President Yoon Suk-yeol excited the public by claiming this project would be 'five times the market capitalization of Samsung Electronics.' But as the public feared, it seems the 'Great Whale' has turned out to be a 'Great Dud.'"

Spokesperson Park continued, "From the beginning, this mirage with an unclear substance gave rise to false hope, and the resulting disappointment has fallen squarely on the public. A hastily launched political event to shift the narrative after the general election defeat will ultimately amount to nothing more than 'hope torture,' squandering taxpayer money into thin air."

She went on to say, "Who came up with the idea of pouring an astronomical sum-100 billion won per well-into drilling with an extremely low chance of success? Furthermore, what was the rationale for recklessly pushing forward a project that even the global resource development company Woodside had already withdrawn from, especially in partnership with the dubious shell company Actgeo?"

She added, "This was essentially a gamble to escape a crisis for the administration and a deception of the public. The Democratic Party will thoroughly investigate the full extent of this waste of taxpayer money through the parliamentary audit."

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