Park Jie-won, floor leader of the Democratic Party (DP), Wednesday lashed out at President Lee Myung-bak for his alleged opaque dealings over Korea winning an $18.6 billion deal to build nuclear power plants in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The main opposition party suspects that the Lee administration offered overly generous promises to win the largest energy deal in the Middle East in late 2009, and used the feat to boost the popularity of the President.
“From the beginning, the government lied about the UAE deal,” Park said in a radio interview.
He casts doubts about the commercial viability of the UAE deals, saying Seoul offered to build four nuclear plants there at “around $2,800 per kilowatt of power, whereas Russia, which is known to be the most aggressive competitor, make deals at around $3,800 per kilowatt of power.”
He said the National Assembly should launch a thorough investigation into the project, claiming that it may cause a big loss of taxpayers’ money.
The floor leader also accused the Lee administration of hiding the fact that Korea’s Export-Import Bank had pledged to lend up to half of the $18.6 billion cost to the UAE on the condition of repaying the debt over 28 years
Knowledge Economy Minister Choi Joong-Kyung refuted the claim, saying the government made no backdoor deals with the UAE and did not include the proposal to lend the construction cost in the final contract.
The first controversy erupted when the government decided to dispatch Special Forces troops to the UAE last December amid an opposition boycott of the vote.
Opposition parties claim that the deployment was associated with the nuclear plant contract.
Some argue that Korea offered a 60 year warranty as well as pledging to undertake all additional costs.
박지원 "UAE 원전수주, 처음부터 거짓말"
민주당 박지원 원내대표는 16일 이명박 대통령이 UAE 원전 수주를 했다고 국민들에게 발표를 했던 내용이 “처음부터 거짓말”이라며 국정조사를 거듭 요구했다.
민주당은 원전수주가 이명박 대통령의 국정지지율 높이기 위한 수단으로 이용되었다고 의심하고 있다.
박지원 대표는 “정부에서 발표한 UAE 원전 수주는 처음부터 거짓말이었습니다” 라고 비판하며 “미사여구로 발표 했지만 결과적으로 보면 반액을 우리는 대출을 해 주게 되었다”고 말했다.
그는 또한 “러시아가 국제적으로 가장 공격적인 수주를 하는데 금액이 키로당 3,800달러 정도인데 우리는 2,800달러 정도로 낮춰 잡은 것으로 알고 있다”며 “국민에게 경제적 부담이 있기 때문에 철저히 조사하는 것이 필요하다”고 강조했다.
지식경제부 장관은 UAE 원전 금융지원 논란과 관련, 수출금융대출 의향서를 제출한 것일 뿐 본 계약에는 아직 포함되지 않았다고 밝힌 바 있다.
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