Covering the food & beverage industry, beauty, fashion, retail markets, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and related people and entities worldwide
Industry minister nominee blames anti-nuclear energy policy for KEPCO's rising debt
Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy nominee Bang Moon-kyu speaks during a parliamentary confirmation hearing at the National Assembly in Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap
By Ko Dong-hwan
By Ko Dong-hwan
The controversial nuclear phase-out policy pushed by the previous Moon Jae-in administration is one of the main culprits for snowballing debt at Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), the state-run utility firm, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy nominee Bang Moon-kyu told lawmakers, Wednesday.
During a parliamentary confirmation hearing, Bang said the “problematic” energy policies of Moon which supported renewable energies brought down the price of distributed electricity to an inappropriately low level, causing KEPCO's debt to snowball to an unprecedentedly high 201.4 trillion won ($151 billion).
In the hearing led by the National Assembly's Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs, and Startups Committee, Bang said the Moon administration had closed six nuclear reactors, causing a reduction of power grid productivity, and curbed the number of new nuclear reactors. It was his response to main opposition Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Rep. Kim Jung-ho who argued the country, despite the nuclear phase-out policies, wasn't completely free of nuclear power during the Moon administration.
Bang, who currently leads the Office for Government Policy Coordination under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, said he will restore the country's nuclear power industry. As to the current situation where private companies related to the industry are going through difficulties, he said more jobs should be created within the country and abroad for the industry's workforce. Technology should be developed and managed so that local experts don't leave, he added.
Replacing the incumbent Minister Lee Chang-yang if appointed, Bang clarified in the hearing that nuclear energy has not only been reevaluated worldwide as essential for global carbon neutrality but also inevitable for Korea's energy security. He said he will introduce realistic energy-mix policies and secure key resources like petroleum, gas and key natural minerals to secure the country's energy security.
His keywords for energy mix policies as evident from the hearing were safety, profitability and carbon neutralization. He said the ministry's medium- to long-term agenda will support that framework.
Bang's nomination by the Yoon administration came as the incumbent administration reversed the previous administration's nuclear phase-out plan to raise the country's dependence on nuclear energy. Yoon seeks to raise the proportion of nuclear energy in the national energy mix to nearly 35 percent by 2036 from 23 percent in 2018, while renewable sources will be responsible for about 31 percent of power generation in 2036 from 6 percent in 2018.