Political row intensifies over suspicions of North Korea's nuclear plant plan

Na Kyung-won, third from left, a Seoul mayoral by-election hopeful of the main opposition People Power Party, joins civic activists advocating nuclear energy during a protest in front of Cheong Wa Dae, Sunday. Na asked President Moon Jae-in and his government to clarify allegations that they attempted to help North Korea build a nuclear power plant, countering Moon's nuclear energy phase-out policy. Yonhap

By Yi Whan-woo

Controversy is escalating over whether the government clandestinely attempted to help North Korea build a nuclear power plant in 2018 during a short-lived reconciliatory mood between the two Koreas.

First reported on Jan. 28 by broadcaster SBS, the alleged attempt, if found to be true, contradicts President Moon Jae-in's push to phase out nuclear energy, which has fueled concerns over the fate of South Korean nuclear power companies and their overseas businesses.

The incident is expected to deal a blow to the Moon Jae-in administration and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) ahead of the April 7 mayoral by-elections for Seoul and Busan, which are considered a major litmus test for the 2022 presidential election.

The main opposition People Power Party (PPP) is accusing the Moon Jae-in administration of committing actions "benefiting the enemy."

Cheong Wa Dae and the DPK have countered by calling the accusation an outdated revival of the "northern winds."

The term refers to allegations of threats from the North that were orchestrated by the PPP's predecessors in previous elections to stir up concerns over national security and accordingly benefit conservative candidates.

"Closing down nuclear power plants in the Republic of Korea while trying to build one in the North is an act of benefiting the enemy that can shake the fate of the country," PPP interim leader Kim Chong-in said in a Jan. 29 statement.

Kim cited a bill of indictment by prosecutors investigating the destruction of documents related to the closure of the aging Wolsong-1 nuclear reactor by officials at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy in 2019.

Back then, the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) asked for the submission of documents related to the Wolsong-1 reactor amid suspicions that the ministry and state-owned Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP) intentionally undervalued the reactor in a June 2018 feasibility study to justify the closure.

According to the bill of indictments, the officials deleted about 530 computer documents.

The documents contained numerous files on plans to build a nuclear power plant in North Korea and other inter-Korean energy cooperation projects.

Among them were reports titled "North Korean nuclear power plant construction implementation plan" and "Inter-Korean economic cooperation experts in energy field," which were produced from May 2 to 15, 2018, and stored under a folder titled "pohjois," a Finnish word meaning north.

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Moon's first and second summit meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un were held in late April and late May, respectively, of the same year.

The BAI later recovered the documents.

Last month, prosecutors indicted three ministry officials on charges of destroying the documents.

In a press release, Sunday, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy denied the alleged construction plans for a nuclear power plant in the North.

The ministry said, after the first Moon-Kim summit, it had its working-level officials brainstorm possible cross-border projects in case economic cooperation with the North is facilitated.

"And the ideas were listed in the disputed documents for internal circulation," it noted.

Three PPP members ― Reps. Kim Eun-hye and Kim Woong ― plus Seoul mayoral hopeful Oh Se-hoon said that the accusation, if found to be true, will be "an apparent act on behalf of the enemy."

Cheong Wa Dae fired back.

In a Jan. 29 press briefing, spokesman Kang Min-seok said the PPP interim leader's argument was "complete nonsense."

"It is a hard-to-believe argument that deludes the people. It sure is comparable to the northern winds and we'll take strong countermeasures including legal action," Kang said.

DPK Chairman Lee Nak-yon joined the criticism against the PPP.

"I could not believe what I saw after reading interim leader Kim's statement," Lee wrote on Facebook. He added that it is "illogical to make a connection between the inter-Korean summits and any possible nuclear power plant."

DPK spokesman Shin Yeong-dae called the PPP's accusation "a nuclear energy northern wind that misleads the people."

"The DPK will put an end to such despicable politics and we will concentrate on the by-elections to bring hope to people's livelihoods."

DPK lawmaker Yoon Young-chan, who used to be Moon's senior secretary for public communication, noted he accompanied the President to both inter-Korean summits as well as a 2019 snap summit involving U.S. President Donald Trump at the border truce village of Panmunjeom.

"And I never heard anything close to a nuclear power plant at that time," he said. "The dispute over the issue is simply ridiculous."

Another DPK lawmaker, Yoon Joon-byeong, claimed that about 220 of the 530 deleted documents dated back to the ousted Park Geun-hye administration.

He accused the BAI, prosecutors, the PPP and conservative media outlets of being on the "same side in a carefully constructed scheme."

Shin Yul, a political science professor at Myongji University, said the Moon administration should clarify why the documents were deleted if they were from the past government.

"The suspicions are snowballing as the DPK continues to advocate the Moon administration. Something will need to be done if the party does not want to ruin the by-elections," Shin said.