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| Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Lee Chang-yang, third from left, listens to Czech Senate Leader Milos Vystrcil, second from right, speak in a meeting, June 28 (local time). Yonhap |
Energy minister signs MOUs with Czech officials
By Lee Kyung-min
Korea is gearing up to strengthen a partnership with the Czech Republic in the nuclear and hydrogen energy businesses, as illustrated by the first official overseas trip of the energy minister accompanied by a dozen state-run and leading private energy firms, according to officials, Wednesday.
Anchoring the high-level administrative and private sector cooperation is President Yoon Suk-yeol, whose broad, new energy policy prioritizes the efficient local use and export of methods for much-criticized nuclear power generation.
Yoon will meet with his Czech counterpart for a summit, June 30 (local time), to stress the technological and cost advantages of Korea's nuclear energy businesses, aided by the signing of memoranda of understanding (MOUs) between nine Korean firms and 21 of their Czech counterparts led by Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Lee Chang-yang days earlier.
According to the energy ministry, Lee met with Jozef Sikela, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, and Czech Senate Leader Milos Vystrcil, June 28 (local time), for about an hour to discuss ways to advance bilateral cooperation in the nuclear and hydrogen energy sectors.
Lee reiterated that the Yoon administration is committed to increasing the efficient utilization of nuclear power generation to fortify energy security and carbon neutrality capabilities.
"Nuclear energy projects require more than a decade of construction for power plants and six decades of operation and maintenance after that," Lee said. "It is a long-term project Korea is confident to undertake with experience and a proven track-record in safety, budget planning and compliance, as embraced and promoted by our ongoing cooperation with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to build nuclear power plants in Barakah."
The Czech officials said they are well aware of Korea's advanced nuclear technologies and share a similar understanding of the importance of nuclear power as a stable energy source amidst the drawn-out geopolitical uncertainties.
Further cooperation will be in store, both countries agreed, in the areas of developing and commercializing small modular reactors (SMRs), next-generation nuclear energy generation methods, as well as hydrogen-oriented power generation.
The scope of the joint exchanges will be expanded to include defense, electric vehicles (EVs), batteries, semiconductors and the bio sector.
The local state-run firms that accompanied the minister at the meeting included: the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) and KEPCO's subsidiaries, including Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP). Private sector participants included Doosan Enerbility, Daewoo Engineering & Construction, Hyundai Motor and Hyundai Glovis.
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