GOV'T DISCLOSES POWER PLANT DOCUMENT

[Anchor Lead]

Controversy is brewing over a document saying that the Moon Jae-in administration, which has been pushing for the scrapping of nuclear power plants, tried to build a nuclear power facility in North Korea. To stop the controversy from escalating further, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy has disclosed the document in question.

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The document released by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy consists of six pages and is titled "Plan on Construction of Nuclear Power Plant in North Korea." It's one of 17 relevant documents that had been erased by a ministry official in December 2019. The document was drawn following the Moon administration's first inter-Korean summit in April 2018. It starts with a sentence saying that it does not represent the government's stance and is only intended for an internal review. The document first suggests that a decision-making body on the construction of a nuclear power facility in North Korea be set up jointly with the U.S. and Japan. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy considered three options with regard to the project. The first one is the construction of two South Korean-style next-generation nuclear power reactors in Geumho District in Hamkyongnam-do Province, where the Korea Energy Development Organization planned to build a light-water reactor. The plan would be based on the utilization of the Shin-Hanul reactors 3 and 4, whose construction was suspended under the Moon administration's policies aimed at scrapping nuclear power plants in South Korea. The second option is the construction of a nuclear power facility in the DMZ. The third one is the transmission of electric power to the North from the Shin-Hanul reactors after resuming their construction and completing it. The document outlines in detail the pros and cons of each option and says the ministry had concluded that the first option was the most viable. By disclosing the document, the ministry stressed that the government had never attempted to implement the project and denies the allegation that it was carried out secretly.

[Soundbite] Shin Hee-dong(MOTIE Spokesperson(Jan. 31)) : "The report was only used for brainstorming. It does not contain any concrete information and was only used for an internal review."

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy says it decided to disclose the entire document to end the controversy from escalating further.