Moon in UAE

[Anchor Lead]

President Moon Jae-in is in the United Arab Emirates where he attended the completion ceremony of the first Korean-made nuclear reactor overseas. He took the opportunity to applaud Korean technology and the hard work of the construction workers who built it. Meanwhile, at a summit between the president and the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, the two leaders agreed to resolve an issue surrounding a military pact that caused a diplomatic row late last year.

[Pkg]

The Barakah nuclear reactor, the first one to be built by solely Korean technology in the United Arab Emirates, has been completed. President Moon Jae-in, who is on an official visit to the Arab nation, attended (will attend) this afternoon the completion ceremony held at the nuclear plant at the invitation of Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan. The Barakah nuclear reactor was Korea's first nuclear reactor export deal, struck in 2009 during the Lee Myung-bak administration. 21 trillion won was invested to build four 5.6-gigawatt nuclear reactors by 2020. President Moon applauded Korea's technological capacity that enabled the project to overcome the high temperatures and harsh desert environment as well as the construction workers' hard work. Prior to the ceremony, the president sat down for a summit with UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and agreed to upgrade the bilateral relations to special strategic partnership.

[Soundbite] Pres. Moon Jae-in: "Envoys have been exchanged, but it's a great pleasure to see the crown prince of Abu Dhabi in person and discuss ways to develop the bilateral relationship."

The two leaders also agreed to set up a new vice minister-level consultative body for foreign and defense matters and promote strategic dialogues between foreign affairs ministers. Through these channels, the Korean and UAE governments plan to launch official talks on the implementation of a military pact reportedly concluded during the Lee Myung-bak administration.