With "KEPCO must make sincere efforts... What was the president doing during the 26 trillion won loss?"

"Energy Price Increase, Not a Matter of Timing
But a Matter of Conditions... KEPCO President Resigns"

The ruling party reiterated its stance that self-help efforts by Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) and Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS) should take priority regarding electricity and gas rates for the second quarter of this year. They repeated the position that the issue of electricity rate hikes is a matter of conditions rather than timing.

On the morning of the 2nd, Park Dae-chul, Policy Committee Chairman of the People Power Party, stated at a floor strategy meeting held at the National Assembly, "If they have even demanded the resignation of the KEPCO president, they should at least present self-help measures, but there has been no response so far. If this were a private company accumulating tens of billions in losses, there would have been large-scale personnel cuts and wage reduction efforts," he said.

Chairman Park said, "As I have repeatedly stated, I believe the issue of energy rate hikes is about conditions, not timing," and criticized, "Compared to tens of billions in losses, the amount is trivial, so are we going to ask the public to share the burden?"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

He then again called for the resignation of Jeong Seung-il, KEPCO president. He said, "What did the KEPCO president do when the hasty nuclear phase-out caused a loss of 26 trillion won? Everyone knows that the accumulated deficit has reached a limit where the management condition can no longer endure, making a rate hike inevitable," adding, "They should make an effort with the decency to reach out to the public. If they cannot even make such efforts, I hope they step down."

The day before, Lee Chang-yang, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, said in a media interview, "Based on a self-help plan for energy supply, the government plans to finalize the electricity rate adjustment soon." Minister Lee suggested the possibility of a rate hike, saying, "If electricity rates are not made realistic, not only will there be significant damage to our overall economy, but our country's energy supply system itself will be threatened."

However, on this day, the ruling party once again emphasized the responsibility of KEPCO and KOGAS over rate hikes. Previously, the government and ruling party held four rounds of consultations on electricity and gas rates, and while the ruling party agreed on the necessity of rate hikes, they have postponed increases, stating that "self-help efforts by energy public enterprises should come first."