Han Dong-hoon, leader of the People Power Party, questioned on the 20th, "Does the Democratic Party of Korea want South Korea's Czech nuclear power plant contract to fail?"
Through a post on Facebook that day, Han criticized opposition lawmakers, including the Democratic Party, who claimed that the Czech nuclear power plant contract would result in losses worth trillions of won.
Han also pointed out, "During the Democratic Party's five years in power, the performance in overseas nuclear power plant contracts was 'zero.' There was a near success, but the UK nuclear power plant project, for which we were selected as the preferred negotiator in 2017, was ultimately canceled," adding, "This was because the Democratic Party government advocated for nuclear phase-out domestically while abroad claiming that our nuclear power plants are safe and asking to buy them, which was inconsistent."
Earlier, 22 opposition lawmakers, including Kim Jeong-ho of the Democratic Party, held a press conference at the National Assembly Communication Office the previous day, claiming that "If things continue as they are, losses worth trillions of won may occur, and public funds might have to be poured in" regarding the government's final contract push for the Czech nuclear power plant deal.
They also criticized President Yoon Seok-yeol's visit to the Czech Republic, calling it "a hastily arranged schedule after the nuclear power export, once called a 24 trillion won jackpot, faced difficulties due to issues raised by the United States."
They added, "Czech media point out that the Yoon administration offered dumping prices," and said, "It is time to soberly reconsider whether this is being pushed recklessly to achieve President Yoon's declared goal of exporting 10 nuclear reactors."
The opposition lawmakers base their argument on the lawsuit with the U.S. company Westinghouse, which claims to hold the original technology of the Korean reactor APR-1400.
On the other hand, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, which handled the first trial, dismissed Westinghouse's lawsuit in September last year, ruling that Westinghouse lacked standing and sided with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power.
Furthermore, although Westinghouse filed a complaint with the Czech antitrust office, arguing that it does not own the original reactor technology and therefore has no right to allow third parties to use the technology without its permission, Czech Power Company rejected this, stating, "Participants in the bidding process cannot object to the selection of the preferred negotiator."
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