South Korea’s Industry Minister Lee Chang-yang will visit the Czech Republic and Poland this week to support Korean firms in their bids to win nuclear construction contracts for new nuclear power plants
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol tours a nuclear reactor factory in Changwon, Seoul. Credit: South Korean media
South Korea’s Industry Minister Lee Chang-yang will visit the Czech Republic and Poland this week to support Korean firms in their bids to win nuclear construction contracts for new nuclear power plants in the two countries.
Lee is scheduled to make a two-day trip to the Czech Republic today. After this, he will fly to Poland for another two-day stay. Lee hopes to lobby on behalf of Korean firms as the two European nations are undergoing a process to construct new nuclear power plants. Czech Republic and Poland have committed to ensure energy security and to achieve carbon neutrality goals, and nuclear power forms a major part of both countries’ energy strategy.
The planned visit comes as South Korea has been actively pushing to revive its own nuclear energy industry under the Yoon Suk-yeol Government, reversing the former government’s nuclear phase-out policy.
During the visit, the minister plans to meet counterparts and senior officials in both countries to explain Seoul’s “outstanding capabilities in construction, as well as equipment and parts manufacturing in the nuclear energy fields,” and to discuss detailed cooperation measures, the Korean ministry said in a statement.
The agenda will also include such issues of mutual concerns as electric cars, hydrogen, batteries and other advanced and defense industry fields, it added. The ministry also plans to hold a session in the two European nations to promote South Korea’s nuclear industry by inviting government officials and business leaders there.
It is Lee’s first overseas trip since taking office last month.