Chung Eui-yong, "A Copy of the USB Given to North Korea Was Also Delivered to U.S. Security Advisor Bolton"

[경향신문]

On February 2, foreign minister nominee Chung Eui-yong (pictured) said, “A nuclear power plant was never mentioned during the talks with North Korea,” and squarely refuted the opposition party’s allegation that the government tried to build a nuclear power plant in the North. Chung also mentioned the fact that a copy of the USB, which President Moon Jae-in gave to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at Panmunjom, was also delivered to the U.S.

Chung, who served as chief of the Cheongwadae Office of National Security at the time of the inter-Korean summit in Panmunjom in April 2018, called a press conference near the foreign ministry office in Jongno-gu, Seoul and announced his position on the allegations concerning a document on the construction of a nuclear power plant in North Korea drawn up and later deleted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Chung said, “Shortly after (the Panmunjom summit), I visited Washington D.C. and handed a USB with the exact same content as the one given to North Korea to the U.S. (White House National Security Advisor John Bolton) and explained the purpose of the New Economic Initiative for the Korean Peninsula.” He further said, “The U.S. fully understood and agreed. In fact, the U.S. showed a very positive response.” Since the government handed a copy of the USB given to the North to the U.S. Chung suggested that it was not likely for the government to secretly promote the construction of a nuclear power plant. He dismissed the opposition party’s accusation that the USB included plans to promote a nuclear power plant in North Korea.

Chung also said, “It is unreasonable to say that the government considered ways to build a nuclear power plant in North Korea,” and argued, “There’s a preposterous gap in the logic.” He also said, “In the current situation, there is no country that can build a nuclear power plant (in North Korea),” and added, “So in our country, there was no internal discussion about building a nuclear power plant in North Korea, especially not in Cheongwadae or the National Security Council.”

Cheongwadae officials who were present at the summit in 2018 also argued, “The USB only had information on inter-Korean economic cooperation, and nothing about a nuclear power plant.” According to a senior Cheongwadae official, President Moon said, “The purpose was to suggest that we could do these things, if the inter-Korean summit was successful, if talks between North Korea and the United States were successful, opening the door to exchange and economic cooperation,” (April 30, 2018) when explaining the contents of the USB. Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Youn Kun-young, who was the director of the state affairs situation room in Cheongwadae at the time, said over the phone, “The USB held a blueprint we prepared for when North and South Korea established a new economic community through successful economic cooperation,” and added, “As a part of that blueprint, it may have mentioned cooperation in the field of energy. But there was nothing on nuclear power plants.”

However, a senior government official familiar with the preparation for the inter-Korean summit at the time, said, “President Moon could have handed Chairman Kim an updated version of the New Economic Initiative for the Korean Peninsula,” and specifically explained, “It would have mentioned the modernization of thermal and hydro power facilities and parts and cooperation on new renewable energy.”