Seoul chastises predatory pricing claims over Czech nuclear export deal

President Yoon Suk Yeol (left) and Czech President Petr Pavel pose for a photo during the summit at the Prague Castle in Prague, Thursday. (Yonhap)

PRAGUE -- The presidential office denounced claims by opposition parties that the South Korean consortium, which became a preferred bidder to build at least two nuclear power units in the Czech Republic in July, had proposed an extremely low bidding price that could waste taxpayers' money following a rise in construction costs.

The administration instead claimed that the pricing of the South Korean consortium, led by the state-run Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power, was made at a reasonable level. It also argued that President Yoon Suk Yeol's political opponents are trying to harm national interest with groundless rumors regarding the bid valued at least 24 trillion won ($18 billion).

"The Czech government has chosen the South Korean consortium as the preferred bidder not because of its anticompetitive pricing but because of the consortium's capacity to complete the construction on time within budget," Industry Minister Ahn Duk-geun told reporters at a news conference in Prague Thursday.

Ahn also said that Ivan Jancarek, Czech ambassador to South Korea, earlier stated KHNP had suggested a reasonable bidding price. Also, some 200 Czech experts in the fields of energy, law and economy had reviewed the KHNP-led consortium's bid before Czech authorities announced a preferred bidder in July, according to Ahn.

"Spreading fake news without grounds would disrupt the procedure to finalize Seoul's contract (with Czech counterparts) and harms the national interest," Ahn said.

Park Chun-sup, senior presidential secretary for economic affairs, echoed Ahn, labeling the price undercut claims as "fake news" that stand in the way of Yoon's bid to "restore South Korea's nuclear energy ecosystem, create jobs and boost the national economy."

On Thursday, 22 lawmakers of the National Assembly from the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea and the minor opposition Rebuilding Korea Party called for a complete turnaround in Seoul's bid for nuclear exports.

At a press conference, the lawmakers claimed that Seoul's nuclear export bid was an "impossible mission from the beginning." They also said they would not "tolerate the situation at which a gargantuan amount of taxpayers' money could be wasted," following a projected surge in construction costs that would make the project unprofitable.

By Son Ji-hyoung(consnow@heraldcorp.com)