Yoon Suk Yeol meets Lee Myung-bak, discusses Czech nuclear power plant deal
Published: 13 Aug. 2024, 10:26
Updated: 13 Aug. 2024, 18:26
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- SARAH KIM
- kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr
![President Yoon Suk Yeol, center right, and former President Lee Myung-bak, center left, chat during a dinner meeting at the official presidential residence in Seoul on Monday evening. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/08/13/1b887ba9-d83d-4359-961c-282f208b0b20.jpg)
President Yoon Suk Yeol, center right, and former President Lee Myung-bak, center left, chat during a dinner meeting at the official presidential residence in Seoul on Monday evening. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]
This marked their first official dinner since Yoon took office in May 2022.
First lady Kim Keon Hee and Chung Jin-suk, Yoon's chief of staff who had served as a senior presidential secretary for political affairs for the Lee administration, and Chung's wife also attended the dinner at the presidential residence in Hannam-dong in Yongsan District, central Seoul.
Yoon and first lady Kim welcomed Lee and former first lady Kim Yoon-ok to the residence at 6:30 p.m.
During the three-hour dinner, Yoon recalled United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan's visit to Korea in May, the presidential office said in a statement after the meeting.
Yoon said he told the UAE leader at the time, "The reason Korea-UAE relations are so good is because former President Lee laid the foundation," adding that President Mohammed had agreed.
Lee noted that Korea, which had no prior experience when it won the contract to build the Barakah nuclear power plant in the UAE in December 2009, turned the situation around through trust and friendship, Yoon's office added.
Lee was quoted as saying that he "watched with concern the situation in which Korea-UAE relations were in crisis during the previous administration," in reference to the preceding Moon Jae-in government, which favored a nuclear phaseout policy.
Last month, the Czech Republic picked Korea as the preferred bidder to build two nuclear reactors in Dukovany, an estimated 24 trillion won ($17 billion) project. Yoon is expected to make a visit to the Czech Republic next month on the heels of this decision.
The selection marks the first major overseas nuclear power deal for Korean companies in some 15 years since securing a 20 trillion won contract to build four nuclear power reactors in Barakah in the UAE in 2009.
Lee was quoted as telling Yoon that his administration's "24 trillion won Czech nuclear power plant order is highly praised as a tremendous achievement."
Regarding the political situation, Lee stressed that "it is more important than anything for the party and government to unite and work together." This comes as the new conservative People Power Party (PPP) leader Han Dong-hoon has at times shown responses diverging from the presidential office.
Yoon and Lee also discussed Team Korea's remarkable results in the Paris Olympics and past Games.
In December 2022, Yoon granted a special pardon to Lee, who had served a 17-year prison term for bribery and embezzlement since November 2020. Lee served as president from 2008 to 2013.
Lee, as a businessman-turned-politician, focused on policies promoting Korea's nuclear power plant and defense industry exports and resource diplomacy during his tenure, including taking the lead in the Barakah nuclear deal.
Yoon and Lee last met around a year ago at Yoon's father's funeral in August 2023.
Yoon is said to have picked Lee's favorite dishes for dinner, and the menu included grilled Korean beef ribs and beef soybean paste stew.
BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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