Impeachment over martial law order jeopardizes Yoon's oil hopes

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Impeachment over martial law order jeopardizes Yoon's oil hopes

Published: 05 Dec. 2024, 19:06 Updated: 05 Dec. 2024, 19:37

PARK EUN-JEE
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Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Members of the conservative People Power Party attend an emergency gathering on Monday after the liberal Democratic Party passes a bill to slash the budget plan proposed by the Yoon Suk Yeol government. [NEWS1]

From an ambitious exploratory oil project off the east coast to nuclear power plant exports, a series of policy initiatives pushed by the Yoon Suk Yeol administration are quickly losing traction after the president’s botched attempt to impose martial law.

The immediate fear is whether a $17 billion nuclear power plant deal with the Czech Republic will be finalized as scheduled in March of next year.

“Given the large scale of the nuclear power-related contract, it is essential for a national leader to directly engage in the process, but I am not sure whether Yoon now has room to do so,” said a source in the local nuclear power industry.

Reviving the use and export of nuclear reactors was a key campaign pledge by Yoon, putting an end to predecessor Moon Jae-in’s drive to phase out the energy source. Moon was affiliated with the Democratic Party (DP), now the main opposition party leading the charge to impeach the incumbent president.

While experts consider the chance of a complete nullification of the deal to be slim, Korea’s current political whirlwind certainly poses a multitude of challenges, and more generally to the efforts to boost nuclear power.

“Since [the Korean consortium] has already been selected as the preferred bidder, it is unlikely that the order will be canceled,” said Roh Dong-seok, executive director at the Korea Energy Information Culture Agency.

“But it is evident that a setback has taken place,” he added.

Other experts call for the need to build a framework to ensure the continuation of certain policies crucial to fostering key industries regardless of a change in leadership.

“We need to put in place a system where policies that contribute to enhancing Korea's security and industries remain intact so that the supportive policies can last over the long run,” said Chung Bum-jin, a nuclear engineering professor at Kyung Hee University.

President Yoon Suk Yeol, left, gives a press briefing revealing that a large oil and gas reserve is believed to be buried off the coast of Pohang in the East Sea at the Yongsan presidential office in central Seoul Monday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

The development of a large oil and gas exploration project off Korea’s east coast, an endeavor directly addressed by Yoon earlier this year, is at risk of losing its entire budget next year. In a downsized budget bill unilaterally passed by the DP, the 49.7 billion won ($35 million) earmarked for the project was removed as many opposition lawmakers doubt the feasibility of the initiative.

With the country’s parliament virtually paralyzed following the martial law fiasco, a raft of bills about next year’s budget, taxes and livelihoods hang in the balance.

Some were supposed to be submitted to a plenary session of the National Assembly on Dec. 10, but for now, the opening of the session itself remains unclear as the DP plans to vote to impeach Yoon on Dec. 7.

If the impeachment motion is passed by the DP-dominated National Assembly, the president’s authority will be suspended from the moment of the passage until the Constitutional Court gives its ruling on the legality of the ousting.

One of the most pressing bills concerns next year’s budget, with the DP voting to slash 4.1 trillion won from the Yoon administration's original 677.4 trillion won.

National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik postponed a vote on the disputed 2025 budget on Monday, urging the rival parties to finalize the decision through negotiations by Dec. 10, the final day of the regular parliamentary session.

BY PARK EUN-JEE, KIM MIN-JOONG [[email protected]]