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Yoon's dismissal has limited impact on Czech nuclear deal: Expert

Published: 04 Apr. 2025, 19:19

CHO YONG-JUN
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The Dukovany nuclear power plant site in Dukovany, Czech Republic [KOREA HYDRO & NUCLEAR POWER]

The departure of Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday, despite the political chaos it brought on, is seemingly having limited effects on Korea's ongoing nuclear power plant and defense export deals. Future deals, however, will need government assistance, according to industry sources.

"There won’t be any big effect; the government didn’t provide much help,” Kyung Hee University Department of Nuclear Engineering Prof. Chung Bum-jin told the Korea JoongAng Daily on Friday, referring to Korea Hydro Nuclear Power’s (KHNP) deal to export nuclear reactors to the Czech Republic, which was long advertised as Yoon's major achievement.

Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol ousted from office after unanimous Constitutional Court ruling

"It's not like the Yoon administration had immensely helped the deal," Chung added.

A KHNP-led Korean consortium was selected as the preferred bidder in July 2024 to build two nuclear reactors in Dukovany, estimated to be worth 24 trillion won ($16 billion). The deal was scheduled to be finalized by March, but has been delayed, with Czech outlet Seznam Zpravy reporting Monday that the deal would be signed in a few weeks. Korea's Energy Economic News, citing a source familiar with the Czech nuclear deal, further reported Wednesday that Korea had asked Czech officials for “more time” before finalizing the agreement.

"The deal is at the stage of negotiating the final prices, and not in the stage of whether we will take the deal or not," Chung said. "While the government had supported the deal as it would do with any other deal, it’s not like the Yoon administration had significantly aided the efforts.” The professor said that the two parties are likely down to "price negotiations."

KHNP declined to comment on the effect of Yoon’s impeachment in the Czech deal but confirmed to the Korea JoongAng Daily that the negotiations are still “in the final stages.”

Sources in the Korean defense industry, which some expected could take a hit from the lack of a central governmental figure, are also cautious but don't expect a major impact on ongoing deals.

“It will obviously be preferred to have this political situation stabilized as soon as possible and to have a new Minister of Defense,” a source in the defense industry said. “But it would be difficult to say that the current political instability has directly affected Korean companies winning export deals.”

Vice Minister Kim Seon-ho has been acting Defense Minister since Kim Yong-hyun's registration on Dec. 5, 2024, a day after Yoon's unlawful martial law declaration. The appointment of the next Defense Minister will likely take at least two months.

Similarly, Hanwha Aerospace announced Thursday it had signed its second deal with India, worth 371 billion won, to export 100 K9 Thunder self-propelled howitzers to the country. Hanwha will provide parts to its Indian partner Larsen & Toubro (L&T), which will assemble the devices.

“While most defense export deals are led by the government, the political circumstances do not affect existing deals in a major way, unless they are in the process of requiring government approval or are new deals that are yet to be signed,” Hanwha Aerospace said, adding that the firm had been able to secure its first K9 deal with India in 2017, shortly after then-President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment.

That's good news for the multiple Korean firms that are currently eyeing the possible increase of exports to the Middle East and the export of the K9 to Vietnam. Hanwha Ocean and HD Hyundai, jointly, are looking to secure Canada’s submarine business while Hanwha Ocean is also looking into Poland’s Orka Project, the Eastern European country’s plan to introduce three submarines.

Nevertheless, Chung said the incoming administration should be vigilant, characterizing Yoon's efforts in the sector as "inadequate."

"The future government — if they wish to help Korean exports — should focus more on improving its diplomatic power," the Kyung Hee University professor said. "You'd have to strengthen talks with the United States and other necessary parties, which were not done during the Yoon administration."

BY CHO YONG-JUN [[email protected]]