SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (AP) – South Korea landed a KRW3 trillion (USD2.25 billion) contract with a Russian state-run nuclear energy company to provide components and construct a turbine building for Egypt’s first nuclear power plant, officials said yesterday.
The South Koreans hailed the deal as a triumph for their nuclear power industry, although it made for awkward optics as their American allies push an economic pressure campaign to isolate Russia over its war on Ukraine.
South Korean officials said the United States (US) was consulted in advance about the deal and that the technologies being supplied by Seoul for the project would not clash with international sanctions against Russia.
According to South Korea’s presidential office and trade ministry, the contract between state-run Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power and ASE requires the South Koreans to provide certain materials and equipment and construct the turbine building of the plant being built in Dabaa.
The Mediterranean coastal town is located about 130 kilometres northwest of Cairo.
ASE is a subsidiary of Rosatom, a state-owned Russian nuclear conglomerate.
A senior aide of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said the negotiations were slowed by “unexpected variables”, mainly Russia’s war on Ukraine and the US-led sanctions campaign against Moscow over its aggression.
Choi Sang-mok, Yoon’s senior secretary for economic affairs, said South Korea provided an explanation to the US in advance about its plans to participate in the Dabaa project and that the allies will maintain close consultation as the work proceeds. As part of US-led sanctions against Moscow, South Korea has ended transactions with Russia’s central bank and sovereign wealth funds and banned exports of strategic materials to Russia.
