The government is working to fix governance gaps amid a payment dispute over a nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates.

Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources Kim Jung-kwan said during a parliamentary audit that the ministry is working to create better governance of the state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power(KHNP) and its parent company, Korea Electric Power Corporation(KEPCO), as the two scuffle over the project's construction costs.
 
In May, KHNP filed for international arbitration against KEPCO over a protracted dispute involving more than one billion U.S. dollars in unsettled construction costs tied to the Barakah nuclear power plant.

The London Court of International Arbitration is mediating the conflict.

During the audit, Democratic Party Rep. Kim Dong-ah pointed out that technologies related to the UAE project are being leaked overseas as the two public corporations submit various materials to British law firms and consulting firms for litigation.
 
Kim Jung-kwan said the ministry should have stepped in sooner to solve the problem.

South Korea won the 20 trillion won, or roughly 14 billion dollar, contract to build the Barakah plant in 2009, marking the country's first-ever overseas nuclear power plant project.