Anchor: Amid brewing controversy that the government sought to build a nuclear power plant in North Korea despite its nuclear phase-out policy, the Energy Ministry unveiled what it claimed is an internal report that merely suggested the project. The top office, meanwhile, has refused to release USB files on cross-border economic projects that were handed over to the North at a 2018 summit.
Choi You Sun reports.

Report: The Energy Ministry on Monday unveiled documents on a proposed plan to help North Korea build a nuclear power plant, in a bid to end controversy over the government's alleged attempt to clandestinely push ahead with the project.

The six-page report outlining the potential nuclear plant construction states that it is for internal review and not the government's official plan.

The ministry stressed that the proposals came following the first inter-Korean summit in April 2018 and that they were never further pursued.

The report contained three possible scenarios, including constructing two nuclear facilities, a storage for spent fuel and a radioactive waste disposal facility at the old site of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization(KEDO).

The second plan involved building a nuclear plant in the Demilitarized Zone(DMZ), while the third was transmitting electricity after building two new facilities in the South.

On a local radio program on Tuesday, Choi Jae-sung, senior presidential secretary for political affairs, rejected the opposition's demand that the administration unveil USB files handed over to the North in April 2018, regarding inter-Korean economic cooperation.

Calling such demands irresponsible, Choi said files exchanged at a summit meeting can not be publicized for groundless allegations.

Stressing that the presidential office was never briefed on the plan, the presidential aide accused the main opposition People Power Party(PPP) of raising the issue for its political advantage ahead of April's by-elections.

The PPP, for its part, refuted arguments from the ruling camp, with Representatives Sung Il-jong and Kim Gi-hyeon saying no mere civil servant would propose such an idea under the government's nuclear phase-out policy.
Choi You Sun, KBS World Radio News.