Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Ahn Duk-geun said that despite unforeseen circumstances, the government will finalize the nuclear power plant deal with the Czech Republic as swiftly as possible. 

The minister made the statement Wednesday in a meeting with reporters upon arriving in Prague, after a court in the Czech Republic blocked the country’s energy company from signing a deal with South Korea’s Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power(KHNP) to build two nuclear reactors in the European country.

The ruling came a day before KHNP was scheduled to sign the contract with Elektrárna Dukovany II, a subsidiary of the Czech Republic’s main electricity firm, CEZ.

Ahn said the delay in signing the contract is inevitable and it’s impossible to predict whether that delay will last a few days or several months.

But he pledged the government’s full support to ensure that the deal proceeds swiftly and smoothly. 

The minister said it is only the formal contract signing that has been postponed due to the court ruling, adding that all the other steps will proceed as scheduled.