Yoon Seok-yeol’s hasty formation of a free ‘democracy’ puts the brakes on the Czech nuclear power plant’s ‘regime change strategy’

Yoon Seok-yeol’s hasty formation of a free ‘democracy’ puts the brakes on the Czech nuclear power plant’s ‘regime change strategy’

The Czech prime minister expressed frustration with President Yoon Seok-yeol’s hasty formation of the ‘Czech Democratic Alliance’ by ‘excluding the Czech Republic from the list of countries providing support’ and the ‘interest-free introduction of nuclear power plant capitalism’ socialist regime change strategy.
Unlike the Czech president’s ‘reservation’ press conference, Prime Minister Fiala stated in a press release with President Yoon that “the construction of a new nuclear power plant is an opportunity to dramatically develop the strategic relationship and economic cooperation between the two countries,” and that “the reason why in-depth cooperation is possible is because the two countries share various values ​​such as democracy and a just world order,” and announced on the 19th that ‘democratic values’ are the top priority for economic cooperation.
Since the beginning of his term, President Yoon has continued to make international statements based on the far-right ideology of ‘spreading freedom first,’ but during the recent visit by the Czech nuclear power plant’s security advisor, he suddenly changed his remarks to the ‘democratic alliance.

President Yoon told the Czech National Security Advisor he visited on the 4th, "I am pleased that the two countries, which share core values ​​such as democracy, human rights, and the rule of law, are cooperating closely in various fields," thereby making a sharp turn from the usual 'freedom, human rights, and the rule of law' to freedom and democracy.

 

President Yoon took the lead in the US Republican Party’s strategy of reforming Eastern European socialist countries through ‘freedom’, but clashed with the Democratic Party Biden regime’s insistence on ‘democracy supremacy’, and in this Czech bid, he packaged it with the Democratic Party’s ‘democratic ideology’, but was caught in the ‘new nuclear power agreement’ in the April 2022 joint statement with President Biden’s ‘respect for small modular reactors and advanced reactors’.
In the joint statement, President Yoon stated and signed, “A commitment to accelerate the development and global deployment of advanced reactors and small modular reactors (SMRs)” and “The two leaders pledged to utilize means such as the High-Level Committee on Nuclear Power as a solid foundation for strengthening cooperation in the US, Korea, and overseas nuclear power markets”, but he suspended the ‘High-Level Committee operation’ and attempted to push ahead with the ‘export of old-type Korean nuclear power plants’ as the Republican Party’s strategy of ‘demanding support for nuclear power plants for socialist reform’.

In a joint press release with President Yoon, Prime Minister Fiala said, “The two countries share many values, including democracy and a just world order,” and “Both countries have experienced invasion throughout history, so they yearn for freedom, and now want to support and assist countries that have lost their freedom,” excluding the Czech Republic from the list of “support targets for freedom” requested by President Yoon.

The Czech Republic's largest daily newspaper, Blesk, posted an article on its online page on the 21st with the headline, "South Korea's First Lady Has Been Investigated Several Times," with the caption, "Not only does Mrs. Kim have the elegance of a First Lady, she is also suspected of tax evasion and plagiarism," and the subheading, "Is the South Korean head of state in the company of fraudsters (podvodnici)?", but later deleted the subheading, conveying negative public opinion about the South Korean nuclear power plant proposal.

 

The Czech Republic, which built a heavy water reactor with Soviet technology in 1958 and is the largest producer of uranium and a nuclear powerhouse, attempted the first model of Eastern European system transformation with the “interest-free Western financing system” for nuclear power plants during the dissolution of the Cold War.
The Czech nuclear power plant bid began in 2004 and was competed by three companies: Westinghouse, Russia, Skoda, and Areva from France in March 2010. In March 2012, the bid proposal was received, and in October of that year, the state-run lead manager, CEZ, ruled that “Areva’s bid did not meet all legal requirements under Czech public procurement law” and “was disqualified because it did not meet other important criteria defined in the bid.”

 

France’s Areva appealed this decision, but the Anti-Monopoly Office dismissed the appeal. The United States, through Westinghouse's long-standing relationship with the Czech Republic, opened up US support when Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic, and in March 1993, Westinghouse was selected as the contractor to replace the entire instrumentation and control (I&C) system at the completion of Units 1 and 2 of the nuclear power plant. Westinghouse secured the right to supply fuel to the Czech reactor, and CEZ (Czech Nuclear Energy), the state-owned operator that began operation in 2000, was financed with a World Bank loan with support from the US Treasury.

When the Czech government eliminated Westinghouse in 2013 from the 2010 nuclear power plant bid, the US Export-Import Bank offered CEZ a long-term, low-interest loan for half the cost of the plant if it used Westinghouse technology in the Czech Republic. This loan had a maturity of 25 years after completion, and was 1 percentage point higher than the US 10-year Treasury bond, so it was completely interest-free. The Czech Republic proposed a system of ‘no interest until construction of the plant, low interest after operation’
After excluding three bidders for the Czech nuclear power plant, the project resumed in 2015 with Korea Electric Power Corporation participating in a new bid, starting with five bidders including a Chinese consortium. However, the Czech Republic announced that it would exclude China and Russia, and the socialist countries were excluded, resulting in a three-way battle between Korea Electric Power Corporation, Westinghouse, and France EDP. Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), which had the lowest price at half the price, became the preferred negotiator, and Westinghouse and France EDP, which moved their headquarters to Canada, appealed to the Czech Antimonopoly Office (AMO).

President Yoon intentionally omitted the issue of ‘intellectual property rights infringement’ that Korea had with Westinghouse from the nuclear power plant bid proposal without resolving it, and this was publicly confirmed at a press conference during the summit with the Czech president, and it constituted a ‘violation of the Public Procurement Act’ applied to the Czech bid. Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Yoon Deok-geun visited the United States just before the Czech summit and failed in his attempt at ‘preliminary negotiations between companies’, and the Biden administration stuck to the ‘export support for new reactors and small modular reactors (SMRs)’ agreed upon at the 2022 summit in ‘intergovernmental consultations’, and the Yoon administration failed to reach an agreement. In a press conference after the summit, President Yoon confirmed that he was “negotiating” in response to a Czech reporter’s question, which concealed the violation of intellectual property rights regarding the original technology requested in the bid proposal. During the Cold War, the Czech nuclear power plant, which was attempted as a capitalist system injection strategy for the Czech Republic under the Soviet Union, a nuclear powerhouse, was the first to be subject to the 'interest-free financing' system of the US Westinghouse and the US Treasury, and Korea, taking advantage of the Czech Republic's 'interest-free construction fund acquisition' strategy in the nuclear power support system to strengthen the US Cold War system, participated in an additional public offering in 2015, and as France's checks and balances grew, Korea's utilization value, which took advantage of the US Republican Party's socialist pressure strategy, clashed with Biden's Democratic Party policy.
The following is the nuclear power-related statement from President Yoon and President Biden's April 2022 Korea-US Summit Joint Declaration:

<The two leaders recognize the importance of nuclear power as a core and reliable source of carbon-free electricity, an important element for growing our clean energy economy, and an essential part of enhancing global energy security. The two leaders pledged to further expand nuclear cooperation, while accelerating the development and global deployment of advanced reactors and small modular reactors (SMRs) by jointly utilizing export promotion and capacity development tools and building a more resilient nuclear supply chain.
The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to engage in global civil nuclear cooperation in accordance with the highest standards of nuclear non-proliferation, including the Additional Protocol to the International Atomic Energy Agency as the standard for international safeguards and nuclear supply agreements.
Recognizing their shared goal of deepening strategic ties while respecting each country’s intellectual investment, the two leaders committed to utilizing tools such as the ROK-US Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation on Nuclear Technology Transfer and Export Cooperation and the High-Level Committee on Nuclear Energy to deepen cooperation on spent fuel management, nuclear export promotion, fuel supply security, and nuclear security, with the aim of providing a solid foundation for strengthening cooperation in the U.S., ROK, and overseas nuclear power markets.

The US welcomed Korea's decision to participate in the US-led Small Modular Reactor Technology Infrastructure for Responsible Use (FIRST) program. >

President Yoon signed an agreement with the US to establish an export support system limited to 'advanced reactors and SMRs' and voluntarily restricted the export of Korean nuclear power plants, which are modified versions of Westinghouse's old reactors from the 1970s. In contrast, he began expanding the Czech nuclear power plant project bidding that had been underway since 2015 to support Trump's Republican strategy in this year's US presidential election, and K nuclear power plants became a major national export project. K defense industry followed the same pattern, replicating and improving US-standard weapons without original technology, and became a channel for the proliferation of US-standard weapons in Eastern Europe.
See <Czech Small Nuclear Power Plant ‘Dropped’ by Korean Nuclear Power Plant, UK’s Yoon Seok-yeol Admits Violation of Public Procurement Act, September 21, 2024>

 

Korea's Czech bidding method can be summarized as 11% for Westinghouse (applying 2 billion dollars out of 18 billion dollars for Barakah, 15% in case of violation of Czech public procurement law), 60% guarantee for construction by local Czech companies (70% in case of violation of public procurement law), 50% interest-free loan of total cost from Korea Export-Import Bank, etc. (applied at the time of Barakah, interest rate linked to US bonds applied after operation), guarantee of additional construction cost burden by Korea (additional cost of 2 billion dollars for Barakah nuclear power plant), guarantee of full maintenance cost (establishment of Barakah maintenance construction company), etc. President Yoon seems to have pursued a strategy of securing nuclear power plants at a lower unit price through a project to build two additional nuclear power plants in the Czech Republic if Trump is elected, and if Democratic candidate Harris is elected, it seems that they will move to small-scale nuclear power plants rather than additional construction, and President Yoon seems to have tried to put the brakes on this.

In the Czech Republic, the pro-Western current prime minister's party, the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), lost in the local council elections on the 22nd, and the far-right opposition party ANO (ANO), which is anti-immigration and anti-European Union (EU), won 10 out of 13 provinces, while ODS won only 2, leading to the beginning of coalition instability.

The Czech Republic has a general election in October next year, and the competition between pro-Western parties and nationalist right-wing parties is expected to be affected by the results of the upcoming US presidential election.

President Yoon scheduled his visit to the Czech Republic on the 22nd in consideration of the impact on the Czech local council elections and showed support for right-wing parties, but he expressed his antipathy when the largest Czech daily newspaper published an article calling him a "fraudster."