Transcript of KHNP’s board of directors might have been fabricated

A suspicion has been raised that Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) submitted a fabricated transcript of its board of directors, who decided the closure of Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant-1 (Wolseong-1), to the National Assembly and the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI).

“We have obtained evidence that KHNP fabricated the minutes of its board of directors to support President Moon Jae-in’s announcement of Wolseong-1’s early closure,” civic groups that have been protesting against the denuclearization policy, such as “National Action to Revive Nuclear Power Plants,” argued at the National Assembly on Thursday.

According to data revealed by the groups, KHNP fabricated the emergency meeting minutes of its board of directors held on June 15, 2018 before submitting them to the National Assembly’s inspection last year. The same records were also submitted to the audit of the BAI. Civic groups claimed that KHNP fabricated the records by removing or reducing the comments made by directors raising the economic issue of the power plant. In addition, according to evidence obtained by Gwon Myung-ho of the United Future Party, KHNP’s CEO Chung Jae-hoon submitted his work plan during the recruiting process for the CEO position in March 2018, which read, “I will ensure that the early closure of Wolseong-1 will be decided within KHNP until the end of the year based on the eval‎uation results of its economics, regional level of acceptance, stability, etc.”

“The minutes of the board of directors were written with an agreement of all directors. The claims made by civic groups are largely not true” KHNP explained to the claims.


Jun-Il Kim jikim@donga.com · Teuk-Gyo Koo kootg@donga.com