A composite image symbolically representing the collapse of nuclear power plants behind the fervor for solar and wind power, and the contradictions in the Democratic Party's energy policy. Graphic by Hankyoreh Shinmun

Czech Nuclear Plant Deal: A Coincidence or a Designed Flow?

In the summer of 2022, the European Union (EU) officially classified nuclear energy as 'green energy.' Just a few months later, Brookfield and Cameco acquired Westinghouse, backed by ESG funds. And about a year after that, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power signed a 50-year subordinate contract with Westinghouse for the export of Czech nuclear power plants.

While these events appear to have occurred at different times and places, when viewed sequentially, they form a single trajectory: Normative Shift (EU) → Capital Movement (Westinghouse Acquisition) → Industrial Subordination (KHNP Contract). The actors involved in this process are all global financial forces.

Through this, they stand to earn 1 trillion won in technology fees per nuclear reactor. Had it not been for Moon Jae-in's policy to abandon nuclear power, Westinghouse could have fallen into our hands. Related stories will be covered later.

Westinghouse, A Possession of ESG Funds

After entering bankruptcy protection in 2017, Westinghouse was acquired by Brookfield Business Partners in 2018. However, the decisive turning point was when the EU incorporated nuclear power into its green classification. This change in norms promptly altered the direction of capital.

In October 2022, Brookfield Renewable Partners and Cameco, the world's largest uranium company, announced an acquisition totaling $7.9 billion. The funds came from Brookfield Global Transition Fund I, which included participation from BlackRock, Vanguard, and global pension funds. Cameco's top shareholders also include BlackRock, Vanguard, and Fidelity, ultimately placing both technology and fuel in the hands of Wall Street financial forces. (This occurred during the Moon Jae-in administration in South Korea and the Biden administration in the US.)

In essence, the acquisition of Westinghouse was not merely a corporate transaction but a strategic realignment of global capital, signaled by the EU's normative shift. And the result is what Korea now faces in the Czech nuclear power plant contract.

ESG and PCism: The Twin Languages of Capital

To understand the essence of the Czech contract, one must re-examine ESG itself. While ESG is packaged in the moral language of Environment, Social, and Governance, it is, in reality, the political correctness of finance that governs investment allocation. Companies and countries survive or are eliminated from the flow of capital based on their scores.

Politically Correct (PC) ideology serves as the socio-cultural support for this financial discipline. While PC promotes the cause of minorities and diversity, its financial underpinnings are provided by foundations like Ford and Rockefeller, financial forces like BlackRock and Vanguard, international organizations like the UN and EU, and the marketing funds of global corporations. This has become the fertile ground that creates justification for direct and indirect intervention in domestic politics.

In other words, if ESG is financial discipline, PCism is the subordinate cultural discipline. While the two languages operate in different spheres, they are ultimately twin mechanisms designed by capital, binding together markets, society, and politics simultaneously. And it was the Democratic Party that led the domestic adoption of these mechanisms.

The Democratic Party, Shackled by Its Own Making

The Democratic Party has criticized the Westinghouse-KHNP contract as a "treasonous humiliation." However, this is self-contradictory. It was precisely during the Moon Jae-in administration of the Democratic Party that South Korea's energy and financial policies were fundamentally altered.

Moon Jae-in's anti-nuclear policy weakened the nuclear power base by halting construction of ongoing plants and canceling new projects. Simultaneously, it aggressively pushed renewable energy through subsidies and regulations for solar and wind power. Institutionally, it created a structure for compulsory diffusion through the institutionalization of ESG, including RE100, K-ESG indicators, and diversity norms. The regulations demanded by global financial forces were introduced domestically under the guise of 'advanced standards.' During this process, a series of issues emerged, including questionable investments, environmental damage, and corruption allegations.

Failing to perceive the changes driven by globalists, the Democratic Party voluntarily abandoned nuclear power, embraced the ESG chain, and further tightened the screws on the nuclear industry to cover up the failures of its solar and wind power policies. The result is the humiliating contract with Westinghouse, and criticizing it now is nothing but hypocrisy. To make matters worse, the Lee Jae-myung administration is pushing for wind power, which is dependent on China.

The Democratic Party Administration's Choice to Remain in the Gray Zone

Trump's MAGA strategy reinstated nuclear power as a strategic asset. ESG finance has transformed it into an investable asset. PC ideology has justified this trend as the cultural counterpart to ESG. The problem is that the Democratic Party under Lee Jae-myung has failed to adapt to these newly changed circumstances.

Currently, the Democratic Party administration under Lee Jae-myung is playing the victim in front of the chains it forged itself. It labels the Westinghouse contract as "humiliating," but is it unaware that the roots of that humiliation lie in the anti-nuclear and ESG policies it created?

Although the tide has turned, the Democratic Party administration under Lee Jae-myung remains in a gray zone. Will it follow the global financial order, or will it protect its national strategic assets? So far, its actions have demonstrated avoidance rather than decisiveness, and blame-shifting rather than responsibility.

The future of South Korea's nuclear industry ultimately depends on the choices made within this gray zone. It is a moment for national decision-making that can no longer be postponed.

The following article is [South Korea's Green Irony] Moon Jae-in's Solar Power, Lee Jae-myung's Wind Power. This article will help you understand the reasons and background behind the Lee Jae-myung Democratic Party administration's wavering in a gray zone.

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