South Korea must make an improved offer if it wants to
secure a project to build a Turkish nuclear power plant, the country's
ambassador to Seoul
said Monday.
Erdogan Iscan said negotiations that began in March effectively halted after
last month's Group of 20 industrial and developing nations summit in Seoul, when the two sides
failed to settle key differences.
"The plan offered by South Korea
did not meet Turkey's
expectations," he told Yonhap news agency by phone. The embassy confirmed
his comments.
South Korea
operates 20 reactors, which generate 30% of its electricity needs, and is eager
to export its expertise as a new growth engine for the economy.
In December 2009 a
South Korean-led consortium won a $20.4 billion contract to build four nuclear
plants in the United Arab Emirates, and Seoul hoped to cap this with a deal
with Ankara.
But the ambassador told Yonhap the price of electricity was one of three or
four major sticking points that held up progress, although he didn't elaborate.
Iscan said Turkey
hasn't closed the "Korean file" on the bid to build the Sinop nuclear
power plant on the Black Sea coast, but has started formal negotiations with Japan.
He said Turkey
cannot delay too long since rapid economic growth is causing energy demand to
rise by an average 4% every year.
Turkey
wants both the Sinop plant and the Akkuyu plant in the south of the country,
that was won by Russia,
to go into operation in 2018-2020.
Iscan said that if Seoul decides to improve its
offer, Ankara will review it as a competitive
bid and consider it along with the proposal made by Tokyo.
Turkey's
Energy Minister Taner Yildiz visited Japan over the weekend, with some
Japanese media speculating a formal deal will be reached in March.