South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have agreed to strengthen cooperation in defence industry, nuclear power plants and renewable energy during bilateral talks in Ankara. President Lee’s state visit was the first by a Korean leader to Türkiye in 13 years.
At a joint press conference, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said negotiations with South Korea on the construction of a nuclear power plant in Türkiye are continuing. South Korea is seeking potential cooperation opportunities on Türkiye’s second planned NPP in the northern province of Sinop on the Black Sea coast, with state-run Korea Electric Power Corp (Kepco) having submitted a preliminary bid to join the construction project.
In a joint press release, President Lee noted: “We had extensive discussions on how to strengthen our solidarity in response to the rapidly changing regional and international landscape.” He added: “In the nuclear energy sector, both governments agreed to remain engaged and provide support in order to ensure that the remaining detailed evaluation processes for Türkiye’s new nuclear power plant project proceed as planned. I look forward to Korea’s outstanding nuclear technology and operational safety capabilities contributing substantially to the development of Türkiye’s nuclear energy.”
In order to regularly review developments in cooperation by sector, the two sides will reactivate a bilateral economic committee after a 10-year hiatus to thoroughly review progress in collaboration across sectors.
During the visit, Türkiye’s nuclear energy company, TÜNAŞ and the Korea Electric Power Company (Kepco) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on nuclear energy cooperation. Erdogan said he viewed the MOU as “an important step”. The MOU covered cooperation in technology, site evaluation, licensing and regulatory procedures, financial packages and business models.
“With this agreement, we aim to carry out joint work in many areas, ranging from the development of nuclear power plant projects, technology and know-how sharing, site evaluation, project financing and human resources development,” Turkish Energy & Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said in a post on X.
Under the MOU the two countries will form a joint working group and push for reciprocal visits to each other’s countries by experts and will share technological know-how in the nuclear energy sector, according to South Korea’s Presidential Office.
“It lays the groundwork for South Korea to participate from the early stages, including site evaluation for Türkiye’s planned nuclear power plant, and could serve as a stepping stone toward securing the project in the future,” the office said.
