With the June 3 local elections concluded, region-related policies that had been on hold are expected to gain momentum in earnest.
First, an integration plan for the five power generation public corporations — Korea South-East Power, Korea Southern Power, Korea East-West Power, Korea Western Power, and Korea Midland Power — is set to be unveiled in July. According to the energy industry, Kim Sung-hwan, Minister of Climate, Energy and Environment, recently met with the labor union heads of the five power generation public corporations and said he would reach a conclusion on the consolidation issue within July. To that end, the government had planned to release interim research findings in May and gather opinions, but pushed back the schedule due to the burden of the local elections.
Once the consolidation issue is brought into public debate, the location of headquarters is expected to become the biggest point of contention. The five power generation public corporations are headquartered in Jinju in South Gyeongsang Province, Busan, Ulsan, Taean in South Chungcheong Province, and Boryeong in South Chungcheong Province, respectively. A fierce battle over headquarters locations among the power generation public corporations appears inevitable. Some observers expect Naju in South Jeolla Province, where energy public corporations are clustered, and Sejong, where government complexes are located, to also join the bid to host the power generation companies.
The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment must also wrap up the issue of the indoor conversion and expansion work at the Dongseoul Substation with the newly elected mayor of Hanam in Gyeonggi Province. The Dongseoul Substation is the metropolitan-area endpoint of the East Coast-to-Capital Region high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission network being built by the government. While the facility is essential for supplying surplus electricity from nuclear and thermal power plants on the east coast to high-tech industrial complexes in the capital region, the work has been completely halted for about two years as the Hanam mayor has not granted permits.
The selection of an alternative site to replace the Seoul Metropolitan Area Landfill is also expected to spark heated for-and-against debate in local communities. In October last year, the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, together with Seoul Metropolitan Government, Incheon Metropolitan City, and Gyeonggi Province, received applications for two sites through the "Fourth Public Solicitation for an Alternative Site to the Metropolitan Area Landfill." After the first through third solicitations failed to produce a single applicant site, the authorities eased the area requirements and allowed individuals and corporations, in addition to local governments, to apply, finally finding candidate sites.
However, more than eight months after the outline of the solicitation results became known, the government has yet to disclose any specific information about the candidate sites and has continued eligibility reviews only behind the scenes. Landfills are a quintessential undesirable facility, and the move is interpreted as reflecting concerns that, once candidate sites are disclosed, both ruling and opposition parties would raise their voices in opposition, making it highly likely that securing the site would fall through. Now that the elections are over, all that remains is to disclose the review results and continue arduous negotiations with local governments.
Each ministry is timing the announcement of highly inflammable matters to fall after election day. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy had said it would release a notice in late May containing measures to compensate refiners for losses resulting from the implementation of a price ceiling on petroleum products, but has yet to disclose it. "The content is nearly finalized, but some inter-ministerial consultation remains," a ministry official said. "We will announce it as soon as it is finalized." The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport had also planned to announce a reform plan for the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) around March this year, but pushed it back to within the first half of the year. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is also set to release a second Nonghyup reform plan this month, including measures to restructure businesses and resolve deficits at NongHyup Economic Holdings.
