Turkey is stepping up efforts to build a Korean nuclear power plant on its soil as it strives to become one of the top 10 economies in the world by 2023, Seoul's top envoy to Ankara said Monday.
The Turkish government's vision for 2023, the 100th anniversary of the establishment of its modern republic, includes becoming a top 10 economy from its current position of 17th in the world, Ambassador Lee Sang-kyu said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency.
"(Such economic growth) is linked to large power consumption, which is why Turkey is planning to build nuclear power plants," he said. "At the moment, Turkey meets most of its energy needs through gas imports, but it has decided that it will need atomic power plants to provide cheaper supplies of energy in the long run."
During summit talks earlier this month, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to restart stalled talks on a project to build two power-generating nuclear reactors on Turkey's Black Sea coast.
The talks on the atomic power plant have been suspended since 2010 due to wide differences on the location of the reactors, electricity prices and government payment guarantees.
Amb. Lee said he expects Turkey to reach a decision on the project within this year as it may take up to 10 years to complete construction of the nuclear power plant.
On Turkey's relations with North Korea, the envoy said the two countries established diplomatic ties in 2001, although neither side has opened an embassy in each other's country.
Diplomats from the two nations hold policy consultations every two to three years, and North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kung Sok-ung visited Turkey last September mainly to ask for food aid, the ambassador said.
"Turkey is willing to give humanitarian aid to the North, and is in contact with international organizations such as the United Nations Development Program and the World Food Program (WFP) to send nutritional aid targeting pregnant women and children," he said.
North Korea is known to suffer chronic food shortages due to economic mismanagement and natural disasters. The communist country has relied on international handouts since the late 1990s when it suffered a massive famine, which was estimated to have killed 2 million people.
Last year, the WFP said a third of all North Korean children under five are chronically malnourished and many more are at risk of slipping into acute stages of malnutrition unless targeted assistance is sustained. (Yonhap)
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