Cheong Wa Dae condemned what it called an outdated ideological offensive surrounding documents the Energy Ministry deleted, which allegedly indicated plans to help North Korea build a nuclear power plant at the time of the 2018 inter-Korean summit.

“They crossed the line,” a ranking Cheong Wa Dae official said Monday in response to main opposition People Power Party leader Kim Chong-in accusing the government of “benefiting the enemy.”

“It is a ridiculous instigation aimed at deceiving people.”

The comments echoed an unusually strong statement made by the presidential office Friday that also hinted at legal action against Kim.

“It is unbelievable the remarks came from an opposition party leader even when we prepare for elections. The remarks are no different from prompting ideological strife and should not be tolerated,” said presidential spokesperson Kang Min-seok.

Political controversy over the government’s nuclear phaseout policy, resisted by the opposition bloc and some civic groups, has now shifted to whether the South had plans to build a highly sensitive nuclear power plant in the North at the time of the first summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in April 2018.

The documents in question came to light while prosecutors were investigating the government’s decision to terminate the operation of Wolsong-1, the country’s second-oldest nuclear reactor, as part of Moon’s push for increased use of renewable energy and reduced reliance on nuclear power.

According to last week’s revelation, dozens of documents regarding the issue of building a nuclear power plant in the North were among more than 500 computer files that three officials from the Energy Ministry deleted right before the start of a planned audit.

Opposition parties immediately raised speculation that Seoul may have offered the proposal as an economic incentive to Pyongyang during the Moon-Kim summit.

“Reasonable minds will ask whether the government was trying to trade the construction of a nuclear plant for an inter-Korean summit,” Kim, the People Power Party leader, said during a party meeting Sunday. 

“The government should explain why an official sneaked into the office a day before the audit and destroyed the files.”

Over the weekend, related government offices admitted they had brainstormed ideas about potential inter-Korean cooperation projects in line with the summit, but denied they had discussed the issue of building a nuclear power plant in the North.

The Energy Ministry also said the deleted documents were written during discussions at the working level for internal review only and had never been reflected in the ministry’s final draft on inter-Korean projects. The ministry, however, declined to comment on why the documents were deleted, citing the ongoing investigations.

Now at the center of the debate is a USB containing a 40-page blueprint of inter-Korean cooperation projects that Moon had allegedly handed over to the North Korean leader during the summit, with the opposition bloc calling for the disclosure of the full contents.

In a radio interview Monday, Rep. Yoon Young-chan of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea and former chief press secretary to President Moon during the inter-Korean summit, called the controversy “total nonsense.”

“It takes more than 5 trillion won ($4.47 billion) to build a nuclear power plant. The construction alone takes more than 10 years. Is it even possible to do secretly? That’s total nonsense,” Yoon said, adding that even bringing in a laptop would require approval under the current sanctions imposed by the UN and the US.

He went on to say the USB contains possible energy projects -- like refurbishing the North’s aging power plants and using renewable energy for electricity -- which the two Koreas can carry out together when the North agrees to abandon its nuclear weapons program.

“Among other things, a nuclear power plant is not an issue of discussion between the two Koreas alone without international consensus in accordance with the international nonproliferation accord due to the sensitivity like the possible extraction of plutonium,” he added.

Yoon said the government needs to consider disclosing the full contents of the USB to give people a better understanding of the situation. Cheong Wa Dae has not yet decided on the issue.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)