S. Korean president heads home after UAE visit

By Byun Duk-kun
ABU DHABI, Dec. 27 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak headed home
Sunday after a two-day visit here that helped a South Korean consortium secure
the largest-ever nuclear energy deal in the Middle East, estimated to be worth
over US$40 billion.
The deal, signed by a South Korean consortium led by the state-run Korea Electric
Power Corp. and the UAE's Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp., has a face value of
$20.4 billion, but it is expected to generate additional contracts, worth some
$20 billion, in the next 60 years for the operation and maintenance of the
nuclear reactors to be built here.
Under the deal, South Korea will build four light water nuclear reactors by 2020
in Sila, 330 kilometers west of the UAE capital.
President Lee arrives in Seoul early Monday (Seoul time).
bdk@yna.co.kr
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