New KHNP President Kim Calls for ‘Leading Global Nuclear Power Market’

New President & CEO Kim Hoe-chun of Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. delivers his inaugural speech as he took office at KHNP headquarters in Gyeongju on March 18.

Kim Hoe-chun took office as president & CEO of Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. at KHNP headquarters in Gyeongju on March 18.

In his inaugural speech, President Kim said, “Let’s go together abroad with a spirt of seungpungparang, a Chinese saying that means ’moving forward by riding the wind and breaking through waves‘ to top the global nuclear power industry.”

President Kim laid out tasks, such as putting top priority on safety, improved efficiency of units in operation, seamless construction of new nuclear power units, and radwaste management and securing of social acceptance.

He also stressed the safety of nuclear power plant decommissioning and leading of the global new market through strengthened technology, securing future competitiveness in the energy transition era, winning overseas orders and strengthening global competitiveness and reliability from people, regional society and KHNP members.

President Kim said, “Securing safety is an essential value of existence for KHNP, an emergency situation of equipment is prepared thoroughly and construction needs to be doe in a speedy and safe fashion.”

He called for the firm to ramp up expertise in the management of radwaste in accordance with win-win principles with the regional society, timely construction of pumped-storage power plants and modernizing of old hydro power plants and pumped-storage power plants.

President Kim stressed a two-track strategy combining large-sized nuclear power units and SMRs to make an inroad into the global nuclear power market.

He visited KHNP trade union on his first day in office and expressed his willingness to promote cooperation between management and labor by lending an ear to unionists’ voices.

Upon his inauguration, President Kim convened an emergency management meeting on the Middle East situation to examine energy supply chains. In the meeting, he called for full preparedness to ensure the stable supply of power.

New KHNP President Kim Hoe-chun gives words of encouragement to officials with the Kori Nuclear Power Complex as he toured the complex on March 18 shortly after he took office. (Photos: KHNP)

President Kim also toured the Kori Nuclear Power Plant Complex, in which he got a briefing on the decommissioning of the Kori Nuclear Power Unit 1 and the Kori Nuclear Power Unit 2, now under maintenance, and gave words of encouragement to field officials.

President Kim held major positions of Korea Electric Power Corp., such as head of the Planning Department, chief of the Management Division and senior executive vice president in charge of management support after he entered the power company in 1985.

He also served as a research professor at Gachon University Energy IT Department and president of Korea South-East Power Co.

Business sources said now that President Kim, hailing from KEPCO, takes office as KHNP CEO, the cooled relations between the two power companies is expected to be restored.

Both sides are engaged in a legal battle over the settlement of an additional 1.4 trillion won in the cost of constructing the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant in the United Arab Emirates.

The two public entities are required to closely collaborate to carry out national tasks, such as restructuring of nuclear power export systems.

KHNP Participates in Hydrogen Days 2026 to Accelerate European Hydrogen Market Entry

KHNP participated in Hydrogen Days 2026, which took place in Prague from March 11 to March 13.

The firm shared the status of projects now under way in the Korean and foreign clean hydrogen sectors and discussed ways of promoting cooperation with Czech and other European partners.

Hydrogen Days 2026 is an international event for global hydrogen industry policy and technology trends, and serves as an opportunity to share execution strategies for the hydrogen industry and cooperation tasks.

Hydrogen Days 2026, the 16th rendition of the conference, served as an opportunity for government, industry, and research circles experts to discuss on hydrogen production, stockpiling and utilization technology and market trends under the theme “Hydrogen at the crossroads: Courage to Continue.”

KHNP shared insight into invigorating the global hydrogen market by releasing interim results of an analysis of the European and Czech clean hydrogen business environment the Korean power company has been implementing in cooperation with HYTEP and the current status of nuclear power clean hydrogen verification tasks under way in Korea.

Kim Hyung-il, head of the Energy Mix Business Division at KHNP, said, “Hydrogen has been highlighted as an important energy solution toward carbon neutrality society, and the event is expected to lead to continued cooperation and partnership in the future.”