Parliament grills knowledge minister over massive blackout

(ATTN: UPDATES with minister's response in paras 13-14) SEOUL, Sept. 19 (Yonhap) - Parliament on Monday blamed the government for false reports about the electricity reserve level that caused recent nationwide blackouts that inconvenienced many people, and criticized its slow response to contain the fallout. South Korea reported massive blackouts last Thursday as unseasonably high temperatures pushed demand to what authorities called "dangerous levels." It forced temporary power cuts that affected an estimated 1.62 million households across the nation. "Fabrication of the power reserve level is an illegal practice that the knowledge ministry and the Korea Power Exchange (KPX) are widely aware of," said Rep. Kang Chang-il for the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) in the annual parliamentary audit. The KPX is the country's state-run power distributor. Knowledge Economy Minister Choi Joong-kyung, who is in charge of the country's energy affairs, admitted on Sunday that he had received a false report about the electricity reserve level as energy officials failed to measure the exact amount of power production at the time. He said the actual reserve rate dropped to very low levels at 3 p.m. The KPX said power production stood at 70.7 million kW with demand reaching 64.0 million kW that left a reserve of 6.71 million kW. Kang, however, countered that the actual power production dropped to 64.8 million kW, excluding electricity that could not be supplied due to high fuel costs. The figure left 800,000 kW in reserve during the time of peak demand, he claimed. He also argued that at the root of the unprecedented incident lies special treatment given to corporations that consume enormous amounts of electricity. The electricity rate for industrial use is relatively low in South Korea, compared with other countries, he said. If South Korea's price were 100 won per kW, it would compare with 266 won per kW in Japan and 117 won in the United States, Kang said. A Hyundai Steel Co. factory on the west coast paid 303.9 billion won (US$269.1 billion) for its electricity consumption last year, which would soar to 808.3 billion won if the company was based in Japan, said Kang. His colleague Rep. Noh Young-min said the country's largest firm Samsung Electronics Co. paid 392.2 billion won in power charges, at the same time causing a loss of 2.17 trillion won on the Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), the country's sole power service provider. Other lawmakers rebuked the government for its lax reporting system and called for the setting up of a comprehensive emergency management system to cope with such developments in the future. "It's a big system failure that the government did not know of the false reports on the reserve level until the next day," said Rep. Park Jin of the ruling Grand National Party. He also questioned whether KEPCO and its affiliates can afford to compensate losses caused by the blackout. Minister Choi answered that KEPCO, KPX and their affiliates should secure funding for compensation, as all are responsible for the blackout. "The ministry will start taking reports of damage from the public so compensation can be made," he said. "Estimates of damage will be available after we receive all claims." Rep. Lee Hak-jae from the GNP criticized the slow response to the incident. "A sudden power suspension can be considered a national disaster, such as a typhoon or earthquake. There should be a system that makes it mandatory to inform people of the incident immediately," he said. Others, including Rep. Kim Nak-sung of the opposition Liberty Forward Party, argued that it is necessary to raise the electricity reserve rate to 15.6 percent as early as possible. Some opposition lawmakers demanded President Lee Myung-bak apologize for the incident, sparking harsh opposition from ruling party members. "I don't understand whether the president was informed or how he responded. He did not give a word of apology about what happened," said Rep. Kim Jae-kyun for the DP. "I suggest that the committee adopt a resolution to call for president's public apology." Ruling party lawmakers blasted Kim during the audit session for not following parliamentary procedures. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik offered a public apology for the power outage on Monday, saying, "I will set up an inspection team of all government ministries to reveal the cause of the accident and clarify who is responsible."