SEOUL - South Korea's ruling Democratic Party said on Monday that the government will lift limits on coal-fired power generation capacity and raise nuclear power plant utilization to as high as 80 percent as part of an energy response to the Middle East crisis.
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Lawmakers in the party's Middle East crisis economic response task force said in a briefing the measures are aimed at stabilizing energy supply and prices as oil and gas shipments to South Korea have been blocked by tensions in the Strait of Hormuz.
The task force also agreed with the government to draw up a supplementary budget by the end of this month and submit it to parliament. The extra budget will include compensation for refiners’ losses linked to a fuel price cap, energy voucher payments, logistics cost support for exporters and expanded investment in renewable energy.
