Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has said South Korea could become a partner in developing Turkey's planned Sinop nuclear power station on the Black Sea coast. He made the remark in an interview with Yonhap News Agency, reported on Monday 2 November, ahead of a three-day state visit to Seoul.

Turkey has been studying the technical and economic terms of the Sinop project with state-run Korea Electric Power Corp, Erdogan said. The visit is his first to South Korea since 2018, and he is due to hold a summit with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Tuesday, according to Seoul's presidential office.

Beyond nuclear power

Erdogan identified defence, semiconductors, artificial intelligence and robotics as other areas for cooperation between the two countries. He called for more South Korean investment in Turkey and for joint production, rather than trade in one direction only.

He also said the two countries were working towards a bilateral trade target of 15 billion dollars, while calling for efforts to address an imbalance that currently favours South Korea.

Why Sinop matters

Sinop, on Turkey's Black Sea coast, has long been planned as a site for additional nuclear capacity as Turkey seeks to diversify its energy supply. A partnership with South Korea, which has built nuclear plants at home and abroad, would bring construction and operating experience to a project that has been studied for years.

For South Korea, involvement would fit a wider push to export nuclear, defence and advanced manufacturing expertise. For Turkey, it would add a major energy project to a state visit already framed around investment and industrial cooperation.

Whether the visit produces a concrete announcement on Sinop will become clearer after Tuesday's summit.

Sources

Reuters: Erdogan says South Korea could partner in Turkey's Sinop nuclear project, Yonhap reports
MIX-FM (Reuters report): Erdogan says South Korea could partner in Turkey's Sinop nuclear project