The DPRK Power Sector: Data & Interconnection Options

This report provides an overview of the present status of the DPRK power sector that includes newly analyzed data and future prospects of electricity supply and demand in North Korea as well as establishes several basic inter-Korean energy cooperation plans. South Korean policies to improve this difficult situation should be implemented to overcome the DPRK electricity shortage. However, because of the strong political backlash caused by the North Korean attacks on the Cheonan corvette and Yeonpyeong Island in 2010, all cooperation, including energy cooperation between the two Koreas, has stopped. Nevertheless, a basic plan to solve the DPRK energy crisis should be continuously discussed and established by the ROK, considering the total potential costs of reunification and the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula. Therefore this report also considers possible changes in inter-Korean relations as a result of electric power system interactions and is intended to be a starting point for the establishment of necessary plans for the interconnection of the power systems of the two Koreas and the fulfillment of longstanding grand plans for a Unified Korean Power System (UKPS).