"I Make the Political Judgments": Presidential Rebuke Behind Rushed Schedule for 'Giant Whale' Drilling

The Board of Audit and Inspection has revealed that there were presidential orders for aggressive schedule cuts and procedural violations during the pursuit of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's deep-sea gas field project in the East Sea, known as the "Giant Whale" project.

According to the audit results released by the Board of Audit and Inspection, former President Yoon Suk-yeol was deeply involved in the overall planning of the public announcement and drilling schedules from the early stages of the project.

In May 2024, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy reported to the presidential office that external publicity should be refrained from, as the possibility of oil and gas reserves was uncertain.

However, former President Yoon did not accept this and pushed forward with a direct public announcement, stating, "There is a high possibility that up to 14 billion barrels of oil and gas are deposited."

The audit results showed that excessive orders continued during the establishment of the drilling plan as well.

Initially, the Ministry reported a plan for phased drilling until 2029, but the presidential office demanded that the schedule be significantly moved up to within former President Yoon's term ending in May 2027.

When then-Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Ahn Duk-geun suggested that "a political judgment regarding the schedule is necessary," former President Yoon strongly rebuked him, saying, "I am the one who makes political judgments," ultimately leading to a plan to additionally drill four holes all at once by 2026.

Nevertheless, regarding the Ministry's reports to the presidential office and the President's announcements, the Board of Audit and Inspection explained, "Since there are no related regulations, no separate measures will be taken against the presidential office and the Ministry."

General incompetence and illegalities were also uncovered in the working-level procedures of the Korea National Oil Corporation, which directly carried out the project.

The geological success probability of the Giant Whale structure selected by the Korea National Oil Corporation was 19.1%, which was actually lower than the success probability of the "Bang-eo structure," where gas discovery failed in 2021.

Even so, the Korea National Oil Corporation rushed the drilling without undergoing objective and sufficient verification processes.

The Board of Audit and Inspection uncovered a total of seven illegal or improper matters, including the execution of unfair technical evaluations and the promotion of drilling without sufficient verification, and has requested disciplinary actions or notified the relevant organizations.

(Reported by Lee Hyeon-yeong, Video by Kim Min-ji, Design by Lee Jeong-ju, Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.