The Ministry of Knowledge Economy announced measures to prevent power outages similar to that of Thursday recurring on Sunday.

Minister of Knowledge Economy Choi Joong-kyung, however, did not announce plans to step down despite widely held opinion that he would.

At a press briefing on Sunday, Choi said that the government decided to set up a team to improve electricity-related emergency protocol and to “fundamentally” improve related systems at a meeting of concerned officials presided over by Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik.

Regarding the rolling blackout, Choi said that the ministry could have prevented such occurrences if reports were made as late as noon by shutting down air conditioning systems at large buildings and requesting cooperation from the public.

While the ministry seeks ways to prevent similar occurrences, and to compensate those affected by last week’s developments, voices calling for those responsible for the situation to step down are rising, with Choi at the top of the list. 

Chung Wa Dae is reported to have added its weight to the calls for Choi’s resignation, with unnamed officials from the presidential office being quoted as saying that officials agreed that Choi should take responsibility at a meeting presided over by Yim Tae-hee, the presidential chief of staff.

With the pressure mounting, Choi is widely expected to hand in his resignation less than a year since he took up the post in January.

Choi, however, did not make any clear indications about his decision saying only that his duty is to focus on finding the cause and developing preventative measures without being “attached to the position.”

Thursday’s unprecedented blackout has raised severe criticism at the highest level of the government.

On Friday, President Lee Myung-bak made a visit to Korea Electric Power Corp. to be briefed about the previous day’s situation, and criticized the companies and demanded for a clear explanation of what each company did wrong.

Saying that KEPCO was operating at the level of an “undeveloped country,” Lee said that the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, KEPCO and the Korea Power Exchange are all responsible for the developments.

Lee also criticized employees of state-run companies, which are highly popular among job seekers for their high pay and strong job-security, in general saying that they lack a sense of duty.

While politicians call for those in charge of related matters to take responsibility of Thursday’s developments, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy conducted an audit on Korea Electric Power Corp. and Korea Power Exchange.

The two-day audit, which took place over the weekend, was aimed at identifying the cause of the power shortage and to shed light on the two companies’ responses, and to draw up measures to prevent recurrences.

On Thursday, the unseasonable heat drove up electricity consumption far beyond the authorities’ projections, forcing KPX to implement a rolling blackout lasting 30 minutes in some areas. According to KEPCO and other concerned organizations, the authorities had expected Thursday’s power consumption overshot the projected 64 million kilowatts by more than 3 million kilowatts. In addition, 23 generators going into scheduled maintenance also contributed to the power shortage.

With the KPX limiting power supply, hundreds of thousands of households across the country experienced blackouts while some industrial complexes were brought to a standstill.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)