SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean officialdom on Wednesday sought to attenuate the impact of a Czech judicial ruling temporarily staying a multi-billion dollar nuclear build-out project, valorising it as a fleeting impediment and articulating firm conviction that the accord would ultimately be consummated.

The state-backed Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power-helmed South Korean consortium had anticipated the consummation of its accord this week with a subsidiary of CEZ, the foremost electricity provider in the Czech Republic; nevertheless, a Czech tribunal has enjoined CEZ from executing the indenture pending adjudication of a grievance lodged by the French firm EDF, which was unsuccessful in its tender against the South Koreans.

In Prague, South Korean Industry Minister Ahn Dukgeun posited to assembled journalists that the judicial ruling would merely protract the formal contractual ratification, asserting that all antecedent and subsequent procedural elements would progress according to the established timeline, contingent upon the ultimate consummation of the accord. He further stated that the Czech administration evidently had not foreseen the court's interlocutory decree halting the arrangement, and that CEZ intends to pursue appellate recourse.

The exact timing of the Czech Supreme Administrative Court's deliberation on the aforementioned appeal remains indeterminate.

Ahn asserted, “The Czech government, seemingly unperturbed by EDF’s contentions, extended an invitation to the prearranged signing ceremony. It appears the Czech government’s assessment was at variance with the court’s adjudication.”

Addressing the press on Wednesday, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala affirmed his government's deference to the court's ruling, appending that he "trust[ed] the judiciary to apprehend the momentousness of this determination and its ramifications for the security and national interests of the Czech Republic."

Lee Ju-Ho, serving as South Korea's acting president, articulated Seoul's intention to engage in close liaison with the Czech Republic to facilitate the expeditious conclusion of the accord.

In July, CEZ designated KHNP, rather than EDF, as the presumptive vendor for the construction of two 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactors at the Dukovany facility; EDF subsequently lodged a judicial grievance last week following the Czech Republic's competition authority's dismissal of its recourse concerning the procurement procedure.

Prior to his unseating last month, precipitated by an ill-conceived imposition of martial law in December, the erstwhile conservative South Korean President, Yoon Suk Yeol, had committed himself to galvanising the nation's nuclear power exports, contending that these had languished under the preceding liberal administration's impetus to diminish domestic dependency on nuclear energy; indeed, Yoon's government had posited a target of exporting a decuple of nuclear power reactors by the advent of 2030.