On Wednesday, officials in South Korea said a Czech court's choice to pause an $18 billion plan for South Korea to build two nuclear reactors was only a short delay. They were also confident the agreement would still go ahead.

A group of South Korean companies, led by the government-owned Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power, expected to finish the deal this week with a part of CEZ, the Czech Republic’s biggest electricity company. But a Czech court stopped CEZ from signing the contract while it examines a complaint from the French company EDF, which lost the bid to the South Koreans.

South Korea's Industry Minister, Ahn Dukgeun, told reporters in Prague that the court's decision would only make the signing of the official contract later. He said that everything else would happen as planned if the deal goes through. He also said that the Czech government clearly didn't think the court would stop the agreement for a while, and that the company CEZ wants to fight the decision.

We don't know when the Czech Supreme Administrative Court will decide on that appeal.

Ahn said that the Czech government did not see EDF's claims as a big issue and asked them to come to the signing ceremony. He added that the Czech government's decision seemed different from the court's decision.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Wednesday that his government respects the court's decision. He also said: "I believe the judges and the court know how important this decision is and how it will affect the safety and interests of the Czech Republic."

Lee Ju-Ho, who is temporarily in charge of South Korea, said that Seoul would work closely with the Czech Republic to finish the agreement quickly.

In July, CEZ chose KHNP instead of EDF to build two large nuclear reactors at the Dukovany plant. Last week, EDF took legal action because the Czech competition office rejected their complaint about the bidding process.

Before he was removed last month due to a failed martial law plan in December, former conservative South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol had promised to increase the country's nuclear power exports. He argued that exports had decreased under the previous liberal government, which aimed to reduce the country's use of nuclear energy. Yoon's government aimed to export 10 nuclear power reactors by 2030.