Officials in South Korea said on Wednesday that a court in the Czech Republic has stopped a big project for a short time. South Korea was going to build two nuclear power plants there for $18 billion. The officials said this is just a small delay and they think the project will still happen.

A group from South Korea, led by a government energy company, hoped to finish a deal this week with a part of a big electricity company in the Czech Republic. But a court in the Czech Republic stopped the Czech company from signing the paper. The court is looking at a complaint from a French company that did not win the deal.

South Korea's minister said the court's choice would just make the contract signing later. He said everything else would still happen on time if the deal is finished. He also said the Czech government did not think the court would stop the agreement. And he said CEZ will ask the court to change its mind.

We do not know when the court in the Czech Republic will make a decision about that appeal.

Mr Ahn said the Czech government did not think EDF's claims were a big problem. They invited them to the signing meeting. He also said the Czech government's idea was different from the court's decision.

The Czech Prime Minister, Petr Fiala, said on Wednesday that his government accepts the court's decision. He added, "I think the judges and the court know how important this decision is and how it affects the safety of the Czech Republic and what is good for our country."

Lee Ju-Ho, the temporary leader of South Korea, said that South Korea will work closely with the Czech Republic to finish the agreement quickly.

CEZ chose KHNP to build two new nuclear reactors at Dukovany. They did not choose EDF. EDF was unhappy and went to court last week. This was because the Czech office for competition did not agree with their complaint about the building process.

Before he left his job last month, the South Korean President, Yoon Suk Yeol, said he wanted to sell more nuclear power plants to other countries. He thought the previous government had made this business difficult because they wanted to use less nuclear power in South Korea. His government had a plan to sell 10 nuclear power plants to other countries by the year 2030.