The Seoul Nuclear Security Summit has been a golden opportunity for Korea Electric Power Corp. as the company seeks overseas business expansion.

Kim Joong-kyum, chief executive of the state-funded power company, met with a number of potential business partners and high-profile government officials including two foreign leaders who visited Seoul to attend the summit.

On Monday, Kim sat down with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and requested support for KEPCO’s investment in the African country’s energy sector. Jonathan asked KEPCO to take part in the thermal power generation project around the Nigerian capital of Abuja.

Kim is scheduled to hold a tete-a-tete with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on Wednesday to ask for support as KEPCO hopes to participate in independent power producer and nuclear power plant projects in Vietnam.

Kim will also sit through the prime minister’s summit and luncheon with President Lee Myung-bak later in the day.

The KEPCO chief signed two preliminary agreements on cooperation to improve the efficiency of electricity supply in Kazakhstan and develop thermal and nuclear power in Vietnam.

Kim met with the Kazakh Minister of Industry and Trade Aset Issekeshev Tuesday morning as the two countries inked a memorandum of understanding to work together to raise the efficiency of the power supply in the central Asian country.

Kim signed an MOU with the chief executive of Electricity of Vietnam Pham Le Thanh on collaboration for thermal and nuclear power development later in the day.

During the third Korea-Vietnam joint committee meeting on Monday, Kim met with Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang and pitched Korea’s nuclear power plant for export to the Southeast Asian nation.

Vietnam, which will have Russia and Japan build its first four nuclear power plants, is looking for partners to construct the fifth and sixth units, and KEPCO is among the top candidates.

Kim held talks with Oleg Deripaska, president of Russia’s En+ Group, on Tuesday at the KEPCO headquarters to seek cooperation in the energy sector.

Later Tuesday, Kim met with Turkish Minister of Energy Taner Yildiz and discussed ways to cooperate in the nuclear power plant business and promote the World Energy Council to be held in Daegu next year.

Turkey, which signed a tentative free trade agreement with Korea on Monday, is also planning to build atomic power plants.

“The Nuclear Security Summit will serve as a strong momentum for KEPCO’s overseas business growth,” a KEPCO official said.

Kim vowed early this year to raise the portion of overseas business in the company’s sales from the current 3 percent to greater than 50 percent by 2020.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)