SEOUL, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- South Korea plans to help train Egyptian nuclear energy engineers at the request of the Egyptian government, a state-led aid agency said on Monday.

    The Egyptian government recently made a formal request to South Korea to train their engineers as part of the agency's support program for developing countries, the (South) Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) said.

    Following the request, the South Korean government plans to invite Egyptian nuclear energy engineers for the next three to five years starting this year, while the number of engineers and details of the training program are yet to be decided, according to the KOICA.

    The news follows a major export deal the country signed with the United Arab Emirates in December last year to build four nuclear reactors, which prompted South Korea, which became the sixth nuclear power plant exporter in the world with the contract, to draw up an ambitious plan to become the world's third largest nuclear reactor exporter by 2030.