[Anchor]
The first project among South Korea's massive 280 trillion won investment plan in the United States is expected to be unveiled soon. Minister of Industry Kim Jeong-gwan, who has returned from the U.S., stated that significant progress has been made and hinted at an announcement sometime next month.
Reporter Kwon Ran has the details.
[Reporter]
Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Kim Jeong-gwan, who rushed to the U.S. on the 16th, returned to Korea this afternoon (the 20th), four days later.
During his visit, Minister Kim met with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick for two consecutive days to finalize the remaining contentious issues regarding the U.S. investments.
Minister Kim stated that there was quite meaningful progress, and that the announcement of the first U.S. investment project will take place next month, which is slightly delayed from the initial plan of late August or early September.
[Kim Jeong-gwan / Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy : There was quite meaningful progress. Considering the realistic discussion processes and procedures, there was a mutual understanding between the two countries to make the announcement sometime in September.]
He drew a clear line against speculations that the U.S. had demanded the semiconductor sector as the first investment destination.
[Kim Jeong-gwan / Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy : Semiconductors were not even mentioned during my conversations with Lutnick.]
Minister Kim said discussions are centered around the energy sector, such as gas-fired combined cycle power plants that the South Korean government has been pursuing.
[Kim Jeong-gwan / Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy : We are currently focusing our discussions on the energy sector. At this point, shifting to another sector wouldn't allow us to meet the timeline, as you would expect.]
The plan is to discuss remaining issues during a video conference next week to find common ground.
Recently, the U.S. has openly expressed dissatisfaction with the pace of South Korea's implementation of investments in the United States.
President Trump even explicitly expressed displeasure by bringing up security issues, such as South Korea's non-participation in the war in Iran.
[Donald Trump / U.S. President : I was very displeased when they said they were not interested in helping us (the United States) with the Strait of Hormuz issue.]
Minister Kim projected that the results of the Section 301 overcapacity investigation under the Trade Act, which the U.S. holds as another pressure card, will likely reach a conclusion around early next month.
While noting that there was a mutual understanding with the U.S. side regarding a 15 percent cap, he stated that he would not let his guard down until the very end.
(Video Editing: Kim Jin-won)
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