'US Investment' Another Variable... Cabinet Ministers in Last-Minute Negotiations in US

[Anchor]

We are also under pressure regarding investments in the United States. There are interpretations that complaints from Trump regarding delays in South Korean investments were reflected in the scaling back of South Korea-U.S. joint military drills. Difficult trade issues have become more complicated as they intertwine with security. The Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy has headed to the U.S. for last-minute coordination.

Reporter Kwon Ran has the details.

[Reporter]

Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Kim Jung-gwan, who abruptly departed for the U.S. on August 16, met with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick for two consecutive days on August 17 and 18.

Meeting three weeks after the opening ceremony of the Korea-U.S. Shipbuilding Cooperation Center, the two ministers reportedly focused their discussions on key issues, implementation plans, and announcement timelines for prospective U.S. investment projects.

[Kim Jung-gwan / Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy (local time August 16) : As I mentioned before, we are thinking of announcing the projects around late August or early September. Various issues are coming up, and we are trying to resolve them somehow to meet that target....]

A gas-fired combined cycle power plant in Texas is being discussed as a strong candidate for the first U.S. investment project, and data centers and carbon capture and storage (CCS) facilities are also reportedly included among the items under review.

Although the government officially denied observations that the U.S. recently requested investments in memory semiconductors as well, various investment demands are known to be channeled through multiple paths.

However, progress has been sluggish for over a year since the investment agreement due to differing stances—our government emphasizes profitability after investment, while the U.S. prioritizes speed.

This contrasts with Japan, which announced its first project last February, seven months after reaching an investment agreement with the U.S., amid a climate where tariff and security pressures are compounding.

In addition to the possibility of additional overcapacity tariffs remaining depending on the outcome of the U.S. Section 301 trade investigation, analysis has also emerged that one of the reasons President Trump recently ordered a scaling back of South Korea-U.S. joint military drills is his dissatisfaction with the speed at which South Korea is implementing its investments in the U.S.

Minister Kim Jung-gwan also met with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to fend off additional tariffs, and plans to continue discussions through additional meetings with U.S. government officials without fixing his return schedule.

(Video by Kim Jin-won, Graphics by Hwang Se-yeon)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.