Victor Cha Claims Announcement on US Investments Possible During ROK-US FM Talks

Claims have been raised that an agreement regarding South Korea's investment in the United States could be announced on the occasion of the ROK-US foreign ministers' meeting.

Speaking at a seminar hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on the 17th local time, Victor Cha, Korea Chair at the US think tank CSIS, said, "Regarding the actual [US investment] agreement itself, I thought an announcement would come today, but it seems unlikely that an announcement will come today."

He continued, saying, "Foreign Minister Cho Hyun is coming to Washington D.C.," and projected, "Perhaps we will see some form of announcement regarding this issue there."

Chair Cha stated, "I am certain that if there is no announcement while Minister Cho is staying here, that would be a very bad sign."

Minister Cho arrived in the United States on the morning of this day for a meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, with the talks scheduled to take place on the morning of the 18th.

Previously, South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy had planned to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the first project of a 200 billion dollar (approx. 272 trillion won) scale US investment and announce the project as early as the 18th following a report to the National Assembly; however, as it requested a postponement of the reporting schedule to the National Assembly the previous day, the matter appears to be rolling over to next week.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.