South Korea's Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Kim Jung-kwan, currently visiting the United States, held meetings with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on August 17–18 to intensively discuss strategic investment projects in the U.S.

According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on the 19th, both sides held in-depth discussions over the two-day meetings regarding key issues and schedules for potential investment projects in the U.S., focusing intensively on finding common ground.

However, the ministry did not disclose the specific details of the discussions.

The meeting between the trade chiefs of the two countries comes about three weeks after their previous encounter on July 22–23, which coincided with the opening ceremony of the Korea-U.S. Shipbuilding Cooperation Center. Minister Kim departed urgently for the U.S. on the 16th to discuss pending trade issues.

South Korea previously agreed with the U.S. to lower tariffs from 25% to 15% in exchange for USD 350 billion in investments in the U.S., comprising USD 150 billion for shipbuilding cooperation and USD 200 billion in strategic investments last year.

The government has been coordinating with the U.S. regarding the first project out of this USD 200 billion U.S. investment package.

Later in the day, Minister Kim is scheduled to meet with U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Jamison Greer to discuss bilateral trade issues, including investigations related to Section 301 of the Trade Act, and to request the stable operation of channels between trade authorities.

He will also meet with Russell Vought, Director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB), to assess follow-up trends regarding the shipbuilding industry base reconstruction policy recently announced by President Donald Trump, and to discuss ways to strengthen shipbuilding cooperation between the two nations.

An official from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy stated, "We plan to actively respond to ensure that trade relations between South Korea and the U.S. remain stable and that the balance of benefits achieved through last year's tariff agreement is maintained."

(Photo: Yonhap News)