[Anchor]

Appearing at a parliamentary audit, Industry Minister Kim Jung-gwan assessed that the "Alaska LNG project" mentioned by President Trump has gained "new strategic value." However, he drew a line for now, emphasizing that investment is not finalized. Meanwhile, at the audit of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, calls for accountability over "single-stock leveraged ETFs" came under scrutiny.

Kim Jin-woo reports.

[Reporter]

At the National Assembly's parliamentary audit of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources.

Lawmakers focused their questions on U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement, which made it appear as though the Alaska LNG project had been finalized as South Korea's investment project in the United States.

[Song Jae-bong / Democratic Party Lawmaker: The way I see it, it looks like (President Trump) is just talking without any basis right now.]

[Choi Su-jin / People Power Party Lawmaker: Regarding the U.S. talking like this about a project for which even the economic assessment and feasibility verification have not been completed.]

Kim Jung-gwan, Minister of Trade, Industry and Resources, acknowledged that the project's commercial viability had indeed been low in the past, but offered this response.

[Kim Jung-gwan / Minister of Trade, Industry and Resources: Through the Middle East war, there is clearly an aspect where a certain new, how shall I put it, strategic value has emerged for Alaska LNG.]

However, he drew the line by stating that nothing is finalized, noting that discussions with the United States are being held closely based on the principle of commercial rationality.

[Kim Jung-gwan / Minister of Trade, Industry and Resources: I have clearly stated repeatedly that the meaning of commencing a review is premised on commercial rationality.]

Earlier, U.S. Vice President JD Vance also stated that details remain to be coordinated with South Korea.

[JD Vance / U.S. Vice President: Naturally, some details still need to be coordinated, and as you know, the South Korean side has also mentioned that point.]

At the parliamentary audit of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, single-stock leveraged ETFs emerged as a contentious issue, and in response to the People Power Party's offensive questioning whether it was a "policy failure," Deputy Prime Minister for Economy Lee Hyoung-il replied as follows.

[Lee Hyoung-il / Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance: Regarding the heavy losses suffered by retail investors, I regret that we were not able to sufficiently resolve that in advance.]

Regarding the People Power Party's demand to submit Cheong Wa Dae meeting minutes related to the introduction of leveraged ETFs, the Democratic Party maintains the position that it does not fall under the jurisdiction of the National Assembly's Economy and Finance Planning Committee.

(Video by Lee Seung-hwan and Shin Dong-hwan | Video Editing by Lee So-young)