NEW YORK — Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan has begun last-minute negotiations in the United States to designate the first project under South Korea's $350 billion (about 470 trillion won) investment commitment to the U.S. Major foreign media outlets expect the Korean government to announce the first investment target as early as the 18th.
Kim told reporters after arriving at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey on the 10th that wrapping up the U.S. investment negotiations was the purpose of the trip, adding that specific details could not be confirmed. Asked about the tone of the talks, Kim said nothing was simply easy or difficult, and that negotiations continue until the final signature.
Kim, who entered the country through an airport near New York rather than Washington, D.C., is believed to be meeting a range of government officials, including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, through the 12th. Marking the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the 11th, U.S. President Donald Trump attended a memorial service at the Pentagon, the Defense Department headquarters near Washington, D.C., while Vice President JD Vance and Lutnick attended a service at Ground Zero, the former site of the World Trade Center in Manhattan. Lutnick was chief executive officer of the financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald at the time of the attacks and lost his younger brother and 658 employees.
After returning home, Kim is expected to report on the first U.S. investment project to the National Assembly around the 17th and to sign a memorandum of understanding as early as the 18th. On the 10th, The Wall Street Journal reported that an agreement was imminent on a plan to invest more than $100 billion in the energy sector, including eight nuclear power plants and natural gas projects. The roughly $22 billion Encinal combined-cycle gas power plant project in Texas is being cited as the leading candidate for the first project. In November last year, South Korea agreed with the Trump administration to invest a total of $350 billion in the U.S. in exchange for a tariff reduction to 15% from 25%.
