U.S. President Donald Trump again mentioned Korea and Japan in connection with the Alaska liquefied natural gas (LNG) project.
Trump said to reporters at the White House on the 2nd (local time), "There are Japan and Korea. All these people are going to Alaska to load fuel, load oil, build pipelines, and do everything else."
Trump's remark came as he said he would "go to Alaska" to help Republican candidate Dan Sullivan, who is seeking a third term in the region's U.S. Senate race.
Sullivan recently advanced from the primary along with Democratic candidate Mary Peltola. They will face off in the runoff, which uses a ranked-choice voting (RCV) system.
Trump said, "Dan Sullivan is an excellent senator," adding, "No one has helped Alaska as much as Donald Trump. We invested billions of dollars and created value in the trillions of dollars," before abruptly bringing up Korea and Japan "heading to Alaska."
Earlier, on Jan. 20, Trump also mentioned an "Alaska pipeline project to export natural gas to Asia" as he introduced U.S. trade agreements with Korea and Japan.
At the time, Trump emphasized, "As we concluded (trade) agreements with Korea and Japan, we secured funding at an unprecedented level."
This was an explanation that, through the trade agreements with the United States, the reciprocal tariff, which had been 25%, would be lowered to 15% in exchange for Korea carrying out $350 billion in U.S.-bound investment and Japan carrying out $550 billion.
The Alaska LNG project is one of Trump's key national agenda items, and the Trump administration has raised the possibility that Korea and Japan's U.S.-bound investment funds could be used.
The main plan is to extract natural gas from Alaska's North Slope, build roughly 1,300 km of new pipeline to transport it to Nikiski, an ice-free port near Anchorage, liquefy it there, and supply it to demand centers.