Kim Yong-beom, Deputy Minister of the presidential office, noted on the 25th (local time) regarding the Korean-U.S. tariff negotiation agreement on the U.S. investment fund that they agreed to establish and manage the financial package through a non-binding MOU and projected that the fund will be injected into U.S. priority projects in the future.
Deputy Minister Kim held a briefing at the Korea Press Center in a hotel in Washington, D.C., and stated, "The two countries agreed to utilize the financial package to support strategic industries such as energy, critical minerals, batteries, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, AI, quantum computing, and $1,500 billion in the shipbuilding sector."
On the 30th of last month, Korea agreed with the U.S. to form a U.S. investment fund amounting to $3,500 billion, and the U.S. reduced the reciprocal tariff imposed on Korea from 25% to 15%.
Deputy Minister Kim stated, "The $3,500 billion fund will select projects to invest in, likely according to U.S. priorities such as 'manufacturing renaissance' and establishing core economic security manufacturing within the U.S. Korean corporations can also participate."
He further noted, "As the bilateral consultation has made significant progress overall, we plan to form a task force centered around the Ministry of Economy and Finance, involving the Financial Services Commission, Export-Import Bank, Korea Development Bank, and Korea Trade Insurance Corporation, to continue discussions with the U.S. on detailed implementation plans."
In the Korea-U.S. summit that day, President Donald Trump revealed, "We are in transactions with Korea regarding Alaska," and announced plans for Korea to invest in the Alaska LNG development project alongside Japan.
Regarding this, Deputy Minister Kim explained that "energy was mentioned as a potential area for cooperation between the U.S. and Korea," but added that "no specific discussions have been held on working-level details."
He stated, "Once the MOU between the two countries on the structure and operation method of the $3,500 billion (U.S. investment) package is finalized, such issues are expected to be discussed in detail in the subsequent discussion process regarding which projects are suitable."
Deputy Minister Kim also clarified that "the corporations' $1,500 billion investment announced today is a direct investment in the U.S." and added, "it is separate from the $3,500 billion investment fund agreed upon during the tariff negotiations."
He further added, "Our corporations' future FDI (foreign direct investment) and the $3,500 billion fund will be injected into U.S. priority projects, and it is necessary for the two to create synergy."
Following the Korea-U.S. summit, at the 'Korea-U.S. Business Round Table' event held at a hotel in Washington, D.C., corporations from both countries signed a total of two contracts and nine MOUs in five sectors, including shipbuilding, nuclear power, aviation, LNG, and critical minerals.
On this, Deputy Minister Kim explained that "discussions were held on cooperation across various fields encompassing all industries, from advanced industries such as AI and semiconductors, main manufacturing sectors like shipbuilding and automotive, strategic industries such as defense and nuclear power, to cultural industries like content."
Regarding AI cooperation, he stated, "We reaffirmed the potential for cooperation and complementarity between the two countries in the AI race," adding that "discussions were held on providing semiconductor chips optimized for NVIDIA's supercomputers by SK hynix and Samsung Electronics." He further mentioned that "IBM referred to AI cooperation cases like installing quantum computers with Yonsei University, and they plan to continue a strategic partnership with Korea."
Regarding shipbuilding and nuclear cooperation, he revealed that "discussions were held on preparing a joint investment program for modernizing U.S. shipyards, including HD Hyundai and Severel Capital, and in the nuclear sector, Doosan Enerbility and X-energy agreed to cooperate for the commercialization of small modular reactors (SMR)."
Regarding the cultural content sector, it was reported that "the Motion Picture Association of America, with members like Disney, Netflix, and Sony, stated they will continue to expand investment by American corporations in various cultural content in Korea."