The final product of the U.S.-Korea tariff negotiations and security consultations, the joint fact sheet (joint explanatory document), was finalized on the 14th.
President Lee Jae-myung held a press conference that morning at the presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul, and said the drafting of the joint fact sheet, a joint explanatory document containing what the two countries agreed to at two U.S.-Korea summits, had been completed, declaring that the U.S.-Korea trade negotiations and security consultations, one of the biggest variables for our economy and security, had been finally concluded.
Lee said that more than anything else, the rational decision by U.S. President Trump played a major role in producing meaningful negotiation results, adding, I extend my gratitude and respect for President Trump's decisive action.
Lee emphasized that the U.S.-Korea tariff negotiations were conducted rationally. He said the two governments confirmed that investments would proceed only within a range our economy can fully bear and only for projects with commercial rationality, adding that distrust and concerns in some quarters that this was effectively a grant disguised as an investment unlikely to recoup principal have been definitively dispelled.
Lee said Korea and the United States will build a higher-level partnership in industrial sectors such as shipbuilding, nuclear power, artificial intelligence, and semiconductors. He said that just as the United States helped the Republic of Korea in the past, the Republic of Korea will now join its ally, the United States, in rebuilding key industries, adding that he is confident that in this process, the United States, which possesses the world's best technology and market, and the Republic of Korea, which has strong manufacturing innovation capabilities, will join hands and advance together onto the global stage.
Lee said the government had also secured U.S. support for building nuclear-powered submarines and expanding authority over uranium enrichment and reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. He added that they also decided to seek institutional improvements to allow not only U.S. merchant ships but also U.S. Navy vessels to be built domestically.
Lee added that the United States reaffirmed its firm commitment to the continued stationing of U.S. Forces Korea and to extended deterrence. Lee emphasized that Korea declared its leading intent to defend the Korean Peninsula through strengthening defense capabilities and regaining wartime operational control, and that the United States strongly expressed its will to support and back this.
Lee also expressed a willingness to improve relations with China. He said that the more uncertainty deepens in the international community, the more important it is to maintain stable relations with neighboring countries in the region, adding that through the APEC summit in Gyeongju, a turning point has been created for improving the troubled Korea-China relationship, and the two sides agreed to continue strengthening economic cooperation and exchanges.
Lee emphasized that what we need now is a practical, reality-based approach, adding that the government will, through steady dialogue with China, unwaveringly pursue the path toward advancing bilateral relations and peace on the Korean Peninsula.
At the end of the briefing, asked about his thoughts on the announcement of the fact sheet, Lee said it was tough that even if there are different political positions at home, it would be good to voice reason for the sake of the national interest and the people, but pressure from within in the vein of "hurry up and agree" or "being slow is incompetence," adding that it was really hard to endure people grabbing our ankles from behind or asking why we were not accepting demands quickly.
He went on to explain that our only strength was to hold out, and that circumstances forced a nonvoluntary negotiation to minimize losses in response to the other side's demands and the reordering of the international order. Lee emphasized that every time we negotiate, the thought keeps coming that only by maximizing our international standing and the nation's capabilities can we clearly guarantee our national interest and a better life for the people, adding that going forward he will do his best to strengthen Korea's economic, cultural, and military power as swiftly as possible.