Koo Yun-cheol, Deputy Prime Minister for the economy and Minister of Strategy and Finance, said on the 4th that "this investment in the United States is not money given for free but one for which principal and interest will be recouped, allowing our corporations to gain opportunities."
Koo said at a full meeting of the National Assembly's Special Committee on Investment in the United States that "seen passively, it may look like money is being taken from us, but seen proactively, it can be an investment opportunity," and stated accordingly.
Earlier, the government agreed on a plan to lower the United States' reciprocal tariff to about 15% in exchange for promoting a total of $350 billion in investment in the United States.
Koo said, "Through tough negotiations between Korea and the United States, we struck a balance of interests, and that is what the factsheet of the previous memorandum of understanding (MOU) reflects," adding, "if the balance between tariff cuts and investment in the United States breaks, uncertainty could actually rise." He added, "The government's position is also to move the legal procedures forward quickly."
He said the investment funds will primarily use revenue from managing foreign exchange reserves, and any shortfall will be covered by issuing dollar bonds overseas to minimize the impact on the domestic foreign exchange market. Koo said, "Execution will proceed based on progress, within an annual limit of $20 billion."
He also stressed the need to establish a separate investment corporation to manage the investment. He said, "This investment is in the nature of a greenfield investment, so it needs to be approached from a new perspective," noting that a dedicated body different in character from the Korea Investment Corporation (KIC) is needed. On operations, he explained, "We will separate a business management committee centered on experts and an operations committee responsible for national-level decisions, and run task forces by project."
He also agreed on the need for National Assembly oversight. Koo emphasized, "I agree with the basic direction that oversight by the National Assembly is necessary to ensure sound investment from the perspective of the national interest," adding, "We will report to the National Assembly in advance for each project and proceed under management and supervision during execution."
On the Korea-U.S. currency swap, he said the U.S. side rejected the proposal. Koo said, "Our government mentioned it several times, but the United States believes Korea is not short of dollars," adding, "since the Korean government holds $400 billion, the National Pension Service holds $500 billion, and the general public holds more than $100 billion, Korea holds over $1 trillion, so why should the United States provide a currency swap—that is the U.S. view."